We bought the HUD property in June of 2003. I may have forgotten to mention that we bought the home without knowing what the electrical, plumbing or heating situation was like. We could physically see the utilities but we had no way of testing them before purchasing the piece of real estate. When buying foreclosures, the utilities are usually disconnected. It is not always the case but it is very common. We quickly had all utilities turned on once we owned the property and to our surprise; we got a water fall in the bathroom. Our first thought was, “What a nightmare.” But we didn’t lose faith. We called a plumber immediately. I think the name of the company was ABC Payless plumbing…the name sounded good to us. They had to cut a hole in the ceiling to find out where the leak was coming from, patch the pipe hole and seal it; Of course, they did not patch the sheetrock where they had to cut. It was our responsibility to repair it. We thought the bill would be extremely high since we had no experience in repairing something like that, but when he handed us an invoice for $198, we were all smiles inside; So much that we went out to breakfast to celebrate.

Other items we fixed before moving into the property were (rough estimates):

Refinished hardwood Floor: $2000
Painting (all the walls): $1500
Two New Exterior Doors: $600
New Appliances: $2400
Ceiling Fan: $250

We also hired a cleaning crew to clean the house, especially those bathrooms (2 full baths). I did not want to go near them. I had a hard time just looking at one of them when we first saw the house. I vowed never to use it unless we totally renovated it. My husband insisted that it just needed to be cleaned. I told him I would not be the one to do it. To my surprise, after the cleaning crew was finished, the bathroom was in perfect working condition. It just proves that a little elbow grease can go a long way and you can save on doing the little things.

Other items we fixed after moving in were:

Exterior paint: $2000
Kitchen cabinets: $600 (one section above the stove to replace)
Vinyl Floor Tiles: $500 (in two rooms)
Lawn Care: $300

Total fix up cost: $10,150

Majority of the fix up was managed by me. We found the contractors by using an online web site called Service Magic. This service allows you to get quotes from multiple licensed contractors. We were pretty happy with the outcome of our fixer upper and it was a great house to start with.

The contractors we worked with were OK but I got a glimpse of how difficult it can be working with them. We worked with two different contractors on this HUD property. We had less problems with the first than the second but it is all about time management and communication. Also, make sure you inspect the work before paying all the money! There are sloppy contractors out there.