Good bones:Home buyers are apt to hear this phrase when touring a home—i.e., their Realtor® will say, “This homehas good bones!” So what does this phrase mean, exactly?
As the phrase implies, thishousemay not necessarily look all that greaton the outside, but underneath, it’s in fantasticcondition.In short, it’s a diamond in the rough.
“Good bonesoftenrefers to an ugly house that most people would pass on,” says Mark Ferguson, a real estate agent and creator of Investfourmore.com. Here’s why you should give homes with good bones some serious attention—and how to tell if a home’s “bones” are up to snuff.
Good bones meana home’s floor plan flows
“To me, good bones mean a house hasa goodfloor plan,” says Maria Luisa Castellanos, a Realtor and president of United Architectsin Coral Gables, FL.That means the floor plan flows well, soit’s easy to get from one area of a hometo another,and it all makes sense, based on what you’re doing in these spaces.
“Related rooms need to be near each other,” Castellanos continues. For instance, thekitchen should be next to the dining room, rather than at the opposite end of the house.
“Intuitive room flow has to do with what designers typically refer to as adjacencies,” addsBilox Wells, owner ofFind Home Pro. “That may meanthe kids’ rooms arenear the master bedroom, or the garage leads directly into the house.”
And there’s room to breathe, and plenty oflight
Homes with good bones typically feel spacious rather than cramped, thanks to ampleroom size and high ceilings. Meanwhile, large windows let in plenty of natural light.
This bright, airy ambience can alsocome from a home’s being optimally oriented on the property. Aliving room’swindows may boast southern exposure, to capture rays all day. Thebedrooms may face east, so you can wake to thesun, while thediningroom faces west, so you can behold the sunsetover dinner.
And there’s no need for major repairs
Jesse Fowler, president of Tellus Design+Build, notes that these types of homes generally need little work in terms of major repairs.The infrastructure—such as the foundation, electricity, and plumbing—are all in good shape.
“The structure itself is good, ” Fowlerexplains. “The house is sound, not sinking, and there are no big framing or concrete repairs needed.”
And this is not only good in terms of the home, but your wallet, too.A brand-new foundation, for instance, can cost up to $40,000.
But you mayneed to make some cosmetic updates
Granted, homes with good boneswillneed some work. You may need to paint the walls,or sand down those hardwood floors, or update that trapped-in-a-1980s-time-warp kitchen.
But the good news is, cosmeticrenovations generally aren’t that expensive. According to Home Advisor, painting the interior of a home will only run you$993to $2,722 on average (and even less if you do some of the painting yourself). Probably the priciest cosmetic fix will be a kitchen renovation, which will cost an average of $20,122.
How to find a home with good bones
Good bones is partly just a feeling you get walkingthrough a home, but be warned—many aspects ofbad bonesare hard to see. For example, cracks may be difficult to find if they’re in the interior of the building, but end up costing home buyers a pretty penny to fix.
As such, “a home [without good bones] may appear desirable and habitable, but could have poor infrastructure that can only be detected upon inspection,” saysWells. So no matter how great a home looks, make sure tohire a home inspector to dig beneath the surface and make sure those “bones” really are as good as you are hoping.
