In 2002, I bought this house. It was built in 1898. There was a ton of updating that needed to be done with this home. In some areas, no updating had been done probably since the original installs of the various rooms. The bathroom wasn't even original to the house! Imagine that. A house so old that when it was built, bathrooms were still optional. The only thing it really had going for it was that it had a newer furnace and newer windows.
Just be prepared if you want to even consider this sort of project, because you have two options.
Option one is paying someone to do the work for you. Generally you want a licensed and insured contractor. This can be extremely costly.
Option two is "sweat equity", or doing the work yourself. There are tons and tons of how-to manuals to do any type of work on your home. And it isn't that difficult, its really just a matter of having the proper tools, time, and an ability to follow step-by-step directions. Of course, if you're inexperienced in the work you want to do you probably won't get it perfect (but then again, even experienced professionals don't get it perfect all the time).
I used a combination of both these options. Sometimes I would make a quick fix until I could afford to pay someone to do the work for me. Fortunately after researching and visiting city hall, I was able to secure government grants to help me pay for some of the more costly repairs.
Depending on where you live, grants can be an option. Especially in older homes that are in dire need of updating. Unfortunately there are usually limits to the types of work these grants will pay for. For instance, I got a grant to help me pay for a new roof. However, the grant money could not go to gutters, that would come out of pocket.
You can also visit the bank and take out an equity loan to help pay for updates, but that can be a very costly road to start traveling down - taking out any type of loan or credit line should be considered very carefully. Equity loans are easy to get, and are also partially responsible for the current crisis with people's homes getting foreclosed on left and right as home values have plummeted. Credit lines at home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe's should also be carefully considered.
Just remember, any money you invest in your home you will not get back until you sell it.
The outside after new siding, new porch, new roof, new chimney, and some landscaping. That's just a portion of the exterior work that was done it!
1 comment:
My house still need work.
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