Avoid Perfectionism with Fixer Upper Houses

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
–Lao Tzu

A key to fixing up a house is to know when to stop fixing up. You want the house to look good, yet you know that people are not going to care for your house the same way that you would. For rental properties, I don’t purchase the most costly, or even new, materials. I do a lot of my shopping at stores that recycle construction materials, like Habitat for Humanity’s Re-stores. You can get bargain basement prices on things like doors, kitchen cabinets, hinges, toilets, paint.

Need I say more? It’s a fixer-upper person’s paradise.

If I know that I am going to sell the house I may install higher grade of materials, especially where it really counts, like the kitchens and bathrooms. As Lawrence Dworin says in Profits in Buying & Renovating Homes:

“It’s easy to get carried away on renovation projects – wasting time and money on repairs that buyers won’t pay extra for. I assume you like to do good work. We all do. And we’d like every finished project to be a showplace. But you can’t make money that way. Your buyers have a limit on what they’re willing to pay. That’s why you’ve got to limit repair costs. In this business, you concentrate on fixing code violations and creating a clean, safe, livable house.”

 Related Posts

Remove that Garbarge Disposal Now!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

3 Responses to “Avoid Perfectionism with Fixer Upper Houses”

  1. Chuck says:

    Terry,

    “you concentrate on fixing code violations and creating a clean, safe, livable house.” AMEN…

    Love my Habitat store too…

  2. admin says:

    Chuck,

    Thanks for chiming in!

    Terry

  3. […] broken or worn out items. The better alternative is to shop at used building supply stores, and to purchase good, inexpensive, supplies for our rental houses. One such store is the Habitat for Humanity […]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.