A tale of two apartments: DIY advice sought

[naners]

In my area of Brooklyn NY, there are co-op apartments for sale within my price range. What I find quite striking is how much less a "fixer-upper" is worth compared to a renovated apartment:

Exhibit A: tinyurl.com/lgu8xol

Exhibit B: tinyurl.com/lobgagm

These are basically the same apartment*. What I'd like your opinion on, DIY'ers, is how much work/money it would take to turn the dumpy apartment into the renovated apartment. I have minimal DIY experience but willing to learn. Let's assume the floors in the main part of the apartment don't need to be redone, so the main things are a complete reno of the kitchen and bathroom. How much time and money are we looking at for an Ikea/Home Depot type renovation? How much would I be able to do myself?

Thanks!

* Yes, there could be other differences, but let's assume for the sake of argument that it's the same apartment.

[SunshineGirl]

Wow, that second (cheaper) one is a huge opportunity! Assuming all else being equal (which it's not - the second one is 100 SF smaller, if nothing else) -- you could improve the apartment to match the other one for well under 20K. I didn't include the furniture and decor, which is a big part of the look of  the other one. 

[cynthia1848]

However, NYC co-ops may have very strict rules about construction in the apartments.  Limited hours, all contractors have to be approved, all work has to be approved, etc.  Plus hassles for parking, dumpsters, etc. for the construction debris.  All of that can drive the cost of renovations WAY up.  I would ask friends who have renovated in co-ops (or find people online who have) to find out what the actual costs would be.

[naners]

SunshineGirl: I actually think they might be the same size; the unrenovated one is for sale by owner, and I'm not sure they've measured it carefully, vs. the first one for sale by an agent.

Cynthia, great points. I'll ask around about that, and especially about DIY rules.

[nybeccaboo]

I'll add my 2 cents as well.  Chances are the apartments are the same square footage. Not sure which one is the accurate size, but in my building all the apartments in the A, B, C, etc lines are identical.  Like Cynthia said, co-ops are usually more restrictive and you'll need to use licensed contractors (major DIY is not allowed.)  That being said, many co-ops use a management company to manage the building and can have great recommendations for approved contractors. You'll probably pay a 'premium' compared to other cities since it's NYC and contractors know they can charge more, but given the size of the apartment, the total cost shouldn't be too bad, unless you go crazy with top of the line everything. Plus, you might only need to renovate the kitchen and bath (the hardwood floors look pretty good, at least in the pictures).

A few things to consider, though, when looking at any apartment. What's the view like from the windows? Sounds crazy, but I made sure to have a street view so that no one could build and block my view. I'm glad I did because there's a new building going up next door and apartments down the hall are losing their bathroom window (the new building is probably 5 inches away from ours). Also, think of what floor the apartment is on. Lower levels might get a lot of street noise (I'm on the 4th floor and the noise isn't bad, at least for me.) If there's a power outage or elevator renovation, how are you at walking up many flights of stairs with groceries? The 7th floor wouldn't be too bad, but I have friends who didn't think of that and bought 20th floor apartments. They weren't happy when Sandy hit and had no power.

Hope that helps! :-)

[naners]

Whoops - Becca, I just PM'd you to ask for your opinion on this very topic! Should have checked the forum post first, thanks for the insight :)