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nvrgivupevr
New Member
Cash: $ 1.75
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Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Location: ocean county, New Jersey
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| when is spending too much? |
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I'm suppose to close on a duplex in an adult community next week. The place is very clean but really dated. It's an old adult community ( built late 60's, early 70's).There are so many things I would like to do, but I'm afraid I won't get my money back, ( I'm planing on selling it in 5yrs when i'm 55 an can buy in a community where the houses are single, not duplexes.)you can buy at any age in this place ,but you must have someone 55 or over to live with me. it will be real affordable and give me extra money to fix the place up. I've looked at so many places in here, not many are fixed up, and when they are it looks like a 2yr old did the work. I would love to put granite counter tops in and hardwood floors , new cabinets the works.I get the feeling it will be overboard for the area. Is there a way to find out how much the houses in here have sold for recently? Judging from the places I looked at , I bought mine for about $50,000 less than what other people were asking. ( it was an estate sale, 4 offers first day. mine was chosen because I did not have to sell a house to close) I'm thinking now maybe I should just give it a nice, what I call a "home depot" make over. cheaper cabinets,maybe even reface, laminet flooring, paint, cheaper bath fixture , but new. I can do almost all the work myself,or with a few friends.I just don't know where to turn to find out how much is too much. any help would be greatly appreciated.
oh , by the way,I live in New Jersey if thay matters.
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Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:15 pm |
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oldguy
Senior Member
Cash: $ 275.30
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Joined: 21 May 2006
Location: arizona
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quote:
I'm thinking now maybe I should just give it a nice, what I call a "home depot" make over. cheaper cabinets,maybe even reface, laminet flooring, paint, cheaper bath fixture , but new. I can do almost all the work myself,or with a few friends
Definitely don't do any more than required to make it livable/sevicable or saleable. In general, upgrades give you less than 50% of your money back. So if you spend $20,000 it only adds about $10,000 to the appraised value. This is completely OK if you plan to live there for decades becasue you will bhe getting the use out of yuur upgrades. But if you are upgrading in hopes of making money you are barking up the wrong tree. And that is doubly true with fad upgrades - ie, granite countertops, hardwood floors, etc.
I worked with a couple about two weeks ago, the previous owner had spent $60,000 on upscale hardwood floors, they were beautiful - but it didn't add a nickle to the purchase price, he essentially lost the whole $60,000.
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Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:33 pm |
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nvrgivupevr
New Member
Cash: $ 1.75
Posts: 8
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Location: ocean county, New Jersey
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Wow!, less than 50%. That's an eye opener. I actually had a $20,000 figure in mind, but I think I should paint and wait and see what the market does now, I can always do the up grades a year or so before I want to move. I was under the impression that people expected these type of upgrades in todays market, but putting $2o,ooo in and not really getting a return is just a bad idea. I didn't really buy to make money, but I think I bought low enough to where I have about $30,000 equity already, don't want to eat that up making it look pretty. Can you go to the township and find out how much other units sold for?
thanks for the insight
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Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:54 pm |
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angdeer
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Joined: 19 Feb 2010
Location: Traverse City
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I have a friend that is a call center agent at West Corporation http://www.west.com/communication/what/customer_care.asp and she talks with people about this every chance she gets. We watch way too much HGTV together as well. We live fixing up homes just to sell. I just went through my second flip (buying and fixing just to sell). Hard work but let me tell you it does pays off. Your doing the right thing here, buy low put some money in to fix it up. Dont think of it as your dream home. Thats where people tend to go wrong. Also get a Realtor to come over and look at what you have. They can show you what comps in the area sold for and what they had to offer as interior decor. They can give you a good idea of how much to spend in each room and what people are looking for. They know so ask, their clients are telling them daily what they are looking for at what price. Why would they just give me all this free advice? They want the sale down the road and the referral that you give to your friends. Trust me there is no better way to go about this and be so informed.
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Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:19 pm |
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