The Georgian Revival house has 14 rooms.
Here I don't think I could get that wallpaper taken down and the rooms repainted professionally for less than about $4000 a room? So $56,000 right off the bat to undecorate the surfaces. I think the other house would be a little cheaper because there is no wallpaper, but if that faux painting imparts a texture, maybe not, if there was a ton of prep work first.

And this is why many people won't give the houses a second look. Especially the wallpaper house.

However it's hard to tell, because one of the most expensive condo units on my block sold multiple times over about one decade and each owner put in custom window treatments, wallpaper and chandeliers in, which were all promptly removed when the house changed hands, so I think some people take furnishing and decorating into account when they buy.

If I lived in a low cost of living area, which I don't, unfortunately, I would buy a house that left me money in the budget to decorate. Most people do not do that, they buy the most house they can afford and then have nothing left over to decorate with.

This also doesn't include actual decorating like window treatments and furniture. It could easily cost $100,000 to do window treatments and a basic furniture layout for the entire house if you were starting from scratch.

There is several hundred thousand dollars of decorating and window treatments and furniture in the Georgian Revival.

With the house in Memphis, which is a somewhat lower cost area than other major cities, I would expect to put at least $300 thousand in it. But to me move-in ready means that no construction work is required in order to live in it safely, but not necessarily that it is to my decor tastes.

The problem with many parts of Memphis, though, is that just a few miles down the road from that neighborhood, things get dicey and you're in a really run-down and dangerous area. Seriously bad. But the area the house is in used to be quite grand in early and middle twentieth century, even some parts to the 70s and 80s. So one needs to decide if they are willing to live in a historical and old money neighborhood with a cruddy one just down the street. The historical nature of the home is appealing to me, so if money were no object, I'd do it.

The Colorado just doesn't interest me at all. I love Colorado, but not that house.

This is exactly my problem with the CO house. (I wouldn't even walk in the door of the TN house, that's just too far out of my taste zone.) But in the CO house I would be calculating the cost of replacing the kitchen counters, the first floor flooring, the brown carpet, and repainting everything. I think for me, it's a much better buy to pick a house around here that has had nothing updated since it was built in the late 80s and is priced accordingly, if those are my two options.

For both houses the offer would be contingent on the current owner removing all window treatments.

Then, in both houses, the kitchens and bathrooms need to be redone.

In the Colorado house I could move in and live in it for a bit before doing the work.

In the other house, I couldn't live in it before doing the work.

Do either of those asking prices take into account the fact that the houses are very dated and work will have to be done?

That's a good question. How are these houses priced compared to the comps?

For point of reference:

This house is listed at $550,000 in my neighborhood, because of its size and historic interest. It's taking into account that someone will have to put another $500K to $1M into it. $675K may be cheap for the Georgian revival in the other thread. I would imagine the brown house is probably right on point price wise because it is "current" no matter whether people like it or think it's ugly and the Georgian revival is "dated", no matter whether people like it or think it's ugly.

For me it all comes down to the house itself (I'd have to be willing to move in!) plus what Pal said -- "I would buy a house that left me money in the budget to decorate. Most people do not do that, they buy the most house they can afford and then have nothing left over to decorate with."

If the structure is worthwhile and aesthetically pleasing, I'd be willing to spend more. I'd be happy to spend much more for the Memphis house, because underneath all that recent frou frou is a lovely 1920s house yearning to breathe free. I wouldn't even look at the 1996 Colorado house because I don't like the exterior, the double-height entry, that odd double staircase, and the odd angles throughout.

Depends on if I was going to stay "forever" or not. If I was, and I wanted the house, I'd spend whatever I needed over time until it was "perfect."

I WAY overspend on houses, I know I wouldn't come close to getting back the money I spent/continue to spend on the houses I have.

But I plan to live in my houses for 30 years, minimum. So, I don't really care about "wasting" the money to do things exactly to my taste. Some people like fancy cars or fancy clothes or good wine, none of which they will get back their investments from (for the most part). I don't care about most of that. I spend on house stuff.

It depends.

In normal situation, you take things slowly.

In this house, we changed downstairs flooring right away-it was a very stained carper, including in the dining room..We put engineered wood.

We also built our custom bookshelves pretty much right away-because where I was supposed to put all these books otherwise. We went with custom because after some research I realized that a good store will cost me twice as much. So we went with a local cabinet maker. No regrets, and love these shelves.

We changed the carpet upstairs an floors in the bathrooms only when we understood that the circumstances are changing, and we might need to put a house for rent or sale. It was three years ago. If I knew I still had so much time..:) But anyway. Happy we did it.

The rest of furnishings and decor took weeks/month/years to hunt down. It's a hodge podge of new and second hand.

