Buying a house that needs work?

[Skunksmash]

Until just the other day I thought you could take a little bit more of a loan than you needed when buying a house. Say an extra 10k for repairs such as carpet replacement and painting the walls and such. The lending company said no one does that anymore after the stock market crash. The house I've been looking at is pretty much perfect for me save for needing new carpet and paint, and perhaps a few other updates here and there.

Anyone ever ran into this problem? If so what did you do? What is my best course of action here?

[special-K]

Buy it as is,move in,and fix/replace things when you can afford. The main thing is getting the house. If you paint yourself it's something you can do out of pocket. Many carpet places in my area shove carpet at you with offers to finance,and great deals like buy one room get three rooms free,etc. or no pay/no interest for a year. Check your area.

[Damon23]

Put it in the contract to have the seller take care of or have see if they'll give you some sort of allowance in the contract. Other than that make a offer based on repairs needed and do like mentioned above c
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[cdowns]

a house is pretty much like an old truck
buy it and keep improvin it till u sell it and pray u break even or better yet make a dollar an hour for your effort

[kingsolver72]

I would add to what special-k said. You can spend less money if you pull the old carpet and pad up yourself. Doing that will also give you the opportunity to inspect the floor for needed repairs. My advice is don't buy carpet and pad at a home depot or lowes. Befriend a carpet layer in your area if you can.
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[PanelDeland]

Originally Posted by Damon23

Put it in the contract to have the seller take care of or have see if they'll give you some sort of allowance in the contract. Other than that make a offer based on repairs needed and do like mentioned above c
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This,then do as much of the labor as you can yourself,this will build "sweat equity".I painted and roofed about $7000 on my first home.I worked with a carpet layer to recarpet and then built a fence.With the added value of
the market and owning it for 18 years,it's worth about 3 times what I paid.At one time it was worth almost 4 times purchase price,unfortunately those days are gone.On top of that,since I moved and had a great property manager,I own the house and it's been mostly paid for by others.

[Skunksmash]

Why not Home Depot or Lowes? I was thinking of going with Home Depot because of their $89 install deal.

[LEEVON]

Originally Posted by Skunksmash

Why not Home Depot or Lowes? I was thinking of going with Home Depot because of their $89 install deal.

Because their installers in general, are not that great. Don't you like to do business with somebody you can look in the eye? One thing I continually keep learning as I get older is that most of the time you really do get what you pay for. I also don't just let anybody in my house.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Buy it and fix it

Can we see photos of whats not Right ?

[twouvakind]

Just be happy that the lender is going to finance the loan(asking price of home). These days and time lenders are tight with the coin.

[flashed]

If you buy installed carpet through Home Depot and you have problems with your installers dont count on help from Home Depot ,you already paid up front and they no longer care .Ask me how I know this ,they will NEVER install anything for me again.I now use a small owner operated carpet company when needed ,no big box store.

[Leinie]

You don't want to add stuff like carpet and paint to your loan. What will $2000 carpet and paint cost you with 30 years interest tacked on ? You'll still be paying for this carpet and paint when your redoing it for the third time.
Get the loan for the smallest amount and fix up paying cash as you go.

[meter swinger]

Im with Leinie.
However one option may be in the closing costs, depending on how its being split between you and the seller. The folks that bought my last house paid full price, and I paid all closing costs. Worked for me, and kept more cash in thier pocket, all though the total loan goes up and the payment, though not by much.
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[PAWS 72]

You would be surprised at the money difference on carpet and the quality by going to a carpet store for that.And the installers also. The painting part go to a paint store also. I have 35 years house painting and remodeling behind me and I like to use the smaller places because if you have a problem the manager of the store will help quicker than say lowes or home depot.

Plus the people at the stores know their product better than the big stores.For instance their was a guy that started at our lowes in the paint dept. that didnt know anything about painting and he was telling people how to paint and what would be best for what ever they were painting. I know where he got fired from and why. I will tell in a p.m. only.

Glad your getting the house.Now enjoy what you'll be doing to it.

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Because their installers in general, are not that great. Don't you like to do business with somebody you can look in the eye? One thing I continually keep learning as I get older is that most of the time you really do get what you pay for. I also don't just let anybody in my house.

Hmm. Could you go into a little greater detail on your experiences? I take it they called somebody who looked scuzzy to do your carpet?

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

Can we see photos of whats not Right ?

Yes I will try to get some photos up tomorrow or tuesday, if possible. It might be somewhat difficult to tell what is wrong in the photos though. The last occupant was apparently a heavy smoker who smoked inside the house constantly. The smell is VERY strong and its obvious what it is. So without carpet and paint, I don't see that smell going away. The carpet itself is kind of wavy, and could use a restretch. But due to the smell I figured I'd best just replace it.

Originally Posted by flashed

If you buy installed carpet through Home Depot and you have problems with your installers dont count on help from Home Depot ,you already paid up front and they no longer care .Ask me how I know this, they will NEVER install anything for me again.I now use a small owner operated carpet company when needed , no big box store.

Ok what about just purchasing the carpet from them? And having someone else install? They sell some carpet for as low as $8. As for paint, what do you guys think about sherwin williams?

