Please show off your "Handyman Specials!"

We're having such a hard time finding a house and having that "this is it" feeling. DH and my dad are very handy and we know quite a few people to do interior and exterior work. I'm so afraid getting some kind of handyman special or something is going to turn into Money Pit for us . I can visualize potential and I have ideas of what I want, but I woul really love to see before and after pics! The houses that are completely done the way I want are out of our price range and the rest seem to need A LOT of work. I really wanted a colonial or cape, I wanted all the bedrooms upstairs but I'm having a hard time finding that. There are a lot of splits and hi ranches in the area we're looking. I really didnt want stairs and different floors breaking up the living area. If you have those types of houses are they a PITA with LOs? I wanted a den or family room to make the playroom on the mainfloor. I can't see a basement as the only playroom until all my kids are older. I only have 1 DS now and he's only 16 months old. Wow I just went all over the place with this post but I'm getting so frustrated with house hunting!! PLEASE post your pics and give me some hope and inspiration!!

Re: Please show off your "Handyman Specials!"

We have a high ranch. My DD's BR is pretty big so we use that as a playroom too. She is only 2. We have a den downstairs that is like an office/den. We don't use it that often. For the most part our living space is on 1-floor, LR, DR, Kitchen and Br's and I love the layout!

ETA as far as fixer upper be careful to really figure out price of all improvements that would need to be made. It really adds up!

Message edited 5/16/2011 10:23:04 PM.

Re: Please show off your "Handyman Specials!"

I think some of it depends on your definition of "handyman special" or "work." A lot of buyers I work with think that "dated" is a lot of work, but it's just cosmetics. I mean, gut-renovating a ktichen and bathroom can be a lot of work, but some buyers -- not saying this is you! -- get really turned off by ugly carpeting or a ton of patterned wallpaper and those types of issues.

I know when I bought my house, we ripped up the rugs, refinished the hardwood floors, hired someone to take down the wallpaper that covered almost every room in the house, as well as the paneling in the family room to put up sheetrock, and had most of the house painted. We also had recessed lighting added to the formal living room, basement, and master bedroom, and changed out the chandeliers in the entry hall and formal dining room, and added ceiling fans to two bedrooms. All of that was very quick to do (I was like 8 months pregnant when we closed on the house on LI, we lived in the city, and we wound up getting all the work done and moving in when our son was 5 weeks old), and it was relatively inexpensive. But it REALLY changed the whole look of the house. I'd still like to update our kitchen and do a few other projects, but when we bought, we overlooked some of the more dated aspects and focused on the fact that the house had new gas heat, central air, a master bathroom, a deck, a patio, and oversized property with mature landscaping, a fireplace... all bigger, more costly items to add then paint or lighting fixtures or refinishing floors.

Also, unless you buy a custom built new construction, there will likely always be some things that you want to change over time, but some things you can live with and do over time..

Also, I have a split (which is a style I wasn't really looking for), but I love my layout. There are many different models of splits, so maybe you will find one that will work for you! I have 3 bedrooms upstairs -- the master is on one side of the landing, with its own bath, and the two bedrooms and main hall bath are on the other side. My main level has the entry hall, a formal living room, formal dining room, and large eik that leads out to our deck.. My ground level is the entrance from our attached garage, my family room, which leads to our patio, and my half bath. I also have a finished basement below that.

I like that the family room is a few steps down from the kitchen. The main level stays more "formal" and then the den/family room is for hanging out and watching tv. But I can see my son if I am in the kitchen, and if I have a party, it feels more spacious because everyone is spread out a bit, but not that far apart. Also, my basement is only 5 steps down or so from the family room, so again, if my toddler is playing down there and I have to run up to the den, it's not a whole flight of steps away. I think it is a really convenient layout that maximizes the square footage.

That being said, if you really want all of the living space on one level and all of the bedrooms upstairs, a colonial is the way to go. A cape, you still have bedrooms on the main level (it's usually 2 up and 2 down for a traditional cape), and you don't always have a den (aside from the basement). But colonials are usually the most expensive homes... if you love them, I would get something that needs cosmetic work (not major renovation). You can do the quick fixes up front and work on bigger projects (a kitchen renovation) over time. The style and layout is something you can't change, so I wouldn't settle for something you won't be happy with in the long run!

Re: Please show off your "Handyman Specials!"

We bought a house that we completed redid. The only room we havent touched is the bathroom. I have a few pics in my house album but can show you more if you want. At some point we are doing a full dormer to add 2 bathrooms and a bedroom sot he house will go from 3 bed 1 bath to a 3 bed 2.5 bath.

Re: Please show off your "Handyman Specials!"

We were looking at something along those lines...But we were very leary about what exactly needed to be done! We didn't mind cosmetic but structural was out of the question. We saw one houes we loved and luckily we didn't get it bc now we hear from the contractor we used that theh ouse had mold behind the walls and major major isseus...The house we bought we got very very very luck with thank g-d so far. The woman was an old lady that hadn't updated it in forever, BUT she was beyond anal and kept very very good care of everything in the house and anytime she saw a problem it was fixed immediately...She was so anal that at the closing we had paperwork from 1972 the year the house was built So essentially all we had to do was cosmetic updates which we were fine with doing