Family Ties

April 15, 2011

Drew and Jonathan Scott of Property Brothers help a family of six move to the city on a modest budget and give great tips and tricks along the way.

The Clients: Christine and John were an amazing couple to work with and they are all about family. Their biggest concern was finding a home closer to John’s work because as it stood, he spent more time in his car during the four-hour daily commute than he did with his wife or kids.  John loves his career as a high school teacher in the city but the years of commuting have finally caught up with him. He felt he was missing out on his four beautiful kids growing up. The tricky part though, was for Drew to find them a five-bedroom home in the city on their tiny budget.

The Plan: We always start the design process with a list of the must-have items for the family. In this case, Christine had mentioned over and over that she needs an open sightline to the kids regardless of whether they are in the dining area or living room. So, Jonathan removed the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room, and in its place put a large peninsula with storage and an eat-in bar. This offered the all-important sightlines and a much more functional layout. Jonathan also didn’t want to take away from the beautiful design of the main floor by cluttering the living room with a kids play area, so he converted the laundry room at the back of the house into a nice playroom.
Christine and John wanted a contemporary feel without giving up all of the original woodwork in the home. Keeping some of the old and blending it with the new was a great way to add interest and character. Jonathan had the space to work with and some beautiful thick casing and woodwork to breathe some new life into.

For Christine, the single most important room in the house was the kitchen. With four kids she spends a lot of time cooking and needs a space that had lots of storage and functionality. She was very particular as to how she wanted everything – which presented Jonathan with some very specific challenges.

Challenges: The biggest challenge was budget. The home started off $100,000 over their max budget and that’s before adding any renovation costs! It was Christine’s grandfather’s home, which he built with his own hands. It was very important for her that they not only were able to buy it, but treat it with the respect her grandfather would have wanted. Luckily for Christine, her father gifted his inheritance portion of the house to her which enabled them to buy the house. Go Dad! But even with that gift, it only left John and Christine with a $50,000 reno budget. There was a lot of work in the house for Jonathan to do on that small budget.

The second-biggest challenge was reining back Christine’s add-ons and upgrades as it was blowing the budget out of the water. What was supposed to be our emergency fund soon became her extravagance fund. Homebuyers don’t realize how fast little extras can add up. Upgrading the countertop, adding a bigger refrigerator, changing the tile – all of a sudden you have an extra $5,000 in costs you can’t afford. Be smart with your budget, plan ahead to see what you can afford and always leave a contingency for the unseen (and that doesn’t mean unseen upgrades, that would mean items such as electrical or plumbing issues you didn’t foresee). In this case, we did have some issues when the wrong sink was installed and we needed that contingency money to cover it.

Tips and Tricks: To save on labour costs John and Christine pitched in to help.  Some tasks are easy for DIY but others should be left to professionals. You need to value your time. For example, if you have never done any drywall mudding, don’t try to do it yourself. Or at least not more than a small patch job. The final product will not look as good as you hope and could even reduce resale value!

We managed to save a lot of money by just refinishing the existing hardwood floors instead of replacing them. They were in great shape and didn’t really require much repair.

We also were able to revitalize and reuse some of their existing furniture to keep costs down. Some new stain or upholstering can really modernize an otherwise out-of-date item.

When designing the new look of your home, think of what others would like. Sometimes people spend a fortune on a design idea that is so obscure that they will never recoup the value upon resale. For example, if you were to remove your tub because you just want to have a huge shower, leaving your home with no bathtubs, you have essentially cut out any families that may want to purchase in the future. Even though somebody could renovate again to add it back in, most won’t. They just see that there are no bathtubs and they move on.

Try to think outside the box when purchasing a home. If you want to live in your dream home, it’s important not to limit your potential. Creative financing is something I’ve used time and time again and it keeps you from undervaluing what you can afford. You don’t over leverage yourself, however there are ways to keep your monthly costs down and still have a beautiful home.

Here are a couple of examples: Some lenders are willing to do renovation top-ups on your mortgage. Meaning, if you can prove you are spending $40,000 on the renovations (and they are renos that improve the value of the home) the bank can bundle this into your mortgage. Talk to the lender ahead of time to see if this is a possibility.

Vendor financing is sometimes a great way to get the last few dollars together in order to buy a house. This is when the seller acts as the lender for a second mortgage. An example: You’re buying a $600,000 home. The bank is financing $550,000, you have a down payment of $30,000, this leaves you $20,000 short. Wouldn’t you hate to lose the house of your dreams over such a small amount? Well, if the seller was willing to do a small loan for that amount, or if they were willing to hold off a year on receiving the last bit of money, then you may just get the home.

Final Outcome: It was a long journey and very stressful at times, however, in the end, their grandparents home had been transformed into their own. It is warm, inviting and modern yet still holds some of the beautiful features from the past. Christine and John commented that it incorporates all the comforts of modern living but still houses all the memories from her childhood. In the end, it is their dream home.

Catch up with the Property Brothers Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on W network.

Real estate agent Drew Scott and his twin brother, contractor Jonathan Scott, are experts who help couples find, buy and transform extreme fixer-uppers into the ultimate dream home. wnetwork.com/propertybrothers

Filed under: FROM THE EXPERTS