Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Bone to pick
This goes out to all the smug people out there who have never done it but think they could do a better job or look at you like you don't know what you're doing and make some snitty ass comment. Maybe they rent - maybe they paid a premium for someone else to have renovated their house - maybe they paid a general contractor to do it for them while they drank cosmos and told their friends about how they are "working" on a major renovation. FUCK OFF! Do it yourself and then we can talk - until then you can kiss my velvety ass cheeks and live with being an asshole.
Update
So one thing I have learned is that major renovations take on a life of their own. Unless you are very experienced, or unless you have an experienced hand helping you plan, things will change. And from what I hear, things change anyway. Things have certainly changed for me recently and I have been set back, but I actually feel better (sort of) and have a better plan.
What happened? It can all be boiled down to two things: The "order of things" and "the kitchen".
1. The order of things. So I thought I was ready to stain my concrete floors after spending over a month cleaning them... Turns out I'm not! Why? Well I guess I could but then it would be a real chore to protect them from dirt/scuffs/etc. while all other things get done in my house. Furthermore, if I stained them now, I couldn't stain everything because the kitchen is not done and portions of the floor currently covered by cabinets and/or the pantry may be exposed later. Also, the guest bathroom is not demo'd because I need an operating toilet while I work. So I can't do those floors either! After talking to some wise renovators, I decided it was best to hold off until my drywall work is done and my kitchen is done and the guest bathroom is demo'd. That way I can stain the entire house and be efficient about it - no putting away the tools, coming back later to stain this or that room. More efficient to stain the entire house at once!
2. The kitchen. So given #1 above, I turned my focus back to my kitchen design, which I thought was about done. I spent weeks drawing it up in Google Sketchup, which is a cool program that let's you see what things will look like in 3-D, and it's free to download! Anyway, I busted my rear, read a book, and figured I could draw it up myself given I'm an engineer and all. I did my best, and I did OK, but I wasn't comfortable with my design because I'm not an architect. And designing kitchens and cabinets is complicated if you are not experienced with it! Therefore, I submitted my design to my good friend Tim Whitehill who is a professional architect and a great guy. After batting it around with him for awhile, he took it on as a extra-curricular project and helped me come up with a solid design. It's not all either of us wanted it to be because of space/layout constraints - but it's better than what I drew up. I'll try to post the designs so you can look at them. By the way, I owe Tim a huge debt of gratitude! He is a bad ass and would not let me pay him for his services - he says moonlighting stresses him out! Hopefully all the beers I bought him suffice - but I also plan to buy him a bottle or something.
Right, so now that the kitchen design is done, it turns out I have no need for ANY of the existing cabinets. That sucks because I had originally planned to leave the existing cabinets, which were well built, in place and have my kitchen contractor extraordinaire build a few custom cabinets around the existing ones. So now that my kitchen design calls for a total revamp, it's time to reconsider that approach. A few custom cabinets is one thing - but all custom cabinets is another because they are expensive! My contractor quoted my at $150 per linear foot of custom cabinet. My design calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 feet of cabinets, which is about $5K just for cabinets!! I knew custom cabinets were expensive, but I thought I'd only need a few. But given the design calling for all new cabinets, pre-fab cabinets seem the most cost effective way go. I hear IKEA and Gold Star are the way to go. Gold Star is like IKEA but higher quality and better service for a bit more money. I am planning to have both (and LOWE's) price out my kitchen.
Also, given the design rendering all existing cabinets useless, that means I have a lot more demo to do! Furthermore I've decided to go ahead and demo the guest BR and either get a porta potty or buy a porta potty from Cabella's. I was talking to my neighbor, who has done a lot of renovating, and he says his guys just pee in the bathtub and go to the corner store if they have to make poopy. Bottom line is I don't want to sacrifice a ton of efficiency in order to have a working bathroom. I'd rather spare the comfort and get the job done quicker/cheaper. Calling your contractor out a second time to drywall the bathroom and doing the floors in the BR after the rest of the house is done is inefficient and costs more.