[Indian113]

I used a product called Kilz It's a paint that has a way of masking smells , when I had my apartment house I had to remodel and paint every time someone moved out. Kilz masked cat urine and I had one tenant that smoked wacky weed and it got rid of that smell.

[cdowns]

if the house has forced air paint and carpet might help the smell but the inside of the whole heating cooling system is heavily coated with nicotne residue for a longterm lingering smell

[SCHRUMGMC]

I hate the smell of Smoke, Especially the Lingering smell of it..Coats your clothes and just smells just plain out nasty..That's why I am thankful I do not smoke.Good luck on this house man, It'll probably be better if you take the Old smelly carpet out because it would save you from getting possible 2nd hand smoke lung cancer, How big is the house man, makes me wonder how much possible lingering smoke there is around the house as well..GROSS !!!! but I wish you well in your new home

[Leinie]

Definitely replace the carpet. Not just the smoke but lots of nast stuff hides in carpet. If big box store carpet is what you can afford, then that's what you gotta do. If your just cheap- think twice. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Also, The pad is way more important than you might think. Don't cheap out there.

Sherwin Williams will be good for paint.

That smoke smell is in everything, so you will need to scrub ( yes , scrub all the wood work, doors, windows , cabinets, closet shelves, everything, and have the duct work cleaned professionally.

Make a point of all this with your offer price.

[PanelDeland]

Also,when you get ready to do carpet,pull up the old and clean under it well,then mop with a bleach and/or vinegar solution.This will help kill smells that have seeped thru the carpet into the underlayment.Fairly cheap and easy to do for a good return on your effort.

I second the "Kilz" but follow directions,it's not as effective if you don't wait the 24 hours between coats.

[PAWS 72]

Sherwin Williams is good Paint.

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by Indian113

I used a product called Kilz It's a paint that has a way of masking smells , when I had my apartment house I had to remodel and paint every time someone moved out. Kilz masked cat urine and I had one tenant that smoked wacky weed and it got rid of that smell.

I want to rent out houses and such for my retirement. In about 30 years lol. Anyway, I'd like to ask. Didn't you specify no pets and no smoking in the house? Or else they don't get their deposit back. From what my realtor is telling me, that is why this guy is selling the house. According to her he used to live in it. Then he moved and rented it out to various tenants over the course of about 10 years. She said he's selling it because the last people smoked heavily in it and now he's just plain tired of dealing with it so he's selling it. So basically the smoke smell is why its even on the market lol

Originally Posted by cdowns

if the house has forced air paint and carpet might help the smell but the inside of the whole heating cooling system is heavily coated with nicotne residue for a longterm lingering smell

What exactly is "forced" air?. This house has your standard central air and heat system.

Originally Posted by SCHRUMGMC

I hate the smell of Smoke, Especially the Lingering smell of it..Coats your clothes and just smells just plain out nasty..That's why I am thankful I do not smoke.Good luck on this house man, It'll probably be better if you take the Old smelly carpet out because it would save you from getting possible 2nd hand smoke lung cancer, How big is the house man, makes me wonder how much possible lingering smoke there is around the house as well..GROSS !!!! but I wish you well in your new home

Its 1,900 sq ft. Slightly larger than average. But it has a shop to work on stuff! Thanks for the good wishes. I'll probly leave all the windows open for a day or two in the beginning.

Originally Posted by Leinie

Definitely replace the carpet. Not just the smoke but lots of nast stuff hides in carpet. If big box store carpet is what you can afford, then that's what you gotta do. If your just cheap- think twice. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Also, The pad is way more important than you might think. Don't cheap out there.

Sherwin Williams will be good for paint.

That smoke smell is in everything, so you will need to scrub ( yes , scrub all the wood work, doors, windows , cabinets, closet shelves, everything, and have the duct work cleaned professionally.

Make a point of all this with your offer price.

Yeah we are offering him about $17k less than he is asking due to all the stuff we gotta do. As for the padding, I know the thickness matters. The thicker the padding, the nicer it feels to walk on. But the faster the carpet wears out, like one member said. But what is the high, medium, and low quality padding made out of? I need to find out what the "medium" quality padding is so I can look for the best deal around town on it. I probably can't afford the best stuff money can buy, but I'll follow your advice and skip the cheapest.

[cdowns]

a standard heat and air system is usually forced air// for yearsit has been suckin up nicotene and coating the inside of the air ducts and heating and cooling elements too

[Indian113]

Yes, I had leases that said NO PETS! the renters thought it didn't mean them. The police helped me move the pot smokers-they took them to jail! I ended up selling my rental on contract and the new owner made it back into a single family dwelling.

[CG]

If you plan on buying and renting houses you better be prepared to learn how to do as much work as possible yourself. And be prepared for that perfect (you thought) renter to turn in to the worst dregs of life and really screw up your place.

Make your first home a bit of a fixer upper. If you get into it and like doing the work being a landlord might be a good thing for you. If you have to pay for everyone to do everything I think being a landlord would suck.

Im very good at fixing homes. We have all the tools and know how to do anything we want done. There is no way I would want to have rental property ... course thats just me lol.