All Forum Posts by: Ivan A.

I strongly agree with another poster- wait until you are here to do the renovation! There is just too much to go wrong- even if you agree on everything ahead of time.

I would say wait until you get here to buy, but it seems like you might already be buying this place? Who knows if you even ever get back to the US? Example: your girlfriend gets pregnant and she wants to stay near family. Or a great job turns up in Berlin to teach Korean at a business school. I know people who have had similar things happen. You can find decent investments that are much less location dependent.

Assuming you have made your mind up to buy, still wait to do the renovation (other than a safety issue). Then get back here and dive in. Maybe you could visit some generous rehabbers on this forum and see their work before you start. It certainly would save you more money and worry than visiting them and taking them to dinner!

I'm all for you doing some work yourself (that doesn't call for permits). That way you really 'get it' if you move forward with re investing in the future.

Ok here's what you asked originally: I looked at the picture- it would take me min 30K for a new kit and bath that look like that (ikea), all interior surfaces fixed up, and misc electrical and systems changes. Could easily be double if hvac, roof, structural changes, rot, water and sewer line, paint outside, if locality required a c.o. Who knows, too many variables. I do only a bit of the work myself. If I did every bit of non permitted work myself it would take 5 times as long (costing me money), it would not be as nice, and I would save only 5k.

I'm in the US temporarily actually, I looked at some but I'm not planning on buying soon. me and my girlfriend are considering moving here so that I can finish my degree and that would be when we would probably undergo this project. thanks for giving me a realistic estimate, it's more than what I thought it would be but that's what I needed to hear, I don't want people giving me false hopes. thanks :)

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Originally posted by Brian P:

Ivan

Glad to hear your not planning to blow through your inheritance. I had a friend who inherited $1.5 million in 1962 and in early 1964 he was broke and in debt. Do you know how badly you had to do things to blow that much money back then in less then two years?

Sort of reminds me of a part Tony Randall played in a movie where he says he is a total failure because he inherited 12 million dollars and still only has 12 million dollars. That is doing better then many.

The question I have is you say your brother can't inherit yet because he is not 21 yet. Is that because of the terms of the inheritance or is there a state out there that doesn't recognize 18 as a legal adult, if so which one?

Jesus, I'm really curious how someone could spend that much money that fast. I can't even imagine how that would happen, I'd love to hear the story.

anyways, apparently my grandma blew through a lot of inherited money when she was younger, not sure how, or how much but that's what I heard. she wanted to make sure we didn't make the same mistake so she set up her will to where we receive 100k at 21, 25, and 30yrs old. she's smart, since it is a lot of money. I wouldn't blow money on mountains of cocaine or anything but I could definitely see myself making bad investments, or other well-meaning mistakes. My brother received the same deal. It's kind of funny buy my mom is divorced from my dad and his mom left him $10,000 and my mom $300,000 LOL... he cut off communication with her, didn't visit her or even go to her funeral. and my mom took care of her and visited her for years even though there was no family connection anymore "due to the divorce". none of us had any idea she was wealthy. we knew she worked at one of the major beer companies, but we just assumed she was a regular employee. I guess she was pretty high up in the company. This just shows that it can really pay off to treat people well.

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Originally posted by Karen M.:

I was going to send a private message to go over the answers to the questions, and ideas. You will need to accept colleague request though. However; I'd say, get moved back to the U.S. and settled in before you make any decisions concerning investing.

It would probably make more sense for you to rent a house for you to live in, and not jump into a room mate situation with the hope of them helping pay mortgage.

The deal you are telling us about isn't a deal. You can set yourself up by using your inheritance wisely, investing in solid projects. Give yourself some time, and sock your money away while you learn. There's no rush, there are always deals, and once your money is gone, it's gone.

ok, I acceptedm but I would rather you post here, since the point of a forum is for other people to be able to read old threads and learn. I think we're cheating other people like me if we PM. why do you think this isn't a deal? it's a 15 minute walk to the center of the local university, I wouldn't have any trouble finding tenants.

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Originally posted by Aaron McGinnis:

Ivan,

The last "small" renovation I did was to a 1200sqft house we bought for $20k. We spent "just" $55k on it, and did things like -

* New kitchen
* Jack the house up (Foundation was failing)
* New mechanicals (plumbing, electric, HVAC)
* Sheetrock
* Roof
* Landscaping
* Shed out back
* Paint
* 2 small bathrooms, gutted out and refinished

Things we didn't do -
* New doors
* New windows
* Sand and refinish floors (We just did a buff and shine treatment)

This was a lightweight rehab. I've spent up to $100k+ on tiny, tiny stick built Victorian houses doing full-gut renovations.

Small, old houses which questionable mechanicals can rack up renovation costs faster than you'd ever imagine to be possible. Do not underestimate the cost of rewiring, replumbing, new HVAC, plus all the interior work.