I must add though that the style the house was done is, never bothered me. It is a very light and bright house, with nice architecture and amazing layout.

It had finishes in the kitchen in the bathrooms that were not my dreamy finishes, but also didn't irritate me. Except for the bathroom floors..white tile..my daughter's black hair..:)

I didn't even repaint half of the rooms.

The next house is not the normal situation.

We bought it..found out about the asbestos everywhere..almost backed out of the contract..then still went with it. Which was pretty idiotic of us.

So now we had a shell of a house-the floors, the walls, everything was gone.

And we found ourselves in situation that we need to put all the floors and the walls back:) And do the kitchen. And the master bath, in the addition to the previously very small master. To re pipe. To wire. To do some plumbing. To put insulation because surprise! the insulation wasn't there. To put a new HVAC because the abatement company cut half of the parts there..even though they were new, the owner had them done after she abated the disturbed asbestos. So, 2 new HVACs in one year..:)

To purchase all the lights at once because electricians want to install it at once.

To find the mirrors for the bathrooms.

Etc, etc, etc.

How much did we spend? Let's see..it's Southern Orange country, CA here. The prices of properties reflect that.

In addition to this major remodel, we had to pay our two mortgages, right? Also my MIL came to join us..first time she came, for 9 months or so, I put the kids back together, gave her a bedroom. Because the new place that has additional bedroom for her, is not ready. Not even ready being ready:)

Second time she was about to come, I realized I'll go crazy..kids had a very demanding schedule with their schools, and what worked last year wouldn't work as great now.

So we found a rental for her. Great location but very modest tiny rental. Which is still 1600 a month..

I'm not even going to add it all up to know how much we were ready to spend on the house we wanted:)

And it's not some special house with some amazing view..it was special to me because there was something about it, that connected with that something about me.

The house is still not done..it's almost done though.

But the landscaping is waiting for us...pretty impatiently.

There was no water in the house for months. We tried to come and water, buckets and all. It's a drought here. Poor backyard needs huge help right now. I also have a bad feeling that arborist will tell us we have to take out one of the sycamores..it's a big mature tree. Don't want to know how many thousands it will cost us..

Boy that was long and probably really boring..:)

But did I want to spend all that? Or ready to spend all that?

No.

I've already spent it-and I'm still not ready))))

Oy. Sorry I think I totally didn't get the question..I was sure you ask about our houses..not the houses from the threads.

Oh well..Not my day lol

(and I even know why I didn't get the question..I didn't see the second thread yet by the time I started answering..)))

For the purpose of this discussion, I am assuming that both houses are priced at market, and comparable to the comps.

With real estate prices at this time I would have to buy a house that needed very little upgrades. Both houses seem to be at the top range for their areas. Changes would never be recouped. Even in my area, everyone raised selling prices for homes on the market. Houses that have been for sale for five years had the prices continuously lowered and never sold are now up to double the first price. Guess what happened? The market died. You might only have one chance to price your home correctly. Would I buy at the top of the market and dump another $100,000 into it? No. Both houses may be priced comparable to the comps, but you need to be aware of the real estate cycles as well. I did not see any sales of $500k on the CO listing. They seem to be $460k. The TN home has prices all over the place due to a diverse neighborhood including $30k.

If both houses are priced as if no updates are needed I wouldn't take the CO for free unless I could immediately resell it guaranteed. I would not buy the Memphis house unless I still had 100k to play with

Again, that isn't my question. How much would you spend on a house that has over-the-top decorating in order to move into it and enjoy it? Don't worry about the neighborhood or the comps for this discussion. I'm addressing this to all the people who casually say, "Oh, it's just paint/carpet/drapes, and the house has good structure." So how much would you spend over the price of the home (just using these two as a point of well-maintained homes with specific taste decorating) to make the house livable for you?

I would have to factor it in, so I would not consider either house (assuming I was looking for a home in that general range).

My experience in the past has been that I will paint and refinish and do cosmetic improvements myself, but I don't want to do a gut of a kitchen or bath when I move in.

This is an interesting question, and one I've been hassling with myself. I looked at a very charming house that is pretty much my dream home except for two things: it's priced slightly above the top of a very inflated market, and 2: it had an overwhelming smell of large wet dog throughout the house, and different wallpaper in every room. Every surface in the house would have to be redone to get rid of the smell, so it was a no-go for that reason, even if I loved wallpaper patterns.

It also was sold as move-in ready, but like many other houses that make this claim, it wasn't.

ETA I like dogs, but this practically knocked you down.

