Impulsive Me!

[treehugger]

Okay, I'm impulsive. I admit it and sometimes I agonize over a decision. But once I make up my mind I jump into it with both feet, never to look back.

I've decided that I'm FED UP with home improvement CRAP. Buying a fixer upper has been way too much for me.

I used to think I could grow old in this house, but...I'm ready to throw in the towel. From now on I'm going to bust my butt and get it presentable so I can sell it and buy a condo in the city.

Question: I got my place (waterfront) for a steal. I want to sell for at least 150,000. My kitchen sucks.

Do you think it's worth it to move my kitchen into my dining room or should I stick with surface kitchen reno's? My kitchen as it is, SUCKS. It's way too small. Cabinet and counter space? Forget it.

I'm looking at spending a minimum of $15,000 to $20,000 if I move my kitchen.

I owe like 30,000 on the place.

I need to come up with about $100,000 for a down payment on a condo if I even want to consider selling...so my house had better net me that much.

I'm already looking at condo listings! I want one in an upper floor facing west with a balcony so I can watch storms come in. And a secured heated underground parking garage...and a health club...a pool would be nice....

I already found one I really, really want......on the 9th floor... But I don't think I can get $$ in time.

(insert drool here)...

But like I said, I really need to sell this place for at least 150,000 to make buying a condo feasible..

Has anybody ever sold a house and bought one simultaneously? How does it work? Do you put your house on the market and then make an offer on a different house? Or is it the reverse? Do you find a house that interests you and then put yours on the market?? :confused:

Maybe I could reserve a condo that's under construction WHILE my house is on the market?

I'm thinking so far in advance, I know, but that's just me.

Kath

[LIBRA]

crazy girl!! When I saw the title I thought you had gotten a tattoo for some reason!!

Wow, how much are condo's??? $100,000. down payment??
Id rather have a house and land then have a condo but I am a country girl so I wouldnt even know if Id like it, ive never tried it!!

I would say look around at listings in your area for houses maybe even go actually see inside them, so you can get a feel for prices and ck there kitchens out, to see if your property is comparable to what else is around.

Good luck!!

[treehugger]

Well, I'd like to have $100,000 for a downpayment so I can keep the mortgage really LOW. Like under 100,000. The condo I'm in love with, they are asking 209,000 for it but its last assessment was for like 173 so I can't see them getting much more than that in the end.

I'm interested in a little more upperscale, urban. I'd LOVE to be able to get rid of my car! :D That's another good thing about the one I'm in love with, it's like a ten minute WALK to where I work! It's 22 miles for me one way to work, now. Plus I hate doing yardwork and home maintenance work, I just want to come home and relax.

Wish I could snap my fingers and sell my house... :bawl:

My problem is there ARE no comparable properties. Waterfront properties are typically highly valued. But normally the houses on those properties are really nice newer houses.

In Madison, a friend of mine looked at a waterfront house for $300,000. And he said the house was REALLY bad and needed to get torn down. (you could see the sky through the living room ceiling...and, not through a skylight)

But, that is in Madison, 20 miles away from here.

Madison is growing really fast though. I'm actually situated between Madison and Milwaukee, closer to Madison. It's commutable to both cities, but madison, more easily.

My house doesn't need to get torn down but I wouldn't be able to warranty it. So I'd have to sell it AS IS. The foundation is really "iffy", unfortunately. And the floor plan is pretty cumbersome.

So...a junky house on a waterfront lot 20 miles out of Madison? I don't know. I DO know I have to do a bit more work before I even think about trying to get a GOOD price for it.

I'd be pleased as punch if I could get 180.

Kath

[toman]

Condos and urban life are nice. Having no car is nice. Everything is right outside your door... The only downside to me is sometimes the noise, like right now there's a guy outside with a leaf blower driving me nuts. :cheers:

[LIBRA]

I have lived in the same place my whole life, Id like to experience life outside this box I actually would if I didnt have a child, if it were just me Id go all over, maybe someday when he's grown!

Anyway, I cant believe condo's are that much, its basicly an apartment right?? Or is it on its own just in the city??

[treehugger]

Condos can be both but I want to live in a high-rise...you could say it's like an apartment but I'd own the apartment as opposed to renting it.

This is where I really want to live: http://www.condoshoppe.com/listings/vetx4r47313.shtml

And the condo I want is the small one, in the lower left, '12.

Pics: http://www.fsbomadison.com/picture_detail.asp?pic=pics%2F7090%2F7090%5F1%2Ejp g&addrs=360+W%2E+Washington+Ave%2C++Unit+910&pNum=1

http://www.fsbomadison.com/picture_detail.asp?pic=pics%2F7090%2F7090%5F4%2Ejp g&addrs=360+W%2E+Washington+Ave%2C++Unit+910&pNum=4

[delta9]

Good luck, treehugger, I hope you get your relaxing condo!

[LIBRA]

Nice, very nice I really couldnt even imagine living like that, I THINK IT FREAK ME OUT!! They look cool but what about "smoking" in a place like that??


Well good luck, I hope you make out good!!

[treehugger]

Nice, very nice I really couldnt even imagine living like that, I THINK IT FREAK ME OUT!! They look cool but what about "smoking" in a place like that??


Well good luck, I hope you make out good!!


Heh...I bet the bathroom's got a REALLY good exhaust fan...and it'd blow out onto the roof. Along with 300 other units...no worries.

Guess I DO tend to move fast once I've made up my mind, I have a real estate agent coming over tomorrow to do a market analysis....will keep you informed.

