you're finishing sheetrock and you are 75% of the way through a pass with your trowel and a little piece of crap appears out of nowhere digging deep into the depths of hell into your seam ruining what was once such a beautiful piece of art (until that moment). Actually I hate finishing sheetrock in general :p fill in your own blank. You hate when..........................
I hate putting money intohome projects that need done, yet don't add to the value of your house. Two weeks ago it was electric service, this weekend it's patching the block walls in the basement. I'll never buy a home again that is this old, I hope to build the next one and stay there forever.
I hear ya there. I've been here way longer than intended. It burns my arse putting money into this place knowing I'm not getting it back! I'd like my next house to be my last. Then you don't feel like you're doing the work for someone else.
I too hate mudding drywall. I'll do it when I have to but my first choice is to pay a guy who does it as a side job. I'll also barter for it (I'm an electrician). I watched the sheetrock guys at work and picked quite a few tips on doing it so now it's not that bad anymore. I'd rather do plumbing or wiring.
Rick James, I replaced my service and installed a 100 amp. 32 slot panel, new gas pipe, all the plumbing, cable, phone, door bells and I also patched my block walls in the basement. I can see where doing something that really isn't seen (electrical service) will not add value to your home. However, when you see all new systems with a properly up kept home, it may add some value. One thing's for sure....... if someone is really interested in a home within my homes price range, I think I have "sale appeal" on my side. At least that is what I'm hoping for. Some of the other things that I've done is to install both gas and electrical for all the appliances, have 8 outdoor receptacles, 50 amp panel in detached garage along with natural gas furnace, air conditioning, cable and phone. Makes me almost not want to move but I like the idea of living on my new land up north! It's a lot of work....good luck.
Any number of things during this massive remodel project I have going. Oddly enough, the drywall work went surprisingly smooth. I'm on the home stretch now though, so no matter how many "I hate it whens..." happen from here on out, I can see the light. RJ, although your improvements may not necessarily help increase the value of your home, it will help sell it that's for sure. Nothing kills a sale like a running list of things that need fixed to prospective buyers.
I can't speak for Rick, but I only want as much "sales appeal" as what the market value it. I could dump 50k worth of sales appeal to my home if I wanted to and it's still going to be worth the same amount of money. That's where I am at now and it drives me crazy. I'm beyond the point now where every screw I put into a wall is "wasted money IMO"
That's why we yanked 'em.... 3/4 of the time we had them all off the hook and thought it was stupid to pay for something we never used. We also felt like you: our friends called us on our cells, and we usually only received calls we didn't want on the home phone. Going to cell only solved that problem.
I'm running late and all i wanna do is go the speed limit but i'm stuck behind g-ma who wants to drive 35mph with no passing zone in sight.
I feel pretty much the same way. Since I've gotten here just over 2 years ago, I've replaced all the drain plumbing, rewired all the phones, replaced the septic system, replaced the water heater, put up gutters, had to completely re-plumb the washing machine drain, patch roughly 400sq/ft of interior basement block wall, patch/paint the block the whole way around the outside, brought in new 200amp electric service.............and I still have a TON of brick work on the outside, and need to rewire everything from the sockets/switches to the new panel to get things in order. I hope I won't have to (knocking on wood furiously) replace the furnace, that one will really hurt. These are all things that I don't really consider to add "value" to the home, they are things that a potential homebuyer just expects to have done........and it makes me cringe to think about the $$$ I've dumped into this stuff. I did get the driveway completely paved and also had the sill paved the whole way around while they were here, gutted the living room and one bedroom, and added a pellet stove........these are things I don't mind putting $$$ into because I truly believe they add value to the home. I still need to gut one bathroom, the whole kitchen and all appliances, build a deck on the back or at least pour/roll cement or a paver patio, build a new front porch, and then a ton of landscaping work...........but again, these are the projects I'm looking forward to and don't mind doing and putting the $$$ into, because I KNOW I'll get that money back and make $$$ on it probably.
This is true no matter where you live. Your house is really only going to be "worth" (market value speaking) a certain amount depending on the comparables in the area, average income for most buyers/residents in the area, location/curb appeal, etc. I see what you're saying, though. Maintenance items don't necessarily add equity, but they do HELP get a place sold. What's your alternative? Don't do them and either don't sell the place or drop the price to accomodate the repairs to others. I bought my first home last year. It was built in 1979, and obviously by people who have no business building homes. I'm not a contractor by any means, by neither were these people. I've since sunk in about $8K in remodeling so far (doing all the work ourselves), and even though some of it was maintenance, I turned those maintenance projects into improvements. It certainly is frustrating, though, and I hear what you and RJ are saying. However, maintenance items are a necessary evil