We do most of our own work ourselves, as retirees. The CO house is in a development that has easily comparable comps. The houses are all builder's models named blah, bleh, or bla. I live right now in the same kind of community. Updates may get you a faster sale and a little bit better price, but not much. The TN house would easily be worth putting more money into if you wanted to live there, $100k +. I once put in $200+ upgrades in a brand new house and lost $300k out of pocket. Notice I said once. We built a custom home in an upscale community, and when sold we did well. My current house was a foreclosure which we gutted, removing all the tile floors, walls, bathrooms, partial kitchen remodel. We spent $70k and also hired out some of the work. We now have the largest house in the community and still spent the least amount for it. Every house is specific. I can see putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into a house if I did not over pay for it. The house that Pal is showing is fascinating, but it is too much work for me. You would simply need a very large pocket book to hire many workers before it needs to be demolished. What a shame. Writersblock, I would have removed all the drywall in the stinky house. You could tell them what needed to be done and put in an offer reflecting that. Did it sell yet?

Voila, there is easily $1M out of pocket expense in the house I showed if you wanted it to be historically appropriate. (Historically accurate would cost more, probably). Above purchase price. A generic interior would still cost more than $500,000. It's a massive undertaking.

In this neighborhood, you could get it back , unless you spent an awful lot on historic recreation and then you may not.

It's not hard to spend $5000-10,000 on curtains for just one room in a grand house. To my mind, neither house is one I would buy - just too much money. When we bought our house 32 yrs ago, there was not one single room I could live with - it was all tacky and heinous. But our timing was good. First of all, we could remove ugly wallpaper ourselves, and I then repapered to my taste, and we both painted. I was lucky that in 1985, the British pound was at about $1.10 and prices were a bargain. Airlines charged 10 cents a pound for overweight luggage! So I went to London and bought Colefax & Fowler chintz for 17£50p a meter, and Jane Churchill wallpaper for 8£ a European roll ( 11yds).

It has taken me 32 yrs to get my house exactly the way I wanted. When my children sell it, all but a bit of Farrow & Ball wallpaper will be removed, and all my beautiful curtains will, too. Hopefully children and grandchildren can use them or I can if the move was yo a retirement home and not the graveyard!

We have always been careful never to over build either the house or neighborhood. But I've certainly spent way more decorating the inside than most people in this neighborhood would and it's an expensive neighborhood. I was 41 when we bought it, knew my own taste and knew I was doing (forever) decorating. Few people do that these days.

I've never been in the position of starting completely from scratch - always had furniture and things that came with me. They were cast-offs in first apt and we bought a sofa and end table, both of which I still have 50 yrs later (recovered).

You say you don't like the decor in the Georgian but don't say what you already have to go in the house. If it's nothing, then you're talking about a LOT of money to decorate. If you can afford it and if you would be buying things that you could take with you someday, then go for it. But I'd have to be awfully sure of how long I'd live in that house before springing for Gracie or de Gourney wallpaper for that house or else be sure it is installed over lining paper so it could go with me!

In my state window treatments stay--why would one take them the likelihood of them fitting other windows is small? At this price point who would buy them unless they like them as is? The location might be a reason and I think some low balling would have to be offered with both parties realizing a lot of personalized taste would be remove/replaced. The answer to how much would one spend is after it is done to YOUR taste will it be worth all the money you put in AND the original cost.

If they're custom and pencil pleat header tape is used, they can often be reused. Curtains are personal taste. Few buyers would appreciate my fabric choices and they were way too costly to end up at Goodwill or in a dumpster. I reused my mother 's gorgeous B&F curtains with Scalamandre trim in our dorm apt in Maine, and my late MIL's gorgeous heavy linen curtains in our library until I could afford to redo the upholstery and curtains many years later. Someone at Goodwill got some lovely, if old, curtains in good condition.

Pal, yes, when I said too much work I meant money, too. I haven't had a mortgage since 1992 (widowed with mortgage ins.), so everything comes out of pocket. If I was smart I would learn to use other people's money. Oh wait, that is where my second husband comes in. ;) That house looks like ruins. Can you imagine the cost if all the brick needs repointing? There is rot on the fascia board. It needs structural work, probably new roof , windows, plumbing, electrical. We haven't even gotten inside to remodel yet. Not for me. Hey, does the city give out money for restoration of historic buildings? Personally, I don't think I could live without parking or a yard. The Memphis house had a yard with beautiful old trees. And I actually like some of the wallpaper. I also like that it is dated, because it is an old house. But I would never want to live in Memphis. I need to find a house with a large yard somewhere in Virginia, maybe.

I just saw a 100k kitchen remodel this afternoon. It wasn't that great. It was ok of course. But you think wow, just put in new kitchen and baths and we're good. I think that's the point of this exercise. Am I going to pay at the range plus then fork over 100k for a pretty average looking kitchen remodel? Not me.

