Buying a "trashed" property...
 

Ok, well since I moved and ended up in a completely different place than the Ozarks... it appears we may be here for awhile. Soooooo....



We have been checking out various properties and today went and looked at one that has what I think is good potential.

It is a foreclosure, we can do most of the work (and have family that can do anything else) and clean up.

But it's trashed out. House is bad but not "bulldoze" it bad. The property is in need of SERIOUS help. Trash, tons of broken glass, multiple broken trailers/mobiles, multiple broken outbuildings, tons of fenced pens for some animal we cant figure out (yeah they are that weird looking), appliances gone, broken fences, way overgrown, etc...



So if we decide to go through with this one (or something similar)... what is the list to look for and have inspected? Here is my list so far:

Regular house inspection (doesnt appear they pulled the wires or copper)
Termite inspection
Plumbing to check they didnt pour crap down the drains
Septic tank to see if its functional
Survey the property lines
Well test
Soil test eventually
Call and ask for any and all possible utilities to be marked outside (I know there is electric)


What else am I missing? If you were going into a "trashed" out property ready to put in some serious elbow grease... what other things would you watch for. It's obvious the prior people were trashing it long before they lost the house... it doesnt "appear" they did the last minute "smash in all the walls" kind of damage. But then again I cant see down the pipes either.




Anyone else BTDT? Would you do it again? This place is BEAUTIFUL under the trash and I can see what it SHOULD be. And we are capable and the price is beyond right.


Thanks for the replies!!! :)

Hazardous materials/chemicals, it could get expensive if the previous occupants collected old motor oil, paint, industrial cleaning materials, etc, and you have to dispose of them in a proper manner.

"O"

Also be careful that the property wasn't used as a meth lab. Talk to some of your local law enforecement people about the things to look for. Some of the chemicals used in that process are extremely dangerous.

Zoning.
Animals permitted.

Peg

Yep...sad to say but yes..check with the police about the drug labs. It is dangerous to have children in a house when this was going on before you arrived. Checking the soil would be my concern too. With oil and gas from junk cars..I don't know. Sometimes cheap isn't always good. I would get anyone and everyone to check all things out. Ask the neighbors about the property. They would certainly know who lived and why there for many years. I have cleaned few mighty dirty places with my daughters over the years and sometimes it isn't worth it. Please be careful of your health...Good Luck..

Take some time and go talk to the neighbors. They could also tell you a lot of things.

I bought a fixerupper foreclosure and have mixed feelings on it. It was, and still is, a ton of work. Found out that even though I'm in a rural county on almost 5acres that I'm not zoned for animals, one of my neighbors is a pain, and the area isn't as good as I orginally thought it was. However, even with the work that was needed, I got alot more house than I could otherwise afford to buy. The house has some great features, and part of the rebuilding process was me replacing some of the major items so I know that they're going to be for years to come.

Beware that the minute you sign on the dotted line things happen; friends who are skilled tradesman won't return your phone calls, your source of cheap labor joins the union, items on the property that were broken before suddenly break for no reason @ all. Just saying that the crew from TOH won't show up no matter how many pound cakes or jam is made.

As others have written neighbors know just about everything so do speak with them. There could be other reasons why you wouldn't want to live there besides it being a former lab or dump site.
However if there was a meth lab & it was raided then the state or county would have done a clean up at least that is how it's done in New York.

As someone who bought a former drug house it can work but it can take allot of elbow grease.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Check the price of renting a dumpster to put all the trash in. There was a trashed piece of property up the road from us and the new Owners rented a huge dumpster to put all the trash and mess in but they had to fill it up two times! You might want to compare the price of renting a dumpster against the cost it will take you to haul everything to a dump yourself. There will be your car/truck gas costs plus your time to drive to dump plus the dump fees. After all that, it may be cheaper to rent the dumpster and have them haul it off all at one time.

Good luck -

FYI We have bought two places and havent' found the "home inspection" to be anything more than a technicality.

