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50k to 90k for the renovation of bungalow? These numbers just don't make sense. 90k buy you a mansion in developing countries and even in western Europe you can

by jlg23 11y ago

50k to 90k for the renovation of bungalow? These numbers just don't make sense. 90k buy you a mansion in developing countries and even in western Europe you can get a small (say 100 square meters) pre-fab stone house, minus floors and appliances. I think the only valid point this article makes is "mortgage is hard to get at the moment". Yes, any kind of (sane, i.e. no loan shark thing) credit is currently hard to get anywhere in the first world.

jerf 11y ago
My guess is that those numbers are for "taking the entire house pretty much down to its foundation (maybe saving just the frame) and paying market rates for materials and labor to rebuild it". Which is, unfortunately, what a lot of these houses take. Motivated buyers can invest the labor themselves, but materials are unavoidable and not cheap. It may not feel like you're really doing that much to maintain your house when you live in one, but they can go downhill fast when unoccupied.
imglorp 11y ago
Yeah, that's kinda the benchmark for flipping anything in a generic US suburb. 40k for a kitchen, 10k each for a couple bathrooms, another 10k for paint and flooring, some landscaping, maybe roof or siding, and there you are.
nsxwolf 11y ago
Have you ever tried to rehab a house? $20k-$40k for a modest kitchen is not out of the ordinary.
- jlg23 11y ago
  No, I have not. But I helped creating a lot of not-for-profit events and setting up some hacker spaces out of rotten spaces. 20k for a kitchen? Seriously? I call that bullshit. Every chef who would dare to ask for that would have gotten the finger. You can create a functional kitchen for 0.5 - everything above that is luxury, which I'd love to have (I'm a passionate amateur chef) - but I'd never ever would invest 20k into that upfront. FFS, one of the most well known places in Berlin was started with not more than 12 crates of beer with a board on top to simulate a bar (Bar 25).
  - jdmichal 11y ago
    I'd love to know where you're buying from, that you can get a range, oven, refrigerator, cabinets, and counter for $500. (I'll be generous and leave the dishwasher off.)
gozur88 11y ago
I have an East SF Bay developer friend who told me in California you can't build a house for less than about $150k (just the structure) because of permitting costs and building codes. It doesn't surprise me major renovations for a Detroit bungalow are in the $50k - $90k range.

by jlg23 11y ago

jerf 11y ago

My guess is that those numbers are for "taking the entire house pretty much down to its foundation (maybe saving just the frame) and paying market rates for materials and labor to rebuild it". Which is, unfortunately, what a lot of these houses take. Motivated buyers can invest the labor themselves, but materials are unavoidable and not cheap. It may not feel like you're really doing that much to maintain your house when you live in one, but they can go downhill fast when unoccupied.

imglorp 11y ago

Yeah, that's kinda the benchmark for flipping anything in a generic US suburb. 40k for a kitchen, 10k each for a couple bathrooms, another 10k for paint and flooring, some landscaping, maybe roof or siding, and there you are.

nsxwolf 11y ago

Have you ever tried to rehab a house? $20k-$40k for a modest kitchen is not out of the ordinary.

jlg23 11y ago
No, I have not. But I helped creating a lot of not-for-profit events and setting up some hacker spaces out of rotten spaces. 20k for a kitchen? Seriously? I call that bullshit. Every chef who would dare to ask for that would have gotten the finger. You can create a functional kitchen for 0.5 - everything above that is luxury, which I'd love to have (I'm a passionate amateur chef) - but I'd never ever would invest 20k into that upfront. FFS, one of the most well known places in Berlin was started with not more than 12 crates of beer with a board on top to simulate a bar (Bar 25).
- jdmichal 11y ago
  I'd love to know where you're buying from, that you can get a range, oven, refrigerator, cabinets, and counter for $500. (I'll be generous and leave the dishwasher off.)

gozur88 11y ago

I have an East SF Bay developer friend who told me in California you can't build a house for less than about $150k (just the structure) because of permitting costs and building codes. It doesn't surprise me major renovations for a Detroit bungalow are in the $50k - $90k range.