Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

It was move-in ready -- meaning new kitchen, new bath in the upper levels of the split.

But, we had to do new siding, new windows, new heating, new deck.

We still need to do new roof, another bath remodel, den remodel, etc.

If I could have bought a totally new house - or less than 15 years old, I would have. You just don't realize HOW much things cost and how things get eaten up.

So if/when we ever go for a new house, I'll want it to be move-in ready for sure. Meaning, new siding, windows, heating, decks, kitchen and baths....

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We bought a turn-key.. but mostly because we just liked the house and property a lot. The house needed some stuff - some replacement windows, a patch of new roofing and I hated the kitchen - but nothing that couldn't be lived with. I replaced the kitchen appliances immediately - but 4 years later we still haven't found money to redo the tiles/cabinets. But we're coming closer because Rob and Jeff (our friend) have created a floor plan.

We were actually looking for a fixer upper because Rob is VERY handy, I'm fairly handy and we have several friends who are contractors and in construction who would have been happy to help.

Message edited 4/5/2010 12:03:50 PM.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Fixer upper purchased 3.5 yrs ago. DH and his dad did everything but the dormer. NOT including the dormer, we've put about $45K into the house and again, that was with DH and his dad doing most of the work (gutting and redoing our kitchen, adding a bathroom, etc.). I'm sure it would have been at least double had we paid for labor.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house is not really a fixer per se, but it does need work because it doesn't have newer updates.

I never wanted a house we had to gut.. I wanted to be able to move in and work on stuff as we go.

Almost every inch of this house needs something done so we are tackling each thing as it comes.

We knew we had to forgo an updated home for the area we wanted to move into and the size home we needed. We have a 4 bedroom and moved into Three Village schools, so an updated home here would have been $50k more at least.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

While ours was technically move-in ready, we had to do some work to get it ready before we moved in:

removal of all wall paper (borrowed a friend's steamer and bought about a gallon of the DIF chemical): volunteer labor from family to remove the wall paper, and about $30-40 for the DIF

Painting every single room in the house: volunteer labor from friends, and about $1000 on all of the paint and primer

Removal of old wall to wall carpet and then sanding and refinishing of the hard wood floors: approx $2700 (don't remember the exact figure)

That was all we did to move into the house. We bought some new living room furniture and put our old stuff in the basement, which we will eventually completely re-do (tearing down fake wood paneling, new electrical, insulation, dry wall, etc). Bathrooms will eventually be redone (original circa 1950 fixtures) but are totally usable for now.

The one thing we really wanted to do early on but now can't b/c money is tight with on the way is the kitchen. It's the original steel cabinets from 1950, with old appliances that work but who knows for how long. It is workable for now, and while I hate it, we can still cook and clean dishes in there, so we're dealing.

I think the big difference b/w what i would term 'move-in ready' and 'fixer upper' is whether or not the things that you would fix are cosmetic or need to be replaced. Only you will know what you can and can't stomach.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We bought an outdated but liveable house. We intended to do 1 room at a time and just the one bathroom in the beginning.

Well every room was stripped (wallpaper, paneling, popcorn ceilings) and then had to be put back together. What you think you can live with versus what happens when it becomes yours is totally different. A lot of friends had the same thing happen. Once we started one thing it was like "Since we're doing this, let's do ....." In the long run I'm glad we did it because the house looks better, but it was A LOT of work (DH and I lived apart for 5-1/2 months while he worked on it every night). And it's still not done. There are small things we never finished (moldings, painting the risers, etc ...) I am hoping to get back on the ball soon and finish.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We completely gutted the home and re-did so we spent a lot.

However, if we were keeping existing rooms, walls, etc - I estimate we would have spent about $50K. That's new bathrooms, paint, siding, kitchen, roof, flooring, appliances.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Move-in ready for us.

A big reason is that neither DH or I are handy, and I was pregnant with DS#1 when we bought our first home (and DS #2 when we bought our second) and didn't want to do major renovations with babies/little kids around.

For our first home, which was much older, we ended up spending about $4500 for refinishing our floors, building a new deck, and painting.

This home we are in now is only 6 years old and we haven't had to do anything...yet.

If you need to buy furniture/decor- that can really add up too- so keep that in mind when you put aside money for renovations.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Thanks everyone for your great and VARIED responses. There is lots to think about. Right now, we are finding that houses we want to see are getting scooped up so fast with people DESPERATE to get in for that tax break. We can't even get in to see them -taken before we have a chance.

Personally, 8k is not enough for me to buy a house in haste. I also refuse to clear out our bank accounts after a down payment. I will not be "house-poor". A truly move-in ready and updated house would be ideal, however, that means it costs more. So IMO, as long as the kitchen is updated and we arent needing to drop 10s of thousands of dollars immediately, Im good. I'll be without a salary for 3 months when I go on leave in September. I have to be practical.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

WE bought our house in move-in ready condition but we really didnt like the kitchen (it was fine but we didnt LIKE it) We spent about 13K on new cabinets granite and new appliances....
we knew if we didnt do it then we would never do it.!

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

People say it is better to get more house then "move in ready" bc you pay a premium for someone else's work...

But for DH and I personally? We bought our first home move in ready..it was a 2 bdrm coop and honestly it would have cost us the difference to fix it bc we would have to hire someone to do it..

Now when we get a house I would be willing to move into a home that was semi-move in ready.

For example, the bathrooms are fuctional but I would want to change them in time...

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We bought a house that was completely move in ready--just bring your stuff...we both work full time and just don't have time to spend doing the renovations.

We paid a little more than most probably would but I think we both would say, for us, it was worth it.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house (union county NJ) was move in ready. I did not have to paint, sand floors, etc. I got extremely lucky. The kids rooms even remained the same. Even though my husband is extremely handy, with 3 kids we lacked the time to commit to home improvement.

