I have been even worse about blogging since my summer project got started. We sold our downtown condo for a house in a beautiful little town. Now we have large trees in our large yarn, an extra large 2 car garage (i.e. it will hold 2 cars and a bunch of stuff), and plenty of room for our cat to roam and leave his towns around (the baby is still mostly stationary). I also have a quick list to help you determine if buying a fixer upper is something you may be up for.
1. Are you prepared for the unexpected?
We took possession of this home on a Friday, then moved all of our belongings in on Saturday. I arrived at the property Saturday morning before the moving truck to do a little prep work. Instead of getting right to starting on the clean up, I went to the store for buckets and rags to contain/clean up a leak from our master bathroom. Now I was excited about eventually remodeling and updating this little room, so having this project moved up on the list is not the worst thing that could happen. It was certainly a surprise though.
2. How comfortable are you with unidentified messes?
In a lot of cases, houses on the market at great prices and in need of work are also in need of a lot of cleaning. My husband urged me to keep this portion of the post vague, so just know that if the walls haven't been painted recently, then the kitchen appliances and bathrooms probably haven't been kept sparkling clean either.
3. Are you willing to keep most of your possessions in the aforementioned garage for an indeterminate amount of time?
We have been bringing our belongings into the house slowly because that just makes the cleaning/painting/other work easier without the clutter around. In fact, our master bedroom was kind of gross (see #2) so we didn't even both moving anything in there. We are sleeping in another bedroom and the smallest bedroom in that bedroom cluster is our closet (because if you unpack into a closet you will never paint it!). Its really not so bad heading out to the garage to pull a fresh towel out of the linens box.
4. What is your level of comfort at learning new things?
So far we have learned about measuring for kitchen appliances, replacing electrical outlets, determining what all those wires in the electrical box are, mailbox regulations in the US, hooking up washer/dryer combos, replacing kitchen faucets, and how to decommission a leaking shower so that you don't need to dump out a bucket of water everyday. Some of this was done without internet even!
5. What is your level of comfort at thinking you've learned a new thing only to realize that you messed up in a way you couldn't have foreseen?
Luckily, most places take returns on almost everything. So we have bought and exchanged bolt cutters and electrical wire because they were the wrong size. Nothing like coming home from the store thinking you're set to work only to discover you bought the wrong thing. Similarly, there was a lot of trial and error while replacing the electrical outlet in our bathroom. Luckily, most of what we have taken on so far has worked out fairly well.
6. Do you have enough funds available to just call in a professional if you answered "low to none" for either of the last two questions?
We are kind of stubborn, so just calling in a professional is not our first choice (unless its something heavy or awkward, or something that could catch on fire). But if you are someone who just wants to have it done, you're going to end up paying a premium if you hire that work out. Part of our sale involved having an HVAC contractor come in regarding air not blowing into the bathroom from the system. We paid $80 to have a guy come and pull some foam out of the vent, apparently its very common for families to do this because AC in the living room may feel good, but AC in the bathroom is another story.
7. Does every adult in your household work full time?
I don't work full time, I stay home with our daughter (which is work, more than full time). It allows me to work on the cleaning and putting away on week days. I am also on site to just be tracking what projects are how far and what I need my husbands help doing (i.e. carrying furniture up from the garage). While I'm not home painting or rewiring the place with my daughter in my arms, I am here to manage other contractors that we are bringing in, keep a running list of what needs to happen next, and do the little things that make the bigger projects go smoother (can you say blue taping up EVERYTHING?). Its certainly not a requirement for there to be an adult not working full time, but it is important to consider the time you have available for the projects needed around the house. A fixer isn't a good deal if you are never able to get the work done to create the home of your dreams.
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