So this past weekend, I had friends over (Mike Stratton, John McNeal, Jeanne) and we demo'd the entire kitchen (and drank beer and pitched washers). Then, after a kickass and much needed few hours of mountain biking with my good friend Mike Stratton, my dad and I knocked out the hallway closet and hallway header on Sunday . On Monday I hauled all the rubble to the dump - btw it is $47 per pickup load of trash dropped off at the dump here. I didn't get all of it, but think I can cram the remainder into my COA trash can to get picked up every Friday and get rid of it over the next few weeks. Also, I have an enclosed fireplace so I may burn a good portion of broken trim boards, etc. Of course I am saving good 2x4's and such that come out of the walls/pantry/headers/etc. to use on other projects.
Next steps are to finish demo-ing the guest BR and haul off all debris. THEN I will be ready for the drywaller to come in and do the entire house! Oh yeah, and I'm looking into matching the existing texture (roll-on eggshell) instead of having the entire house textured. The texture costs as much ($750) as the drywall ($750)! I'll let you know how that turns out. After drywall/tape/float/texture is done - then comes floors, covering floors, cabinets, master bath vanity, trim, counter tops, plumbing install, interior paint, final coat of floor sealer, MOVE IN.
What happened? It can all be boiled down to two things: The "order of things" and "the kitchen".
1. The order of things. So I thought I was ready to stain my concrete floors after spending over a month cleaning them... Turns out I'm not! Why? Well I guess I could but then it would be a real chore to protect them from dirt/scuffs/etc. while all other things get done in my house. Furthermore, if I stained them now, I couldn't stain everything because the kitchen is not done and portions of the floor currently covered by cabinets and/or the pantry may be exposed later. Also, the guest bathroom is not demo'd because I need an operating toilet while I work. So I can't do those floors either! After talking to some wise renovators, I decided it was best to hold off until my drywall work is done and my kitchen is done and the guest bathroom is demo'd. That way I can stain the entire house and be efficient about it - no putting away the tools, coming back later to stain this or that room. More efficient to stain the entire house at once!
2. The kitchen. So given #1 above, I turned my focus back to my kitchen design, which I thought was about done. I spent weeks drawing it up in Google Sketchup, which is a cool program that let's you see what things will look like in 3-D, and it's free to download! Anyway, I busted my rear, read a book, and figured I could draw it up myself given I'm an engineer and all. I did my best, and I did OK, but I wasn't comfortable with my design because I'm not an architect. And designing kitchens and cabinets is complicated if you are not experienced with it! Therefore, I submitted my design to my good friend Tim Whitehill who is a professional architect and a great guy. After batting it around with him for awhile, he took it on as a extra-curricular project and helped me come up with a solid design. It's not all either of us wanted it to be because of space/layout constraints - but it's better than what I drew up. I'll try to post the designs so you can look at them. By the way, I owe Tim a huge debt of gratitude! He is a bad ass and would not let me pay him for his services - he says moonlighting stresses him out! Hopefully all the beers I bought him suffice - but I also plan to buy him a bottle or something.
Right, so now that the kitchen design is done, it turns out I have no need for ANY of the existing cabinets. That sucks because I had originally planned to leave the existing cabinets, which were well built, in place and have my kitchen contractor extraordinaire build a few custom cabinets around the existing ones. So now that my kitchen design calls for a total revamp, it's time to reconsider that approach. A few custom cabinets is one thing - but all custom cabinets is another because they are expensive! My contractor quoted my at $150 per linear foot of custom cabinet. My design calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 feet of cabinets, which is about $5K just for cabinets!! I knew custom cabinets were expensive, but I thought I'd only need a few. But given the design calling for all new cabinets, pre-fab cabinets seem the most cost effective way go. I hear IKEA and Gold Star are the way to go. Gold Star is like IKEA but higher quality and better service for a bit more money. I am planning to have both (and LOWE's) price out my kitchen.
