The Decision

When we made the decision to purchase Wallpaper Acres, we sat down and crunched some numbers to make sure we were being realistic. Shockingly, this house is not what one would call turn-key and would need to have a handful of things completed on the front end. John and I are very mindful to our finances and after looking at the budget, we knew that we could make this happen. For those wondering how, continue reading.

The first thing to take into account is that this purchase was being funded by the sale of my first house that I purchased 2.5 years ago as the world slipped into a COVID nightmare. I loved that house and did small projects here and there but that home was essentially turnkey and the changes that I made were due to my preferences. So, when I got my new job in Nashville, the commute became too long and John and I met with a family friend to start the conversation about selling my first house. We definitely took advantage of the market and sold for a great, but reasonable price. My house wasn't even on the market for 1 day before someone swooped in with the right price and we were under contract. So we lined up the sale of my first house with the purchase of Wallpaper Acres. Our down payment was made possible by the sale and the first round of project is budgeted by the sale as well.

What did we consider when making the decision to pursue this property?

• Real Estate Agent/Representation

This is an important factor. John used to work for a guy in real estate named Stephen Delahoussaye who now is Broker/Owner of House Haven Realty. From the beginning, John knew he wanted to work with Stephen. When we met to discuss the sale of my first house, Stephen walked me through the process and what he believed a successful timeline would be. We also chose Stephen because of his knowledge of the Nashville market and his negotiation skills (John has told numerous people that if you need a dog in a fight, you better pick Stephen). Stephen made both the selling and buying process seamless and we will work with him again in a heartbeat! Seriously though, if you are in need of a realtor in the Nashville/Middle TN market, look into Stephen, you won't be disappointed!

• The Inspection

One caveat with this purchase was that the house was being sold "As Is". We wrote our offer with the general ask of an inspection and the sellers countered with "Pass/Fail and they were not going to fix anything found." John and I had a long conversation regarding this and what items would automatically make us determine whether or not the inspection passed. These factors were: the roof, AC units, foundation, windows, and water damage. These are big ticket items and ones that we were not interested in messing around with. The only thing that the inspection came back with was that the AC units were the original ones with the house (built in 1991) but they were cooling and appeared to be doing just fine. We are going to watch these and continue to monitor the situation. Everything else came back in relatively good shape and overall we decided that the bones of this house were solid.

• Mortgage Rates

I do not have an aptitude for rates and when is a good time vs. when is a bad time. However, John and his dad are all over the mortgage industry and possessed the knowledge for us to be successful. This is where some advice comes into play, do not be afraid to shop the best rate. We had to blow up our first loan and go to a new company as interest rates dropped a whole point in a matter of a week. This ended up being a cost savings of $150-$200 per month. By doing so, we will be able to save more for our renovation budget each month and speed along the timeline on some of the fixes we want to get done.

• Material and Equipment Costs

Have we told you how much wallpaper is present in this house? Oh, we have! Perfect! John put together our list of essential materials and equipment that we would need right off the bat so we had a realistic idea of what money would be spent right away. This was very helpful because it allowed us to research the equipment we would need. Can you guess what the first purchase was...a wallpaper steamer! We weighed the pros and cons and quickly realized that this purchase would pay for itself by doing one wall. (Although we are favoring the water/soap/sponge method, the wallpaper steamer is still being used heavily). We also decided that since we we were painting the entire house, we would splurge and purchase a paint sprayer to complete the job. We have quite a bit of real estate that needs a good coat of paint once rid of the wallpaper and this would also be worth the cost by the time we finish painting. We will include the products we purchased when we cover the specific processes that we used to complete each item on our list.

• Realistic Timelines for Completion

We are very eager beavers to complete this project but it is important to realize that this is not a sprint but a marathon. You know the whole tortoise and the hare analogy...well get ready for the tortoise of all projects! Rightfully, I would love for this project to have been completed yesterday. Realistically, we are embarking on a 3-7 year project that will get done both as time and budget allows. For me, it was imperative that we realize this from the beginning so expectations remained reasonable. John also is on the same page, albeit very excited and ready to finish this project. Managing expectations was one of the key conversations that John and I had in the buying and planning phase. The main project we are working on right now is based on the livability aspect of the home. That includes: wallpaper removal, paint, new trim, carpet removal, carpet install, and a main floor bathroom. The long-term projects include: upstairs bath remodel, master bath remodel, flooring in the basement, kitchen remodel and a few walls that need to be removed.

So how are we saving? John and I have looked at our monthly income and broken down our expenses to know what we realistically spend monthly on utilities, groceries, luxuries (TV/Internet), and misc. spending. From there, we said we want to save 60% of our remaining income and put it towards the house budget each month. Once we reach $5,000 over our needed budget for a project, we will begin working on that project. Overall, we are not looking to deplete the savings we currently have but work with the funds that are coming in to make this remodel happen.

Thanks for reading and chime in if you have any thoughts or comments! Stay tuned for the next update of Wallpaper Acres!