02-05-2011, 12:22 AM
Ryan T Wrote:+1ViPER1313 Wrote:This is coming from a guy who bought a fixer upper, but I wouldn't let an outdated HVAC system / water heater / windows / roof scare you away from a house if the price is right. A new roof is under 5g for a townhouse, figure 3 to 5g for a completely revamped HVAC system, if a window is not broken it's not *necessary* to replace it, and water heaters are cheap (under 1g installed) to replace and super cheap to fix if not leaking. Just keep those numbers in mind when shopping around and make and offer on the house accordingly, knowing the amount of work it needs. More costly upgrades are decks, hard wood floors and nicer bathroom/kitchen setups. If you want them and the house you are looking at doesn't have them, be prepared to pay though the nose.
If you don't mind doing some work yourself some of those upgrades aren't horribly expensive. Decks are expensive, thats for sure. I also agree with paying out the nose for cabinets/countertops. Even if you hang the cabinets yourself quality ones are going to cost you a bit and I wouldn't try to put in countertops myself because scribing and contouring are a PITA. But if you are willing to lay the hardwood floors yourself you can do most of the house for less than the cost of a roof (depending on sq.ft. and quality of the wood of course). Same can be said for updating a bathroom. We had a friend of ours who hired a guy to seal and paint their ugly tub. It comes with a 10 year any default warranty and only cost $~300 and looked great. Tile can be had for a good price if you'll cut and lay it yourself. You can supply a whole kitchen with new appliances for the cost of a HVAC system and install it all yourself. All the appliances I've installed have been pretty easy.
I'd rather pay somebody to get my HVAC right so if they did it wrong I have somebody to bitch at and have them fix it. In the realm of things, most of that other stuff really isn't that bad if you're willing to do the labor.
Last year we re-did our downstairs bathroom (tile floor, new sink, new toilet, new faucet, paint) for less than $500 and Lowe's cut the tile for us for free while we waited.
During spring break I had ~2 acres of land completely cleared of stumps and leveled, fresh gravel poured for my entire driveway and parking area, built three 8'x16' garden beds w/ fresh soil/mulch/peatmoss, and put up 300 feet of 8' privacy fence (5000 lbs of concrete = those posts aren't going anywhere) for a little over $4k.
It all comes down to what you're willing to learn and do yourself. That said, it's a good practice to get a couple quotes from professionals too so that you can properly evaluate how much your time is worth to you...