How To Buy A House That Needs An Update

The oldest homes on the market are often the ones that need the most work, and while home furnaces, water heaters and built-in appliances often need an update, an older home could need structural updates that you didn’t expect when you bought it. Of course, if you’re aiming to buy a fixer-upper, you’ll know that when you buy an old house, there will be things that need to change within them to make them liveable.

If you choose to buy a home that needs some cosmetic work, you’ll be able to purchase at a lower price than a more established home. It also means that you need to develop a plan to modernize the home as part of a selling plan – that’s if you bought the house to sell it again! Here are some of the steps that you need to take:

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Update? The very first step that you need to make is to check the local guidelines for changes that you need to make on your house. The dream transformation that you want to make may not match the neighbourhood and you may not get your plans approved. No matter what, you need to get through a home inspection to ensure that any changes that you do make will be beneficial. You can only guess what updates you need to do without a professional home inspector to come around and check the foundations, mechanicals and the roof.

Inventory. The ability to have a written inventory of updates will make it much easier for you to do a cost-benefit analysis for your house. You need to know what the major updates are, including the details down to the paint you want to put on the walls. Take pictures of everything that you plan to change.

Pricing. You need to make a list of all the prices of the repairs and updates that need to be done on the house. Speaking to professionals and collecting estimates can really help you to price the updates and budget correctly. While you’re there, shop home stores and building materials firms to think about the material prices that you need to budget for. Expect high estimates if the work is huge, including in plumbing, electrical or moving the main walls of the house. Always budget for 10% over the estimates you got and that way, you can think about possible hidden costs.

Start Work. Once you have all the pricing sorted and the list of repairs ready to go, work can start on the house that you’ve bought. You need to be able to move into a home that’s safe and looks great all at the same time. You can then have the house valued with the repairs to see whether you will be able to get it in line with value of the properties in the same neighbourhood.

Buying a fixer-upper is going to be the best thing that you could do for yourself if you want to have a home that is personally suited to you and your future. Plus you could sell it on for a profit and it could earn you a chunk of change!