Everything you shouldn't do during a home renovation

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A home renovation disaster image
Our yearlong cottage renovation stretched out more than three years. The work still isn't done.

Chris Burnett for BI

A millennial couple considered hundreds of houses — then spent $150,000 on a falling-apart Victorian sight unseen. They think it's worth it.

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A couple stands on the porch of their dilapidated house with pumpkins and flowers.
Evy Rivera and Jacob Evans are restoring their Victorian home.

Evy Rivera and Jacob Evans

A 125-year-old church sat dilapidated for decades in a small Texas town, but now it's a cozy rental with a loft and original features. Take a look inside.

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Bartlett church in Texas.
Heavenly Hideaway living room.

Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios

Why Japan has more than 8 million cheap abandoned houses that people are renovating into dream homes

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A street in Okawachiyama, Saga Prefecture, Japan.
An akiya is in the rural village of Okawachiyama, in Saga Prefecture, Japan.

Makoto Watanabe

We bought a house with an indoor pool. We thought it would be awesome but $30,000 later we wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

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A man and woman sitting at the edge of an indoor pool in their home.
Kaitlin and Josh Chmil bought a home with an indoor pool in 2020.

Courtesy of Kaitlin Chmil.

A Gen X woman bought a crumbling 1890s manor. She thought she'd be done restoring it a year into the project, but the work kept coming.

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The exterior of the manor.
The crumbling exterior of the 1890s Queen Anne house that Tabetha Heemstra bought in 2020.

McKinley Manor

People are buying cheap, abandoned homes in Japan and living their dreams free of financial burden

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Two men sitting down in the middle of a home renovation in Japan.
Take Kurosawa and Joey Stockermans working on their akiya renovation in Japan.

Courtesy of Take Kurosawa.

A 119-year-old bank sat abandoned in a tiny Texas town for decades. Now it's a 3-bedroom home with the original vaults and a teller station — take a look.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
Bartlett Bank in Texas
The Bartlett National Bank in Bartlett, Texas.

Erik Fossum/Fossum Studios

A retired artist spent $70,000 resurrecting the 'holy grail' of vintage trailers and turning it into a retro tiny home on wheels

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The current owner gutted and restored what he dubbed the
The current owner gutted and restored what he dubbed the "holy grail" of vintage trailer homes.

Courtesy of Dan Reiser

I was drowning in student-loan debt, so I bought a house and flipped it. I used the profit to pay off my loans.

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A house with a

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

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