Why We Bought a Fixer Upper

 

1.       We will get exactly what we want...eventually.

 

If a flipped house is done to your taste, that’s great! However, I simply didn’t like some of the work done to the houses we looked at. I know subway tile, white cabinets, and marble are all so beautiful…but… and you’re gonna be shocked… I really don’t like it. At first I felt bad that I just didn’t care for the finish in these new homes. Then I thought about it…why am I paying top dollar for a house I would want to redo anyways?

The fixer upper we bought has great potential to be exactly what we want.

Yeah, teal countertops and red sinks aren't really my thing, but eventually I will have a large kitchen layout that is exactly what I want!

2.       We weren’t outbid.

The flipped houses we saw were priced competitively and off the market within a few days. The first three times we put in offers we did our very best. But so did someone else. In each case people bid over asking price. This game we were playing with other buyers was so not fun. One of the houses was booked back to back with showings in fifteen minute increments. I felt almost forced out of looking at the home since other people were waiting for us to leave. In another situation we were told we got the home and then a few hours later they accepted a higher offer. For me, it felt like cash was king, and the people behind the purchase were irrelevant.

We saw the fixer upper two times in one day so both my husband and I could see it. No rush to leave, we took our time discussing the house and the offer we wanted to present. Not only were we not outbid but they just accepted, no back and forth.

This is our back yard! When we met the sellers they let us know that they picked out and planted every bush, tree, flower, and rock. To me, the people behind the home are important too.

 

3.       It had what we needed.

Because some of the flipped houses were so shiny and new we overlooked some major flaws. One bathroom instead of two, a three bedroom house that only had two bedrooms (the third bedroom was in the attic and my husband couldn’t stand up straight), and school districts we weren’t too crazy about, just to name a few. We came up with excuses like “Oh, we’ll just move before our kids go to school” or “you can’t even hear the highway from the backyard”.

Our new home has the three bedrooms/ two bathrooms we were looking for and the school district we were after. Yes… it’s vintage 70s throughout, wallpapered galore, and has three different choices in tile in ONE room! But has the foundation we were looking for. Each room has potential for what we envision it to be someday.

Not lying about the tile.

Or the wallpaper.



Let me sum up what I mean with an analogy. Our house is like that nerdy kid in high school who hasn’t  reached his potential yet. The brand new flips we looked at are like the hot girl online. That girl is all surface, attractive at first but a few annoying things over time will start to make her less attractive and you’ll see things you wish you could change. That nerdy guy is a decent person, he might need braces, a new outfit, and a haircut, but he was who were looking for the whole time.

 

 

Check back for updates of our fixer upper's makeover!