You Play Home Buyer – Which Do You Pick?

January 9, 2009 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Home Buying

I was showing a couple homes to one of my buyer clients the other day, sort of a study in opposites.

One was a one-owner home from 1960 – with original everything: kitchen, flooring, bathrooms, light fixtures, wall paper, everything. But it has a nice floorplan, with excellent potential, and the neighborhood is one of my favorites, tucked away from traffic but close to everything with a stable population and low turnover.

The other was a fix-n-flip from 1950, a little bit smaller, a little bit more expensive, but remodeled from top to bottom. Not quite as stable of a neighborhood, but decent.

Both have nice lots. House #1 has a 1 car carport, house #2 has a 1 car garage. Both have central A/C.

The first house needs work, but it’s a little bigger. We’d want the foundation checked by a professional – there’s some cracking inside, and I’m not a structural engineer so I can’t say if those cracks are just typical settling on an older house or something to be worried about.

The second house has some very nice aspects, but some of the work was done quickly, not quite finished to perfection. And you always wonder on those, what signs of trouble have been patched and fixed and painted in the process of fixing and flipping? What signs of issues are gone that we would have seen if everything hadn’t just been renewed?

So which do you pick? And why?

Comments

4 Responses to “You Play Home Buyer – Which Do You Pick?”

Jake Boen on January 9th, 2009 8:58 am

I’d most likely go for house #1. I’ve seen too many poor remodels and sometimes I don’t even like the good ones.
You are correct about the “what’s covered up” question. There could be a roof leak that won’t show until the summer monsoons because wall board was patched and painted. The owners may be playing the odds game that it will be sold by then. On the other hand there could be nothing wrong with the home. All homes need maintenance, have minor problems, and are far from perfect. Its the major problems that will cause issues in the future. At least with the first home you have a truer image of how the home has stood the test of time. Then you as the new home owner can make the decision of how to dress or add to the home for the next 50 years.
Martha on January 9th, 2009 11:21 am

Its hard to tell from the information you gave me. Did the owner of house #1 do minor repairs, but not remodel, or did he neglect the house during the 40 plus years he owned it?

On the surface I would say house #1, since you like the neighborhood, and can really see the potential there. Buy it! Martha
Jackie on January 9th, 2009 4:48 pm

Easy – I select house #1. It sounds like house #1 is in a pretty good location and in my world location trumps dollars, within reason. There have been so many B-A-D fix and flips that personally I don’t even want to see them anymore *unless* all permits have been filed and based on those permits I can get the names and numbers of those that have done the work. I want assurances that the work was done by licensed pro’s and if not, I walk.

Considering the economy and the state it’s in, it seems fairly certain that deals can be made with contractors re: cost of updating house #1. And it would be exactly as I wanted it IN a location I preferred. Piece of cake decision.
Scott on January 9th, 2009 7:13 pm

My last house was a DIY remodel, and he made a cheap mess of everything. But the location was perfect.

So it’s #1 for me – the stable neighborhood. A blank canvas to do the remodel right over time.

The funniest thing my wife and see on “House Hunting” is a continuing series of people walking away from awesome bargains becase the “paint is wrong”. Amazing.

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