Down on Fixer-Uppers

As a conscientious reader of the “Real Estate Q&A;” column by Robert J. Bruss, I feel some realism should be injected into some of his advice. I refer particularly to Bruss’ suggestion that for maximum profit, purchasers, should acquire “fixer uppers.”

Bruss’ advice sounds very plausible. Buy a run-down house, fix it up and resell it at a handsome profit. In theory.

The reality is very different, however. Buying “a fixer upper” is one of the trickiest purchases in real estate. If the house is really run down, almost nothing will save it. If the house merely needs just cosmetic improvements, the seller will be well aware of the few minor problems and will hold out for a high price.

If a “fixer upper” is purchased, there are two ways to improve it. One is to hire a professional contractor. This is expensive, and frustrating. There has been any number of articles on your pages written by home buyers who engaged a contractor and lived to rue the day because of higher than expected costs, frustrations in dealing with him and his subcontractors and noise and chaos while contracting work is in progress.

The other method, doing the repair work yourself, also is highly impractical. I doubt if one Times reader in a thousand can “fix up” a house so that it passes inspection by even a laid-back buyer. And in today’s market, buyers are gimlet-eyed. They want perfection and in the current soft market, they are getting it.

Bruss attempts to foster the illusion that profits are easy in real estate. Reality is far different, however.

SHURA BARY

San Francisco