New House!
New to us anyway. Cindy and I have neither ever owned a house. To finally realize “the American Dream” (yeah, like most of us don’t live the real “American dream”) we bought a house. It is basically a “fixer upper”, but very much livable. I’ve spent the last two days cleaning and painting, and nowhere near through. Moving towards the end of the week.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Frank, I know exactly what you mean. Our house here in Lubbock (built in ‘59) had been a rental for 2 years before we bought it. I spent over 1 month preparing the house before we moved in… New paint, carpet, tiles, wall paneling, every single light fixture, every counter, all kitchen appliances, and revamp both bathrooms. But, by doing all the work myself, we instantly added 25K in equity. Bought it cheap and fixed it up to nearly new standards!
Best wishes to you and your family in your new house. May it be “home” to many great times and new memories.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Actually, to be a foreclosure that they ran the last buyers out 1.5 years ago, the house is in amazingly good shape. Yeah, filthy, needed paint and other minor repairs inside, and needs some fascia replaced in a couple of places. But we had no idea if the central air worked, if the wiring was ok, etc…everything is pretty much fine with some minor stuff.
Took me four full days and a week of nights working on it, painted all of the interior (you know me, its done right), laid carpet in a couple of rooms, hung blinds in all the rooms (again done right), did some weatherproofing.
Still have some work to do, but its livable. 1650 heated plus closed in carport (needs to be done right, give me a while), 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 30 y/o house for $29,500. Financed it for five years, I’ll actually live to see it paid off, Lord willing.
It’s appraised at $55K. I paid 9.5 grand down, so I have about $26K of equity walking in the door. Pretty good deal with Freddie Mac (the owner of the house), they paid all closing costs, actually gave a warranty (though I bought it “as is”, and I don’t think it ever has been inspected). I financed it through an individual rather than a bank, which made closing much less complicated.
We moved Sunday, I did some more work inside yesterday (add another day). Still some stuff to move, mostly my junk that I don’t have anywhere to put it. Had a big building at the other house, gonna have to wait a while for one here. Most of the stuff will be crammed in the closed in carport. (my computer room)
December 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Oh, the house was built in 1980.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Wow, good deal. I wished I could get that square footage around here at that price. I paid 85K for mine (2K sq tf, in its depreciated condition), and after refurbishing, it appraised at 120+. This is just an average house here, most comparables range from 90 - 150 regardless of age. Actually, this home is built twice as good as the new ones we looked at.
Anyway, I know what you are up against - still doing myself. Since we moved in we had to replace the central heat/air and the water heater, so it is still a work in progress.
December 16th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Now, if you want to build a storage shed, try what I did the summer after moving in here. I wanted to build a 12′ x 16′ barn style shed, but being new to town had few I could rely on to help. Most of my family live 150 miles North of here. I bought a boat - it is amazing how many friends will literally come out of the woodwork…. Anyway, my brother & sister in law would come down every Friday, we would spend 3 or 4 hours working on the shed, and then spend the rest of the weekend out on the lake. Took almost 2 months, be we got it done, eventually! The only downside is the added “build cost”. Now, if I was smart, I would have bought a boat that had a cabin with bathroom and kitchenette. Then I could have had the tax break you get for a 2nd house.
December 16th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Frank, Congratulations on the house! Sounds like you found a bargain.