We met with the flooring man today to go through samples and find out exactly what it would cost us. The home comes with a repair escrow to cover the cost of replacing the carpet. This flooring guy is a business friend of our agent, who moonlights as a real estate investor.
The carpet alone would still leave about $800 in the escrow account, which would go toward our principal payment. But if we put up a little money we could get all the floors redone, which means new laminate flooring in the dining room and kitchen. What better time to replace the floors than before you move all your stuff in the space? We decided it was a worthwhile expense and gave the go-ahead to the floor man.
With an even tighter budget following that commitment, I sat down and created a plan for how to tackle the other improvements, then prioritized them as follows:
BEFORE MOVE-IN NEEDS
- carpet
- primer and paint
- moving truck
- new door locks and garage opener (The current keys can be used in any HUD foreclosure, so they aren't very secure).
- air filters for HVAC intakes
- utility connections
BEFORE MOVE-IN WANTS
- laminate floors
AFTER MOVE-IN NEEDS
- garage entry door casing (the prior dog tenant had trouble getting in so he tried to chew his way through the door jamb)
- bedroom door (one has a small hole in it)
- batteries for smoke detectors
- caulking for plumbing fixtures (the master bath tub needs sealing at floor)
- cement cleaner (for said previous dog tenant)
AFTER MOVE-IN WANTS
- garage organization
- living room furniture (couch and loveseat)
- grass seed/sprinkler/hose
- lawn mower
- new refrigerator and electric range
- new countertops
- tile for bathroom floors
- patio furniture
- grill
- pergola on patio
- beadboard and new vanities for bathrooms
- and as much more as imaginable
Knowing what we want and need, we can knock them out in increments. Obviously all the before-move needs will be budgeted for the next month. After that, we will take it in manageable chunks of time and money. For major purchases, we'll hold off a while until we can afford the investment.
I expect this list will last us about 18 months.
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