When you bought your home...

[nuisance26]

...what needed to be replaced within the first couple of years? What did you do to the home, short of adding more rooms or finishing a basement or attic, to make it work better for you?
If you know how much of the purchase price was spent on fixing and customizing, that would be helpful too.
I've been running numbers for building our own house. The total is higher than comparable homes/properties already built. But I know that most people don't move into their perfect homes. They change the walls, the fixtures, the flooring. I know kitchens and bathrooms are often given a complete overhaul.
The advantage of building from scratch is that we won't have to pay to repair damage/depreciation or change anything to our tastes/needs.
The increased cost of building new, in our case, would be 15-20% of comparable homes. I'm curious if it's a similar percentage, on average, to buy a house and fix it.
We spent about 10% of the purchase price of this house to change walls & flooring, install better insulation and replace the windows. Everything else we've done has been because of our use of the house over 10 years. I'd have to spend another 20% to get it to a level of customization that I'd be happy with as compared to building(Oh, the kitchen! )~

[happymomof4]

We bought our house in 1996 for $175.000. It was a 4 bedroom rancher with 2 full baths and a 2 car garage on 3 acres.
We didn't do anything right away besides fix the well pump for $1,000.00 the first year because it broke. We replace hot water heater and water softner also.

Things we did now for ourselves. Upgrade our kitchen $35,000. Took above ground pool down put new inground pool in. Paved stone driveway. New deck, new garage doors and automatic operners. We put new carpet in the whole house and paint. New fencing around the house. We also upgraded 2 bathrooms and put a sunroom on the house. Build another 3 car garage.

Our house was a Rancher with 3,000 square feet of living space. About 6 yrs ago we put an upstairs on the house. It cost us about $100,000 to do this including everything besides furniture.

[craftypam]

Keep in mind; just because you build a house there will still be things you wished you have done differently. We bought our house w/o a garage, but it worked out to our benefit because we got more house and the following year we added a garage.
To be able to compare you would actually have to find the house you would be interested in buying because every house is different. Other than the garage our house needed all new flooring and of course we painted.
My ds just bought a house and he just needs to sand the floors and finish them. Everything else is done.

[imagine]

I can't imagine 10 to 20% of purchase price to fix house. Etc. Especially in the firsts couple of years.

I do know people that built their house that did increase their price because they made changes from the blue print, maybe even 20% over what the house would cost originally. even simple ones. like picking more expensive light fixtures than the builder can counted on when he quoted the price. or asking to add an outlet somewhere.

[Contrary Housewife]

We had a new furnace and hot water heater put in (gift from the in-laws). I don't know what shape the old ones were in other than they were "old" and MIL insisted so who was I to argue.

We bought a new dishwasher right off as the existing one did not work. We bought a new stove a couple of years later when it died. We're still waiting for the fridge to go. (It's about 30 years old)

We replaced the AC and windows after about 8 years. It probably should have been done sooner, for efficiency, but we didn't have the ready cash.

[nuisance26]

To be able to compare you would actually have to find the house you would be interested in buying because every house is different.

~True and I've done that. I know what $150K will buy in my area and I know the problems you get with a $150K house in my area. I looked at one a couple of months ago with great interest. It unfortunately needed an investment of 20% of the purchase price to fix water damage.
Real estate is high here. In fact, the house we want to build where we want to build it would probably sell for $50-75K more than it will cost us to build it.
I remember the 100's of houses we looked at 10 years ago before we bought this one. I was completely in love with a Cape Cod on an acre of land surrounded by farms. It needed a lot of finishing work (the walls were fuschia!the kitchen was a shambles)but I loved the layout and location. They were asking $70K and it needed about $50K of work. Someone snatched it up right after we viewed it.
And Imagine, because we're on the poorer side of the spectrum when buying a home we have to buy low(to qualify for loan requirements)and then cash flow any improvements. If our income was higher, or we had more savings, we could look in a price bracket of homes that didn't need so much work.~

[frugal is fun]

I bought my house 2 years ago. it was built in 1952. It was dated decor wise but a very solid house.

in the first two months, before moving in, I painted every room in the house, changed all of the light fixtures, put in a new toilet, and other little odds and ends. I also bought a new cooktop and refrigerator. I probably spent close to $4000 total.

I also had my chimney inspected and swept as well as the furnace cleaned.

Last summer I put up a fence for $2,600. The fence is the only "big" expense that I've had so far.

I would love new floors and a new kitchen counter top as well as new tile and mantle on my fire place. I recently hired a friend of mine to put in closet shelving/organizer and finish some misc. projects like missing floor trim, missing tiles in the bathroom and a couple of minor plumbing jobs.

There is always going to be something with a house, new or old.

