we're looking at a property tomorrow

[Foxglove]

Tomorrow night we are meeting the realtor at a property that we've been interested in. It's on 9.2 acres, 4 are flat pasture land and the rest is in bush/trees. The house is really awful and needs a complete re-do from what we can see in the photos online. It's in foreclosure and there is also a stop work order with the city because a second story was added without permits. My gut has beeen in knots for days, I so want this place to work out for us but I'm worried that we get there and find out that the foundation is shot, a new well needs to be drilled, the septic tank needs to be done or something major. We haven't even looked into financing yet and that makes me anxious too!

 

I've also been questioning if I've got in me to fix up another house, this time with four kids in tow that are needing braces and my time for homeschooling. We'd have room to have some animals and some more privacy even though we might not have any heat since it looks like the electrical baseboards are disconnected and they have heaters standing around. Woodstove here we come I guess

 

However even with all that I still really want to go for it. Please send your good thoughts & cross your fingers that it will go well for us. I figure if we are meant to get it it will happen. On a positive note the realtor emailed my husband today to confirm our appointment and to let us know that the price was reduce by 5%.

 

This property is all that I can think about right now and I just had to write it down here and get some of it out of my system!

[Deerslayer]

good luck--hope it turns out for you

[TractorDiva]

I will think good thoughts send up a prayer of clarity in vision for you and your family. Best wishes!

[CrabGrassAcres]

Before you sign anything, go talk to the building dept. Find out if you have to rip it all out or if they will do an inspection, grant you a permit and let you finish it.

 

Hope it all works out for you!

[CrabGrassAcres]

dup

[Ambergris]

Depending on the building inspection, you might need to look at the "house" as a source of raw materials for the place you will build.

[Foxglove]

The property is beautiful, the house is yuck. They are living in it but it is so dirty and disgusting and they've got two little kids there! Their dog lives in a back part of the house and they don't clean up after it, stank to high heaven. We were there for an hour and a half, maybe 15 minutes of that was spent in the house.

 

The rooms are very awkward & small and for us to get the six of us in there we'd have to tear it apart and rebuild most of it. We couldn't fit our table into the kitchen, bathroom & bedroom walls would have to be moved, the stairs are very steep & narrow, an addition in the back would have to be torn off, the sub-floor was a bit questionable, the electrical panel didn't look great plus a whole bunch of other issues.

 

My husband and I agreed that we couldn't even live in the place temporarily while we renovated or built a new place. I'm not germ-a-phobic but I have my limits!

 

We think the well would be ok but we'd have to put in a brand new septic tank & field. Being a foreclosure it makes it a difficult buy as well. Building a new place means a substantial amount of money and we'd have to buy a trailer to live in.

 

Today I'm just feeling sad because the property was so very nice and I'd love to be there but I don't think we can do this.

 

 

[CrabGrassAcres]

I'm sorry that it can't work for you, but surely something else will turn up.

[Annarchy]

I'm glad to hear you were able to 'look' at it before you decided. Sorry it didn't work out.

 

I hope something much better comes your way soon.

[Foxglove]

It wasn't quite what we were expecting but it's still in the running. I'm going to talk to a mortgage broker and get a rough idea of what we can borrow and then we thought we'd get 2 or 3 realtors to come by and give us their thoughts on the selling price of our current home. We are now trying to figure out if we can afford to build a new house on the property, just clean the living daylights out of the old house and live in it while we build and then tear it down. My husband and I still have a ton of stuff to discuss about it but I think we'll just keep taking steps forward until someone tells us "nope not possible".

 

Foxglove

 

 

[Ambergris]

You might want to talk to an alternative builder, like someone who does solar houses, even if you want conventional construction. In the first place, such a person would be more likely to have familiarity with nonstandard financing. In the second place, I still think you should consider the vast potential of this "house" as a building-materials warehouse, and a nonstandard builder would be more likely to see the possibilities.