What Does Sweat Equity Refer To When Buying A House?
If you would consider yourself a do-it-yourself type of person, you might want to look for a house to buy that needs some work. When you purchase a house like this, you might be able to buy it for a cheaper price; and after putting a lot of work into it, the house might increase in value by a lot of money. The work you put into it yourself is called sweat equity, and here are several things to know about this.
What it means to put in sweat equity
The term "sweat equity" has been around for a very long time, and it refers to the hard work a person puts into repairing a house. The person completing the work does this to save money, and he or she completes the work gradually (in most cases) and without the assistance of contractors or laborers. If a person is able to buy a house for a low price and input a lot of sweat equity, the house value could go up significantly, even if the person does not spend a lot of money on the project.
Examples of what sweat equity might involve
When a person buys an old fixer-upper, the house might need a lot of things. For example, the person may need to repair all the walls and repaint. He or she might have to rip out all the plumbing fixtures and put in new ones. The person might also have to repair the heating system, replace the windows or roof, and remodel the kitchen. Any tasks the person does by him or herself would make the house look nicer and would be considered sweat equity.
The end result of putting in sweat equity
In situations where people put in a lot of sweat equity, they can experience great results when it comes to the value of the homes they worked on. For example, if a person purchased a run-down house for $50,000 and worked on it for months, he or she may then have a home that is worth $100,000, even if the materials purchased only cost $10,000, for example.
Putting work into a house is a great way to increase the home's value, and it is something a lot of people do to make money. If you are interested in this, contact a real estate agent to help you locate some property for sale to buy in your area.