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April 23, 2008
Various renovation questions, help!
Hi
I have a few renovation questions that are causing me to loose sleep, and thought maybe I could get some feedback.
Issue #1: stairs. all the stairs in the house i'm buying have to be completely replaced. We could maybe save bannisters, and 1 stair's worth of spindles, as well as 1 newel post, but that's it. Where do I go for nice, period appropriate stair stuff? Do I just have to haunt salvage places and hope, or is there somewhere to get new treads, risers, etc (not newels, for that I will haunt salvage places) that won't break the bank or look too new/out of place? Thanks.
Issue 2: Floors. Where can I get reclaimed floors?!? Not old beams remilled into floors, but for-real old floors?
Issue 3: What about molding? House has no molding except in front parlor, and I don't want to replicate it custom but I do want nice, hefty, again, period-appropriate moldings.
Issue 4: Plaster work. It's all gone, long since sheetrocked. Anyone know anything about the fake plaster moldings (I think their rubber?) What do they look like? Where can I get them? Is there an example online I could look at?
If I had a million dollars to renovate, I'd put the plaster back up, but I just can't, so I want some viable and budget appropriate options to deal with ugly sheetrocked ceilings. Thanks!
Author's Comments
Ha ha, of course we're not buying the house we WANT, cause the house we want would probably cost 3 million dollars and we can barely afford this junker. Sweat equity + lifelong commitment = future house of our dreams! There's no saying one day I won't get rich and be able to put everything back in totally perfectly, but I'm excited to save a house as best I can from total neglect even if it doesn't end up totally perfect. Some condo developer would just gut it and turn it into a monstrosity, and no-one who could actually afford to make it perfect would want to buy it, they'd buy a house that was less trashed!
Posted by: RAR at April 23, 2008 12:37 PM in response to Various renovation questions, help!
Hi Park Place. THe house is on Sterling.
As for the money issue, no, we don't have that much, about 200-300k I've found if you look around, a lot of reclaimed wood places sell remilled old pine on sale for about $2-$3 a ft, you just have to be willing to search and salvage and ebay and craigslist...and to change what you want based on what you can get for a deal. Sure, there are really expensive and cheaper versions of EVERYTHING, but you have to look. Also, you have to be willing to have a small ikea kitchen, non-luxury appliances, simple bathrooms, not gut where you don't have to, and not change layout as much as possible...
As for staircase, who said anything about all detail? If I thought I could just afford to do that, I wouldn't be asking for input. Maybe the staircases will end up totally modern, maybe they won't.
Yes, we've got the old house compendium, it is good...
Posted by: RAR at April 23, 2008 1:23 PM in response to Various renovation questions, help!
WOW! THanks all for comments! This is so helpful. There's no rush, we won't even be in the house to start work for a few months, but I just wanted to start getting ideas so that when I talk to contracters/handymen I can really have a sense of the materials, etc. Fred from silver fox, I have time on the flooring, so the next shipment will certainly be fine. Could you email pictures, by chance, of the trim?
Does it hold true that the stairs (stringers?) are probably okay even if they seem to have separated from the wall a bit?! It's seriously scary to get up to the top floor...
Posted by: RAR at April 23, 2008 6:58 PM in response to Various renovation questions, help!
Hey all--thank you again.
RE stairs, I'm not sure if they've pulled away or not. See, the current owner sheetrocked those walls, which now (in light of this new info) might explain the space between stairs and wall...perhaps the reason why the bottom two sets of stairs didn't do that is because the wall up from the parlor was replastered, not sheetrocked, and the garden stairs have been stabilized.
As for how many floors of mess, well, I think you probably don't want to know how bad it is. And I say that having seen a lot of bombed out former crack houses in my day. Top two floors have been semi-competantly sort of made liveable, but bottom two floors have received the trashing of a lifetime...plywood floors on garden level sinking due to termite damage, can see the basement through the holes, etc etc. It's a long and sad story.
Posted by: RAR at April 24, 2008 12:54 PM in response to Various renovation questions, help!
My house growing up was all old subfloors, and we never bothered to lift them up, put plywood down or anything. Yeah, they squeak sometimes, but it's part of the charm!
BTW if you are getting rid of the oak, I need some old flooring--provided it could be refinished and isn't totally junked. Let me know.
Posted by: RAR at May 19, 2008 1:46 PM in response to Subfloors - Opinions...?
It depends on how much you're planning on spending, really. I know, I'm doing the same thing, and even with a down payment of 50%, excellent credit, other cosigners, we're struggling to get financing because of "low" income). ANything above conforming is nearly impossible. And they do calculate usable rental income in a weird way, so 75% of it is bundled in with your income, and then you can use 30% of your total income to count for the mortgage payments (rather than realizing that for most people, 100% of whatever rental income they get will go to the mortgage)
Depending on the condition of what you buy, I'd try for an FHA loan or an FHA 203k rehab loan/ mortgage bundle. FHA conforming loan limits were raised on 2 families to $900+k(Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac weren't) There's a place in Manhattan called First American Mortgage Trust that originates them (found it on the HUD website). But beware, it's the government, so things take forever. You have to get the process started as soon as you have an accepted offer, basically, and you'll need 60+ days to close the thing.
Hope this helps!
Posted by: RAR at May 20, 2008 9:20 AM in response to Financing strategy?
Hi
I'm using Darwin Berry as my consultant. Tel. 718 469 1130/ email darwinberry@channelrealty.com Usually,however, as I understood it, your FHA loan originator has someone they prefer to work with (that's how I ended up with Darwin). Anyway, if they don't, I think Darwin's great. You can tell him you were referred by Raisa if you want.
Posted by: RAR at June 3, 2008 10:15 AM in response to Need HUD 203k inspector
I have the same feeling. Honestly, the contractors are wrong (but it seems you should know that if you already did your kitchen once). Just don't listen to them, be patient, and do your thing. It really depends on how much/long you can live with what's there as you replace things, and what your skill level is. My dad and I installed an entire kitchen with minimal help from contractors (they cut the countertops and installed the sink) and I can assure you I am not skilled at all (he is, a bit), it did not cost $50,000, and it turned out, with a few minor glitches, just like we wanted. That having been said, it was not custom, with marble countertops, etc.
Posted by: RAR at June 3, 2008 4:47 PM in response to slow and small renovations?
Sterling is only 3 stories (hence the slightly too good to be true price). There is a floorplan, BTW. On Warren Lewis site.
That having been said, while slightly out of date on the kitchen and bath front, and horribly painted, it doesn't seem to REQUIRE renovation to be liveable. Not like there simply aren't any kitchens and baths, just ones that are not the most fancy shmancy. Seems like a good price, barring nasty inspection surprises.
One thing I would do is fix that bizarre room re-arrangement they've done on the top floor. But other than that...like I said, live in it as is, slowly fancify over time. Best part of the slope, pretty darn good price. (think of the brklyn properties three story on 10th street that just went fast listed at 1.499. This is WAY nicer location, nice/bigger house, etc).
Posted by: RAR at June 13, 2008 2:30 PM in response to Open House Picks
Aaah, sorry for the TERRIBLE grammatical error above, it's "I think they're rubber," not "their."
Posted by: RAR at April 23, 2008 11:28 AM in response to Various renovation questions, help!