When to restore/When to tear down???

I would prefer an older home to a new one any day, but there has to be a point that its just not worth it.

Ask yourself, What kind of house will I have after your done with the restore. Will it be a nice old home with character or just a patched up run down house to live in. If its going to be a home then kieep it, If it will just be a house then replace it.

__________________
Gary in Central Ohio

mrs oz here


Y'all don't hear to much from me around here, but I wanted to thank everybody for all of the advice and well wishes. We should hear something later today about our offer. I'm on vacation this week and got up much earlier than I normally would. I think I'm excited! I can definitely see this being our home.............after a lot of hard work and blood, sweat and tears. But all of that makes it more worthwhile doesn't it. Well, we will keep you posted on what's happening. Thanks again for all of the support. Hopefully this is where our search ends and the actual journey begins!! Keep your fingers crossed.

oz,
You mentioned termites, if the house inspector isn't experienced, you should get a termite inspection. Some banks require them. Termites eat the sill plate first. The house usually sits on the sill plate.

Also, I see you made an offer with contingencies. I didn't see anything in your post about septic and well. Your offer and the contract are two different things. If the offer is accepted with contingencies, but they aren't spelled out in the contract, you have no contingencies. Inspections will cost a small fraction of actual repairs. Make sure to leave enough time to get all of these things tested before closing. Most counties will not allow you to stay on the property if the well and septic are not good.

The comments about better old than new are generalized and only opinion. I bought a house built in 1904 and it was a complete piece of junk. It took forever to fix and almost cost my marriage. Each property is unique. Continue to be analytical. Be there for the inspections and ask a lot of questions. As an inspector I have seen quality in new and old. It would be wise to meet the county officials and ask questions after you have details on the basics -- foundation, septic, and well. gobug

Well our realtor called this morning and they are not moving off the price that it is now listed.

However the listing agent stated that the house is(for all intents and purposes)worthless and so the sellers price is basically $6000/acre.

That is way out of line for the area.

We will see what happens,I imagine it is a bit difficult to be selling property and get such a low offer but honestly I don't think the property is worth anymore than $70,000.

The only other option I have thought of is seeing if owner financing is available and then maybe something could be worked out.

It is also very regional. Houses are all built a little different depending on the area. In my city it is all track homes and there is no comparison between the new homes and the ones built 40 years ago. The new ones are much, much better, especially the foundation and framing. Southern california housing is where the idea of production framing techniques got started (lots and lots of tract homes) and it shows, very simple design and they where thrown up as fast as possible.

Oz-

I live in SE NC which has higher land values than Rutherford county, and was going to say that I thought the asking price was high before they dropped the price $10,000 for you. Good luck- NC is a great place to live most of the time.

Well we recieved a counter offer(seller came down $3000) and we sent another counter-counter offer of $71,000 and the sellers make sure the well/septic is in working condition.

We will hear back tomorrow hopefully but the listing agent doesn't think they will want to spend any money on the place OR come off the price much.

We are hoping it will work out but are still looking at other properties up that way-20 acres for $59,000 with a barn,two creeks,some woods and planted in fescue.

I would think twice before burning up all that antique lumber!!!!! there is a good market for that stuff to furniture makers!!! also you could reuse alot of it in a rebuild. Lumber wont get any cheaper. To bring a house with that kind of wiring up to code(which u may need to do to get service) will be at best a couple grand. Same with plumbing and so on. Be careful of a well you cant see work.....could get ugly! It dose sound like the property has potential tho. If you do have to tear the house down it wouldnt be that hard to do it your self if you are do-it-yourselfers. then you get all that building material to eather reuse or sell. You can get you own construction dumpster farely cheap for the rest you cant in some way recycle. Eather way the house has some use!

Good luck
Cody

The problems with salvaging old general purpose lumber is it is often of different sizes (if it came from different mills), it would be difficult to incorporate with modern lumber sizes, may have been used green and has/will warp and is usually full of nails - making cutting it to size very iffy.

Ken S. in WC TN

Don't even listen to the realtor. Here is what you said yesterday....

And what do you know, they came down another 3k.

