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Help with estimating renovation costs before first home purchase

How to estimate upgrade/reno costs before home purchase?

I’m searching for a home as a first timer (to live in not rent), and it seems every home available within my price range, needs some sort of change/upgrade. Typically either new floors (replace carpet or tile with vinyl on the first floor, probably ~1100 sq ft), new cabinets, new countertops or all three.

There are homes at the top of my budget that may just need one of these, and homes below budget that may need all 3. And I’m trying to figure out how to budget/estimate this work before I put in offers.

Ex: if a house is 60K beneath my max budget, is it reasonable to think I could replace floors, cabinets and counters for that amount? Or if a house is only 10K below, could I get any of these things done? (Not doing any work myself ideally as I tend to install things extremely crooked lol)

I’m basically looking for ballpark estimates for each of the 3 jobs above (I get that it’ll vary by location etc—I’m in ATL if it helps—but just looking for somewhere to start).

But also, surely I’m not the first person to run into this…so did anyone work with a contractor or someone before putting in offers, or during the inspection phase to get an idea? Or do you buy first and pray the renovation estimates work out in your favor later?

submitted by /u/managedmschf
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/132onew/help_with_estimating_renovation_costs_before/
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