(By the way, the faux-wood floor tile in that picture runs about $4-5 a sqft. That's just the tile, not the labor, mortar, grout, and backerboard, and fasteners... just figure out your floor area and start multiplying as a single example of how expensive these things can get)

that seems waaaay more extreme than anything I was planning...
I was just wanting to pretty much re-decorate the house...lol
MAYBE open up one wall... but definitely not tearing a roof off, or changing the foundation.

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btw, that room in Seoul would be all that you had, you would have communal showers, communal toilet, communal kitchen etc. with probably 15 other people on your floor. I lived on one for a while and it sucked.

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Originally posted by Karen M.:

Ivan A.
1. Do you already own this house, or are you purchasing?
2. From what you wrote, it appears you are doing this remodel for your own personal use, is that correct?
3. What size is the house? Others in neighborhood?
4. What is the current value/purchase price of the house?
5. What are the values in the neighborhood?
6. Are the other homes in the neighborhood being remodeled, and upgraded?
7. What are your skills in regard to construction, etc.?
8. Do you have a floor plan of the house, and more pics?

NOBODY can give you instructions on remodeling the house on this forum. Unless someone is familiar with the local building codes in your area, a floor plan to look at, etc., the advice you get could end up costing you huge amounts in the long run.

Costs for labor and materials vary from region to region, as do building codes. I am a licensed general contractor in California, where we have some of the most stringent building codes in the country, therefore; costs are higher, etc. Some areas you can get permits etc. in one day, others take weeks, etc.

But... more info is needed to help you make a good decision. If you'd like to answer the questions above, you can private message me with answers to the above, or email me.

1: purchasing
2: personal use, and renting out 2 rooms.
3: 1238 sq ft
4: estimated value: 57,200, price listed:$64,900 "both from same site.
5:not sure, usually higher than other places because it's close to the local University, and students will pay more if they're withing walking distance.
6:no idea, from what I've seen at friend's houses, no.
7:I've done some woodwork, painting, but I definitely wouldn't call myself a handy man.
8:nope, just what's on the website. but the realtor is going to send me a video, since I'm curious as well.

basically my situation is this, I live in Japan, me and my girlfriend have talked about moving back to the US "we'll actually leave the day after tomorrow for a week long visit" so I would need a place, and I could make money instead of spending money "hopefully" if I bought a place and rented out the extra rooms. I recently inherited a little over $300,000, and I don't want it to shrink AT ALL. so I'm looking into investing this way. We'll need a house if we go back, this is close to the uni, and we could hopefully make some money with it. just an idea, I'm not gonna purchase today or anything. I want to carefully weigh my options and figure out what I'm up against. I can say my cousin lives in an old **** hole of a house in the same area and her and her roommate are paying $250/pr. the mortgage on this house is estimated at $295/month, and if we renovated I could probably rent each room for at least $350/month.
me and my girlfriend each speak 3 languages each, and I wondered if we could market this way, offering to translate if someone needed to go the doctor, didn't understand school documents, needed to make some kind of phone call, setting up bank accounts etc. The English as a Second Language program here is huuuuuuge, with more koreans than anyone. I speak pretty fluent korean, ****** "currently studying here at school" japanese, and of course native english. my girlfriend is Japanese so she speaks native Japanese, good conversational korean, but probably couldn't translate at a hospital or Dr's "I've studied 5 years she's studied about 2", and she speaks great english, so between us we've got no problems with those 3 languages. These Japanese and koreans here are loaded, and I think we might be able to find people who would be interested.

this room would be between $350- $600 dollars a month in Seoul, so getting a korean to cough up $400/month is probably possible.

I'm not looking to cheat people, because I really think that we could offer something that other people couldn't and it would be worth it to them.

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Originally posted by Jon Holdman:

There's lots of stuff you can do that doesn't require permits. Painting, flooring, countertops, and door replacements all fall into that category. When you start doing wiring, plumbing, structural or mechanical changes, you need permits. Mechanical is the heating/ac systems.

A lot of this stuff is not particular hard, but much of it is a skill. Laying tile isn't particularly difficult. Getting all the tiles leveled out is definitely a skill. Having all the right tools is also necessary. Many of the expensive ones can be rented, provided there are rental shops in your area. Most Home Depots around here now do tool rentals.

Its impossible here for anyone to make a reasonable estimate. If you're doing it yourself, and avoiding anything that needs permits, you could probably do this for as little as $10,000. But consider something like tile. You can buy cheap tile for under $1/sq.ft. Or you can spend $10 a sq.ft. None of us know exactly what you want or exactly what you might find locally. Go to Home Depot, Lowes, or a tile store and start looking around. See what it costs for what you like.

