What Is The Difference Between Cosmetic & Structural Repairs?

There are many of these many amazing property deals available on the market today. However many of those that offer the biggest discounts also are in need of some repairs and cleaning up. In most cases these properties still present incredible bargains and pack plenty of profits for those purchasing as investments. Though it is important to recognize the difference between cosmetic and structural repair items and how they can affect you.

Firstly it is always important that you have your own home inspection done regardless of how the property looks and what information the seller discloses so that you have an accurate assessment of the real repairs needed on a property. You should also get quotes from contractors yourself so that you know what it will really cost you to fix any issues. Though in many cases you may find that you can actually get work done a lot cheaper than initial estimates by a home inspector.

Most properties simply require minor cosmetic repairs. These are items that may affect the perceived value of the property but do not affect the actual structure or pose the risk of further damage. This includes things like cleaning up the yard, interior and exterior paint, replacing hardware on cabinets, updating the flooring etc. If you are buying the home to live in yourself some of these items won’t be high priorities for you and you can fix them yourself very inexpensively over time. For those purchasing properties for investment the need more purely cosmetic repairs is often actually a good thing and can offer a virtually gold mine. With a couple thousand dollars invested in cleaning and brightening the place up you could find that you can easily put the home back on the market for tens of thousands of dollars more in just a few weeks.

In contrast structural repair issues are items that directly affect the value of a property and can lead to further critical damage that can rapidly devalue a property even further. This commonly includes things such as roofs, foundations and septic tanks. This doesn’t always mean that they are incredibly expensive to rectify but they can be. You must be careful to get a detailed quote and assessment of the damage to determine whether it is something simple that will cost a couple thousand to repair or will mean major construction work and run you tens of thousands of dollars.

Besides the sheer cost of dealing with structural issues they can also make it difficult to resell later and you will find that many mortgage lenders will not loan on properties with structural problems. SO unless you really have experience in fixing structural items or have large amounts of cash to invest you may want to steer clear of properties with these issues. However do not be put off by properties that may just look run down and can easily be spruced up, they are probably your best buys.