Also, given the design rendering all existing cabinets useless, that means I have a lot more demo to do! Furthermore I've decided to go ahead and demo the guest BR and either get a porta potty or buy a porta potty from Cabella's. I was talking to my neighbor, who has done a lot of renovating, and he says his guys just pee in the bathtub and go to the corner store if they have to make poopy. Bottom line is I don't want to sacrifice a ton of efficiency in order to have a working bathroom. I'd rather spare the comfort and get the job done quicker/cheaper. Calling your contractor out a second time to drywall the bathroom and doing the floors in the BR after the rest of the house is done is inefficient and costs more.
So this past weekend, I had friends over (Mike Stratton, John McNeal, Jeanne) and we demo'd the entire kitchen (and drank beer and pitched washers). Then, after a kickass and much needed few hours of mountain biking with my good friend Mike Stratton, my dad and I knocked out the hallway closet and hallway header on Sunday . On Monday I hauled all the rubble to the dump - btw it is $47 per pickup load of trash dropped off at the dump here. I didn't get all of it, but think I can cram the remainder into my COA trash can to get picked up every Friday and get rid of it over the next few weeks. Also, I have an enclosed fireplace so I may burn a good portion of broken trim boards, etc. Of course I am saving good 2x4's and such that come out of the walls/pantry/headers/etc. to use on other projects.
Next steps are to finish demo-ing the guest BR and haul off all debris. THEN I will be ready for the drywaller to come in and do the entire house! Oh yeah, and I'm looking into matching the existing texture (roll-on eggshell) instead of having the entire house textured. The texture costs as much ($750) as the drywall ($750)! I'll let you know how that turns out. After drywall/tape/float/texture is done - then comes floors, covering floors, cabinets, master bath vanity, trim, counter tops, plumbing install, interior paint, final coat of floor sealer, MOVE IN.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Staining
So I am planning to stain my floors this weekend! Finally! But first I want to have an experienced eye have a look and let me know if it looks like it will be a successful project. I've got a few calls out - but I'm going to buy the stain and make like it's happening this weekend.
Concrete Preparation for Staining
After a greuling effort, my concrete slab is pretty darn clean! It was covered in latex paint - splatters all over and also a inch or so thick line around the perimeter where baseboards were previously painted. Glue also abounded - where the vinyl tile was pulled up. There were also wavy lines of glue where the carpet squares once were. On top of all this, there were these odd, black, greasy blobs here and there.
I wasn't sure what products to use to clean up these messes. So I began experimenting with various stripping compounds as well as paint thinner and mechanical methods (scraping, grinding, etc.). After a lot of wasted time and money trying different products, here is what worked for me:
1. Motsenbocker's Stain Lifter #5 - removed latex paint and some glue from concrete. $20 per gallon - order it online at HomeDepot.com. Or you can buy 22 oz bottles in the store for $9. It's biodegradable and water based. Not too fumy but have good ventilation. Works better than more toxic stuff like Klean Strip, Tuff Job, etc. Easy to apply and clean up as it is just a spray - not a nasty, toxic, gel.
2. Bean-E-Doo - very good at removing glue and any mastic material. I used this on the mysterious black blobs and also on the wavy glue lines and vinyl tile glue that didn't come up with Motsenbocker's #5. It's something like $15 per quart so much more expensive than M#5. In Austin, I found this product at a place called the Stain Shop. It's completely soy bean based and has no fumy smell. One downside is it can leave concrete looking darker than it was before - like oil on leather. So try not to leave it sitting for longer than necessary.
3. Tri-Sodium Phosphate - this is more like a detergent used to clean up after my chemicals. Don't rely on it to clean anything hard core off your slab. Mix half a cup or so with 2 gallons of water - get the large box of dried crystals for best economy.
4. Floor Maintainer - this is the big floor buffer like you see your custodian using in grade school to clean the floors. Use the BLACK abrasive pads - the green ones left green residue all over the damn place, which I had to clean! Adjust the inclination of the handle before you start the thing up to about 60 degrees or so - you WILL lose control of the thing if you start it with the handle totally vertical. Push down on the handle to steer it left. Pull up on the handle to steer it right. Expect to crash it into the wall at least once before you get the hang of it - I thought that stuff was overblown but I had a real hard time with it at first. I'm a big burly dude, but I crashed it twice and left some seriously large dents in my drywall... Good thing there is so much other drywall work to do - in the grand scheme of things not much harm done.
