Tools Guide

Hey Everyone! This girl has been busy looking into house buying possibilities. Right now we are renting and spending a lot of cash on our current housing. A mortgage would be at least 3/4 -1/3 cheaper for us right now. We would rather be putting that extra money into a house that we will eventually be able to sell, rather than down the "renting drain."

We really want to buy a house, but since we're military, there is always the "risk" of having to move on short notice. With that said, we are looking for a cheap fixer upper property that won't be too risky finance-wise. That way, if we have to turn around and move, we won't lose much if we can't sell our house right away.

Honestly, my plan is to make the house so irresistible, that it will be snatched up by a buyer right away... but you do have to consider the worst case scenarios too. 

So we went house looking today. I had high hopes for this 65K property below...

Isn't it lovely? Haha... NOT! I photoshoped a Google Earth view of it to see what we could do curb appeal wise... but we still hadn't actually seen it in person.

Now that I have seen it, lets just say that there is a reason it's only 65K... totally non-fanciable... mold so bad you couldn't breath... and it had a horrible, ugly interior, with sloping floors. I was expecting the ugly, but hoping there wouldn't be any water damage. I think we are going to pass on this one... okay, I KNOW we are going to pass on this one. Bummer, because it had a really nice lot.

One reason I wanted to share the above transformation is for all the boxy ranch haters (myself included!) to see the possibilities in a property that you would otherwise ignore.

A little bit (or a LOT) of love can really transform a simple house into a character home. Transformations like painting, adding a curvy porch and landscaping, and window trim go a long way.

This next transformation is from one that we are actually considering. It's at the top of our price range though... but it also doesn't have any health issues that would prevent us from moving in while fixing it up... or kill us. That's always a plus, right? 

What do you all think? Am I crazy? I mean, I'm 3 months pregnant with a two year old!

Do fixer uppers scare you? Or are you ready to tackle a project to save some money? Let me know in the comments below!

Ps. Most of the concepts I used for the transformations are based off of my "Dream Home" Pinterest board. Check it out HERE.