Credit: Getty / wera Rodsawang
On home design shows, buying a house that needs a full renovation or is a complete teardown project looks like an exciting adventure, where couples joke with each other, minor challenges are solved by tweaking a seemingly infinite budget, and everything from painted trim to bookshelf styling is finished before move-in. But in reality, taking on a major makeover is much more complicated. Buying a teardown property or a gut reno isn t a decision to be taken lightly, says Rachel Stults of Realtor.com. With unforeseen problems and delays, it could actually take years before you re able to live in your dream home. But if you re smart about the property you re investing in and you have the patience to see the project through, warts and all then you could very well end up with a dream home in a dream neighborhood that s worth triple what you paid for it. Ahead, questions to ask