Well its been three months now, and we have only looked at a few places. We put an offer in on one of the first ones we viewed and lost out. Then, nothing…for a long time. Recently, we viewed 2 more places. One was completely done, and one was a renovation project. The completed one was a 3 level townhouse with 3 levels of decks. It had fabulous views. Take a look:
Done and done
Nice views on another place we DIDN’T get.
It was listed on a Tuesday morning, I immediately booked an appointment, but the sellers requested 24 hours notice (really?? who does that in this market?) I went through it the next day at noon. It was worth offering on. But by the time I got home, there was already an offer coming in. There simply wasn’t time for Greg to view, and he was not willing to put an offer in on a place without seeing it. Can’t say as I blame him. So, we lost out on another one. Although I really do want some yard space for Sage, so it probably wasn’t the right place after all.
Renovation Required
We also looked at another place that is in a townhouse complex that we really love. It had been sitting on the market for over a month, which is pretty unheard of right now. After viewing it I can see why. Pretty much every room in the place needed updating. The kitchen was horrible. The cupboards looked like they were finished with counter laminate. And all of the bathrooms looked like this:
Bathroom in need of a major renovation. Just this one bathroom would require new: floors, tile, vanity, sink, hardware and accessories. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
To Renovate or Not To Renovate?
I had been doing some math and I estimated at least $100k to renovate. That’s a lot of money…The one thing about renovating though, at least you get what you want. But the flip side is that you also have to live through a dusty messy renovation. Well it’s not like I haven’t done this before.I have owned 2 houses, and 2 condos, all of which I have renovated more to my taste.
Here is my current condo Before:
Condo before. The guy that sold it to me, paid someone to paint the whole place this lovely shade of green… It goes so nice with the pink counters…
And After:
Here is my after, with updated IKEA cabinets, granite counters,hardwood floors, new paint, tile backsplash, updated lighting,new sink and tap. Just a tiny reno 🙂
Before:
Before with vinyl flooring, pink counters, and plastic coated white cabinets
And some afters:
After shot from a different angle
Originally I was going to write “EAT” but that seemed like a bad subliminal message to have in my kitchen
We were debating doing the big reno. Although it would have been preferable to find another place in the same complex with some of the big upgrades done, like enclosing the useless sun room, and upgrading the floors. These are the renovations I would rather not have to live through.
And then we made the decision to put an offer in on the major fixer upper, and we waited just a little too long, as it sold just a day before. Damn, now we are back to the drawing board again. And there just isn’t a lot of inventory.
I’m curious, in a multiple offer, seller’s market like we are currently experiencing… what would YOU do??
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