Thank you! I do not know whether there is paint under the wallpaper. It appears to be the original wallpaper put up when the house was built. It was built in 1980 (not 1989 as I originally posted). I am just trying to decide whether the wallpaper is a horrible beast and if I should forget about buying this home. Or, is it something manageable?

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You will have to do a test to see how hard it is to remove maybe do the room you hate the most for the test. IMO this is ajob for DIY it is a PITA but expensive to have done so pick a weekend and get to work. I would probably tacklre the one batroom with the least wallpaper. Watch a you tube on the way to do it and it will tell you if it is an easy job or better covered up BTW there are lots of issues that pop up when do 2 layers of drywall so all the old drywall should be removed

Paper might well be strippable, most papers used in the late 70's & 80's were. Just pull from the bottom and go slowly. If not strippable go to YouTube as suggested. Home ownership is very costly if you have to hire out all the work. Build your skill set starting with this project.

This house had wallpaper in 90 percent of the rooms. Built in 1966-68. I removed it all. Most removed easily, except for two rooms with just borders. Is it a one owner house? could have been wallpapered later, and builder may have primed and painted it. If wallpaper is on over painted walls, its annoying to remove, but, it isnt the beast that everyone seems to think it is. If wallpaper went on non primered or painted walls, then, the drywall may need to be all removed and new put up. Have your realtor ask the sellers agent to find out for you, before you place an offer.

I am not the handiest,

That doesn't matter. You need to start learning how-to. And stripping wallpaper is a great place to start. Not to offend you but it is a dumb grunt work job, not brain surgery. That's what makes it the perfect start to building a skill set.

If it is strippable wallpaper that was correctly applied, it will pull right off. Then the only difficulty is washing the paste off the walls. Then you will need to prime and paint. New drywall would need to be installed and also primed and painted so the priming and the painting happen regardless. If you do not want to do the task yourself, call and get a ballpark estimate on removing the paper and have that be a consideration in the asking price. It will be difficult to get a good estimate without knowing if the paper comes off easily or not. It took me several days to get the paper out of one room in my house, while the paper pulled off in less than a half hour in other rooms. The longer room was original to the 70's and the the easy to remove was put up in the 80s.

Removing paper can sometimes be easy and sometimes is more tedious. Get some pro estimates. Are you also going to hire out the painting? Round here the same contractor might do both. Which can save you money.

Wallpaper removal is usually bid as a time and material job because it is so unpredictable. I would never walk away from a potential purchase simply because of wallpaper because it is always fixable and not expensive nor difficult to do it yourself. If wallpaper scares you, I suspect you are not really ready for the realities of home ownership. As long as you are physically capable of standing, climbing a ladder and carrying lightweight items, wallpaper removal should be doable for you.

I have removed lots of wallpaper in past years and sometimes it is a trivial issue and other times it is a major undertaking. In any case, it needs to be done and the only way to get it finished is just to start working.

My Mom papered 3 rooms in our house, so it was painted with semi-gloss paint first. Our 9-yr-old kids helped remove the paper when we were ready for a change. If it was done right, it will be tedious, but not impossible, to remove. You may need to do a little touchup of the drywall, but as others have said, it's a reasonable DIY project.

The reality of homeownership is that you need to learn how to do a lot of things you’ve never done before. And they are going to be a whole lot more complicated than stripping wallpaper. Star learning DIY as fast as you can. Or look for a whole lot cheaper home so you can pay people for every darn thing. Or keep renting.

Makes it easy I flip homes and still using my 20 year old version. It’s easy diy You will pay way to much for professional removal.

The Zinsser Paper Tiger is your friend in this process. Your best friend.

I have used the paper tiger and vinegar with good results. Good luck! Oh, and p.s.--replacing sheetrock is a dusty mess--I would avoid that, if at all possible.

Sometimes easy, sometimes hard, to remove wallpaper; and sometimes requires some spackling afterwards. But tearing out the drywall and having it replaced and re-taped and finished is going to be quite expensive.

Bought a home once that was chock full of wallpaper, none of which came from the same book, none of which was the same theme -- southwest, Asian, textured, flowered. The only common element was the colors -- peach and blue. Ugh. We loved the house and the "bones" as well as the neighborhood. In time, we removed all the paper and painted. Sure it was tedious, but nothing that had to be done immediately and it takes a while to live in a new home and decide how you want it decorated. So, look past the wallpaper and base your purchase on the suitability of the layout, the neighborhood, the school district, and the listing price. Good Luck. BTW -- Zinsser will be your best friend.

You are not the owner of this home so the 'try it and see' approach won't work. When purchasing a property, the old adage comes into play: "Location, Location, Location". Everything else can be fixed but you can NEVER pick up your piece of land and drive it to another neighborhood. Money can fix everything but the location.

So the question, always in realestate is which is more important, the HOUSE or the LOCATION? If the LOCATION is ideal and the FOOTPRINT of the house is ideal (right size, right amount of rooms, right components are fully usable, etc) then the 'surface stuff' is always doable. Always.

The fun thing about home ownership is you discover how many things you CAN DO all by yourself. If you are a renter and have NEVER had to fix a dripping faucet (super easy to change out washers...you just need to know they exist), then you have not acquired the skill called 'washer changer'. That's fine. That's normal.

If, on the other hand, you have changed out DOZENS of washers (on a drippy faucet) and each and every time it was a complete failure, then and only then can you call yourself 'not very handy' when dealing with faucets.

And who knows, you might just find yourself a reno wizard. Some people find GREAT satisfaction when removing wall paper. Not many people have this in their tool box...but there are just enough people out there that love the FEELING of getting all that junk off their walls. The LOVE it (once it is all done).

I hate wall paper. Hate it with a passion. I would hit that paper with everything I own to get rid of it (and then go out and buy MORE STUFF so that I could throw THAT at it too!). As a homeowner, I had NO IDEA that I could do SOOOO MUCH. It is quite liberating to find out how handy you are...all on your own.

Great advice, SJ! My son lives in an apartment, and a cabinet door was slightly crooked (new kitchen before he moved in. Not only did he learn how to adjust the one cabinet door he noticed, he squared up every door in the place - and was so proud of himself!

Now he has become an Ikea furniture expert, and wished that he had the opportunity to fix more stuff, now that he has developed a taste for it. I told him to be careful what he wishes for...

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this discussion. I appreciate the input. I've actually had plenty of experience repairing things around the house (including installing new electric outlets , fixing plumbing issues under the kitchen sink, installing lights, painting, refinishing doors, plus a lot more). But, for some reason, wallpaper just seems like the devil I didn't want to face. However, it looks like this house is off our list of prospects because the covenants don't allow us to have a fence for our pups. So, this one is out. I still appreciate the advice, though--especially the advice from those of you who offered advice and encouragement rather than snide remarks about my abilities.

Good luck on your house search. I understand about a fence for your pups. :-)