That’s a good point. I’m trying to go the fha route now with 3.5 down on a ‘handyman special’
if you have the skills, tools, and knowledge a handyman special could be a good route to take.
Dont count on other people (friends/family) to fill in if you lack any of the above. When it comes down to it you’ll be the one doing 99.9% of the work unless you’re paying a contractor…
BS. REAL FRIENDS CAN AND WILL GET DOWN WITH THE GET DOWN!!!
I am helping with at least 50% of the work, building my buddy a garage. We have done all the framing, sheathing, and roofing together so far. Next up is electrical. He has put in time @ my place when i redid the kitchen, he helped a little with the bathroom, but that was mostly my gig.
Anyway what I’m trying to say is, you will learn about who your friends really are when you get a house and ask for a hand. Don’t ever be afraid to take on a project by yourself. The worst that can happen is you will have to pay someone to fuck it up for you anyway.
Damn… thats wicked smart though
Wayne just give me all your money, I’ll manage it 
~TracEy on Steve’s name
:rofl
your friends are better than mine then. Im not saying that they wont help with some stuff, because they have before. A few members on here helped with my new driveway a few years ago, but when it comes right down to it I have to plan on doing the whole project solo or hiring someone to do it.
I just had 5 new windows installed yesterday. 2100 bucks OUCH… Plus a new porch roof a few months ago = $1350… plus I’ve been repainting the outside all summer which will probably cost $750 in paint when its done…
Hopefully it was smart… I plan to list it for sale in 1.5 years and if there is some equity then it was smart… haha
yeah im not sure why they are going with 20% down. in fact if you look up your monthly payment, whether we put down 5k, 10k, 15k, 20k on a $140k house it really didn’t matter. putting down 20k over 5k made us save like $20/mo. we would much rather have that $15k in the bank for the future…and the lower downpayment didn’t hurt use with APR, as we were getting 5.25% APR (the lowest at the time).
were they replacement windows? those are possibly the EASIEST house repairs i’ve ever done. How much of that was labor?
yes, replacement windows.
I dont know for sure, my wife took care of all of it (except the bill :eek3)…
I watched how he did it and I could have probably done it myself except I have NO time… (seriously, I have no time to do anything). Every free minute we have is spent on the boat (when its nice out), doing other trivial stuff that comes with owning an older house, or doing things with the kids…
yeah, windows are pretty easy for the most part, especially if you have a helper…i did it a couple of times a few years ago and really forgot how to do it now. you just need to have a level, caulk, screws, and some shims.
.
at least I know it was done correctly this time, chances are if I did it something would have been screwed up…
I’m an office worker and a small engine mechanic, not a carpenter…
Im in statistics right now and its boring as fuck
I put replacements in by myself after redoing the bathroom and kitchen. I need to do the rest of the house now.
What brand of replacements did you get? How much labor did they charge you? I’m sure i can get that done for you cheaper, should you decide to replace more of them.
I’ll have to look and see what brand. They seem nice. All I know is that the entire bill was 2100 dollars (I just paid the rest of it today), I’m not sure how it was broken down labor vs. material cost. Thats 420 dollars per window, which seems ridiculously high to me, but like said, the wife took care of everything and I didn’t bother questioning since I trust her judgement.
It put a dent in my savings, thats for sure…
yeah, it really depends on the windows too; iirc my parents paid about that much the other week for the same amount of windows…
The old windows were in bad shape. When its time to sell I think potential buyers will like the new ones… So far we’ve replaced 7 total, the rest are still original but are in good condition.
Jesus fucking christ guys. I paid $250 a window for my windows, and if I had shopped around I could’ve gotten the same quality window for $150. I trusted the guy across the st from me cause he’s my neighbor. i failed.
The majority of replacement windows that meet the tax cred requirements are only worth 150-250 a window.