My house...on the corner of the street...my house

Since I now have a blog, I think it is good to update people about what I am doing in my life instead of just talk about theology (which I really enjoy doing). As some of you know, I bought a house this summer. It was a foreclosure at a really good price. There is a ton of potential in this house, except I need to bring this potential out into the buyers market :) I am saying this is a fixer upper house to the extreme. Just to give you an idea about what kind of house this is, I will give you a list of some things I want to do:

1. New Roof
2. Paint soffits and fascia
3. finish siding
4. knock out a load bearing wall to connect the kitchen to the huge family room new addition
5. redo entire kitchen
6. finish new addition
a. instal gas fireplace
b. redo electrical
c. redo HVAC
d. insulate attic and other small holes
e. drywal / paint
f. hardwood / carpet floors
7. blow insulation in attic
8. finish bathroom in basement
9. master bedroom in basement
a. build walk in closet
b. move existing furnace
c. electrical
d. carpet
e. paint
10. refinish old hardwood floors in BR's and LR
11. paint outside
12. build deck
13. patio
14. LANDSCAPING
15. Redo old basement
16. laundry room remodel
17. cut down tree / replant maple or birch
18. new driveway
19. CRY!
20. decorate
21. rest

This list is a general list and does not go into detail about the specifics of each part I want to do.

So far I have remodeled my bathroom, painted the BR's and LR, replaced the front door, nearly finished siding, trimmed a lot of trees, torn down old ugly chimney, repaired roof, fixed soffits.

In the near future:
I just bought a window for my living room. I plan on blowing insulation in the attic of the old part of the house before it gets too cold. When I put the window in, I can finish siding the front of the house. Then I am off to finish the electrical in the new addition. This requires me updating the box to circuit breakers. Right now I have 100amp fuses. I plan to update it to either 100 or 200 amp circuit breakers. Then I can put a fireplace in the new part.

This is what I do with my "free time." It is a big investment though. I bought the house for $137,000 and plan to put $40,000 - $50,000 into it. If things go right, I could sell the house for $260,000 when I am done. Fingers crossed. It will be at least 3 years because I am receiving $8,000 from your tax dollars so that I can buy a house for the first time. This program requires you to live in your house for at least 3 years or you need to pay it back. Therefore, I bought my house for $129,000!

Not to get too into the numbers, but lets say I sell my house in 5 years. Lets say the market recovers to a "non-recession" level. The tax value when I bought the house was $242,000 as the market was collapsing. If the market grows 10%, the value of the house is $266,000. When I sell it, the realtor gets 6% of sale price, $15,960. That leaves me with $250,040. Say I put $50,000 into the remodel. I am down to $200,040. In 5 years I will have about $95,000 left on my mortgage, that brings me to $105,040 profit! However, I will be taxed on $266,000-$137,000=$129,000 income. Say I spend 3 years remodeling, that is $35,000 per year as a "part time job." That is pretty good! Counting for miscalculations say I make $30,000 per year. That is still pretty darn good if you ask me! The best part is I enjoy doing it. That is what really matters. Money is x amount of dollars. Enjoying what I do. Priceless.

One Love,
Danger