From Foreclosure House to Dream Home

This is a sponsored post about how we are updating our foreclosure house to a dream home.  Please see the disclosure page for more information.

My family has moved a bunch in the last 10 years.  Finding a home that we need to flip quickly if necessary is one of the #1 things I look for during the search.  That can mean a couple things, but the top on my list is the margin that can be made between the price we pay verses the price we can get when we sale. 

Introducing Our Foreclosure House

The foreclosure house we are living in is no exception.  With just minor cosmetic updates we could flip this house and maybe walk away with a little profit.  Making it a dream home still will require a bunch of work!  This picture is before starting to shape up the front flower bed…  Our neighbors had forgotten we had a front porch since the house had been vacant for 2 years.

Here’s a picture of our front porch two years ago after my husband and I cut out all the branches that went from the flower bed to the front wall…  

We also had the ceiling painted sky blue too help keep the spiders and bugs at bay(yes, it really works).  We have since cut back these limbs even more…

The only downside to this is the last house we moved into isn’t our favorite and is definitely not our dream home.  It has the bones for being a dream home but was a foreclosure and needs love.  Before we moved in we put in a new A/C unit and had the roof fixed.  I’m slowly but surely painting each of the rooms from a depressing and dingy tan to a bright white.

There’s plenty more I’d like to have happen.  First, though, we have to fix all of the things that are broken – the hot water heater(literally busted yesterday), the oven doesn’t work now(having a repair guy scheduled to be here today after putting it off for 7 months It’s fixed! yahoo), and the cracked window above the garage.  Plus, we have to pay for things not house related that have broken in the last week – my computer sound doesn’t work any more, my cell phone, and either the starter or starter relay on my car.  I feel like Murphy’s Law is in full effect over here!  SIGH! 

It’s not as bad as it sounds as it is.  The window has been cracked since we moved in and the oven stopped working in May.  I can still use the stovetop burners.  And really most of my “cooking” is done through the microwave or a drive-thru window. LOL

First up…  Tidying Up

With New Years just happening 2 weeks ago, I have been on a kick to get this house in shape.  It all started with the Netflix series Tidying Up With Maria Kondo.  Since watching that the first week of January, I have gone through my dresser, my daughter’s room, one of my son’s room, my bathroom junk drawer, and the kitchen drawers.  This equated to giving away 5 garbage bags of stuff, taking a garbage bag to a resale shop, and throwing away 3 garbage bags of trash.  Whew!  Today, I will be working on my desk area in my kitchen which I’ll blog about and link in a future post.  

After finishing tidying up the inside of the house, I plan on working on the garage.  Right now, the garage is a dumping ground and we can’t quite see the floor in most of it. 🙁  There are some shelves that I threw together with 2x4s and some scrap plywood that will be replaced with metal shelves on casters.  It will be painted.  Boxes and totes will be sorted and yard tools will be organized and hung on the wall.  Whew!  It’s scary but I’m going to work on it in zones to not feel so overwhelmed.

Making This a Dream Home

What I think will make this house a dream home for me, includes finding a niche for my artwork.  I also want to have a crafting and pottery area for my little girl.  The garage is the most logical place for that right now.  That’s another motivation for me to tidy up that space.  I plan to make a spot for our creative juices to get going.

The living room needs a small makeover.  Last year, I removed the fireplace surround that was much too big for the space.  That will be replaced with a modern sleek “frame” for the brick, and the TV will be mounted over the fireplace.  Our old entertainment room couch set will be replaced with a less bulky couch placed on the wall where the TV currently is, and two accent chairs will be moved across from it floating in the room.  The current console table and bench will be moved to the wall my “art studio” resides and used as extra seating plus a place to do homework and small crafts or coloring for the kids.  This will free up the kitchen table to be just a kitchen table.  YIPPPEEEE!!!  That makes me so happy!

Also to make this a dream home means repairing what is broken.  The window has been driving me coocoo since we moved in.  It’s not really noticeable from the outside but I know it’s there.  Taunting me.  Reminding me that I keep putting it off.  There are a couple things that make it overwhelming to get a new window.  It’s a specialty shape.  SIGH, if only I could punch the architect and builder for putting in this window. So it’s going to cost some coin for this. That’s why I’ll be on the lookout for window special offers.  We had this quoted by a major home improvement store a while back, and it was $1500 plus install and tax.  HUH?!!!  It’s only a 3ft tall by 2 ft wide window with a small arched top.  $1500?!  I’ll be seeking out a business that specializes in windows and probably get a much better deal.

Other Ideas That Are Out of Budget Right Now

Other ways this house will feel like more of a dream home is to replace all the flooring except the tile in the kitchen and baths.  The tile isn’t in too back a shape.  The current laminate floor though was not installed professionally.  There are gaps everywhere and the quarter round pops off a bunch.  Also, the carpet has seen better days.  I’m guessing those were around 2005 when the place was built.  Thirteen years for carpet is pushing it; and plus, eeew, it’s carpet. 

I’m all about solid surface flooring after pulling up carpet in a house we lived in 10 years ago.  IT WAS GROSS.  I pulled up the carpet and had to scrape off the carpet pad in places.  It was shocking to see the amount of dirt and dust under the carpet and then under the carpet pad.  With kids that have allergies, it just doesn’t make sense to expose them to these allergens.  So solid surface flooring will help this house become a dream home.

I’d also like to change out the cabinet doors through out the house.  The ones we have right now are starting to peel and in the least need a fresh coat of paint.  If we have to move soon, this will be bumped up the list and taken care of.  As of right now, it’s on the back burner.

The major changes that would really put this over the top as a dream home would be to convert the upstairs and attic.  We have a room and also half bath that are over the garage.  The attic is accessed through that room.  I’d love to add a wall(with door and closet) to make a hallway to the attic door and make the over the garage room more like a bedroom.  Other changes that could be made – add a shower to the bathroom, change the hot water heater to a tankless, get a larger door to the attic and convert the attic to two rooms.

I’ve measured and planned changing up the attic.  One side would be the TV/entertainment room.  The other would be the craft/art studio with cabinets filling two of the walls to hold all of the attic storage stuff.

I’m sure there are plenty of other things I could think of to make this house more like a dream home but even my imaginary bank account is draining. LOL  All of these things would probably add up to about $30,000 including the attic redo with us doing most of the work.  This would add around 355 square feet and the current market value is $131/sq ft for homes on my street. Unfortunately, we probably couldn’t just multiply these numbers because that would make us as expensive as new builds in the area and most likely people wouldn’t want to pay that much for our street.  Still, the cost verses the additional price we could sell the house for would probably equal out so no extra money would be made from changing up the attic.  Since we probably won’t live here forever it just doesn’t make sense for us to do this.  But, I do love daydreaming how I would fix up a place or change it around. 🙂

Conclusion

I could go on and on with all the different things I would change with this house to make it even more of a dream home. Actually, anywhere I’ve lived I’ve thought of different things to change or update.  Not that I’m not satisfied but just like to daydream and brainstorm different ideas for new places.  For now though, I’ll be working on the garage and then the living room.  Check back soon to see how it’s all going!

What makes (or could make) you home a dream home? Let me know in the comments below!