Connecticut has some of the highest rates of fixer-upper homes for sale in the country. A recent report by Realtor.com found Connecticut is the seventh in the for the most fixer-uppers.
Nearly 8% of single-family homes for sale in Connecticut are more than 20-years-old and marketed as fixer-uppers. Realtors use phrases like, “bring your imagination to this home,” or “roll up your sleeves,” according to Joel Berner, who worked on the study.
The findings are not surprising given the age of Connecticut and much of its housing, Berner said.
“Connecticut, being on the eastern seaboard and an older part of the country with older homes, we saw quite a few there that were ripe for fixer upper activity,” Berner said.
Generally, older homes in need of repairs are appealing to potential buyers. This is due to the affordability and the return on investment. But, Berner said that isn’t the case in Connecticut.
“The Connecticut metros don't rank so well in terms of the discount, just because property values are so high,” Berner said. “Even buying a home that needs a lot of work is still pretty expensive in Connecticut, so there's not quite as much room for profit.”
Despite the homes’ ages, fixer-uppers in Connecticut are still some of the most expensive in the nation, due to Connecticut's expensive cost of living and inflation.
The average cost for a fixer-upper in Connecticut is more than $320,000, compared to the lowest fixer-upper cost in West Virginia, which is slightly more than $89,000.
Hawaii was an outlier, with the most expensive median fixer-upper listing price of nearly $800,000. Most median listing prices for fixer-uppers nationwide range from about $100,000 to $250,000, leaving Connecticut on the higher end.
The biggest challenge with fixer-uppers are hidden issues, Eddie Prchal, co-founder of Gunner Roofing in Stamford, said.
“We'll rip off a whole siding, and people won't even have plywood underneath it, which, if you know the construction world, that's a big, big deal, or you'll see structural issues,” Prchal said. “Just a lot of those things that haven't been taken care of that you can't tell until you get in a project.”
Additionally, Connecticut’s four-season climate plays a role in home longevity, Prchal said.
“With us getting so much weather too, and our weather so all over the place” Prchal said. “It does a lot to the homes to kind of speed up that aging process.
Still, fixer uppers are still worth the investment, Prchal said, but buyers should make sure they do an inspection and know what they’re getting into.
