Fixer upper?

[TexanStar]

Anyone else watch this show? I don't usually watch house renovation shows by choice, but I think this one's really good. Apart from the cast, I can relate a lot better since they're working on homes with much more reasonable budgets. It's on HGTV but also Netflix has 2 seasons on there.

 

[EllieP]

I love Chip and Joanna! And I want to meet them one day. They're just up the road from my parents (we say that in Texas) and I would love to chat them up about their projects and share mine. Supposedly they are just like their on screen personas.

Naturally, I watch all of the HGTV shows. You know what my favorite parts are? When they find a problem with the renovation and they don't know where they will get the money to do it, but then everything comes out perfect in the end. Or when one of them is adamant on "Loving" it while the other is dead set on "Listing" it. Or when the twins bring the house hunters to their first listing to find out it's three time over their budget. Yeah.

Drives me frikkin' nuts. Now I have clients who think I can remodel their whole house in 60 minutes like on TV.

 

[TexanStar]

Ahhh, right on. Is that what you do for a living? I've seen a lot of posts from you about dealing with contractors with bad attitudes.

 

[SprinkleMe69]

Love this show!!!! I love her style more than Jonathan's on Property Brothers.

I love how they can turn a piece of crap $15,000 run down shell into paradise.

 

[EagleCowboy]

I do that now.

What always puzzles me is WHERE and how do the clients get the $100,000 - $200,000 jobs when they have no degrees, and no talent? Jobs that I could do easily and mop the floor up with them!

Ah well. I like what I do now and will probably retire next year.

 

[lapdog2001]

I do that now.

What always puzzles me is WHERE and how do the clients get the $100,000 - $200,000 jobs when they have no degrees, and no talent? Jobs that I could do easily and mop the floor up with them!

Ah well. I like what I do now and will probably retire next year.

Exactly! As 'seasoned' professionals with good jobs and salaries, we could not possibly afford these $4-500,000 "fixer-uppers", with $150-200,000 renovation budgets! The couples involved always look to be in their late 20's. Where are they working? What do they do for a living? And most importantly, ow do I get one of them there high-falutin jobs!

 

[TexanStar]

Exactly! As 'seasoned' professionals with good jobs and salaries, we could not possibly afford these $4-500,000 "fixer-uppers", with $150-200,000 renovation budgets! The couples involved always look to be in their late 20's. Where are they working? What do they do for a living? And most importantly, ow do I get one of them there high-falutin jobs!

Well that's what I like about Fixer-upper. The homes they're working generally have total budgets in the low to mid 100's including all the renovation.

Like sometimes they're buying up these complete disasters of houses for $10k and then putting $100K into the renovation. It's cool to watch.

 

[lapdog2001]

Well that's what I like about Fixer-upper. The homes they're working generally have total budgets in the low to mid 100's including all the renovation.

Like sometimes they're buying up these complete disasters of houses for $10k and then putting $100K into the renovation. It's cool to watch.

If you can get a home for $10K and spend $100K fixing it, can you really re-sell it for more than $110K? In the Boston area, a home lot with even a derelict home on it would go for $200-300K. The lowest price I've ever seen for a build-able lot is about $200K. Add at least $150-200K to build an average house. I know there are flipper in our area, and they can make money, but the startup costs are just way too high for the average person!

 

[TexanStar]

If you can get a home for $10K and spend $100K fixing it, can you really re-sell it for more than $110K? In the Boston area, a home lot with even a derelict home on it would go for $200-300K. The lowest price I've ever seen for a build-able lot is about $200K. Add at least $150-200K to build an average house. I know there are flipper in our area, and they can make money, but the startup costs are just way too high for the average person!

The focus is on renovation, but it's not a home flipping show.

The family that's going to be living in the house are the ones buying the house and then they're paying this company to do the renovation / remodel to get it ready for move-in.

It's set in suburban/exurban Texas. Although some of the homes might have some equity built in once they're all done, I don't think it's really the hottest area for flipping.

