I'm sure many of you have been following my house renovation a little bit on my blog Heartland House
ww.heartlandhouse.wordpress.com.
A brief recap if you don't know the back story: We bought a house 10 blocks from where we currently rent and 5 blocks from work in June last year for $7,200. Yes, an entire house for $7,200. I was bored and needed a project, and I wanted to do something significant. We had the money in the bank and paid cash. Obviously it was in terrible shape and needed lots of renovation work done. We've been slowly working on it for the last 8 months, just weekends mostly because of having full-time jobs and also part-time work on the side.
Then in December I unexpectedly was offered a job working for a company I have admired for a long time - a dream job - and it requires us moving across the country, from the Midwest to California. We're leaving in a couple of weeks.
The house is not done, in fact it's about halfway. It still looks like crap from the outside, and inside it's not much better if we are just talking about aesthetics. But all of the hard, unsexy things are done: new electrical service and panel, house is 90% re-wired, brand new roof with 30 year shingles, structural work is done, revising the floor plan and moving walls around is done, and I'm almost done with all new plumbing and installing a new water heater. There's a new furnace in the basement that just needs a gas line and ductwork to be functional.
We have invested $23,000 into the house so far. That includes the purchase price of $7,200; and it includes all of the materials purchased resale/salvage for finish work that we have not gotten to yet (solid hardwood doors, a hardwood floor, miles of trim that is also salvaged from 100 year old houses, a pressed tin ceiling).
There's no more time for us to finish it. We're amateurs, everything takes us twice as long. So we have to decide what to do. Here are the feasible options that I have come up with:
1. Cut and run - try to sell it in the current condition, with the materials we have already bought, and hope to break even. I am thinking of asking $27,000 so we have room to negotiate. This house would be a gem for anyone who had the time and knowledge to finish it. The location is great, it's 1 block from the biggest employer in the city (a University) and the University offers it's employees $5,000 to buy and move into houses within a few block radius of campus, which this house qualifies for - the problem is that pickings are slim for the quality that most employees are looking for in that zone. Market value for this house, when it's completely finished, will be somewhere between $45-$65,000. A house a few blocks over sold for $109,000 this fall, but that was unusual for this area. I had initially hoped to buy this house and renovate it, live in it for a while mortgage-free, and then sell at some point in the future for a modest profit.
2. Hire the rest of the work done, finding someone we trust to oversee the work in our place, and then try to sell it from out of state. This is riskier, in my opinion. I've gotten a few quotes on finishing the drywall, installing soffit and fascia trim, and painting the exterior - and those quotes alone totaled $8,000 labor and material. If we go this route, I'm worried that we will quickly reach the point where we have invested the exact amount we can expect to get out of it, or worse.
What would your advice be, given the scenario above?