I Swore I'd Never Remodel a House Again. This Is What Changed My Mind

Remodeling a house can be a huge hassle. There's a lot of time involved in finding a contractor, deciding what work needs to be done, and selecting materials like flooring and countertops. There's also a lot of uncertainty in terms of how long it is going to take to perform the work, how it will turn out, and whether the contractor is trustworthy or not.

Because of all these downsides, I did not want to remodel or build a home when purchasing a new property. Instead, my goal was to find a finished home that I loved and that I could move into. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out that way.

Here's why I ended up having to buy a house that needs remodeling

The big reason why I ended up having to purchase a home that needs remodeling is because I could not find one I liked that didn't need an upgrade.

In June 2023, there were 25.7% fewer homes listed on the market compared with the number of properties that were listed in the same month in 2022. Unfortunately, with so few houses actually on the market, there was not much available for me to buy.

The few houses that did get listed also went on the market at a price that was higher than I was willing to pay. I did not want to go above my desired budget when purchasing a home because I'm not interested in becoming house poor.

And many of those remodeled homes were done in the same generic "2023" style with gray walls and gray wood-look tile floors and ultramodern kitchens, and I just don't really like that look -- or want to pay the premium that people were charging for it because they had put money into upgrading the house before listing it.

Since I couldn't find what I wanted on the market, I had to think outside the box. That involved finding a property for rent that needed a lot of remodeling and making an offer to buy it. This allowed me to have a mortgage payment that I'm comfortable with. And I can pay for some of the upgrades the house needs over time out of my bank account as I earn money to cover them so I don't have to borrow as much upfront.

How I'm making sure my remodeling costs stay reasonable

Since I didn't really want to buy a remodel but I got stuck doing so, I've taken a few steps to make sure my costs don't get out of control. These include:

• Staying off Pinterest so I'm not inspired to go crazy with adding a ton of custom features that just drive up the cost.
• Getting a price from a contractor upfront before making an offer on the home so I can understand my total costs of both the purchase and remodel before moving forward.
• Selecting all of my materials upfront so they can be priced in and there are no surprises.

Hopefully, this approach will work out well for me and I'll end up with a house that I love without breaking my home-buying budget.