 

[lapdog2001]

The focus is on renovation, but it's not a home flipping show.

The family that's going to be living in the house are the ones buying the house and then they're paying this company to do the renovation / remodel to get it ready for move-in.

OK, I haven't seen this particular show, and there are so many home renovation, and home improvement shows on TV.
Just a few I've seen over the years The original grand-daddy of them all: This Old House, Property Brothers, Holmes on Homes(?), House Flipper, Flip This, or Flip That (of both!) and about a dozen more that I can't remember!

 

[EagleCowboy]

The focus is on renovation, but it's not a home flipping show.

The family that's going to be living in the house are the ones buying the house and then they're paying this company to do the renovation / remodel to get it ready for move-in.

It's set in suburban/exurban Texas. Although some of the homes might have some equity built in once they're all done, I don't think it's really the hottest area for flipping.

Speaking as a real estate agent, oh yes it is!! Especially in the Humble/Atascocita/Kingwood/Spring/Porter/Splendora area. The Grand Parkway is pretty much finished, so that area is currently exploding.
(I would shy away from the homes in the surprise flood zone that is in the Cypresswood area)

 

[TexanStar]

Speaking as a real estate agent, oh yes it is!! Especially in the Humble/Atascocita/Kingwood/Spring/Porter/Splendora area. The Grand Parkway is pretty much finished, so that area is currently exploding.
(I would shy away from the homes in the surprise flood zone that is in the Cypresswood area)

Those are all suburbs of Houston. Do they do houses over their too?

I haven't seen a lot of episodes of the show so I'm asking in earnest, but all the ones I saw were in Waco and surrounding cities (Waco, North, etc).

 

[keenobserver]

A man I worked with a few years ago had relocated to the Baltimore suburbs from Texas and the thing he missed about Texas the most was lower real estate prices. Depending on where you are situated in Texas the differences are very dramatic compared to The east coast metro areas like New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington. A close friend in Austin still marvels at ow much house and land her money buys there compared to DC.

It is easy to over improve a property anywhere. A friend of mine did that and while he was able to get a construction loan to do it, when he tried to refinance at a lower rate a year after the renovation was done he had to put an additional 22K cash down to qualify for the loan - even though his income was up, and his credit spotless. The value simply was not there.

 

[EllieP]

Ahhh, right on. Is that what you do for a living? I've seen a lot of posts from you about dealing with contractors with bad attitudes.

That's what I do! LOL! I call myself a home designer, but in reality I'm a remodeler and decorator. I design inside and outside. But after today I'm thinking about brushing off my resume and going back to sales. Loooong day being boss.

 

[EllieP]

I do that now.

What always puzzles me is WHERE and how do the clients get the $100,000 - $200,000 jobs when they have no degrees, and no talent? Jobs that I could do easily and mop the floor up with them!

Ah well. I like what I do now and will probably retire next year.

I know what you mean. I have a degree and certifications, but I started at the very bottom. I just made a whole lot of friends who were architects and contractors. It's been a long road, and many, many of the jobs have been so small. But they've been growing and growing. I was specializing in that price range that you mentioned, but the current job will top a million by the time we're through. This may break me or put me on the map.

 

[EagleCowboy]

Those are all suburbs of Houston. Do they do houses over their too?

I haven't seen a lot of episodes of the show so I'm asking in earnest, but all the ones I saw were in Waco and surrounding cities (Waco, North, etc).

I think so. I seem to remember a show where they do house flipping in the Houston area, but can't really remember for sure. I don't have cable or satellite so the only TV I ever see is at a friend's house which is extremely rare.

I haven't run into too many people here that do house flipping/renovations/ Probably 7 at most. 2 are other real estate agents and the rest are investors. There are an unbelievable amount of excellent vacant houses here that the banks are content to just sit on for years. I know of one house that the bank has been sitting on for 15 years that needs very little work and lots of people want it even though there's nothing special about it.