All Forum Posts by: Kat W.

Welcome Alain from another Indy newbie!

There used to be a way to search for recent crime by address on the Indy Star's website. A couple years ago, they changed thing and it was much more difficult to find the page, but it was still there. Maybe try digging around there?

Welcome from another newbie in Indy!

We're still working on things. We weren't able to repair the walls as well as I would have liked, but they are much better. 

I'm glad we've done it once and I'm glad we did the basement, but in the future I will hire a contractor to do the main floors in this home.

welcome! I'm new and from Indianapolis too!

I appreciate everyone stopping in to share their thoughts!

We had a contractor come out to give us a quote and I was way high on my estimate. Even better though, he felt we could do it on our own with a roller and squeegee, and to call him if we had questions. We're about a 1/3 done. Once we sand, we'll know how well we did.

@Mike H. Future painting does worry me some.  My husband has suggested the idea of texturing the basement and paying to have the main and upstairs smoothed. 

@Roy N. It's a 1500 square foot townhome. Hopefully my guesstimate is way off. This is the first property I've owned, so I'm just trying to assume the worst, hope for the best, and try to end up in the right place without too many costly mistakes.

@Ryan Dossey Our plan has been to rent it out when we are done living here. Unfortunately we made the mistake of an 18 year mortgage, and unless we can refinance, we have lost all our cash flow in the mortgage payment. If refinancing is not a cost effective option, then selling is our backup plan. Looking back, I wish we had tried to negotiate a lower price than we did here. Newbie mistake, but it was our third property in the neighborhood that we offered on. One was $15k more and needed more work, so we thoughts this was a good price. I just realize now, it could have been better.

@Sky Mikesell 

Well said, Sky! I'm trying to figure out what I need to be cooking for the prospective renters in my area. I'm trying to get some quotes for skim coating. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but the ballpark figures I have found are about $5k. 

It sounds like we need to try everything we can to go smooth and avoid texture. 

Thank you!

@Dana Whicker 

@Roy N. 

@Amy Van Ollefen 

@Caroline Hedin 

I'm in the Midwest in a 1980s town home. It is our personal residence, but the goal is to rent it out when we are done living here. 

There are quite a few new apartment complexes in my area, would it be a good idea to go look at them? It seems that would give me an idea of the finishes in my area.