All Forum Posts by: Marian Smith

@Marco Morkous Almost everything can be fixed for a price, hence the adage " you make your money on the buy." If you get inspections and make a checklist you can anticipate issues and fix or upgrade prior to placing a property on the rental market. I prefer 1970's +on slabs.

Removing popcorn might be a good skill to start a diy skill set.  If Empty house no good floors.  It isn't difficult unless it has been painted with gloss paint.  flat paint can make it easier as the paint film holds it together.  gloss paint and you have to knock the tips off the peaks and drench it to get it wet enough to remove.  garden hose even.   There are plenty of directions online.  I use a pump sprayer and water.  I did buy popcorn remover for a really heavily painted ceiling once but it wasn't worth it...and I didn't use it.  Wet.  Use a drywall blade to remove. Wet again if it doesnt lift off. be careful not to remove or squeeze out the mud on the paper tape on the ceiling/wall inside corner joint.  I always paint that joint with peel stop primer afterwards to glue it in place just in case. You'll save $1 foot and remove it in a day.  I always fill the fastener indentions as it is easy.  If the ceilings look good you can just pole sand, prime and paint.  If you need to skim coat you may want to get a painter or drywall guy to bid, especially if some joints look bad or there is damage but you'd be surprised how good primer and a couple coats of flat paint makes a ceiling look.  I thin mud and roll it on and use a squeegie made for skim coating to get a flat ceiling. But you may not have time.

@Kyle Inbody I think your cabinets are kind of retro cute. I would just remove the shelf. drawer sticks are like sachets and will make your cabinet interiors smell fresher. walmart or lowes had christmas ones last year. I put them in closets of vacant houses. Home depot here has laminate countertops that look like white speckled quartz.

@Kyle Inbody A lazy susan adds a lot of usability to a corner. idk what menards carries but our home depot has a speckled white quartz look laminate in stock.

@Kody Ward There are a couple of home inspectors that have listed what to expect with an old house. Are you flipping or buying for yourself? Main issues are electrical...service panel, cloth wiring, meter box size and plumbing...galvanized supply lines, caste iron drains might be towards end of life span, shut off and bath valves. No insulation in walls and single pane windows (but you can add storms if need be). I paid 4.5k to upgrade meter from 80 to 150 amp and upgrade service panel so I could get central air and heat. Got a bid for 7k to rewire...going to get a few more bids. I have cloth covered copper wires with no ground. I am paying 1.5k to run pex supply lines and expect to pay 3k to replace caste iron to main drain (there are areas that are rusted through)...some of my neighbors with slabs paid 3x that to replace theirs. I hope I am right about the 3k. So you really need to list what you want to have done and get prices. If it is your personal house your permitting office might allow you to do some of the work...not the meter or panel.

How large is the house?  How much would a smaller house cost?  How old is the house?  How well maintained?  Someone living in a 600k house needs help?  Did your parents divorce over financial issues?  How will you hold title to the house?  Has a lawyer drafted an agreement saying you will own 50%, that you do not have to pay taxes, insurance or maintenance to preserve your 50% ownership and that your father can buy out your share at purchase price plus 5% annual appreciation.  or whatever.  Plus, if your father cannot refinance and buy out your mother, doesn't that mean a bank does not believe he can afford the house?   Most people eventually find it more comfortable to live within their means...less stressful.  Did you acquire such a large sum of money because you have a high paying job, then you can probably afford to do as you please.  There is more money where that came from.  Buy the house but mentally file it as a gift of sorts.  Get on the deed, etc, but don't expect the money back during your fathers lifetime.

@Aaron Fletcher Typically you get the highest price with the most market exposure. Time is the main issue. Do you have time to market the house? Do you have any offers from investors? Maybe get a few. Then You might try listing with a realtor on the mls for a short time...30 days to see if you can get more money...net more money. Have the investor offers excluded from commission contract so you can choose whichever is highest. Don't sign a contract with a realtor who will not let you exclude any offers you have received from the commission obligation. now, If you don't get better offers with a realtor, the investor may want to renegotiate, but investor offers are probably very low vs market (mls) offers so maybe not. You do need to put in work to get top dollar on the mls, clean and declutter. If your house says "I have given up," you will get a corresponding offer. Just what I would do. not an expert.

@Kade Robertson If your dad is not in a position to refinance and buy out your mother then they need to sell and split the proceeds. There is no way this is an investment "opportunity" even though your mother appears to be giving you a 50k discount. The deal is illiquid to you. At your age you need liquidity, flexibility...one reason why a lot of your age group chooses to rent. It is worth paying rent to stay liquid...unless you were able to a mass that much money due to living rent free and you feel you owe back rent in a sense. Then do what you see as right.

@Mindy Jensen What about lime wash for the stone and paint the wood. If you still dislike it, it isn't too hard to knock out the "breast" of a fireplace as the mortar should be pretty soft...but then you need to replace it with something. My husband knocked out a brick fireplace in hours. Then he used metal studs to build a frame to attach cement board for tile and that part was a pita. We really like the look much better but we did the demo to remediate termite damage to a header on a load bearing wall...so not an aesthetic choice.

The only thing I can think of, other than cure time, is you did not adequately stir your finish coat. If you have a primer that sticks to anything....and you cleaned your substrate...just paint.  It will stick.  use a very fine grit sandpaper, 220 or higher and sand by hand between coats. lightly, just to knock off any dust burrs.  I understand why you want to test hardness but a full cure is weeks away.  You have to trust your finish.  I have never used behr alkyd but all the paint companies have hybrid products because the smoothness and hardness of alkyd/oil is hard to beat.  stirring your paint distributes the hardening agents from the bottom of the can to throughout the can.  I tap little nails in the edge of my doors so I can lean them, less dust.