4. Rapid Strip grinding wheels - these are odd looking but very effective grinding wheels that you can use on either a drill or an angle grinder. They are fibrous and either blue or black in color. I recommend using the angle grinder as it's easier to position for stripping paint/glue etc. - especially around corners. A drill will work too - but use one with a chord if you have a lot to do because my 18 volt chordless ones kept losing charge. I used this for whatever didn't come up with the big mechanical buffer - and also around edges and corners.
5. Razor Blade Scraper - this is a razor blade mounted on a 6" or 7" handle. It was used where stuff was so thick that it was inefficient to try chemicals or the grinding wheels. Scrape it first with this and then try the above stuff.
My procedure for each room:
1. Remove baseboards and sweep.
2. Use pump sprayer (all plastic) to spray TSP
3. Use mechanical buffer to buff
4. Squeegee water/residue into one puddle and use wet-vac to vacuum up.
5. Once dry, use pump sprayer to apply Motsenbocker's Stain Lifter #5 (I had one with M#5 and one with TSP).
6. Use mechanical buffer to clean.
7. While Mostenbocker's stuff still on there, spray on (or you can use mop to apply) another round of the TSP.
8. Use mechanical buffer to clean the TSP and M#5 combo.
9. Squeegee liquid into a puddle and vacuum up.
10. Whatever did not come up with mechanical buffer, get it with the angle grinder and rapid strip wheel and/or razor blade scraper.
11. After Steps 1-10 were done, I sprayed rooms with TSP one more time and used a bristle brush on a pole (like you use to clean a deck) to agitate/suspend any remaining residue.
12. Squeegee and vacuum residue.
13. Use sponge mop and bucket with TSP solution to do final mop-through.
If I had this to do over, I would probably leave out a few of the TSP applications:
1. Sweep
2. Spray with M#5
3. Buff
4. TSP application
5. Buff
5. Squeegee and vacuum
6. Grinder / Razor Scraper
7. TSP app
8. Brush on a pole
9. Squeegee and vacuum
10. Final mopping with sponge mop
Concerns:
1. I still have some lines on my slab that would not come up with any of this - looks like water got into the carpet and had some reaction with the floor to make rusty lines between carpet squares. Fortunately these are similar to the color of my concrete stain, so I'm hoping they blend in? We'll see.
2. The Bean-E-Doo left some darker areas in my floors - what will those look like after stain application?
3. There are some divets in my slab that need to be filled with masonry. Will that material stain a different color? Should I fill them in or leave them alone?
I wasn't sure what products to use to clean up these messes. So I began experimenting with various stripping compounds as well as paint thinner and mechanical methods (scraping, grinding, etc.). After a lot of wasted time and money trying different products, here is what worked for me:
1. Motsenbocker's Stain Lifter #5 - removed latex paint and some glue from concrete. $20 per gallon - order it online at HomeDepot.com. Or you can buy 22 oz bottles in the store for $9. It's biodegradable and water based. Not too fumy but have good ventilation. Works better than more toxic stuff like Klean Strip, Tuff Job, etc. Easy to apply and clean up as it is just a spray - not a nasty, toxic, gel.
2. Bean-E-Doo - very good at removing glue and any mastic material. I used this on the mysterious black blobs and also on the wavy glue lines and vinyl tile glue that didn't come up with Motsenbocker's #5. It's something like $15 per quart so much more expensive than M#5. In Austin, I found this product at a place called the Stain Shop. It's completely soy bean based and has no fumy smell. One downside is it can leave concrete looking darker than it was before - like oil on leather. So try not to leave it sitting for longer than necessary.
3. Tri-Sodium Phosphate - this is more like a detergent used to clean up after my chemicals. Don't rely on it to clean anything hard core off your slab. Mix half a cup or so with 2 gallons of water - get the large box of dried crystals for best economy.
