[...]
> basement, that was about $70K, you can count that as
> part of the cost of the house if you like.
I would count most of this. Bathroom and Kitchen improvements can usually be folded into a sales price at at least 100% of what you spent, often more like 115%. Your basement won't be quite 100%, more like 90%.
I was thinking of routine maintenance on a house that started out passing inspections and came with a warranty for maybe the first year. Would your 1927 home have passed an FHA or VA loan inspection, presuming you qualified as a borrower? As a first-time home buyer I qualified for FHA and beyond a new railing and some painting the house passed. I required the seller to get a complete warranty so I had a year where I could build up my emergency fund (this would have covered replacing everything from the roof to every appliance; in fact I got a new washing machine out of it, woohoo!) - this cost the seller $200 or something.
Matt
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