[stinkbug]

We bought a new bulit house in 2002. We've spend no money..except things we wanted...mostly landscaping to our taste. Most people would have just left it with buider landscaping. We upgraded the appliances and sold the ones it came with. The only big change was tiling the master bath floor - 1200.00 and we had it painted to our color choice two years ago - 4,000. Everything we have done is cosmetic. Not *problems*

[Libby]

When we moved here over 10 yrs ago, we upgraded windows and the main door from wood to more efficient aluminum, re-sanded all existing hardwood and hired painters to change the colours to our tastes. Dad & I built my current bedroom (framing, electrical, drywall) and he put a 2nd floor 'attic' in the garage for storage since I was living in the basement. We've also enclosed part of the back deck since its multi level so we have a mock solarium but its not insulated, built a shed and did our own landscaping: added flower beds vs having 'all lawn'. Oh and changed out my ugly cramped lil shower cubicle for a jr tub in my bathroom.

The only *problems* or things that *needed to be fixed* were the windows & main door - not efficient nor safe at all. Prob about $5K back then.

We basically liked our house when we chose it and didnt plan to change much if anything besides updating the decor to our liking. Of course, now that DF has moved in with us - he and I have different ideas and are just playing the 'what if' game. For now, nothing needs to be changed but theres so much potential!

[Darlene]

When we bought our home '93 we fell in love with the land and knew the house needed updating. All these years later we still have the old fashioned wallpaper etc that we said someday we'll change, lol. Bones & land were great... Not long after moving in we had a flood that took out the septic so had to spring for that and over the years we've replaced a roof, water heater, water softener, dishwasher, refrigerator, washing machine. Just things that need replacing because of murphy & everyday life. We did make the porch into a heated & insulated eating area... All that said we like this house but wish our first house were on this land because it has a big eat in kitchen. To us the location was more important than having everything on my wish list.
If I were you and it was possible/feasible to build just what I wanted on the spot I wanted I'd go for it keeping in mind that I'd be staying there for many years.
You still looking at that land you mentioned a week or so ago?

[FrabjousDay]

We've always purchased homes with "good bones" that require only cosmetic improvements. Our current home is an older brick home that we purchased from the original owner. We've put in a good amount of time and sweat, but very little money. We have a list of upgrades (replacing storm doors, changing out light fixtures, custom blinds, etc) that we chip away at over time, but the house is more than adequate as is.

[TigerGirl1226]

We purchase our home in April 2006 for $155,000 it is a 3 bedroom 2 bath 2000 sq. ft. living area home. At the time of purchase, we had it inspected and were told it was in good condition that the roof and AC were older, but still in good condition. The seller even purchased a home warranty for us to cover any problems.

• Within months we found out the dishwasher was improperly installed and we had to have a plumber out. Not covered by warranty as it was considered "pre-existing".
• Summer 2007 out AC system had to completely changed out (heater and blower in attic and entire compressor outside) $6000! Again not covered even though still in warranty window. The warranty company ended up denying every claim we made.
• Summer 2008 After a freak hail storm we had out insurance company look at our roof and we were able to have it changed due to hail damage. It had been leaking for a while, but we couldn't afford replacement. Got lucky, replaced for $500 deductible.
• This last winter we changed out our hot water heater to the tune of $1200. The drainage and overflow were no longer to code so they had to bring it up to code in addition to the cost of the actual unit.
• Other various things have popped up like replacing all the support columns outside ($1000) and the drain behind the washer being undersized and not to code (plumber consult and DH DIY that one). We still have some projects from lack of maintenance from the previous owner. I guess they just covered stuff well and it wasn't caught on the inspection and we couldn't see it.

[craftypam]

nuisance;
If our house would have had a garage we would not have been able to afford the payment. We put half down and then put the garage on h/e a year later.

[Spirit Deer]

I don't know that it's possible to come up with a good figure because there are so many variables.

There are some ways to help cut costs, like putting in the cheapest, simplest light fixtures to start with and upgrading them over time. We did that, and since have added ceiling fan/lights to every room except the kitchen.

Our house was new, but it was stock although they did allow us to make some changes, like putting a walk-in shower in the master bath instead of a tub/shower.

We thought we had it made, buying a brand new house. I've done extensive work on the houses we've owned before this one, and I have to say, I've worked harder on this property than anywhere else we've ever lived. Getting a new house and garage means there are no previous owners who built in shelves and cabinets in places like the garage and basement, nobody replaced the crappy wire shelves in the pantry with something more efficient and solid, nobody left behind nice drapes, nobody created any storage in the garage, nobody created a garden area or did any landscaping, nobody built a dock, nobody put up any bookshelves, nobody built clotheslines, etc. While it's nice to have the ability to choose where to put things, it's all an additional expense and extra work right away.

No matter how good something looks on paper, there will be things you don't like and want to change once you see things in reality.

The nice thing is everything is new, like flooring, paint, furnace, roofing, etc, so you shouldn't have to have the expense of replacing that sort of thing for a few years at least.

[JerryG]

Water heater went out (like literally went out and flooded) the week after I closed.

Windows were replaced w/in a couple years as they were single pane.

Shower plumbing and kitchen disposal were replaced shortly thereafter and I replaced a toilet that I now regret - The new one is a water saver that does not work except for urine. <>

Ceiling fans were upgraded in all rooms except the office over the years.

Replaced the stove last year. Frig is the next item on replacement if the AC doesn't beat it to it.