Selling My House

It’s been two weeks and it hasn’t sunk in yet. I no longer own my house. MY house. My first one. The one I put so much time and energy into. The one that has been such a large part of my life for the past 4 years. The one I that will forever be a part of me, and me of it. Hard to fathom that all of the sudden it’s just not something that’s relevant to my life anymore. That I no longer have an endless list of projects to complete, that I don’t have to feel guilty when I’m not working on it, that I don’t get to come home to it anymore.

New dining room

Four long years ago, I bought the house as a foreclosure with the intent to completely renovate it while living in it. It was part investment, part hobby, and part learning experience. I knew it was going to be a ton of work, I just didn’t quite realize how much, and how long it would stretch out.

The condition of the house was pretty rough when I took over, with popcorn texture covering most of the walls, crumbling plaster in the living room, cheap wood floors that were buckling from poor installation and excessive moisture, a boiler that didn’t function, shoddy knob and tube wiring throughout, and serious water issues in the back of the house and basement. The day I closed on the house was in the spring, and it was pouring rain outside. I’ll never forget the look on my realtor’s face during the final walk through when she opened the door to the basement and shouted “Steve, there is a RIVER in your house”!

Living room condition when I bought the house

Original master bedroom

After I moved in, it took me a while to decide exactly what I was going to do and get my plans and permits in order. It wasn’t until about 6 months later that I actually started demolition work. My plans called for gutting everything and significantly changing the layout to an open concept. The kitchen would get completely moved to the center of the house (where it was located originally, coincidentally), the upstairs bathroom would be reconfigured and shrunk to allow for some much needed closet space, the chimney would be taken out so some hall and stairway space could be reclaimed, a new formal entryway would be added, bedrooms would be reconfigured, a new full bath would go on the main level, many walls would be eliminated or opened up with beams where necessary, and all new mechanicals, plumbing, and wiring would go in. Ambitious for a first house. Borderline stupid.

Main level demolition plans

It made sense to do the work in three stages since I was going to be living there and needed to have usable living space throughout the project. That worked well for keeping the house livable, but in retrospect it also meant I had to do all steps of the renovation process three times! When I started, a few people told me it was more work to renovate a house like that than it was to just build new. No way, I reassured myself, that’s an exaggeration. After completing the process, however, I think I agree with them. With an old house so much time is spent figuring out how to blend new with old, debating how much needs to be replaced, preserving what can be saved while getting rid of what needs to go. While I very much appreciate the effort to preserve something that’s stood for well over 100 years, I also agree that it’s faster and easier to just build new. Sad that’s the case; that we value our time so highly that we’ll tear down and throw out something as huge as a house, just to replace it with something nearly identical because it’s cheaper and easier.

New upstairs bathroom

As the renovation work got underway, I quickly learned that it was easy to get burnt out. With such a huge project and a seemingly endless to-do list, I figured out it was important to set small goals and appreciate finishing things, no matter how trivial. Not that I was always good at that, but I did try. I spent a lot of time juggling multiple projects and priorities for one reason or another, rather than focusing on one thing at a time. As I got further along, I learned that it was much better to focus on one thing until it was finished, then take time to appreciate that achievement prior to moving on. Setting deadlines such as scheduling a party was also a big help in motivating me to get things completed. There are a few other notable things I learned throughout the project too.

If I were to do it again, I definitely wouldn’t do it the same way. Changing the house to the extent that I did resulted in a really nice modern and usable layout, but it was so much work that I’d only do it again if I were going to own the house long term. Living in the house while doing the work also made things so much more difficult. Controlling dust, working in phases, constantly living in a construction zone. I’d avoid this if at all possible now that I know what it’s like.

Back of the house during a particularly busy period

Replacing rotten sills

Going into the project, I didn’t appreciate how long planning and doing something for the first time would take. Picking out finishes, fixtures, and colors takes forever. I really like how my house came out, but I didn’t have a vision for the colors and finishes going into it. I spent a lot of time figuring that out as I went, and it wasn’t something I expected to take so long. Before this house I’d done quite a bit of general construction, but didn’t have the specific knowledge that it takes to do things like plumbing and electrical to code, and properly install tile, flooring, cabinets, etc. It took me a long time to learn how to do all of that, and it’s something that I could certainly do much faster now. That was part of the reason for this project though, for a learning experience.

My last significant takeaways are to have someone to help you out, and know what to outsource. I had a couple great friends in Waukesha that helped me out a ton over the course of the remodel. If not for them, I’d definitely still be working on it. Having someone to help makes things go way faster. Not only do you get the additional man-hours, but it makes you work much more efficiently. When working on a home you also live in, it’s easy to get distracted or take long breaks. Much less of a problem when someone else is there saying “what’s next, let’s go”.

Finished master bedroom

You can save a lot of money by doing things yourself… at least some things. I quickly learned that drywall is not one of those things, unless you’re doing a small area. On the scale of a remodel, it’s far more efficient to sub out that work. I did the math on one section I subbed out, and figured that I’d paid something like $15 per man-hour for the drywall finishing. Combine that with the fact they work at least twice as fast as I do and that drywall is just flat out a pain in the ass, and it’s something I will forever sub out in the future. There are obviously things that should be outsourced if you don’t know how or don’t feel comfortable doing them as well, but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge so I still did things like foundation repair myself.

Kitchen and living room, before (ish) and after

It’s noteworthy to point out that I didn’t exactly work on the house continuously over the 4 ½ years the remodel took. I did quite a bit of other stuff during that time and there were long periods where very minimal house work was accomplished. Vacations, new jobs, relationships, those things become a priority at some point. That said, it still took a ton of time and way longer than I was planning. I’m happy I did it, but feel like I had very minimal time to appreciate and enjoy the house in its finished state. Sure I could have easily stayed there longer, but I’m moving on to a new chapter in my life and it was time to put this one behind me for good.

I listed the house in early summer and had a couple offers right away. A part of me thinks I should have listed it higher, as it’s quite a nice house. There were a few significant downsides though such as the dilapidated garage that I did absolutely zero work on, and the busy street it’s on. There weren’t any comparable properties in the area to justify a higher price, so it was kind of a difficult decision. I ended up getting about what I asked, and didn’t have to worry about a drawn out sales process. I definitely made money on the house, but if I consider the time I put into it then my hourly rate is probably in the range of $5-10/hr. Not exactly an ideal business model. That wasn’t the primary goal though, and if I were to do it again I’m sure I could get by with spending a lot less on the remodel. It is depressing knowing that I couldn’t go out and buy a comparable house for what I sold it for though.

From the street, before and after

Rear of the house, before (ish) and after

When I decided to buy and renovate this house, I certainly didn’t appreciate how much it would affect my life over the coming years. I’m glad I did it, but am very much glad to be done with remodeling for a while. Well, done with remodeling houses, at least. As I’m working on building out my next living space, my Sprinter Campervan, I have a full appreciation of its 60 square feet vs the 1500 of my house, and that there aren’t any codes, inspections, buyers, or water damage to worry about. Some might suspect that the drawn out renovation experience was a driving factor in my decision to forgo permanent housing for a while, but I have fond memories of the experience overall. I’m guessing I’ll do something similar again in the future, but next time I’ll be better prepared and will at least know what I’m getting into.