In the small community we move to it turned out that our "home inspector" knew the previous owners personally...we didn't exactly get a real objective inspection. the previous owners installed the roof themselves and did it incorrectly. After having a roofer come out to estimate he explained why everytime the wind blows the shingles come off!

In our previous house we weren't told all sorts of things by the "inspector" including that the septic was failiing and none of the land in the area perked good enough for a standard septic system anyway. We had to spend $6000 to fix it after living for several years with a barely functioning system.

When we bought our run out farm we hauled 30 pickup with high sides, loads of trash from behind a wooden fence. Two loads from the basement and three from the house. We sifted and screened 300 sq. ft of ground where an outside incinerator was. We removed hundreds of nails and screws thrown on the rugs and spikes from the wall. Also removed several doors and locks that led no where. We tore out walls and closets that stank of urine. The last owner had dementia of some kind and trashed the place before family intervened.We also had to rebuild buildings. It was hard work but worth it. It was also all we could afford at the time.

We own a large home that was foreclosed on. Seemed in OK/needs work but "nothing we couldn't handle" since we had reno'd a 1900 farm house down to the studs.

Well, let's just say 2 years later, and MUCH money later, I have a new roof, 20x40 deck we paid to demolish that was rotten had the workers disappear on us and I did it myself, the inside is still 1960's, and we have spent more in repairs than if we bought a nice and updated house. PLUS our taxes are still at the highest rates (2x value) despite appealing them.

Now our farm was Amish, no power, again lots of reno. At least that has some soul gratifying beauty to it. Financially though, not the smartest move.

bedbugs, fleas, bees, whatever.

Here, and maybe statewide, You have to replace the septic system when a property changes hands if it is "nonconforming". Nonconfrming means if it is too old or the water table is too high , or whatever else they can come up with. Check with the county and see if the septic needs to be replaced. If so, add $10,000 to the price.

I worry about the broken glass in the yard. There is no way you will get all of it unless they have invented a glass magnet I didn't know about. I would never feel confident going barefoot and would worry about the critters feet too.

Check the structural integrity of the house. Is the foundation solid? Are the walls properly constructed? Did someone cut some ceiling/floor joists to put in plumbing or electrical?

Is there asbestos anywhere? This requires removal by a HASMET team and proper disposal. Big bucks.

Thanks everyone!!!! :thumb:


The house is rural but not too far from "town" and the neighbors are pretty spread out. We didn't see any out that we could talk to and I wasn't about to tresspass through dogs to get to the door of the closest one!


I will check on the methlab issue... though the house doesn't have that "look". But I will make sure if we move forward on it!!!


The zoning is for all animals... no issues there. No HOA.


The glass is in piles as if they broke things and just left the heap. None of us ever walk around outside anywhere barefoot and would all wear workboots while cleaning up. There was no glass in any of the various weird animal pens that I could see. I wouldnt put any animal or kid out there until I was as sure as I could be about the glass removal!! That and the scorpians might take advantage of bare tootsies! :shocked:


The house is a one story, no basement built in 1985. We can't see any leaking or holes in the roof. We know the house needs completely rewired as there are obvious signs of very poor fixes. Foundation appears ok as far as we can tell... no basement.


The house is not full of trash... everything is gone. No walls are torn down or have holes/patches. But the house needs to be pretty much redone.


Zero clue of the septic other than I don't see where it possibly could be, so we assume that might be shot.


I am hoping since it was built in 1985 that there is no asbestos or lead issues... I will make sure to ask everyone and hope for the truth.


The area isn't tiny and there are many inspectors available... I wont use any a real estate agent suggests and I will check the BBB too on them. It might even be worth two different inspections in the end. Will ponder that.


The price of the house and land is so low that even if we had to bulldoze the house and scrape the entire property flat it would still be a good price.



I am concerned they may have been burying trash. There were several large rectangular holes all around the house with nothing in them. I think I would have to scope the area better and see if I saw any disturbances that might show a buried hole. There is very little grass in my area so that wont grow up and cover everything.



