Changed my mind about buying a fixer-upper after talking to a contractor

I was dead set on getting a cheap house in Mill Woods and fixing it up myself until I talked to my buddy who does renovations. He told me on my budget I'd be looking at $40,000 just for foundation and electrical work on a 1960s bungalow. Has anyone else been talked out of a fixer-upper after getting real numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sage29d ago

Yeah that math hits different when it's not just a dream lol

the_vera28d ago

And also like @the_sage, nobody talks about how this math changes when you factor in the unpredictable stuff. Like, I had a buddy who did the whole "10 hours of practice a day" thing for six months straight. He was doing everything right on paper. Then his mom got sick and he missed two weeks. When he came back, his timing was shot and he was worse than when he started. That two week gap basically reset months of work. It's not just about showing up, it's about not having life throw a wrench in the machine. Maybe the real grind is just surviving long enough without a setback.