Fixer-Uppers Not for the Faint-Hearted

By the level of eagerness in their voice, I can spot a newbie from a seasoned veteran right away when they tell me they're looking for a fixer. The newbies sound full of boundless optimism, like a kid going on an Easter egg hunt or searching for buried treasure. They're confident, excited, energetic. They watch HGTV and DIY. They're ready to get in there and fix stuff and then sit back in their new, stylish living room and reap the rewards.

The veterans, on the other hand, sound war-torn. They're wary, weary, weathered. They've faced the formidable foe known as the "fixer-upper" and they'll never underestimate him again. Their demeanor says: "Yes, I buy fixer-uppers but I don't enjoy it.  I'll enjoy it when it's done, or when I sell it."

Interesting side note: It only takes one fixer-upper experience to become a veteran. That's all, just one.

Here's why: It's always more work to fix a fixer-upper than you think it's going to be and it's always more expensive, too, but not for the reason you think.

Say you need a new roof? Well, you might as well change the gutters while you're up there. Whoops! The new roof look so new, now the house looks drab, like it needs a paint job. You didn't plan on doing that...but you paint the house. Shoot! It seems so stupid to paint the 30-year-old garage door when it's all warped. Who keeps a garage door for 30 years? What were these people thinking? Guess I need to get an automatic garage door opener now...be pretty stupid to have a new metal garage door and have my neighbors see me out there pulling it up by hand.

Let's take a new bathroom vanity, for instance. The old one is just too disgusting to live with so you go down to Home Depot and buy a new one. You see them there all the time on sale for $229 right? Oh, oh. The wall got kind of torn up when you yanked out the old one. What do you know? It turns out that re-texturing a wall to match the existing texture is an art form that requires Michelangelo-type talent, the kind you need to pay $60 an hour for. Oh, and by the way, the vanity didn't line up the way you thought and now you need to replace the vinyl floor you thought you'd keep — might as well put tile in, no one uses vinyl anymore. It's too cheap. Don't worry, the guy who re-textured the wall knows someone who does tile. He charges only $50 an hour.

Get the picture? Home repairs are like the old Farrah Fawcett Faberge shampoo commercials: They each tell two friends, and so on and so on... 

Here are three tips I always give buyers:

A. Look for the house that really is just cosmetically ugly. It has newer windows, a newer roof, newer major appliances, such as the furnace and air conditioning unit. In other words, people have done work to the home overtime and put money into it. They just have bad taste. A classic example is a house that is really messy, or is painted a really ugly color. Look inside. Decluttering and paint alone can make a dramatic change in a home.

B. If things look bad on the outside (dry rot, peeling paint, falling fences ) think about what is going on that you can't see. Deferred maintenance often implies a home, that in general, has not been cared for from top to bottom.

C. Don't listen to any Realtor who promises you that you will be able to "flip" a home these days. This is something Realtors should never promise in any market, and particularly not in this one. They can give you their honest opinion about the price or potential, but be wary if they aren't also saying loudly that there are no guarantees.

For those of you who still think you've got the metal, here are two homes in Concord and Clayton that appear to have some potential:

62 Nottingham Circle, Clayton

4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,932 square feet

$349,000

This home appears to be "underpriced" for a neighborhood in which homes still have the potential to sell for around $500,000, depending on their size and condition. This single-level rancher is in a desirable neighborhood, walking distance to downtown Clayton and the area's top schools, and has Mount Diablo views. It sits on a large .3 acre lot. It has  a big family room with a fireplace, a master suite in the back of the house, and RV/boat parking. It has some updating but it is mostly original and needs TLC.

 1121 Crowe Place, Concord

3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,539 square feet

$275,000

For the price of a condo, you can buy this house in an area of more expensive homes — always a good idea. This house is a classic example of a home that will sell for less than it should simply because it is cluttered and messy. It has a newer roof, a family room and eat-in kitchen, a bonus room off the family room, a two-car garage, side access for potential RV/boat parking and a good size .22 acre lot.