AW: House Value

brij2006

So we are refinancing our house, because H did a balloon loan when he purchased it 5 years ago (dumb I know).  Our house was a foreclosure, and we bought it for $49k.  It needed a LOT of work, and was not livable when we purchased it.  At that time it appraised for $73k.  We have put about $20k into it in the 5 years, and have done all of the work ourselves except for the windows. 

We just got the appraisal back, and it appraised at $98k!!!!  

I'm beyond elated at this point.  We weren't sure if the things we had done to the house were worth it or if we would get our money back from the projects.  Our area is also LCOL, and most homes are $130k or under unless they're new builds (ours most definitely is not).  So we were expecting for it to come back around $80k.  We also ran the rest of our remodeling projects by the appraiser, and she said we would see a 100% ROI and she would see us having no problem getting and it appraising for $120k once everything is finished. 

So for all of you MM people out there who are thinking about purchasing a home.  Do not hesitate to buy that property that may need some work, and putting your time and effort into it.  Your MM self with thank you later. 

smbenevides1989

That's a great increase! Living in HCOL, our foreclosure homes can start anywhere from 90,000 to 250,000 depending on what is wrong with it. As you can imagine, the 90K needs more work cosmetically (which I wouldn't mind fixing) and with a lot of out of code issues. 

I wish I could get DH on the idea of getting  a fixer upper, but he hates doing tons of work in that sense... 

:-<

Sisugal

We did this twice with great results, not foreclosures, but with fixers. We spent about 30K with renovations/updates on house #1 and a bit over 60K with this house. Plan to stay in this house a LONG time -- until we retire.

Xstatic3333

So cool! Question-did you guys have much remodeling experience before buying? I love the idea of buying a fixer upper to go in with more equity (we're working to save up for our DP in a high COL area) but we really don't have much in the way of handyman skills as of yet.

brij2006

@xstatic3333 None whatsoever.  Just a drive to have a home finished the way we wanted it, and we didn't want to spend much on doing that. 

Although, FIL used to work for a carpenter.  So he's been a huge help with more complicated things like wiring, plumbing, and any structural stuff.  Between youtube and asking questions at the hardware store, we've done quite a bit ourselves. 

CuriousKiddosMama

That is awesome!!!! My first house was a foreclosure too, and needed a bit of work. We haven't had it appraised because we are currently renting it, but I wonder if we would end up with the same result. Our area has been on the uptick for prices, so maybe..... hmmmm... may need to call a realtor and see.

Xstatic3333

brij2006 said:

@xstatic3333 None whatsoever.  Just a drive to have a home finished the way we wanted it, and we didn't want to spend much on doing that. 

Although, FIL used to work for a carpenter.  So he's been a huge help with more complicated things like wiring, plumbing, and any structural stuff.  Between youtube and asking questions at the hardware store, we've done quite a bit ourselves. 

That's great! So encouraging. My FIL is a carpenter too-sadly he lives 1,000 miles away. I'm good with cosmetic fixes-I just don't want to get stuck with a bad septic or something like that.

brij2006

Xstatic3333 said:

@xstatic3333 None whatsoever.  Just a drive to have a home finished the way we wanted it, and we didn't want to spend much on doing that. 

Although, FIL used to work for a carpenter.  So he's been a huge help with more complicated things like wiring, plumbing, and any structural stuff.  Between youtube and asking questions at the hardware store, we've done quite a bit ourselves. 

That's great! So encouraging. My FIL is a carpenter too-sadly he lives 1,000 miles away. I'm good with cosmetic fixes-I just don't want to get stuck with a bad septic or something like that.

Yeah that stuff can become complicated quick.

We ended up redoing the plumbing and electrical in the whole house, but FIL did all of that.  All of the cosmetic stuff was on us.

Sisugal

Youtube is great for walking you thru many things.

We hire out for plumbing and electrical (we can manage very small things like changing faucets, light fixtures, but that is about it). My brother is a carpenter who helped with some work during a seasonal slow time, but we did the cosmetic stuff - removing wall paper, doing floors, painting.

IAmSherlocked

That is so awesome, congratulations! I think I'd be scared to look at homes that need too much work, but I am so glad it worked out for you guys. Yay!

I think I'd be too scared to try and fix up a house that needed a ton of work, but I could handle cosmetic updates. We're actually looking at a foreclosure that will need some work to it, but nothing structural or plumbing related I don't think. We'll see though!