People get desperate and quick in the right situation. Just the fact that they keep coming down in price shows that they want to sell. It is always better to go after those over priced properties. No one puts in a bid because they are over priced and the owners get all worried and stressed out, then you come in and low ball them. They get upset and take it personal for a little bit but then they realize that you are the only one in the last 9 months to make an offer and they start to negotiate real quick. Once the negotiations start they want nothing more then to just sell the property and get it over quick, they are just sick of the whole thing and want it over.

I also go look up all the records on the house to see what they paid for it (the more equity the better), is it in preforclosure (if it has a large 2nd mortgage the property could be a potential gold mine) .... as well as look up the owners in the court system to see if there is a divorce etc....There is a ton of information that is public record. Then go talk to all the neighbors and if you want to really stack the odds in your favor go talk to the owner. If you can get the owner to like you they will be more willing to come down in price and if that isn't going good then you can always pull out all the tuff questions. In the mean time have your realtor show the listing agent all the comps in the area and why it is over priced etc.... If you realtor is good at that and you do your job correct, everyone will be doing what ever they can to get the owner to take the deal, including the owner when they start to think you are the only taker.

Now if the market is hot and everything is selling quick then you really don't have much choice.


They have all ready come down 13k, just keep on them.

What is the difference between there last offer and yours?

If there is enough commision the realtors might even pitch in some money to close the deal. When I sold my house I got one of realtors to pitch in 4k to close the deal. I was actually willing to come down the last 4k but wanted to see if I could get the realtors to split the difference and to my surprise the listing agent jumped the gun and agreed to the whole 4k right away because she was afraid I was going to walk and the listing contract was almost up.


Who knows, you might find a better property in the mean time.

Remember that you are the only person who can negotiate your deal. The agents just push the paper.

If you haven't already done so, find a copy of Les Scher's Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country. Read it cover to cover even if you don't think parts of it will apply to you.

Also, in I think the Nov/Dec 1997 issue of Countryside, there was an article by a real estate agent who specialized in finding and closing on properties using sometimes creative owner financing. From a note I have, he put the information in a booklet which is available directly from him (Kevin McCloskey, P.O. Box 1738, Eastsound, WA 98245-1738). Cost at that time was $55, with a money back guarantee.

Ken Scharabok

If you haven't already found financing, check with Farm Credit. They finance bare land all the time and their interest rates are great. Another cool thing-when interest rates dropped, my Farm Credit has simply sent me paperwork to lower the interest rates on the 2 properties I have financed thru them. I never asked, they just did it. It cost me $100 for one property and about $175 for the other to drop the interest rate about 2%.

As for that old house, it probably isn't worth the trouble to salvage it. In the South it seems most of these little old houses don't have an adequate foundation, there is little or no architectural significance, and craftsmanship is generally sorely lacking.

Just to update y'all.

We recieved a counter-offer(or is that a counter-counter-counter offer? ) getting closer to what we are wanting to pay.

I just scheduled with a home inspection company to go out and take a look at the property.

If the inspection comes back with good news we will most likely make a final offer and see what happens.

As to financing,anyone ever had a 'rehab' or 'purchase and renovate' loan?

Wells Fargo offers the latter whereby the loan amount is based on the property value AFTER the improvements are made.

There is also FHA 203K but it requires the property to be your primary residence and this would not be for a few years.

Thank you all for the advice,it is appreciated.

Well I drove up to NC to be there for the inspection and the house has some serious termite problems under the house and in some other parts of the house.It also requires a totally new roof down to the rafters and plywood put down and the three to four layers of roofing removed.

Needless to say we have dropped our offer back down to the land only amount and some for the outbuildings.

I guess if it doesn't pan out we were not meant to get it.

Thanks all.

Good luck!

OZ,
I hope you get the property. Or I should say that things work out in your favor. Reconsider the land only part of the offer if they come back with a refusal. The well and septic have a lot of value if they are ok.

If you do get it, please don't fix the house. The termite problems are a good indication of many related problems. It could be related to the roof, but NC is prime termite land. Scraping off the house and starting over will not eliminate the termites. They are God's answer to dead trees.

As a professional exterminator, I can tell you across the country the termites are winning. Ten year plus guarantees are gone and replaced with 1 or 2 year guarantees if you pay a hefty annual fee.

Its far better to avoid building with bug food (wood, straw, or paper). Consider ferrocement. Two people can easily build a home with limited skills and almost no tools. Bugs won't eat it and it'll stand up to hurricanes and tornadoes.

my 2 cents, good luck again.
gobug