Here are previous Home Remodel posts – Part 1 and Part 2.
As you may remember at the end of Home Remodel – Part 2 I had decided on putting tile in the whole house, new carpet in the bedrooms, new cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom and adding a hutch and cabinets in the laundry room. A new gas stove and an oven wall unit was also added to the list along with having gas piped into my kitchen. Pretty scary when you consider that I started this project to remodel the guest bathroom.
At this point in the planning of the remodel I needed to step back and look at the direction things were going. The proposed cost had already exceeded what I had initially had planned to spend and I needed to decide whether to scale back or proceed. You could say I was at the proverbial fork in the road. You see as I continue to move forward there are very justifiable reasons why I should make additional changes, it’s kind of a chain reaction that in the end has a hefty price tag connected to it.
There are many things to consider when making these types of changes. Are you planning on staying in the house long term or move within the next 3-5 years. Fortunately there’s no question on what I will do, I'm staying put. I was fortunate when I purchased the house it was in a new development and I bought at a good price. As you know the housing market has sky rocketed over the past 13 years and I had built up a good amount of equity in the house but still with the economy the way it is you need to give these big steps a lot of consideration, ask yourself if the timing is right. I do plan on keeping this house even if I was to move away someday. Not sure if I could rent it out or not but some day I wouldn’t mind being a ‘snow bird’ and winter in sunny Arizona. But unfortunaely retirement is is still a long way off unless I stike it rich and win the lottery. Well, here I was standing on that high dive platform looking way down into a small pool of water asking myself if I was going to take the big plunge or chicken out.
I’ve been thinking, planning, day dreaming about redoing my house for quite a while and it was time to take that dream and turn it into a reality, I deserved it. On the practical side it would only add to the resale value of the house if I was ever to sell one day. Ok, let's do it.
Since I’ve decided to go for the ‘whole enchilada’ I would have to do as much as I can myself to keep labor down, get quotes to compare, and be my own project coordinator. I was the one who was going to be dealing directly with the contractor’s and coordinating the install and timing of each step along the way. As someone who is a planner, list maker, and scheduler this seemed like something I could handle.
I’ve spent a lot of time at those big box stores and I’ve done a lot of fixing things around my house. I know how to caulk a bathroom even though I hated it. I’ve put in my lawn sprinkler system laying the pipe, gluing the joints, and fixing a broken sprinkler when needed. Laid Pergo flooring, painted walls, wallpapered, installed ceiling fans (with only a little shock), removed a toilet and helped put it back together, install shelving, etc. Now, do I like doing all those things? No, if I had my druthers I’d rather have one of those cute guys on HGTV be doing the work and sell tickets to watch them to all my girlfriends and neighbors. Now there's a way to fund this remodel. Boy if that isn't a dream.
First step, shop for a home equity loan ~ done. The best rate was at a credit union and I did everything online, can you believe it, online. Gotta love the internet. Within 1 week papers were signed, notorized, shipped, and loan funded. Wahoo. Now all I had to do was get the work done within my budget. So, I bet you want to know what else I’m planning to in my house; I hate to tease you but check for Home Remodel -- Part 4.
As you may remember at the end of Home Remodel – Part 2 I had decided on putting tile in the whole house, new carpet in the bedrooms, new cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom and adding a hutch and cabinets in the laundry room. A new gas stove and an oven wall unit was also added to the list along with having gas piped into my kitchen. Pretty scary when you consider that I started this project to remodel the guest bathroom.
At this point in the planning of the remodel I needed to step back and look at the direction things were going. The proposed cost had already exceeded what I had initially had planned to spend and I needed to decide whether to scale back or proceed. You could say I was at the proverbial fork in the road. You see as I continue to move forward there are very justifiable reasons why I should make additional changes, it’s kind of a chain reaction that in the end has a hefty price tag connected to it.
There are many things to consider when making these types of changes. Are you planning on staying in the house long term or move within the next 3-5 years. Fortunately there’s no question on what I will do, I'm staying put. I was fortunate when I purchased the house it was in a new development and I bought at a good price. As you know the housing market has sky rocketed over the past 13 years and I had built up a good amount of equity in the house but still with the economy the way it is you need to give these big steps a lot of consideration, ask yourself if the timing is right. I do plan on keeping this house even if I was to move away someday. Not sure if I could rent it out or not but some day I wouldn’t mind being a ‘snow bird’ and winter in sunny Arizona. But unfortunaely retirement is is still a long way off unless I stike it rich and win the lottery. Well, here I was standing on that high dive platform looking way down into a small pool of water asking myself if I was going to take the big plunge or chicken out.
I’ve been thinking, planning, day dreaming about redoing my house for quite a while and it was time to take that dream and turn it into a reality, I deserved it. On the practical side it would only add to the resale value of the house if I was ever to sell one day. Ok, let's do it.
Since I’ve decided to go for the ‘whole enchilada’ I would have to do as much as I can myself to keep labor down, get quotes to compare, and be my own project coordinator. I was the one who was going to be dealing directly with the contractor’s and coordinating the install and timing of each step along the way. As someone who is a planner, list maker, and scheduler this seemed like something I could handle.
I’ve spent a lot of time at those big box stores and I’ve done a lot of fixing things around my house. I know how to caulk a bathroom even though I hated it. I’ve put in my lawn sprinkler system laying the pipe, gluing the joints, and fixing a broken sprinkler when needed. Laid Pergo flooring, painted walls, wallpapered, installed ceiling fans (with only a little shock), removed a toilet and helped put it back together, install shelving, etc. Now, do I like doing all those things? No, if I had my druthers I’d rather have one of those cute guys on HGTV be doing the work and sell tickets to watch them to all my girlfriends and neighbors. Now there's a way to fund this remodel. Boy if that isn't a dream.
First step, shop for a home equity loan ~ done. The best rate was at a credit union and I did everything online, can you believe it, online. Gotta love the internet. Within 1 week papers were signed, notorized, shipped, and loan funded. Wahoo. Now all I had to do was get the work done within my budget. So, I bet you want to know what else I’m planning to in my house; I hate to tease you but check for Home Remodel -- Part 4.
home remodel saga continues...
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