Good Morning Dinks. Let me ask you a question; is your home exactly how you want it to be?

Not many of us can say that our house is perfect because I am sure that there is always something that you want to upgrade, remodel, or improve in your home.

I am redecorating my bedroom… again. I want to purchase a new kitchen table, I want to repaint my living room, and I would like to buy a second sofa.  Of course I don’t need any of these upgrades in my home, but I want them. I absolutely love shopping for home decor, I don’t know why but I do. I can spend hours every weekend browsing through Pier 1 and Bed Bath & Beyond.  I consider myself to be a very creative person, but when it comes to colour coordination I could definitely use a little help from Martha Stewart.

I am definitely not one of those people who could buy a house and fix it up, but I have a cousin who is currently on his second fixer-upper home. My cousin does not flip houses for a living; he has lived in both of his homes.  My cousin loves buying houses cheap and then spending a year or two fixing them up and customizing them just the way he wants them to be. I know that there are several TV shows, such as Flip This House and Flipped Off on A&E, about how to buy a house cheap, fix it up, and sell it for a profit; but just like colour coordination, fixing up and flipping houses is just not my thing.

The Financial Post recently published an article titled “The Pros and Cons of Buying a Fixer-Upper”.  Let me ask you another question Dinks, are any of you in the real estate business? I would love to know from real people in real life if the business of buying fixer-uppers and flipping houses is really a profitable business.

Here are some Pros and Cons of Buying a Fixer-Upper:

Pros:

– You can customize your home exactly as you want it. If visiting open house every Saturday and Sunday in order to find your perfect dream home seems exhausting to you then you may want to buy the next best thing and fix it up to your liking.

– You can afford a larger house.  If you are willing to do some of the home repairs then you can purchase a bigger house that needs some work for the same price or even cheaper than your ready-to-move-in perfect dream home.

– You can buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood.  The more work a house needs the cheaper you can buy it.

Cons:

– It’s very possible you will go over budget. On almost every single episode of every single flipping homes TV show that I watch the owners go over budget.  This can be a major problem, especially if you don’t have any extra money.

– You may not be able to sell it if you want to flip the house.  Just because you have a newly renovated home to sell doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is in the market to buy it. Monthly heating, lighting, and mortgage costs can quickly add up to be a major expense if your house sits on the market.

– Renting the house may not always be an option. If you can’t sell your newly renovated house right away you may want to rent it out.  However, being a landlord brings on a whole other set of potential problems.

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Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.


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Avatar photo About Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.

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1) Collaborate: Meet regularly to talk about money, set goals together, track and monitor them.

2) Understand and respect your partner. Take time to understand your partners values about money.

3) Watch the numbers. Get a budget, monitor your spending and track your net worth.

4) Max your retirement. Maximize contributions to your tax deferred retirement accounts.

5) Invest in stock. Stocks perform better than bonds or cash.

6) Avoid high interest debt. Credit cards and title loans are financial cancer.

7) Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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