Has anyone had luck using a metal detector to try to find buried metal crap?



The "trashed" part is more like broken buildings/trailers/furniture/broken metal and wooden "things" everywhere, etc.... not too much actual bags of refuse trash.



We know there would be several (if not more) roll offs needed, along with a giant scrap metal pile, and salvaged wood pile and possibly a burn pile if they allow it.



The perimeter fence was in decent shape and goes all the way aroound. But all the animal pens and "yard" fencing needs to be replaced.



My "crew" is about to move down and live with me (in addition to my immediate family) so no worry about people not showing up since they will live there too! ;)


We have a free hazardous and recycling drop here where I live. :thumb: But I didnt see any of that kind of thing anywhere... but ofcourse I cant know if anything is buried. Well actual no potential buyer of any property anywhere can know if anything is buried anywhere!! The best I can do is look for "weird" spots and die off in places it shouldnt be.





If it makes any difference we are in a "high desert" region and not in a lush forest area so some of the issues are definately not the same here climate wise.



Ok I think I replied to everyone. THANKS!!!!! :thumb:

Wow there have been alot of views! I must not be the only one thinking about this! :teehee:




Basically this is one of the few properties in six different states that I have gotten out of the car and felt a "squeeeee" in my heart. It's also the very first one my hubby didn't just look at me like I am crazy for picking a "dump". Sure we could get something fancy for ten times the price and have a big mortgage. I don't want that. I see so much potential in this place and I am not afraid to get my hands dirty with it. I wont rush into it... and it may not be meant for me. But dang I cannot stop thinking about it. There are so many mature mesquite trees which is kinda rare around here... alot of people have bare dirt. So many that even though its a square property you can only see one neighbor and can't see the fence!


I know other people wont even make it up the rutted dirt road and if they do will flee in "horror" at the condition of it. But it is surrounded by houses worth ten times what it is and with smaller acreage.


I am not sure in the end if this is going to be the "one"... or how many months it would take to jump through all the hoops to get it. But dang it pulls at me and begs me to fix it up and make it pretty! :grin:


Thanks for listening to me ramble on! :p

Get a through title search, and title insurance too! Who knows how many people the trashers owed money to......
If they buried metal, you could have a "mine" at today's scrap prices.... :D
ETA: high desert, be sure you check water rights too.

One could hope for more metal! :heh:



I do know the water situation and we are allowed to have greywater systems and rain collection. :)



Thorough title search check! :happy2:

Old Mobile homes/trailers are a pain to disassemble and get rid of. Lots of scrap aluminum and a bit of copper.

These mostly are already broken down. One in a VERY bizzare twist is half gone.... like someone cut it in half long ways like a hot dog bun?!? :huh:

I mean I have seen trailers and old mobys break in half... but this was like sliced off down the middle from front to back. And the rest of it is nowhere to be found. :shrug: It bizzare and funny.

They make a pen that you can run it across the paint and the mark will turn color if there is lead paint.

Mon

If you think they were burying trash, I'd take soil samples from several different areas of the yard and have them tested by an independent lab.

BTW, the first thing I thought of when you said large rectangular holes was bodies. LOL At least that would be organic matter :D

Had you started out saying that your heart went "squeee" I would have just told you good luck and enjoy your new house. :thumb:

Squeee is what my heart went with the farm. Once that happens it's all over if you can buy it. Heck, I didn't need to think about it 5 seconds after I walked in.

+1

I know quite a bit of useful information about a foreclosure near us. I'm surprised, even with the amount of foot traffic that house has had, only two people have asked us what we know about it.

A metal detector is going to pick up every nail, bottle cap and pull tab that is in the ground...at least to a certain depth.

Sure, a MD will ring crazy loud when you hit something big, like a large piece of steel, but it won't tell you much more than that.

I would think that post hole diggers would be a pretty fast way to dig 'core samples' if you suspect trash was buried. But even if trash was buried, what are you going to do with it? Dig it up?

