Weddingbee boards

Mr. Spaniel and I are hoping to buy a house this year, but it looks like, in our budget, we'll only be able to find a place that is going to need some TLC, to put it mildly. We don't mind doing some work, but we've never done it before and we're not super handy, so we'll have to hire out bigger jobs (like, say, a kitchen remodel).

Any advice on where to start? We know we'll need a contractor. We don't know any, and we don't know anyone who has done any remodels who can refer us to someone, but we'd like to have a better idea of how long this kind of project might take and what it might cost before we decide whether to buy this year or wait until next year and hopefully find a place that's finished. What resources would you to go to try to get these kinds of answers?

@Bostongrl25: Nothing super major. Anywhere we go we'd redo the floors (unless there was already hardwood, which there never is), and I'm not too intimidated by that and have a pretty good idea of the cost and how much work it would be. The only major thing we'd change in most places we've seen is the kitchen. I don't think I'd want to DIY that because I think it would take forever and we can't live without a kitchen. Ideall all of this would be done before moving in, but I don't know if we could do that... it'd have be to a very fast turnaround for that to happen, because we can't pay rent and a mortgage for very long, I'm sure.

The house we are thinking of making an offer on needs a new kitchen, which would entail moving where some of the appliances are (so plumbing, electric) and replacing all the cabinets and counter tops, which are about 20 years old and look 40 years old. It's like, this is not an issue if it would cost 10K for a very, very basic, low-cost materials kitchen (it's a condo, so we'd want it to look nice, but not to spend a fortune). Or 15K. If it would start getting to 20 or 25K, we might have to pass on this property.

@roxy_angell13: $10K for the whole place? That is AMAZING!!!

I should say, even though we don't have a lot of experience, I'm not afraid of doing a lot of it ourselves. Except the kitchen! I don't want to live without one for a month while we're trying to figure things out. :) I've tiled counters before and I helped my parents install laminate flooring, and painting is easy even though it is a hassle. It's just when it comes to things like changing the layout of a kitchen and installing new cabinets (and moving the sink; damn this sounds like a lot of work) that there is no way I'm DIYing. ;)

We just bought an apartment that needs work (vanity updating, like old tile in the bathroom and outdated kitchen, refinishing floors) and we also have zero experience in this arena. For us, the real estate market is so crazy (NYC) that we took a leap of faith and bought into our dream building in a unit bigger than we could afford if it were all new and updated.

What we did was we searched online for 'average' remodeling costs across the country which made us a little more comfortable with the cost. This was done primarily by my DH so I apologize I don't have the websites handy. Obviously it will suck for a few years being cash strapped since all of our disposable income will go into renovations, but the upside is we're in a bigger space in a nicer building.

As far as choosing contractors, try to go with someone who a friend or family member recently used. We are lucky because many of our friends have bought in this city and done renovations, so we have a lot of referrals for contractors. And there are only a handful of contractors who do specific things like put AC units through the wall, etc.

@moderndaisy: Having friends' recommendations would make us feel much safer, I have to say. :( Unfortunately, none of our friends have bought anything, except one couple which never did any renovations to their house so they don't have any referrals. I'll see if I can find any more specific average costs. I got a lot of "It depends." Which sounds like law school all over again. :)

But what you're doing sounds a lot like what we're hoping to do. Assuming there are no major repairs to do, it's mostly just vanity updating (which would be easier to live with if we do them before moving in, but not 100% necessary), which is why I feel okay attempting most of it on our own. Good luck to you!

@spaniel: I totally know what you mean, we are actually still in the same boat where we don't really know what it's going to cost. The majority of the cost will obviously be labor and as long as you are OK passing up on high-end finishes, you can keep costs down. We are not cash heavy by any means, but we've accepted the fact that we'll have to do one project at a time if we don't want to go into debt. There are certain things that NEED to be done before we move in like the floors and AC units going through the walls, but other things like retiling the bathrooms and updating the kitchen can wait.

@Gerbera: "If I were you I might even call up contractors for a quote before putting in an offer on the home." YES. I wasn't sure if this was done or if that's totally crazy. :) I think it's impossible to price a kitchen without seeing what's already there (and where it is), so I didn't know if I could even do that. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. :)

As far as materials... yeah. It's a condo. We're hoping we'll live there 5 years before renting it out, so granite countertops and marble floors aren't exactly a priority. :) We can upgrade again later if we decide we have to in order to sell it; right now we just want to make sure it doesn't look like crap and is functional for the way we live and cook. ;)

@kayakgirl73: I get granite if you're planning to sell soon. If they had granite countertops, we might be less on the fence about buying. :)