4. Floor Maintainer - this is the big floor buffer like you see your custodian using in grade school to clean the floors. Use the BLACK abrasive pads - the green ones left green residue all over the damn place, which I had to clean! Adjust the inclination of the handle before you start the thing up to about 60 degrees or so - you WILL lose control of the thing if you start it with the handle totally vertical. Push down on the handle to steer it left. Pull up on the handle to steer it right. Expect to crash it into the wall at least once before you get the hang of it - I thought that stuff was overblown but I had a real hard time with it at first. I'm a big burly dude, but I crashed it twice and left some seriously large dents in my drywall... Good thing there is so much other drywall work to do - in the grand scheme of things not much harm done.
4. Rapid Strip grinding wheels - these are odd looking but very effective grinding wheels that you can use on either a drill or an angle grinder. They are fibrous and either blue or black in color. I recommend using the angle grinder as it's easier to position for stripping paint/glue etc. - especially around corners. A drill will work too - but use one with a chord if you have a lot to do because my 18 volt chordless ones kept losing charge. I used this for whatever didn't come up with the big mechanical buffer - and also around edges and corners.
5. Razor Blade Scraper - this is a razor blade mounted on a 6" or 7" handle. It was used where stuff was so thick that it was inefficient to try chemicals or the grinding wheels. Scrape it first with this and then try the above stuff.
My procedure for each room:
1. Remove baseboards and sweep.
2. Use pump sprayer (all plastic) to spray TSP
3. Use mechanical buffer to buff
4. Squeegee water/residue into one puddle and use wet-vac to vacuum up.
5. Once dry, use pump sprayer to apply Motsenbocker's Stain Lifter #5 (I had one with M#5 and one with TSP).
6. Use mechanical buffer to clean.
7. While Mostenbocker's stuff still on there, spray on (or you can use mop to apply) another round of the TSP.
8. Use mechanical buffer to clean the TSP and M#5 combo.
9. Squeegee liquid into a puddle and vacuum up.
10. Whatever did not come up with mechanical buffer, get it with the angle grinder and rapid strip wheel and/or razor blade scraper.
11. After Steps 1-10 were done, I sprayed rooms with TSP one more time and used a bristle brush on a pole (like you use to clean a deck) to agitate/suspend any remaining residue.
12. Squeegee and vacuum residue.
13. Use sponge mop and bucket with TSP solution to do final mop-through.
If I had this to do over, I would probably leave out a few of the TSP applications:
1. Sweep
2. Spray with M#5
3. Buff
4. TSP application
5. Buff
5. Squeegee and vacuum
6. Grinder / Razor Scraper
7. TSP app
8. Brush on a pole
9. Squeegee and vacuum
10. Final mopping with sponge mop
Concerns:
1. I still have some lines on my slab that would not come up with any of this - looks like water got into the carpet and had some reaction with the floor to make rusty lines between carpet squares. Fortunately these are similar to the color of my concrete stain, so I'm hoping they blend in? We'll see.
2. The Bean-E-Doo left some darker areas in my floors - what will those look like after stain application?
3. There are some divets in my slab that need to be filled with masonry. Will that material stain a different color? Should I fill them in or leave them alone?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Steps