Happy House Hunting!

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house was outdated but, move in ready for the most part.

We painted, had the floors sanded and refinished, and updated the electric.

The kitchen was really old so we got new countertops and painted the counters. We also got a new fridge and dishwasher (whcih were needed). Since we moved in 3 years ago, we've also had to replace the stove.

We loved the location though and the potential to expand one day (although I would love the space, I'm not looking forward to the inconvenience that comes with the work involved with expansion).

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We opted to sacrifice room for a move-in ready house in the neighborhood we wanted. We could have bought a larger house but most were fixer-uppers and like you, we wanted to leave some money in the bank. We're also not handy.

We had to replace our cesspool 2 months after we moved in, so we were glad for that money in the bank. We don't regret what we did but we do intend on trading up to a larger house in a few years.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We bought a fixer-upper and we are not handy at all. We've owned the house a little under a year and so far we redid the main bathroom, had all the walls refinished, refinished the hardwood floors, put up a new banister, replaced all the windows, replaced the roof and we're currently finishing up our complete kitchen redo. And honestly, now that we've had this experience, I would never ever buy a move-in ready house. I love that everything in my home looks the way it does because we made it that way. I'm spoiled now, I never want to live with somebody else's choices! I feel giddy every time I walk in our bathroom and I hope our kitchen will soon have the same effect on me.

We still need to redo our cement, put up a fence and have a paver patio installed, but all that will wait until the fall.

Message edited 4/5/2010 4:33:35 PM.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house was technically move in ready. We closed when the twins were just over 2 weeks old, so I was in no rush to leave my apt in my moms house!!

Although it was move in ready......there were and still are a lot of things we want to change to our taste.
DH ripped up all the carpets. We put new carpet on stairs and in out bedroom. The other bedrooms have new pergo. We had the LR and DR sanded and stained.

My unlce helped DH paint, we painted 2 of the bedrooms, halls, LR, DR and kithcen.

the kitchen was liveable but really not to our style at all. we started looking into it and found a good handyman who did a lot of the kitchen work for $2000. We tore down half the wall between kitchen and living room and added an island there, added counter and cabinet on a bare wall, put down new tile floor, new backsplash, new formica on counters (granite was not in the budget ) and new hardware on cabinets, oh and new appliances. We bought all the supplies and he did the work in a little over a week.

there is a HUGE list of stuff we want to do over time, but the house is very comfortable and we are planning little projects for the next year or so, nothing big.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Move in ready for us! It's funny because I love home improvement shows and my DH and brothers are carpenters, who can do all kinds of work, but no one has the time or inclination to actually do it on their own homes!!! It's like the shoemaker's kids with no shoes!

Honestly, my DH works too much to want to do more work around the house on the weekends.

We had the floors done, wallpaper removed and the house painted before we moved in. The rest is all pretty livable for the time being. The kitchen and baths are all about 7 years old and while not totally my style, they're all in good shape and somewhat updated. We can live with it for another 5 years or so, then we might put in a new kitchen and some of the bathrooms.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We purchased an "As Is" fixer upper. It was owned by an elderly couple who hadn't done any upgrading or upkeep or the updating (done in the 80s) was done completely wrong (lots of short cuts).

My husband is handy, but also loves learning new things and my father is extremely handy as well.

That being said, we've put approx. 250K into our home over the past 7 years. The sad part is that it doesn't look like it. (Kitchen and main bath still need to be done.)

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house was move-in ready as far as being clean and functional. We could have only replaced the carpet in the den and been fine. However, I was tired of living with off-white walls in our apartment, so we painted the living room, dining room, kitchen, den, and master bedroom. We put new carpet in the den, and carpet in the bedroom (it had hardwood floors, but DH wanted carpet in that room...I would have been happy with an area rug). We also bought a new stove/oven, because my one stipulation for moving into a house with electric rather than gas was that I would have a glasstop stove, rather than coils.

We've been in the house for two years now, and since then, we have replaced all of the windows in the house, which was the biggest expense so far. We have also installed high hats in the den ($1300), and reglazed the awful pink tub ($300), and painted the bathroom.

There are tons of things that we want to do in the house - totally gut and redo the kitchen, redo our downstairs bathroom, etc., but it will all be done over a long period of time. It's most important that the house is functional.

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Our house was move in ready, but needed a lot of updating! The majority of the house hadn't been updated in years...some of it since the 40's when it was built!
But it had been properly maintained through the years and is in GREAT shape! Our kitchen appliances are original to the house and still work really really well....they're just old.

I prefer a house that isn't all done....I like to put my own touch on it, rather than to pay for someone else's style!

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

We are just starting to look. Ideally we would love a totally renovated home but that probably won't happen. I don't mind something that is outdated and will need some updateds over time, but we can't take on something that will need to be a complete remodel. Our biggest thing is the kitchen, if the house has a kitchen we can't live with then we won't consider b/c the cost of kitchen renovations is so high...

And so the search begins, we shall see....

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

fixer upper. My dad is a contractor and I'd rather make the home completely my taste than pay for someone elses..I would buy move in ready though if it was a great deal, but I find that the homes that ppl really poured money into they want back, obviously, but most of the time I'd rather just pour my money and taste into the house...we're also looking for a home that we can stay in for the rest of our lives and not sell it

Re: Move in ready or Fixer Upper?

Ours was new construction ( which still required an immense amount of finishing work- landscaping etc...)

We did own an investment home a few years back that we fixed up and it was a lot of time and work...DH is fortunately very handy and can do everything himself....Not condusive to having 2 DC's to tend to though ( this was pre DC's)

For your peticular situation I would look for something that comes close to what you like taste wise that requires minimal work that needs to be done asap...