Looking at Buying Fixer Upper Need Some Advice

The 25m house is assessed at 65k but the bank is trying to short sale it. All plumbing and electrical is fine, the window that is blown in was on the 2nd floor and we believe it had not been put in right and the wind blew it out. We've decided to put an offer on the 36k house. Just waitin to get the prequalification paperwork and then we will send them the offer. My realtor talked to the listing agent and knows how much the current offer is and she can't tell me how much it is, but knowing that the other offer is having issues getting the loan, she said the prequal letter should help us get it. So we'll see.

Good luck....

Best of luck. We are all rooting for you.

The process of looking and buying any house but really in the case of a fixer upper is draining. There is so much indecision and emotional ups and down. There is also something to it that almost seems like the system and the deck are stacked against you. That’s how I saw it every time I get involved with buying something in that category anyways. The older and more experenced I get life kind of keeps guiding you past the indecision. My point of almost throwing in the towel on the last house we ended up buying was we had made a deal with the bank and came to a final number and the search turned up a lean for 10k against the property owed to the township. There was zero profit for the owner and the bank was into negative numbers so they were not paying so it left two options we pony up 10k more or the township forfeit the lean for good. I told the realtor no way would we pay the 10k he said ok and he would talk to the township. They said yes they would forgive the lean. So it was full speed ahead. Then about 2 days later they changed their mind. My girlfriend said that’s it we are done! And I found the home phone numbers of the three supervisors and by luck picked the right one to call with the intention of giving a real earful. As it was he was the one that wanted to work with us and invited me to come plead my case at the next meeting. Just happened the next meeting was a month away so more BS waiting a month. But I figured what the heck it was worth a try and gave my 2 cents and they voted 2 to 3 to drop the lean.

My point is if you really want something you shouldn’t give up before you have to. I know I may have given you the inspired side to buying that place and I’m actually really glad others have given you the down side to it. You seem very smart about what you are getting into and the best thing is when you hear the pros and cons and then make up your own mind as to how you want to go.

Please keep us in the loop if you get it or not and if you do I hope you stick around and show us what you are doing to the place and ask for any advice you may need help with.

You guys have given me a tremendous amount of help, along wiwith my dad who has been flipping houses his whole life. We weighed the up front costs with down the road costs as well as the house price and everything and we believe the 36k one is ultimately the best one for us along with it having exactly everything we want in a home. I will for sure stick around and ask lots of questions.

I always looked at it like theft. Not in the normal sence but I could leave the down payment in an account somewhere that makes no money. What would it cost for an apartment or house to rent and is the house just good enough to live in some of the rooms while I work on it. Most of my friends picked up a second job and paid more income tax. My job was tax free and in your case the payments will be tax deductable. My first house was $13K with $700 down with gov. grants at the time, I got the $700 back and payments were $10 more than the rent I was paying and one year later I sold it for $28K. It was a shack that nobody thought would be standing ten years later so it was just fixed up to be livible. 40 years later it still looks like a shack and has a worth of about $300k

Wow that's crazy! Rent around here is typically 700-1200 a month, and if I did a 15 year loan on this house, my payments would be roughly 400$ a month including taxes and insurance. I'm currently not paying rent cuz I'm living with my boyfriends family so I've had a chance to save about 500$ a month and pay off all my loans except my car and student loans which together are down to 19k. I plan to fix up just the rooms we need right away and then work on it one room at a time and get it roofed and sided within a year. Though it was just done a couple years ago, I want it done to my liking. Lol

So right away you are getting paid $300 a month just for living there.
If you want to see crasy check out our older houses in the city and the building lot at the bottom.
http://www.vancouvercharacterhomes.ca/

Oh my that's expensive! "Rich" homes around here are like 500-600k and that's about as high as it gets unless your buying farm land then it's about 2mil for 300 acres.

I'm especially curious about the basement of that house. Please keep us posted.