1. Demolish wall in entryway foyer. **Tore off drywall 6/19/09 Take out framing?
2. Complete all other demolition (master bath vanity, door frames?) **Took out master vanity 6/19/09.
3. Start cleaning concrete slab with mechanical buffer, stripper, Tri Sodium Phosphate. **Done
4. Spot clean floors for whatever doesn't come up with buffer. **Done.
4. Complete kitchen design (cabinets, etc.) **On second iteration - nearly done
5. Materials selection/purchase for kitchen.
6. Get contractor started in kitchen (cabinet construction, counter top placement, etc.)
7. Paint/Stain/Install cabinet doors and install new handles.
8. Have drywall contractor do patches and make home "Paint Ready"
9. Stain floors (except kitchen & guest bath)
10. Master Bathroom updates (counter top, sink, sink/tub/shower faucets, install toilet)
11. Guest bathroom demo
12. Stain floors in guest bath and kitchen
14. Guest bathroom updates (vanity, counter top, replace toilet, sink/tub/shower faucets)
15. Salvage/Locate/Install Baseboards
16. Interior Paint.
17. Install appliances
18. Move in.
19. Energy Audit.
20. Exterior Aesthetics.
21. Landscaping.
2. Complete all other demolition (master bath vanity, door frames?) **Took out master vanity 6/19/09.
3. Start cleaning concrete slab with mechanical buffer, stripper, Tri Sodium Phosphate. **Done
4. Spot clean floors for whatever doesn't come up with buffer. **Done.
4. Complete kitchen design (cabinets, etc.) **On second iteration - nearly done
5. Materials selection/purchase for kitchen.
6. Get contractor started in kitchen (cabinet construction, counter top placement, etc.)
7. Paint/Stain/Install cabinet doors and install new handles.
8. Have drywall contractor do patches and make home "Paint Ready"
9. Stain floors (except kitchen & guest bath)
10. Master Bathroom updates (counter top, sink, sink/tub/shower faucets, install toilet)
11. Guest bathroom demo
12. Stain floors in guest bath and kitchen
14. Guest bathroom updates (vanity, counter top, replace toilet, sink/tub/shower faucets)
15. Salvage/Locate/Install Baseboards
16. Interior Paint.
17. Install appliances
18. Move in.
19. Energy Audit.
20. Exterior Aesthetics.
21. Landscaping.
Progress to Date
First of all, thanks to the many friends and family (Dad, Mom, Will, Diana, John, Danny Hurtado, Susie, Dana, Jenna Cundy, Roger Jennings, Chris Allen, Jamie Allen, Staryn Wagner) who have all helped me with advice and/or manual labor! So far I have torn out all my floors (blue carpet squares and vinyl tile), pulled up all my baseboards, demo'd my kitchen, demo'd my bathroom, installed security lighting, cleaned up nasty carpet pad, removed burglar bars, patched a leak in the roof, and thrown a lot of nasty old trash / materials away. The backyard has tranformed into an almost park-like setting complete with tilled garden areas, trimmed trees, much fewer scrubby saplings and weeds. I have also been experimenting with different stripping compounds to remove the paint/glue from the existing concrete slab so that I can stain the concrete. Will and I recently picked up all the appliances I bought and delivered them to my gartage. The next steps involve cleaning and staining the concrete floors, getting my contractor started on my kitchen, doing bathroom updates, and then getting the drywall work done so that the place is paint ready. From there I can just work on painting and once that's done it will be livable! I can't wait! I'm thinking it will take a few months.
Financing
First of all, I used an FHA loan to buy my house, which required 3.5% of the sale price in downpayment. Since my credit is good, I qualified for their best interest rate and ended up getting 4.75% on a 30-year fixed rate loan. I highly recommend my mortgage broker: Sonja Pechal with Prime Lending. 512-947-2702. She does a "float-down" deal, where you can lock in your interest rate but it will "float down" if the interest rates go down before you close on the loan. If they go up, you get the lower rate that you locked in - so you can go down but not up. Furthermore, she gave me the best deal of all the other banks/mortgage brokers I compared her too. On top of all that, she's a really nice lady and will come to your closing to make sure all goes OK with the financing.
Alright, so my realtor and I have estimated that it will take somewhere between $20K and $30K to complete the renovation of my house. It needs new floors, drywall work, interior paint, all new appliances, an electrical service upgrade, a kitchen renovation, bathroom updates, exterior aesthetics, window frame replacement, and generally just a lot of TLC. So where to get the fixer money?
Well, I got $5K built into the loan for repairs. That is, once we had agreed on the sale price, I requested that the sale price be increased by $5K and for a check for that amoung to be cut to the contractor of my choosing. With an FHA loan, you can increase the sale price by as much as you want, but the total sale price of the house can not exceed the appraised value of the home. In my case, the appraised value was $219K, and I purchased it for $214K, so I could only get $5K out of the deal. So I have that check sitting in my wallet, ready to provide to my contractor once the work is all done.