Good luck!!!!!

It's a foreclosure and you've inspected the property? Who is selling it?

Yep, bought this house + five acres 15 years ago.
Mountains of garbage, dead cars, glass, wire. The house had bullet holes shot through the ceiling--and a bucket under the holes for when it rained. Snakes, snakes, snakes! Cockroaches big enough to saddle and ride to town.
The first 5 years here was pretty much repair and clean-up. New roof, completely rebuilt the utility room, not to mention linoleum, carpet, paint, plumbing, wiring.
But so worth it to us. We love our place.

Demeter

The place I have right now is 1 acre and in one corner of the property they put there trash and what ever else they wanted. I got 20 yards of clay soil put it over the area and put my garage right on top. The other small area that the garage didn't cover I dug up to see what was under there. Thank god no oil just scrap.

We know something of cleaning up a neglected home and property, though we acquired ours through inheritance rather than buying it. The previous tenant was a hoarder in the truest sense of the word. The house and both out buildings were full, and there were piles of "stuff" all over the property. The dumpster recommendation is a good one, though it will get costly.

One of our better decisions was to have local family (DW's aunt and cousin) help in exchange for the ability to sell anything they found in the barns while clearing them out. The only disclaimer I had was that I wanted right of first refusal for all tools they found. We would gladly have paid somebody to clear the barns out (if we could afford to), and they needed money for school clothes for their kids. By the time they were done we were left with only a dumpster load of junk to get rid of from the larger barn, and a utility trailer load for the smaller barn. It worked out well for all parties. Sure, there's a possibility that they might have found something truly valuable out there. But, knowing the tenant it's doubtful...and if they did, I never knew it was there and won't miss it. ;)

Yep plan on taking LOTS of soil samples and getting them tested for everything they possibly offer!

And yes we have started reffering to them as "coffin" holes. :pound: They really are rather close to the house though... one is like 10 feet from the front porch. A bad choice to put trash in. :shrug: I almost wonder if the dug something up and took it with them... the dirt walls were pretty smooth and lacking any trash in them and they were so close to the house.






Google maps seems to think one of the neighbors is running a B&B. I think I am going to try and see if they have a website. ;)





Yeah I probably would try to dig it up and find out. I have alot of males that like to dig thankfully. LOL I do think the kids and my dad would love to use a MD though... they would view it as having alot of fun! :happy2: I was thinking a shovel, a piece of rebar and some post hole diggers would be good to walk around with and test any "soft spots" or sunken/mounded areas. Well that is after the utilities were marked and they found where the septic tank is first ofcourse!!! ;)




Not sure 100% yet... but I believe it is a bank. Still trying to get some straight answers. I play alot of phone tag these days. Sigh.




Either way if this one isn't meant to be... I am writing all this down so I will have a good checklist ready for the next place. Thanks everyone!!!!!

:thumb:

To be precise, if this property is being listed for sale than it's no longer a foreclosure, it's a bank REO (Real Estate Owned). True forclusures are only available at public auction, which is where the bank takes possession of the foreclosed property 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time someone bids enough to get the property.

This is not really splitting hairs or playing word games. The benefit of foreclosure bidding is that it's an opportunity to assume risk in return for buying a property at far below market value. It's difficult to find out a lot about foreclosure properties before the auction, since the properties are not shown. You can find out a lot about the properties with respect to liens and building size from online county records, but not much about its current condition.

Once the bank takes possession of foreclosed properties everything changes. You can view the property, take the time to arrange financing, and even make counter-offers. None of those are possible at a foreclosure auction. The fact is that the bank is now trying to get as much as they can for the property.

Chances are the price is cheap because the bank that holds the mortgage has sent someone out to look at their mortgage "deal".

After seeing all the trash, they just want rid of it and want some of their money back.

As long as the foundation is sound and the walls and roof aren't ready to fall down, it will make a great project for you. Just beware though, not all stories are happy endings where everyone loved their "dream home" they made.

