I disagree with some of your second statement. I'm pretty handy and my dad is a carpenter. My significant other sand I spent almost a year and a half looking fo

I disagree with some of your second statement. I'm pretty handy and my dad is a carpenter. My significant other sand I spent almost a year and a half looking for a "fixer-upper" homes with the intent to buy and fix and live. For that entire year and a half almost every time we found a home that wasn't a complete trainwreck, someone would come in (sometimes from out of state) pay cash sight unseen and they would get the home. Considering this was going to be our first home, we couldn't compete. A few months later, we would see the same home back on the market, with a significant markup and basically some light tile work, and a coat of paint. Not really worth the "fee" IMO. Further, most of the "flipped" homes we looked at were absolutely done by DIYers. Not to knock people who have the drive to do it, but the work was absolutely not to professional standards and not worth the price listed. So to say that buyers are free to buy fixers-uppers isn't completely true, nor fair.