It’s a story that we hear over and over again: a couple buys the most dilapidated house in town — a property that’s on the verge of being condemned. They work hard, fix it up and soon have a beautiful home. Tom Hanks and Shelley Long did it in The Money Pit, after all, so what’s stopping everyone else?

But it’s rarely that simple — there’s a reason that falling down houses are so cheap. The work necessary to bring a house to the point that people can safely live in it can equal the cost of the house itself. Bringing it up to the point that most people would consider it a good home is prohibitively expensive.

This morning, the New York Times ran an article about David and Gina Giffels, a couple in Akron, Ohio. The Giffels bought their home a little over ten years ago for $65,000. Reading the description of their home, that figure is unbelievable: it’s a huge 1913 Tudor home and could easily be called elegant.

The catch is that, when the Giffels bought the house, it was the quintessential money pit. It’s taken every day they’ve lived in that house to bring it up to the showplace it is now — and David Giffels admits that there are still some less visible parts of the house that he hasn’t finished renovating. While there’s not an exact figure listed in the article, the Giffels have easily put hundreds of thousands of dollars into renovations. They did $55,000 in repairs just to make the house habitable before they moved in and they’ve been working on it just about every weekend since.

I admire the Giffels — they dedicated themselves to the project and came out with a beautiful home (and no debt beyond their mortgage). It’s unlikely that they would have been able to find the quality of house they now enjoy for anything near their original budget. But I don’t think the money pit approach works for everyone.

It’s only partially an issue of skill — especially the skill of learning how to do new things, from grouting to mold removal. It’s also the fact that, despite what we might think when we find a romantic home in need of extensive renovations, there will a significant cost beyond the price tag on the house itself. It’s a matter of the time that a home owner will have to sink into projects, the cost of parts, the chance of an accident. And if a person doesn’t have relatives with some remodeling experience, as the Giffels do, or the money to hire a contractor, he is looking at an extended project where he will be doing each bit of work himself (and giving up weekends, vacation and any other spare time for the pleasure).

It’s your choice when you’re buying a new house. But, especially for first time home owners, I definitely recommend looking at some options besides that almost-condemned house down the road. Check out houses that have had a little more maintenance and care over the years.

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