Now, keep in mind, the tile is only part of the expense. You may need concrete backer board under the tile. You'll need mortar for laying in the backer and then the tile on top of it. Screws for the backer. Grout between the tiles. Spacers to get the spaces right. Sealer for the grout. A saw to cut the tile. An angle grinder with a diamond blade for those odd cuts and for cutting holes around pipes. A cutter for the backer board. One, probably two, notched trowels for spreading the mortar. A float for working in the grout. Sponges. Buckets. None of that stuff is individually expensive. But it does add up. The backer, mortar, screws, etc, can easily add $1 or more to the per square foot cost.

So, get over to the home depot and start making notes. Then build a spreadsheet and add things up. Then work through all the various projects. Labor can be the most difficult thing to estimate. I've had bids from mechanical contractors vary by a factor of six. Similar for plumbers. But the materials are easy. Just figure out what you need and go to HD. The trick is getting all the little stuff. Doing some plumbing? You need connectors and a crimper (pex), PVC cement and a saw or cutter (PVC), or joints, solder, a torch, flux, sandpaper and brushes (copper). Screws and nails. Switch plate covers. This is the stuff that always kills me for estimating.

That shower will almost certainly require a permit. You're going to have to get the drain and supply lines in the right place. And get the drain line properly sloped. And buy or build a shower pan. And test the show plan for the inspector. That glass is tempered glass, which isn't cheap. That shower needs a lot of space (very nice shower, by the way). Does the bath have that space? Doubtful. So, you may have to move walls. I'm trying to figure out how to do a nice bath in my residence. Not unlike that picture. Its on the backside of the house. Guess what. To make it work, the FRONT door has to move. So, a big window on the front of the house has to move, too. Why? Because to get the space for the bath in roughly the same area and yet not create small, stupid-looking, unusable spaces several walls need to move around. And that ends up pinching out the front door. And the only place it can move to is where that window already.

J Scott makes a really good point about one thing leading to another with building inspectors. Read my story here.

lots of great info here, thanks for the post

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I'd like to use the same wall and floor tiles as the bathroom in the picture. me and my brother could do that "and all of the tile" by ourselves I assume. he also inherited the same amount as me, so we could possibly split the risk and split the profit. but I would be loaning him money since he isn't 21 yet, and thus can't receive any inheritance.

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for tearing down walls, rewiring lights etc. of course I would get a contractor and get permits. but I don't see why it would be necessary for things like re-doing counter tops, painting, laying down tile etc. I'm not wanting to do anything nuts on this house, mostly change the surfaces, and MAYBE open up one wall a little, if someone could do it "not load-bearing". The house would be for me, but I would be renting out the other 2 rooms after re-doing the inside. I'm not going to do anything quick, I'm more frugal than that, you may not believe me, but I really don't spend much. plus, I'm not even in the US, so I couldn't do it. I'm just bouncing ideas around and trying to learn. I refuse to blow through the money I inherited, if I don't make it bigger, then I would consider myself a failure, I will however spend the interest it earns, which is what I'm living off of right now while I'm going to school.

here's some Ideas I had:

paint a lot of white, make it glossy. maybe some kind of tile on one wall of the living room, or something to make it not look like an igloo. new lights in the living room.

replace interior doors, with sliding contemporary shoji like this:

doesn't seem they would be impossible to make, especially if you used real rice paper instead of the semi-transparent plastic. I assume if you made it the same size as a premade sliding door you could just pop it on? and if I had a big one, 7 foot or so? for the kitchen "if we did open a wall" that would be more intricate and probably not a DIY. so maybe it would be better to have them all ordered? not sure.

I would like to make a plywood counter top, and take it to a sheet metal shop to get it fitted for a steel counter top. a DIY like this:
http://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/03/affordable-stainless-steel-countertops-diy/
they only spent $400 for the counters and I think I could do this fairly easily.

maybe lay some new tile, backsplash, lights, and stainless steel utilities to the kitchen. I wouldn't buy the utilities unless I could find them used, or cheap. I think the cabinets are re-usable if we re-painted/glossed them.

the bathroom, new sinks, same stainless steel counter tops I suppose. laying down new floor and wall tile. a glass shower like this one.

IF i could learn to do concrete molding "which I've been wanting to learn for a while" MAYBE trying to mold something like this around a cheap square tub. but that's a HUUGE IF. since it would take a lot of time to learn that, and make something that looked decent.

except for changing the doors I would probably leave the other rooms as they are so that whoever came in could do whatever they wanted.
floors in the living room are great, all the other walls are fine.

that's about all that I would do, of course I would decorate it, but I can guesstimate that myself.

if someone could give a ballpark that would be awesome.

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why not just charge the existing tenants as is, and let those 2 brothers sort it out if they want to split it? does it really matter if there's an extra person?

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All Forum Posts by: Ivan A.

Ivan A. has started 1 posts and replied 14 times.

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