First house, lots of work!

The first suggestion that I can give to you is that you should try to prioritize the work that needs to be done on the house. For example when my husband and I bought our house, the bathroom was in such terrible shape that it was a first priority for us. There were and still are a lot of things that need to be done to the house, but we simply would not have been able to live in the house as the bathroom was. If there are things about the house that are completely broken, fix those things first. Everything else can be done a little bit at a time and even after you are living in the house. Best of luck to you with the purchase and renovation of your first house.

Check the parts that need badly repair before proceeding to other parts that can be restored by carpentry or repainting. Don't just bring down the whole house if you can save a part of it to save expenses.

Painting cant be to expensive and if you can do it on your own with your families help your saving right there instead of having to hire a painting contractor. If you can see if someone in the house can take out the baseboards and put in the new modern bsaeboards with liquid nail that would be a plus too. Also if you can get new cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathrooms and have the outside of the cabinets just refaced that would help too. Not sure how much else you can do for 20,000 but that would be a start at least. Dont paint cabinets because that usually doesnt turn out to good so get them refaced and get new doors that doenst usually always go to bad in the long run.