I think the hardest thing is waiting and trying to not get to excited about any one particular property. The market has changed and we have found ourselves not being able to make offers on certain homes because the other buyers were buying with 100% cash........ no financing. No financing means no risk to the sellers so those buyers can be in a better position to purchase. We have also found ourselves competing with house flippers.
One of the current homes we made an offer on today I had initially disregarded. I was new to the area we are living in California so I didn't feel comfortable in a particular neighborhood that was on its upward sweep to being a really great neighborhood. I also jumped to conclusions about surrounding properties. Only later after looking more seriously at the neighborhood did I see the trend in house prices increasing with watching several houses be flipped and resold during our time looking for homes.
We have settled currently on a house that needs some work. We realized it would cost us less to buy something that needs a little work than to buy one in really good condition and then add on work spaces for either myself or my husband. We both work from home so we need spaces that you can't always find in typical real estate. So now we are paying a lower price and have money to refinish a home to make it our own and more importantly fit our needs. I am very excited about this but trying to not get to excited while we wait to hear back from the seller.
We did hear that the seller was more interested in our offer because we want to live in the home. The other 12 offers and I do mean 12; want to remodel and sell it again. Some are cash offers as well but with this seller they are more interested in people wanting to live in the home. We find out on thursday what happens.
If we get this house I show you the before and after photos and the remodeling projects as they unfold. But before we put the offer in we had to ask ourselves 10 serious questions.
1. How much money do we have to remodel the home?
2. What will need to be done before we can live there?
3. Does our offer allow enough time to have these things done before we move in?
4. Gut check- are you sure you want to do this? Check your list- if it gets too extensive this might not be the right house or project for you!!
5. Are there particular items that can be back ordered or need to be ordered ahead of time? (i.e. kitchen cabinets usually are a few weeks out)
6. Do I have a list of contractors that we can solicit pricing from?
7. How much if any of a remodel can we live through?
8. How long of remodel are we willing to live in?
9. Do we have the time and energy to devote to select materials and making design decisions?
10. Do we have a good architect who can help create a master plan so that we don't have to redo projects and waste money?
If you want assistance on your project; I would be happy to help.
Best,
Vanessa
www.studioplank.com
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