Where Do We Start?

So now what? Now that we have one million things to do to turn our recently purchased  foreclosure into our beautiful, perfect forever home, where in the world do we start? Well, I'm going to let you all know up front that this house will not be an exclusive DIY project. When it comes to some of the work that needs to be done on this house, Chris and I have no business even thinking about doing it. Plus, we would eventually like to live in this house in this lifetime. Safely. :) So we will be contracting out a lot of things.

After HUD finally got around to accepting our bid in early April, we had 45 days to close. Within this 45 days, Chris and I spent a lot of time at this house. From the inspection, the termite inspection, the utilities activation, and so on, it seemed like we were there constantly. My point is that we had more than enough time to look over everything (inside and out) that needed to be done to bring this house up to our standards. We actually had to make a list of everything we planned to do to the house for our bank loan process. See, we purchased this home using a construction loan, and the bank would only loan us 80% of what the house appraised for after our planned repairs/remodel. The first draw on the construction loan, of course, is the cost of the house, and then now we have X amount of money that we need to make work for the repairs so that we will maintain 20% equity. (Our goal when we are finished is to actually have 30% equity because the appraisal turned out WAY better than we expected!)

In that 45 day time span of the bid being accepted and the closing, Chris and I actually concocted  a fairly detailed list of everything we wanted to do to this house, and when we weren't at the house plotting THE LIST, we were at Lowe's or on the phone with other companies trying to get ballpark prices on how much all of this stuff was going to cost. <---------Mind boggling by the way!

So here's a copy of THE LIST so you can see the big picture of what we are planning to do:

Tanglewood-Planned Repairs/Remodel
Room	Item
Master Bedroom	Lighting, General
Master Bedroom	Window Treatment
Master Bedroom	Floor-Carpet
Master Bedroom	Paint
Master Bedroom	Long Hallway Wood Floor
Master Bathroom	Floor-Tile
Master Bathroom	Replace Mirror
Master Bathroom	Replace shower unit
Master Bathroom	Replace all hardware
Master Bathroom	Replace vanity and sink
Master Bathroom	Power Outlet Update
Master Bathroom	Lighting, General
Master Bathroom	Paint
Bedroom 1	Floor Carpet
Bedroom 1	Window Treatment
Bedroom 1	Paint
Bedroom 1	Lighting, General
Bedroom 2	Floor Carpet
Bedroom 1	Window Treatment
Bedroom 2	Paint
Bedroom 2	Closet Floor
Bedroom 2	Lighting, General
Guest Bathroom	Floor-Tile
Guest Bathroom	New Countertop/sink
Guest Bathroom	Lighting, General
Guest Bathroom	Power Outlet Update
Guest Bathroom	Resurface tub to neutral color
Guest Bathroom	Removal of Old Fixtures/Patching
Laundry Room	Replace outside door
Laundry Room	Ceiling
Laundry Room	Paint
Laundry Room	Power Outlet Update
Laundry Room	Flooring (Tile)
Laundry Room	Install Inner Door
Family Living Room	Lighting, General
Family Living Room	Floor (Hardwood)
Family Living Room	Paint
Family Living Room	Wall Removal
Family Living Room	Replace french door
Formal Living Room	Floor (Hardwood)
Formal Living Room	Lighting, General
Formal Living Room	Window Treatment
Formal Living Room	Paint
Kitchen	Floor (Hardwood)
Kitchen	Countertops
Kitchen	Sink
Kitchen	Back Splash
Kitchen	Lighting, General
Kitchen	Pocket Door
Kitchen	Power Outlet Update
Kitchen	Stove Range
Kitchen	Refrigerator
Kitchen	Dishwasher
Kitchen	Wall Removal
Kitchen	Paint
Half Bathroom	Paint
Half Bathroom	Floor-Tile
Half Bathroom	Countertop
Half Bathroom	Power Outlet Update
Half Bathroom	Lighting, General
Half Bathroom	Fixtures
Den	Floor-Carpet
Den	Lighting, General
Den	Power Outlet Update
Den	Window Treatment
Den	Replace french door
Den	Paint
Den	Bar Area Tiled
Den	Countertop
Roof	Re-Roofing (if needed)
Roof	Vinyl Siding
Roof	Gutters
Roof	Sophetes/Fascia
Area Roof	Attic Fan
Outside	Outdoor Outlet Update
Outside	220v Power Supply
Front Door	Replace front door unit
Front Door	Brick Removal

There it is. THE LIST. In black and white. Now you know why the six month goal I mentioned may be optimistic.

So where have we started? Well, we have owned the house for one week now, and we are currently trying to establish our schedule of THE LIST. The roof is definitely the most pressing. It doesn't need to be completely replaced, but it does need new sophetes, new fascia, and we are having vinyl siding put up. Here's a few pictures of what I'm talking about:

We have officially hired Wilson's Home Improvement out of Hot Springs, AR to do this work and actually replace all of our doors. I'm sure you've seen their billboards or their commercials. I will post more about why we chose them, and the work they will be doing at a later time.


We have also officially hired R&R Tree Service to take out a few trees and loft up a couple of trees so that we can have grass! I will post updates on this next week, as they are scheduled to do their work on Tuesday. That is if all this rain we've been having hasn't messed up their schedule.

We were also able to make a little moolah off of this house this week. My family had conveniently scheduled a yard sale this weekend, so Chris and I removed all of the light fixtures, a washing machine, and an old refrigerator/freezer/stove/sink combo thing and put it in the yard sale. (Last we heard, most had sold except a couple of fans and the washer....those will be going on FB). We were also able to sell a stove to a buddy of ours:

 



So that's where we have started. Removing all of the old flooring is also in progress.

Here are a few things we currently need some reader input on:

• What are some of the best techniques/suggestions for removing linoleum glue and tile from concrete?
• What were people smoking when they decided brown paper bags as flooring was actually going to be a thing? Google or Pinterest it. It's everywhere, and I had never even heard of it!

Those are brown paper bags!

• Recommendations on local contractors to use for a load-bearing wall removal
• Best Pandora station(s) for house renovations.