I went through a different bank after waiting got a week to hear back from mine about a preapproval letter. I called everyday and they ignored my calls, so my realtor gave me the number to a different bank and within 40 mins I had the preapproval for my realtor so we are sending them the offer in a day or two and then will see where we go from there!

artistkate said:

I went through a different bank after waiting got a week to hear back from mine about a preapproval letter. I called everyday and they ignored my calls, so my realtor gave me the number to a different bank and within 40 mins I had the preapproval for my realtor so we are sending them the offer in a day or two and then will see where we go from there!

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:Step one done!

Bankers are a strange bunch????????

Yeah, we have issues around here with bankers not getting back to you.so far everything is going well. Had an inspection done on the house and found out it needs a few new duct pipes in the basement as it currently has ones wrapped with aspestos (sp?) So going to make sure that gets done, said the roof and stuff are ok for now but will still have an estimate done to see the cost of getting the window trims and gutters done. Still waiting to hear the counter offer from the sellers, but will know by Monday What they have to say.

Get some real good information on best practice before touching asbestos. You do not want it to become airborne. If they counter offer stand firm in your next offer due to the cost of asbestos removal and send them a copy of the inspection with that section circled in red.

Well out offer has been accepted and we are set to close March 6th. I will definitely keep a repair log going as soon as we get the house.

Congrats.

It’s great they accepted your offer without a counter offer. Always made me then think hmm should I have offered less, haha. But it’s all about moving forward not looking back. March is a perfect time to start working on a house. I had hoped and tried so hard to get in our house in the winter to get going and as it drug out it was spring and looking back on it I’m glad now how it turned out. getting windows open and not working in and out of cold weather is much easier.

I did so much with used materials in our house I even surprised myself. Great way to avoid costs if you have the ability to find what you need.

Take as many photos as you can. Not just to post here but for a record of what you get into. As fresh as it is in my mind at the time I soon forgot what was inside the walls and what we changed and didn’t change.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you start taking a pressure washer to the outside of your new place.

They didn't accept my first offer we went back and forth about 4 times. I plan on making a renovation photobook.

Asbestos, has to be the first consideration.

I suspect you will have some limited amount of time to accomplish some work before you move in and you will need a plan on what needs to be done to make some rooms livable and safe.

Most of us here will requimend getting the asbestos removed by professionals. Most times DIYers will dissapear for a while and then come back latter and ask about other repairs. We can just immagine what they did with it. If money is to tight to higher the pro, the answer is to become that pro yourself. The safety clothes and the equipment they use just are not that expencive and with a little research it can be done safely even if it is ugly work.

nealtw said:

Asbestos, has to be the first consideration.

I suspect you will have some limited amount of time to accomplish some work before you move in and you will need a plan on what needs to be done to make some rooms livable and safe.

Most of us here will requimend getting the asbestos removed by professionals. Most times DIYers will dissapear for a while and then come back latter and ask about other repairs. We can just immagine what they did with it. If money is to tight to higher the pro, the answer is to become that pro yourself. The safety clothes and the equipment they use just are not that expencive and with a little research it can be done safely even if it is ugly work.

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To think when I was a kid people used to smoke cigarettes with asbestos filters because it was a more healthy way to smoke. Times have changed.
I didn’t disappear for that long did I?

bud16415 said:

To think when I was a kid people used to smoke cigarettes with asbestos filters because it was a more healthy way to smoke. Times have changed.
I didn’t disappear for that long did I?

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I don't remember you asking about it.: But if we look at what they do for removel, it just isn't that big a deal to do it absolutly safely. In this house the plaster should be tested also. The most expensive part woud be the air test when it's done.

At some point this house will go back on the market even if that is years away and what can make it worth more than other houses is a picture history of eveything that was done.

I met a guy that was flipping houses when the market was better, his problem was the quality he was doing didn't show up when it was finished so he started making a book of what he did so an inspector could go thru it and look at plumbing, wiring new structure, al the hidden stuff with the permits. He said, he always got above market prices.