I mentioned earlier how the property needs a “little” work. In most people’s eyes, the place doesn’t actually need any work. But, I want the place to look much more modern. It was built in the 80s. Basically, I want to keep the floor plan and gut everything else. I’d like to remove ALL the flooring, start over in the kitchen and all the bathrooms, and paint. Oh, and I want to knock out a wall to add a wall to wall folding glass door. (It’s going to look awesome when it’s all done. I’m so excited.)
I want all this work done prior to move-in. So, I’ve decided to go with a 203k loan in order to roll the cost for this into my mortgage. Sounds great right? The catch is I have to find someone to give me estimates for work on a property I don’t even own yet. Well again, one would say, in this market contractors must be begging for any job. Alas, this is not the case. I did a walk through with a contractor 2 months ago and still have yet to receive his estimate. Needless to say, I won’t be using him even if he does finally give me an estimate. Last week, I finally got an estimate from another contractor, after a month mind you, and it’s extremely high. TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for the demolition alone. Are you kidding me? Give me a sledge hammer, I can do it.
My plan was to continue looking for GCs but now that the contract has been approved the countdown til closing starts. Not only must I have the mortgage financing together by the closing date, but the GC has forms to complete to get approval from the lender by the closing date as well. And I’ve already seen how lackadaisical banks can be. So, I won’t have time to wait for another GC to give me an estimate.
What should I do? Why are these things so expensive? Are these prices normal? Is there a manual somewhere with the basic cost for things? (I know the answer to this one… but there should be.) How am I supposed to know whether I’m getting screwed?
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