Next up, I am a first-time home buyer, so I am eligible for the $8K tax credit from Obama's stimulus plan. FYI you do not have to wait til the end of the year to claim this tax credit. You may submit an amendment to your 2008 taxes and request the tax credit right away. I have already done this and expect to receive the tax credit money in the next month or so.
I looked into construction loans and home equity loans, but I have no equity in my house because I just bought it. I also can't afford a construction loan because they want something like 20% down (different ways to front the money but it requires a lot up-front) and I'm broke because I just bought a house and had some credit card debt. I did find an energy improvements loan through the City of Austin that is up to $8,500 for energy improvements (A/C, insulation, low-E windows, etc.). The deal is you have an energy audit done by a City-approved contractor, they inspect your home and let you know what you need to do for energy improvements, they do the work, the City inspects the work once it's complete, then the City will pay up to $8,500 to the contractor. After that, you are on the hook to repay the City at 0% interest over 5 years (or I think 10 years if you want to pay 2% interest). Anyway, so I am signed up for the 0% over 5 years deal and was approved. So that money is there when I am ready for the energy audit. I am waiting on that for now because I am trying to keep the City out of the process because I hear they can really slow things down and you have to purchase permits, etc. Contractors DREAD the City and try to do as much as they can under the radar and without permits / City interference. I've heard that the City does drive-by patrolling and will mail you a letter if they see you are renovating without a permit.
Other than these sources of money, the rest is going on a credit card or two (right after I had them paid off!!). I'm hoping that once I get the place renovated and get a roommate or two, I'll be able to pay off my credit cards. My balances are pretty high at the moment but I should be able to pay them down once I get the $8K first-time homeowner tax credit.
Alright, so my realtor and I have estimated that it will take somewhere between $20K and $30K to complete the renovation of my house. It needs new floors, drywall work, interior paint, all new appliances, an electrical service upgrade, a kitchen renovation, bathroom updates, exterior aesthetics, window frame replacement, and generally just a lot of TLC. So where to get the fixer money?
Well, I got $5K built into the loan for repairs. That is, once we had agreed on the sale price, I requested that the sale price be increased by $5K and for a check for that amoung to be cut to the contractor of my choosing. With an FHA loan, you can increase the sale price by as much as you want, but the total sale price of the house can not exceed the appraised value of the home. In my case, the appraised value was $219K, and I purchased it for $214K, so I could only get $5K out of the deal. So I have that check sitting in my wallet, ready to provide to my contractor once the work is all done.
Next up, I am a first-time home buyer, so I am eligible for the $8K tax credit from Obama's stimulus plan. FYI you do not have to wait til the end of the year to claim this tax credit. You may submit an amendment to your 2008 taxes and request the tax credit right away. I have already done this and expect to receive the tax credit money in the next month or so.
I looked into construction loans and home equity loans, but I have no equity in my house because I just bought it. I also can't afford a construction loan because they want something like 20% down (different ways to front the money but it requires a lot up-front) and I'm broke because I just bought a house and had some credit card debt. I did find an energy improvements loan through the City of Austin that is up to $8,500 for energy improvements (A/C, insulation, low-E windows, etc.). The deal is you have an energy audit done by a City-approved contractor, they inspect your home and let you know what you need to do for energy improvements, they do the work, the City inspects the work once it's complete, then the City will pay up to $8,500 to the contractor. After that, you are on the hook to repay the City at 0% interest over 5 years (or I think 10 years if you want to pay 2% interest). Anyway, so I am signed up for the 0% over 5 years deal and was approved. So that money is there when I am ready for the energy audit. I am waiting on that for now because I am trying to keep the City out of the process because I hear they can really slow things down and you have to purchase permits, etc. Contractors DREAD the City and try to do as much as they can under the radar and without permits / City interference. I've heard that the City does drive-by patrolling and will mail you a letter if they see you are renovating without a permit.
Other than these sources of money, the rest is going on a credit card or two (right after I had them paid off!!). I'm hoping that once I get the place renovated and get a roommate or two, I'll be able to pay off my credit cards. My balances are pretty high at the moment but I should be able to pay them down once I get the $8K first-time homeowner tax credit.
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