Carefully Consider the Real Cost of that Fixer Upp

If you watch television, you have seen the shows that turn dumps into pristine dream homes. Fixer uppers can return good profits, but be careful when calculating repair costs.

Carefully Consider the Real Cost of that Fixer Upper

Flip it! Ah, the American Dream to the road to riches. The goal is to find a decent to nice neighborhood with one home that can charitably be considered to have a lot of ?character.? Translating this infamous real estate term, the place is a dump and needs lots of work. Homebuyers can be suckers for these homes. They tend to see a low price when compared to the rest of the neighborhood and think they can make a killing when they fix the home up. This can, in fact, happen, but you must be very calculating.

Can you make a ton of money flipping fixer uppers? Yes and no. If you can do the work yourself, the profit potential is much better. If you must hire contractors to do it, you really need to take a moment and break out the calculator. Many people fail to do so and regret getting into a fixer upper.

One of the place people make mistakes with fixer uppers is failing to consider code requirements. The ?code? refers to regulations requiring the use of certain materials and products in a home. Many older homes are not in compliance with code requirements, but often do not have to be as long as nothing is changed. If changes are made, however, the code can become a problem.

For instance, assume you make some change to heating or air conditioning in the home. In an older home, you may be forced to also update all of the electrical wiring. The same goes for plumbing where older pipes may need to be replaced with new ones to meet code. Obviously, these can be expensive fixes and run your cost in upgrading the home through the roof. What was one a tremendous real estate deal quickly becomes a money pit.

Flipping a home that needs some cosmetic repairs can be very profitable. If you do not understand the full costs associated with the upgrade, however, it can become an emotional and financial nightmare.

Posted by Renee Ciarlo on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

About Renee Ciarlo
Renee Ciarlo is affliated with Pilgrim Realty, which is located in Wallingford, CT. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right.

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Local Information for Wallingford, CT

Latitude: 41.448297 -- Longitude: -72.821162

ZIP Codes for Wallingford, Connecticut	06492 06493 06494 06495
Area Code for Wallingford, Connecticut	203
Time zone for Wallingford, Connecticut	EST

Other Area Cities: Hamden, CT New Haven, CT North Haven, CT Wallingford, CT Woodbridge, CT Branford, CT East Haven, CT Orange, CT West Haven, CT Meriden, CT

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Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 43,026 at the 2000 census. Wallingford was established on October 10, 1667, when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the "making of a village on the east river" to 38 planters and freemen. The “long highway” located on the ridge of the hill above the sandy plain along the Quinnipiac River is the present Main Street in Wallingford. On May 12, 1670, Wallingford was incorporated and about 126 people settled in the town. Six acre lots were set out and by the year 1675, 40 houses stretched along today's Main Street. In 1775 and again in 1789, George Washington passed through Wallingford. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Connecticut 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Wallingford	Connecticut	United States
Population	17,509	3,405,565	281,421,906
Median age	37.4	37.4	35.3
Median age for Male	36.2	36.1	34
Median age for Female	38.8	38.6	36.5
Households	7,331	1,301,670	105,480,101
Household population	17,199	3,297,626	273,643,273
Average household size	2.35	2.53	2.59
Families	4,496	881,170	71,787,347
Average family size	3.01	3.08	3.14
Housing units	7,720	1,385,975	115,904,641
Occupied units	7,331	1,301,670	105,480,101
Vacant units	389	84,305	10,424,540

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Carefully Consider the Real Cost of that Fixer Upp

Local Information for Wallingford, CT

Latitude: 41.448297 -- Longitude: -72.821162

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