Fear most what you can not see..

I spent this last weekend showing some clients homes that they could buy for a lot less and have renovated. We looked at homes in various stages of disrepair; from needing just some modernization to needing completely rebuilt. As I was pointing out the pluses and minus of each home and giving them ideas of what we can do in their budget, we were in a completely stripped and gutted home when the wife says to me.. "this home has a lot of rotten beams". My response was that likely a lot of the other homes we saw had rotten beams too, but we can not see that under the drywall. The best homes to renovate are those that are either already stripped to the studs, or ones you are going to tear out the drywall and replace with all new drywall. The reason is you get to see what beams and studs need replacing. It is the home that was the ugliest to begin with and needs the most work that gets all the attention. Renovated to last another 100 years.