buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

Homeowners, in your own experience which do you think is the best option?

Buying a fixer upper for a steal and then paying for the renovations?
-or-
Buying a house that is move in ready for more than you wanted to spend?

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

From experience, I can tell you one important thing.........if you buy a fixer upper make sure you research and budget for everything it will need and then realize, once you're in the house, there will be 5000 other renovations that need to happen that you didn't even account for. Sometimes, paying more upfront for a move in ready house makes more sense in the end then buying a fixer than needs a TON of work.

We bought a total fixer upper. Original owner from 1969, never did a SINGLE thing to the house......it needed EVERYTHING!! And I do mean everything, right down to needing to replace sockets and face plates. The house was NASTY!

We got our house for probably $25K less than others in the same neighborhood but because it needed SO much work, WAY more than we anticipated, in hindsight it would've made more sense to just pay a little more upfront to avoid the hassle of renovations which ultimately cost us more in the end then we expected. The only positive is now everything in our house is new and we got to pick it so that's nice BUT it was a ridiculous amount of work (we did EVERYTHING ourselves) and A LOT of time, energy, money, and effort.

Lastly, if you're not VERY handy stay away from fixers because if you need someone to do the work for you, you can basically double your costs to renovate.

Message edited 8/15/2011 9:15:49 PM.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

I agree with the above poster - I myself since already owning a fixer upper and investing a lot of money into it would pay the extra money for a house that is already completed. I know most people would buy the home that needs to be renovated because the cost is lower and then they can renovate it themselves.

As a first time buyer I may do that depending on the difference of cost of the homes, what needs to be done to the homes, if we can live there during renovation or if we would have to find other living space during the renovation like we had to, and you also have to make sure you get price quotes for everything before you close. Because if you just figure it out on your own and dont get a professionals estimate then you will be short changing yourself. Every thing is so expensive now - especially if you dont know anyone to do the work for you

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We met in the middle...bought a home that had some renovations (mostly to the outside, new roof/siding, new patio, driveway, walkway, landscaping, etc...) and was perfectly liveable, but with room for improvements. We were able to spend less than we wanted to, have a great place to live, and the ability to make it our own over time with no rushing.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We bought the ultimate fixer upper in 2004. It had severe water damage from a failed heating system and broken pipes.
We paid $75,000 under market value and we spent much less than that to make it livable. My DH is a carpenter and we were very frugal with the renovations for example we spent $5000 total on a complete kitchen renovation.
As the years have gone by we've upgraded some of the things we did when we first moved in, but we also lived with some stuff unfinished for years. Since we have been so conservative with our Reno budget our house is still worth more than we paid for it during the boom. We could have easily spend $125,000 or more on higher end improvements with a home equity loan and we'd be upside down like so many other people.
I do not think that buying a fixer works out to be a savings for most people especially if you'll be paying contractors to do the work,But the plus side is you get a house that is exactly what you want when it's done.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

I would not a complete fixer upper that would require electric work, fundation/structural issues, mold/water, etc...

I would not get a "flip". I have very wary of flips. I feel the work is not always up to par or covering up stuff that needs to be fixed.

I would get a house in the middle of the road, needs some remodeling but that can be done down the road, one room at a time.

If I had to choose between a flip and a fixer upper I would get a fixer upper.

I would get a remodeled house that is not a flip. Yet, the taste is never really exactly mine so I would change it eventually.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We bought a fixer upper (same owner since 1950 when the house was built) and I wouldn't have it any other way. We did 99% of the work ourselves. And we now have a house that we never could have afforded if it was all fixed up. Plus I got to do everythign exactly how I wanted it.

With a fixer upper you have to know what you are getting yourself into. DH & I love to do projects so if we bought a house already fixed up we would have tore it apart anyway. Plus I find the work in many of these fixed up houses is not very good and you end up with just as many issues.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We got a fixer upper on a great street with a great yard.

When we first moved in, we did enough to make it livable but, this year, we renovated completely - everything except one kitchen and a bathroom - to turn our cape into a colonial.

The one plus about getting a fixer upper is that you can make the updates that you want but, the minus is, it sometimes costs more than buying an already renovated house in the end.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We bought what we consider a fixer upper, but everything was functional and clean (save for the bathroom but that happened after we went into contract/before closing).

That way we could live in it right away and take our time renovating it. Good thing, because while we got the house for a steal and gutted the bathroom right away, shortly thereafter the economy greatly impacted our cash flow so we put other projects on hold (we won't do a renovation unless we can pay for it in cash).

While it looks like we will be in this house longer than we wanted to and it is taking us much longer to complete all of the improvements, at no point did we ever find ourselves in a scary financial situation, so it's worth it for us to have a kitchen circa 1965 for now!

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

Fixer for a steal! But, we are DIYers and had a great experience renovating our home.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

We bought a house somewhere in the middle. We bought from original homeowners who did modest renovations over time but nothing major, (no additions,etc). We knew going into it we could gut all the bathrooms before moving in, had to remove the carpets, stain the floors, paint. When we got there we quickly learned we needed to replace all the outlets, the doors, hardware, and most of the light fixtures.
We bought the house at a great price, and had the ability to remain in our current apt while doing the work. Even with that, i will tell you it was a headache dealing with contractors, and driving back and forth to the house daily, forcing my mom to go deal with issues bc we were at work etc. Many times I have said, next house will be turn key.

Yes, i am very happy that we are able to have the house look th way we want, but its a lot of work, and very difficult working long hours and having to coordinate workers. I could not imagine having to totally renovate every room. There are always complications with any renovation, our vanity and sink in the main bathroom is still on its way (from Mars I expect) 12 weeks later.

Re: buying a fixer upper or already renovated house?

DH was not handy so i knew we could not purchase a fixer upper, it would probably cost us more money in the end paying for people to renovate the house