Rent "The Money Pit" movie.

I would do it. I bought a 9 acre farm with a 100 yr old farmhouse that had been vacant for over 2 years and neglected before that, but the "bones" were good.... after only 2 years of cleaning up, hauling off, and LOVE, (utterly NO significant money spent), I was able to sell it for a $30,000. profit in 2006, when NO ONE was making a profit!! THAT is what we call "sweat equity" and it sounds like the property you're looking at can ONLY get better!! GO FOR IT, after all of the research & such that others have suggested.....but do it quickly.....you're not the only one looking for a diamond in the rough foreclosure!

It was eluded to before, but I would look into what it is going to take to rid of those trailers. It is MUCH easier said than done. Even if you strip them down yourself you still have mountains of stuff to dispose of.

We have a neighbor that thought he was going to make a fortune on scrapping old trailers when scrap prices went through the roof. He quickly found out they are allot of work to strip down and are mostly made on non-scrap materials i.e. wood/plastic.

Now we get to look at ~7 or so old, half torn apart trailers every time we turn onto our road :yuck:

Thought occurs to me, possibly the prior owners were doing a half-assed sort of scrap operation, buying old trailers, cutting them up, sorting various metals and appliances out into piles and hauling whatever seemed salable at a given moment off for cash? Or had ideas of doing so but were never very organized about it? Or used the property as an ad-hoc business location and actually lived elsewhere? I know a couple of people have stopped by my house asking about a small travel trailer we have that we use strictly for storage, useful storage at that so no go... but I did get rid of an old car that way that was barely running. Folks wander around peering into yards then knocking on doors askin'... and I am in Arizona, too.

The description of the property brought images of the "town" of Dirt to mind, from the animated flick "Rango." Shuffle, shuffle, stomp, stomp, "Cooool, cleaaar water, water.."

We just purchased a foreclosure "HUD" place across the street from our home. It was only 10 years old. It was a modular which means trailer on a permanent foundation. We gutted it down to studs. It was in terrible shape. Every piece of wall, insulation, flooring, duct work, had to be replaced because they had a million cats. We put in a new furnace, appliances, fixtures, just like a brand new home.
We have used traditional drywall. State Farm said they don't care if I lined it with gold bricks, they will not insure it as a traditional home. If it burned to the ground, they were going to go back to the date of manufacturing and depreciate it from there. Needless to say, I have since found another insurance company to deal with.


All of that to say, make sure on some of the trailers or outbuildings- if you renovate them you can get tradtional insurance to protect your investment.

but...how would you hang pictures on that?

sorry, couldn't resist!!!:bouncy:

Bingo!

Unless the land is on a "superfund" site and provided you are willing and able to do almost ALL of the repair work (or have a lot of money), I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

Broken glass, trashed trailers and ripped up walls, mean nothing to me. Just more work to be done "later", with the price of scrap metal, you might already have a great part-time job, cutting it up and selling.

If it's a money pit to repair, it still should cost less than building a new home, if the repairs are done right. If it needs a new roof, well or septic, you'd be buying them anyway with a new built home.

I have always believed in buying the worst house in the best neighborhood. If you do't have any other neighbors nearby, sound like it mike be a good neighborhood. ;)

Ar you imagining what it will look like 10 years from now? You should

We purchased a 135 year old dump that was remodeled, but the rest of the property, including the barns, needed a lot of work. To be honest I was glad most of the home remodel was done ( we did have to redo the roller-coaster floors that were hidden by new carpet), from a cost and time standpoint, but we paid a fair amount of money for the property. I would have gladly done the work, if we could have purchased it for what the previous owner paid, which was almost nothing.

Go for it.

dragonjaze......you so funny. :hysterical:

people need to remember that there is a difference between a manufactured and a modular home.

Manufactured must have the frame left under it.

Modular is a stick built home that is placed on a frame and moved into place. And the frame is sent back to the factory.

HUGE difference.