Do You Have What It Takes to Buy A Fixer Upper Home in Fresno, CA. 93720?
Those who can fix up their homes by themselves or mostly by themselves could make a profit in this market. I recently heard someone who is handy say that they wanted to find a home that was in need of repairs. They would repair it with modern touches and then eventually sell it and buy the next fixer. Each time they would take a bigger chunk of equity and apply it to the next purchase until eventually they wouldn’t have a mortgage and could buy a house for cash, etc. Now that is a nice plan as long as the market is in a long bull run as we have witnessed for almost the past decade. However if the market stays stagnant or crashes then this plan would need to be altered most likely.
This plan would probably only work if they waited at least two years before selling and buying another house due to capital gains laws. If you live in a house for 2 out of the past 5 years you can receive up to $500,000 in gains without paying any capital gains taxes if you are married and live in CA. So it isn’t a typical fix and flip game plan where the property is disposed of ASAP.
But the real intent of this blog was asking yourself if you are handy and capable of fixing up a home that you purchase. I know that when my wife and I bought our first house the home projects were initially fun. The fun lasted for about three months when we had finally changed the colors of 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. Those who buy homes to fix up are grinders at heart. They are not the type that needs to watch their favorite show or sitcom every evening. They are working hard with their hands afterwork and after hours into the night. Not only does it require the know how but the will to follow through. My home is 25 years old and many aspects of it could be upgraded or updated.
But even routine maintenance such as cleaning rain gutters doesn’t even come easy for me. I recently switched out some light switch covers from the old beige ones to nice and new white ones. In the process, I killed power to three times as many switches and outlets as I upgraded. A knock on the electrician neighbor’s door was my next step in my home’s improvement. I think most guys take pride in being able to fix something or be handy. For me if I have not experienced fixing something before then it seems to normally take me three or four times as long to finish the job as if I hired it out. Often times with the multiple trips to home depot it can add up to costing me more to fix it on my own then hire it out. So before you dive in and buy that fixer upper, audit your handiness skills and your will power to follow through with such an enormous task. Click here to see what is actively for sale in real time in Fresno, CA. 93720
Do You Have What It Takes to Buy A Fixer Upper Home in Fresno CA. 93720?