These strategies never go out of style!

Also renovating consistent with the style is important.

Of course, it depends on the style of the house too, rooflines with a lot of cuts, etc., pop outs, roof top decks, all add costs, the closer to a box you build the lower the cost.

I do not fall under the "if it's not broke don't fix it" style, but rather, if it is worth the investment to improve something (ie it will help appeal to more buyers, sell the house quicker, or increase my ROI) than we will make the upgrade.

So, a ranch without basement that's 200 sq.ft. different would get an adjustment of $8,000, not $16,000.This gets really tricky if the styles are different, so appraisers will try very hard to find houses that are the same style.If you have a hard finding comps, the house is not a good candidate for a fix and flip.

We personally have found that our lifestyle lends best towards the 'buy and hold' style.

Land comes with a lot of environmental conditions.

With this disclosure, you may have to undertake a Phase I Environmental Assessment - your lender or insurer may insist on it.We had a very similar deal on a multi-family a year ago - when the Phase I and some soil sampling came back strongly indicating remediation, we - and our lender - insisted on placing a substantial portion of the purchase price (30%) in escrow to cover remediation costs.

Its key that the style (ranch, two story, etc) is the same, the neighborhood is the same and other factors (busy street or other pluses or minuses) are similar.

I currently work for a civil engineering group as a wetland/environmental specialist...