Kath

[delta9]

:bandit: *passes to treehugger*

[treehugger]

*treehugger inhales, holds it, exhales, passes to the left.....

[hempcrow]

girl, i think that you are goin way beyond your means here.....

sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want in order to get to a better place.... i'm saying this, basically: if it is goin to cost you more to have the ability to watch storms come in, baby you can do that for free.. it's called the great outdoors and it's good in small doses like that. sometimes it's heated and air conditioned.. and thats all free too.

all i'm sayin is... you can do the condo thing and have it upper leveled... anything you can do yourself for free, do exactly that.... you don't need a special window for storms

[CowboyHippy]

I called a realtor friend and found the average turn around time for a house in my selling range, for my former house, the asking price was going to be 125k and the average turn around was 2-6 months, so i listed it on the market and began casually looking, there was a respectable offer in a week so i had to hurry and find a place, but the average turn around could be a useful tool if you are possibly weighing the option of making 2 payments at once.

is your kitchen all that bad to a prospective buyer?
I look for things when buying houses, as well as looking for "not things"
when selling i put myself in their shoesi.e. if i were to fix somethign up, what would bring me a quicer return, and at least get my money back

things i look for when inspecting home is the quality of the stuff inside, it makes me sick to se a house listed with newly remodeled kitchen with appliances, then go in and its dirt cheap particle board kitchen cabinets and off the home depot shelf countertops with bottom of the line appliances, it tells me that this person did a quick spruce up to sell

same goes for carpet or flooring, id rather save a couple grand on a house with old need to be replaced carpet than new cheap carpet that'll be matted to a pulp in a year

I won't buy a house with textured walls, unless i plan on gutting it. I am aware in other parts of the country, things are built different and they stucco a lot, but here if you have textured walls it's usually the sign of some greater damage.

I know you're sick of home repairs, but if you needed to fix somethign to sell it, a quick fix might hurt you in the long run

[treehugger]

I called a realtor friend and found the average turn around time for a house in my selling range, for my former house, the asking price was going to be 125k and the average turn around was 2-6 months, so i listed it on the market and began casually looking, there was a respectable offer in a week so i had to hurry and find a place, but the average turn around could be a useful tool if you are possibly weighing the option of making 2 payments at once.

is your kitchen all that bad to a prospective buyer?
I look for things when buying houses, as well as looking for "not things"
when selling i put myself in their shoesi.e. if i were to fix somethign up, what would bring me a quicer return, and at least get my money back

things i look for when inspecting home is the quality of the stuff inside, it makes me sick to se a house listed with newly remodeled kitchen with appliances, then go in and its dirt cheap particle board kitchen cabinets and off the home depot shelf countertops with bottom of the line appliances, it tells me that this person did a quick spruce up to sell

same goes for carpet or flooring, id rather save a couple grand on a house with old need to be replaced carpet than new cheap carpet that'll be matted to a pulp in a year

I won't buy a house with textured walls, unless i plan on gutting it. I am aware in other parts of the country, things are built different and they stucco a lot, but here if you have textured walls it's usually the sign of some greater damage.

I know you're sick of home repairs, but if you needed to fix somethign to sell it, a quick fix might hurt you in the long run

No, I wouldn't just do a "quick" fix like that but, the thought that I'm probably going to sell rather than try to live here for years and years, will probably preclude me from doing way expensive, such as granite countertops and the like. I'd still do nice quality stuff.

Yes, the kitchen is *that* bad. Hopefully when the realtor comes over today he can let me know how I can get the house to net me enough $$. If I leave the kitchen as it is, saving ME $20,000 dollars, but end up taking $40,000 less for the house, then it would have been worth it to go ahead and install a nice kitchen. On the other hand if I'd spend $20,000 to do a nice kitchen and only gain $10,000 in resale value on the house, then I'm in the hole. But maybe I could spend $5,000 and still gain that $10,000 in value.

So hopefully I can find that "happy medium" where I can maximize my investment. I may end up finding out it's worth it to me to go all the way and put in a $20,000 kitchen.

I know that I am not going to get the condo I posted pics of. Way too much work needs to be done here. The building is still under construction so there may even still be condos available in there in a couple years when I'm closer to being able to do this.

But it's nice to have a goal in mind. I was really starting to flounder on fixing this house because I have been slowly coming to the realization that even when I have everything *fixed*, it's not actually going to be that suitable for me. The two floor style of living is fine now, while I'm younger, BUT I can't see myself hiking up the stairs when I'm eighty. As well as a lot of things that just bug me. I am tired of mice and rodents. And tired of big huge, fanged, hairy spiders!

Living on the waterfront is nice but it has its own problems.

So anyway, now that I have a dream again and I don't just feel like I'm "polishing a turd" , I am more motivated to get off my duff and get to work. I've been sitting here complacent with the house half finished. Time to get cracking!

[treehugger]

Update:

Met with the realtor today. Seems I could get 120,000 for it in its current, unfinished state.

Finish it and I'd command an easy $200,000.

Wait until the village modifies the street I live on...unknown. It'd go up a bunch but how much I don't know. I guess the feed mill across the street is going to go and they are going to put in eclectic artsy craftsy stores. That'd help my prop. value a BUNCH.

I think I'm going to bust my butt and see if I can't get this place darn near completion in a year to a year and a half.

I'm psyched now, I have something to work towards!

Kath

[morningsunshine]

I'm psyched now, I have something to work towards!

Kath
I always feel so ready-to-do-stuff whenever I have a goal.. it really motivates me... it's nice, ain't it?