Posts Tagged ‘cost to remodel’

Add Curb Appeal with Vinyl Siding

Your old home looks like the worst home in the neighborhood. You’ve just recently finished a DIY home remodeling project inside and are ready to give your house some curb appeal on the outside, but what to do? Adding vinyl siding to an old home is probably one of the most cost effective and quickest way to give your home and a brand new look. The cost to remodel your homes siding is relatively cheap compared to the paybacks you can attain when selling your home.

If you’ve spent the entire winter inside remodeling your home it’s time to get outside and think of the exterior. There are many different types of home vinyl siding available that will give your home a cosmetic facelift. Vinyl siding comes in many styles and colors to choose from. I reccomend going to a specialty store that deals predominantly in home vinyl siding. This type of store will have the most selection and qualified people available to help you in your decisions. The big box stores generally only carry a couple different styles and colors. Don’t limit your project to a couple colors. Try and stand out from the neighbors – this is what will set your home apart and possibly add more curb appeal value for your vinyl siding installation.

Remodeling the siding of your home with vinyl siding is quick since in most cases you can apply new vinyl siding directly over the existing siding. If in your case it is neccesary to remove the existing siding then I would reccomend getting a dumpster dropped in your driveway. Removing old siding adds up to a huge mess. My DIY home remodeling project turned out to have two layers of siding which led me to opt to remove both layers before installing new vinyl siding.

Permits typically aren’t needed to remodel the siding on your home, but I would check with your local zoning board before doing so. It’s better avoid conflicts in the middle of a job.

The finished vinyl siding product is going to not only add curb appeal but will protect your investment from the elements as well. Installing vinyl siding is worth the effort in my opinion. The application goes on really fast and you will be able to see your results immediately. Your neighbors will as well.

Make Money in Real Estate

It would be nice if making money in real estate was easy. Unfortunately to make money in real estate requires a lot of time and effort. The only way to really profit buyiing and selling real estate is to do the work yourself. DIY home remodeling will yield the most profit for your labors.

Finding the right property in the right location is key as well. The old saying “Location, loacation, location” has a lot of truth behind it. Typically your property search should be for a home in a desired location that is relatively cheaper than surrounding properties. Buy low and sell high is what we’re after here. Things to consider would be accessibilty to interstates and convience stores. How good are the schools? Are the taxes reasonable?

I was able to find a home close to shopping, interstates and great schools. Luckily there was also a couple of home centers close to help with buying supplies for my home remodel. My small two bedroom one bath home was in a great location for a DIY home remodeling project. The plan was to remodel and live in the house for a couple years then sell and hopefully make money in real estate for the first time.

Initially the old home was going to need lots of remodeling. I was able to purchase the home cheap as it was in need of alot of repair. I think one  must really strive to have a open mind when looking at real estate. I kept a vision of how I wanted it to turn out and made it happen. Keeping my goal in mind the whole way through the remodeling project kept me on track. I new the payoff would be good in the end and my labor would be worth the effort.

The cost to remodel a home would have to be limited in order to keep the selling price reasonable for the real estate market at the time. I took a good look at the scope of the entire project and all my resources to keep my cost to remodel at a minimum. Fortunately I created a list of all my expenses of the cost to remodel a home. Check it out, it may give you an idea of what it would take financially to do your own home remodel.

Throughout my remodeling project I took lots of pictures. People have different tastes but hopefully you will find my remodeling pictures useful to give you inspiration to make money in real estate with your home remodeling projects.

The Cost to Remodel a Home

If you’re like me you wonder how much it’s going to cost to remodel a home? That’s not an easy question to answer. Through out my remodeling project I kept track of all my reciepts and expenses. Luckily for you I have organized all my remodeling costs to give you an idea what it might take to get your home remodeling project going. This list is based on a total home remodel of a roughly 1000 sq/ft home with two bedrooms and a single bath. I saved money as much as I could by reusing  or restoring items. I saved big time on the kitchen by finding some very nice used cabinets that someone wanted removed from their home as they were installing new cabinets. The home was purchased in a gutted condition. This actually saved some time and a little bit of money. I had practically no outside labor to pay which kept my cost to remodel a home low. It required lots of sweat equity but what the heck , I was trying to make money remodeling a home – right?

Some things to think about.. I decided right off that if I needed a tool I was just going to go ahead and purchase it. I found that having the right tools available made my remodeling project go a lot faster and gave me good results.

My home remodeling cost list includes all tools, materials, services, heat/air and kitchen appliances that were used to get the home into move in condition. These prices were current in 2006 / 2007. Remember, that was right after hurricane Katrina which drove the price of building materials up. Just my luck! The cost today (2011) is about the same as back then. Maybe even cheaper in some cases. It’s crazy but I actually purchased my home back when the real estate market was hot and sold the home when market was low. Totally backwards but I was still able to make money remodeling a home. The potential earnings would have been even greater had I bought in a down market and sold in high market. That’s the way it goes..

 Home Remodeling Cost List

1. Fasteners $900.96
2. Lumber $4,463.53
3. Electrical $3,196.14
4. Plumbing $1,209.94
5. Flooring $2,682.74
6. Windows $1,098.10
7. Doors $1,187.97
8. Electric Fixtures $1,229.36
9. Plumbing Fixtures $977.99
10. Siding $2,802.43
11. Drywall $3,606.65
12. Misc Supplies $1,502.60
13. Outdoor/Yard $779.76
14. Roofing $ 693.68
15. Insulation $931.25
16. Heat/Air Conditioning $3,501.98
17. Interior Misc $871.95
18. Appliances $4,700.10

My total cost to remodel a home was $39,011.55. The original purchase price was $47,000.00. So my total investment was $86,011.55.

The real estate market in my area averaged over $100,000.00 for a two bedroom single bath home. I decided to list it for $125,000.00. It sold quickly. After all the transaction expenses and realtor fees I was able to profit roughly $30,000.00. Not too bad for remodeling a home and living in it for 3 years. It was a fun learning project. Now to move on to the next home and make some more money remodeling. If things go well I should be able to get into a very nice home and have it practically paid for – mind you this comes with doing a lot of labor. I think it’s worth the effort though.