Whatever Happened to Buying the Ugliest House on the Block?

One of my favorite authors is Andy Rooney. (For you under-40 youth out there, Andy Rooney is that amply-eye-browed curmudgeon who’d give those whiney-witty editorials at the end of “60 Minutes”. And for you under-30 types who learned about Ronald Reagan from your US History books in school, “60 Minutes” was once a well-respected CBS news show.)

In one of Andy Rooney’s books, he had a chapter about what’s wrong with American society (actually, that doesn’t narrow it down much because most all of what he wrote had something to do with what’s wrong with American society). But this particular chapter really hit me as being a “Wow, I never thought of it like that before.”

Boys Don’t Tinker Anymore

Rooney said that the reason our society is headed in the wrong direction and why our economy is in danger of collapsing someday is because “Boys don’t Tinker anymore”. He went on to describe growing up in an America still feeling the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. When something broke, you fixed it. Nothing got thrown out until it couldn’t be held together any longer. Every town had a local fix-it shop, with clerks who actually knew how to fix things. Every garage was stocked with hand tools, clamps, vices, spare parts, and duct tape.

When something finally did need replacing, the old unusable item was given to the boy in the family who would tinker with it - maybe getting it to work again, maybe using the parts to make a go-cart or a rocket ship to Mars. Something broke and any eight year old boy with a Philips Head and glue could get it going again. “Assembly Required” meant “forget these directions” and feeling proud if you didn’t need all the parts to get it working.

Extra Parts = Extra Points!

But boys don’t tinker anymore today, Rooney points out. Something breaks, it gets tossed in the trash. Or it doesn’t break – it’s just old – so it gets replaced by the newer model anyway - because ya gotta keep up with the newest thing. Fix something? Are you kidding? We don’t fix things anymore. Don’t believe me? Quick, give me directions to the nearest fix-it shop.

Don’t Sell Me No Good Bargain!

This week, I read an article about First Time Homebuyers, and I immediately thought of Andy Rooney’s tinkering observation: The article said, “A recent survey found that first-time homebuyers’ expectations may be too high relative to their current financial buying power. Up to 81% of today’s first-time homebuyers consider move-in conditions very important, with only 7% looking to purchase homes they could buy at a lower price if they renovate themselves.” (Seriously? Only 7%???)

Whatever happened to the “buy the ugliest house in a great neighborhood” school of real estate investing? Put a little love and elbow grease into your ugly home purchase and watch it become something you love AND grow in value. Instead, we’re too impatient for that. The home has to be perfect before we move in. We spend more than we can afford. And all because we just don’t know how to tinker anymore. Andy Rooney wrote that book back in the 1980’s and warned of a doomed society with no tinkerers. Hmmm…

Huge Opportunity for Tinkerers!

It’s time to get back to smart investing, smart spending, smart home buying – so if you have “tinkering” skills, what a HUGE opportunity for you to buy a bargain! AND you’re only competing against 7% of the other first time homebuyers out there on those fixer-uppers. Let those other 93% fight over the new construction and perfect condition homes and pay too much for them. You can pretty much name your price on something less than perfect.

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