Anglophilia, you lucky duck! Going to the UK to purchase fabric and paper would be a dream. Do you get to the trade privileges? I hear you on lugging your furniture around. Me too. But it keeps it more interesting as a collected look, instead of all purchased at once.

So, sushipup , did we fulfill the answer to the question? There are really no simple answers.

We bought in 2006, price still high. We put about 2 1/2 - 3 times the purchase price. Yes, way over improve but plan on staying.

Spent more in the last year for renovations (kitchen, floors, bathrooms, paint etc.) than our house cost. I Wouldn't do it again,

Neither house to me is move in ready since I would need to spend money on removing wall paper, painting, re-doing floors, kitchen and bathrooms.

Move in ready to me means only furnishing the place, that's it, nothing else. And furnishing isn't something I take into consideration when pricing a property.

We decided on a budget of $X for our house if we found the perfect house. We found a good property with a newish house that had potential and paid 2/3 of X. In the last 6 years we have spent the other 1/3 (cash) adding on and updating both inside and out. Just have one bathroom and kitchen left to remodel.

If we sold today we would get all our money back for the improvements plus appreciation on the original purchase price. The crazy RE market in my area has appreciated about $100K per year for properties with my lot size and house size.

I would never buy a house I hated and didn't have the budget available to change it. In this scenario I wouldn't buy either house and would keep on looking.

We will be moving next year and this is a discussion we're having. Like pal and chispa, we'll have a budget--and the price of the home plus necessary improvements has to fit in that budget.

Looking at houses on-line, there are some I immediately start adding numbers on--flooring, painting, new kitchen. I'd rather buy a house that needed those things and was priced accordingly, though--especially the kitchen.

For selling purposes, keeping this same concept in mind, we'll be repainting most of the house before listing it--Shaker Beige. I don't want people thinking "Oh--I have to paint that." Maybe they'll hate Shaker Beige and prefer a grey, but I figure beige won't keep people from looking at it (the purple/green in one room and deep teal in the other might--which is why we're painting those bedrooms). Our bathroom/kitchen/floor/lighting choices are all very neutral--I hope noone looks at ours and thinks "I'd have to spend $60,000 before I could even move in"

It's an interesting exercise. I've heard the "it's only paint" line many times when my neutral-palette mind gets offended by a shocking pink bedroom next to a neon lime bath. It's only paint we can say from a distance. But we dissect every home that is pictured and act as tho money is no object. Yes, some folks have that luxury, but the rest are juggling the mental budget and deciding what can/cannot be done.

So without touching the kitchen cabinets/appliances. or the bathroom fixtures and only tackling carpet and wallpaper/paint and window coverings. it's a dose of reality.

Thanks to all who contributed, it was very interesting.

I think it is true that paint is one thing that's possibly easy to change. But it depends upon what the paint job looks like.

You can't really cover a bad paint job with a good one, it's only going to be as good as what's underneath, especially trim. I owned one house where it was cheaper to tear out all the existing trim on the first floor, have a knife cut to reproduce it, and have it installed and painted than it would have been to have good enough prep done on it to repaint what was there. The millwork was lumpy with paint and the walls had roller marks all over them. If you have to correct that, forget it, it's not "just paint". And there are a lot of lousy paint jobs out there. Especially now that people repaint to neutralize for resale. Everything gets a down and dirty paint job that no one wants to put too much money or effort into because they won't be living there much longer.

I'd rather have a dated time capsule that hasn't had layers and layers added to it.

I know Pal means about trying to paint over bad paint jobs. When I painted my daughter's room, there were a bunch of spots where someone had patched the plaster really badly--just a lumpy mess, like they didn't even try to smooth it out. And somewhere many layers back, there was a layer of paint that hadn't adhered properly (thin, flakey, oxidized), so all the layers on top of that one were highly questionable. I did the best prep I could--and spent a huge amount of time on it--and finally ended up putting primer over whatever was left. It's far from perfect, but it's held up for 6 years, so yay!.

Would I buy at the top of the market and dump another $100,000 into it? No.

If I were planning to move in, say, 5-7 years more or less, I probably wouldn't either. But if my time frame were longer, I would because recouping my investment wouldn't be the primary focus, enjoying the home I'm living in would be. (We went through this exercise 3 years ago - bought a condo, had a budget for remodeling, spent it, expect to move in another 2-3 years, so the remodeling budget WAS factored in).

I agree that it would depend on how long we were planning to stay in the house. The market here has gone absolutely bananas. We had been planning to downsize in a few years, but are rethinking just staying in this house until we are able to leave Austin. Seeing homes on the market that a few years ago were $150k now priced at $450k plus and very dated. Something mentally just does not allow me to consider paying the prices that people are getting here. Of course, we will make money when we sell since we bought our current home in 1998, just not sure we want to pour a bunch of it into a home that isn't great quality to start with.