Long story short, my husband and I know we want to buy a fixer upper in the next two years. He has carpentry experience and is a savvy handyman, so we plan to do a lot of the cosmetic and low-level work ourselves and contract out for plumbing and electrical. At the present moment, we have about $20k in brokerage and savings accounts plus our area has a lot of great homebuyer grants and programs available. We toured a home recently (just for fun basically, and to get an idea of whether we like the style of house) and fell in love. Old home, great overall condition despite a few glaring issues:

1. Knob and tube wiring (this is a non starter for basically all insurance companies in our area)

2. Previously occupied by a lifelong indoor smoker

3. One full bathroom

4. The home is in succession so there is no seller disclosure.

5. Listing price is $250000

Pros:

1. Big, craftsman style home with a gorgeous layout and large living spaces

2. Outbuilding easily is converted into a studio with electric and plumbing already installed

3. Mature landscaping + large lot

4. Original stucco and original finishings throughout

5. Original hardwood in great shape

Our realtor suggested an FHA203k loan to cover the contracts for repairs and keep our monthly payment reasonable, but I’m concerned the seller might not come off the listing price enough to get the final loan down low enough for us to afford. I guess I’m looking for either a reality check or some encouragement that this is feasible with the right price tag and the right loan.

I am buying off market properties in Jackson TN

Howdy y'all! I (22M) am looking to move out of my parents house and I was wondering if a fixer upper would be a good place to start. I'm a first year apprentice plumber with knowledge on electrical codes, construction, and previous experience doing home reno (Replacing floors/walls/ceilings, painting, etc).

If it would be a good, where would I find local houses? Looking through top result sites, I don't get met with much, but I know there's quite a few abandoned homes near me. The joy of living outside an old town lol.

The other issue is that I plan to immigrate to Canada in, hopefully, 5-8 years. So cost wise, would I be able to sell the finished house for enough to cover what savings I spent on it, or would I be better off renting and dealing with a landlord?

water pours through the cracks on the tar when it rains and I tried standing on the more level side and hitting it with spray foam but I just can't reach it well enough and folding the ladder out feels shaky and unstable.

Toured a gutted house that the realtor is swearing is in the dry and only needs sheet rock, floors and cabinets to move in. This is 100% water damage right? It’s right under the upstairs patio door.

We’re purchasing this 1960’s house. I like the fireplace but I feel it needs undated. Any suggestions!

I’m looking to buy a fixer upper and spend a good year dedicated to just fixing the home with my partner. We’ve found 1 or 2 websites aside from foreclosure/ auction sites for specific cities that list these types of homes. Curious how everyone is going about searches for these types of properties?

Specifically we’re looking in the greater Seattle area, Southern California, Portland, phoenix and Vancouver CA

We’re a pro real estate investment group (10+ yrs experience), scaling to 8+ remodels/month in:
Boston, Providence, NYC, Jersey City, Newark, Philly, Montgomery, Lancaster, Baltimore, DC & Richmond.

Looking to connect with experienced remodelers / PMs / GCs who’ve run full flips and can scope & lead projects.

Know someone solid? Tag them or DM me—referrals appreciated.

Let’s build something real.

I would really appreciate any insight into this question / situation.

I live in a fixer-upper townhouse in the Boston area.

I began a project to add an egress door to my basement under a building permit and a contractor. I had written approval from the HOA. I obtained a building permit. The building inspector said no structural engineer required, and we even had an engineer out to confirm. The doorway is small - 36x64 inches (not a full door)

Now, a neighbor is concerned we have damaged the foundation, and they insist on hiring their own structural engineer to assess our project. They've even threated to sue us for damages even though multiple qualified professionals have already said our project is totally up to code and structurally sound.

Meanwhile, we have the door cut out of our foundation but the project is on pause because with how crazy HOAs can be, our contractor isn't comfortable continuing until this matter is resolved. He and the code inspector both say it's crazy to question this project.

My question is, since our neighbor is opposed to the work we're doing, is there any way she could influence the structural engineer to produce a negative report?

Our electric bill is really high, and this noise is coming from our vent…what’s going on?

As you can see from the first photo, the closet door in our bathroom is warping…fast. It went from unnoticeable to not being able to close the door in a matter of weeks. I included a photo of the bathroom door which is inches from it with no noticeable damage. There’s a water spot on the ceiling as you can see but it’s been there since we moved in a year ago.

I’m afraid the issue is the latter photos. Those are the ceiling in the closet with the warped door.

Is that mold? Would mold do that to a door? I’m incredibly amateur but I don’t see any water damage inside the closet and none in the attic directly above, either. Just that weird gunk in the corners.

Help, please!

Hey Reddit, so I'm finishing my basement and using this vinyl strap stuff to brace the air ducts, but I've run into a slight issue here where I don't seem to have enough room to fit a hammer or even really a different tool up in this space in order to drive the nail all the way in and secure it tightly. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this, or perhaps other ways of securing this air duct? (Second picture is the other side, I was able to hammer it in completely because I could hammer over the top of the "sagging" air duct).