<prompt> Human: I have been reading here for a while and now I am in need of some advice. We are looking to buy our first home 20-25 miles north of Seattle. We have been approved for a max loan of 900k. However, renovated houses are overpriced and mostly flipped so we decided to buy a home in the 550-650k range with some land 1 acre and renovate it ourselves. We are pretty handy and would love to do as much of the work as we can cuz we enjoy it. My husbands parents are very happy to help us with renovation stuff, so costs should be lower than hiring a contractor to do everything. We are not buying an absolute run-down house that requires a major makeover. Mostly, we will repaint walls, replace tile and hardwood flooring, maybe doors, total renovation of the kitchen and bathrooms cabinets, appliances, tiles, etc, and furniture. I can say that we are are able to do all the work except for plumbing and electric work, if necessary. Here is our budget for the house, as per my amateur calculations. We have a total of 250,000 available for house-related costs. We will put 20 down for, say, a 600k house, which is 120k. We are left with 130k for closing costs, other fees, and renovations. I dont know how much the fees or closing costs might be, so I will say we have 100k for renovations and potential unexpected problems with the house. What do you think? Are my calculations remotely correct? Is 130k enough of a safety cushion after the down payment? Should we consider other stuff? EDIT: just to be more clear. The house is not rundown or destroyed. Its perfectly livable but outdated and ugly old appliances, ugly kitchen cabinets, small walk-in shower.  <response>: Always remember that if the inside is a bit run-down, things like the hvac, roof, and hot water heater will need to be considered, too. 