Finding a Balance

After meeting with the local bank, we decided that we would be doing our financing with them.  They would lend for the purchase price of the home as well as the cost for remodeling.  Lots of other perks like one time close, they know our builder, we can roll the loan over or keep their rate, etc.  The challenge became trying to get the right costs for remodeling.

Hubby and I had in our minds a number we felt justified the project and would allow us to keep in the market value.  We had looked at other homes last fall when we first started considering moving and there was a range of $90/sf to $105/sf.  We felt we could justify about $100/sf and the neighborhood and comparables for the appraisal would support that. So, max budget, based on our square foot became around $240k to $250k.   The purchase of the home and property (1/2 acre) itself ate up 60% of the budget leaving only $100 in reno costs.

Even though we had nixed the second floor, I had began drawing a remodel of the full house including the currently unused basement space (we really need more bedrooms).  I took this drawing to Kevo to bid, and the costs came back over double.  Many of the costs were things we felt were mandatory expenses such as, upgrading all the wire from knob and tube and bringing in a larger electrical service, running a new sewer line from the street to the house, and a new roof.  These are must haves, and were budgeted at nearly $40k.

Original floor plan

At this point, we were really in a pickle and began to question if this was really the right move for us.  The house didn't have enough bedrooms for the four children we still have at home, it doesn't have a secure garage, and it is going to cost too much to get it just functioning.  Hubby and I considered our options, again...  We could look for another house.  We could demolish the house and start over.  We could do less remodeling.  We could forget about it all and live in our UDOT rental on highway 89 forever.

Look for another house... we did actually peruse the classifieds that night just to see, but we had really decided several months ago that this was the home for us and no matter what, (this might just be the craziest thing we've ever done) we wanted this project.  We knew this was a rare find.  So much history and character and a half acre in the downtown area.  We weren't going to find something like this anywhere else.
Demolish the house... ehh... sometimes we still talk about this as an option.  Kidding!

So... we are left with less remodeling.  Oh great.  We originally had said that we would hire someone to do all the work, and just get it all done quickly and move in with it being just beautiful and perfect and everything finished and no broken nails or sore muscles or lingering projects.  Smaller scope of work means that we are going to be doing phases of work, and some of these phases might not get done for several years, if ever.

Back to drawing, and reevaluating what we really need and what we can live without.
   Must haves:  new spacious modern kitchen, a clean functioning bathroom, bedrooms for four children. Also, the above mentioned requirements of new roof, new electrical and new plumbing.  We decided we would only renovate the back of the house.  When the home was originally built, it had a porch on the back.  During the depression, the family closed in the porch and rented out rooms to make money.  When they closed in the porch, they inadvertantly closed in some bedrooms as well.  I"m not sure if they had egress requirements back then, but one of those bedrooms definetly doesn't meet code by today's standards.

Phase 1 -remodel back porch add on and new kitchen

We decided we would remodel that closed in porch space creating two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry room.  Someday when we add a garage to the back, we will put the back door entrance through the laundry room.  We are also going to do a complete kitchen in a new location.  We don't have enough bedrooms for our four kids, but we will figure that out when we need to.