Do we buy the abandoned disgusting house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thanks to everyone for such a quick round of replies. My husband has been doing math today to see if we could stay in our rental to the end of our lease in the spring and still afford the house. I just asked him to check in with the realtor (they've been trading texts all day) to see what the options would be in terms of an inspection.

It's so funny, $75-100k sounds like so much to me but I've never done any work on a house before so I can see that I may be clueless about what it will really cost. We probably can't do more than that, so that's something to really consider, beyond the ick factor. Also, the idea of things living in the walls...yeah. That hadn't been on my list of things to be afraid of but it is now.

You are not being realistic. $75K would be the initial clean up of the house. That's it. The renovation will cost you another $200K+. You are thinking in 2010 prices. Everything costs 5-6x as much as they did 10 years ago. Our realtor was like - it will be $25K to put in flooring, drywall, lighting in your basement, but we knew that in 2023 dollars, that is $100K.

[Anonymous]

We did that. Bought a tiny house on a great lot in an amazing neighborhood. I think many people would have torn it down. We couldn’t afford that. Did the basic stuff to make to lovable at first and been fixing it up over 5 years. It is super cute now - but still small - we could not afford to make it bigger.

In the end, I am glad we are here. Great schools. Walkable. Affordable. I sometimes get jealous of people with higher houses - that tore down. But we our way comfortable financially.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You need to find out if there is animal pee in the house from critters getting in. If feral cats got in and peed in the house you just aren't going to get rid of that smell. Every humid day you will smell pee.

We passed on a house with a cat urine smell and instead bought a house where a smoker lived. Walls were yellowed and it stunk. But with an expensive cleaning crew who scrubbed every inch of the walls and ceilings. Then painters who painted with Kilz, the smell disappeared.

Seriously unless you are replacing not just the floors but subfloors run from a house that smells like urine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your estimate of $75,000-$100,000 to fix up is laughable. This will cost you AT LEAST $250K to fix up and probably closer to $400K. There is a REASON it's priced so much under market, and that is because that is how much it will cost to fix it up. $100K for the kitchen, $20-30K for each bathroom. Another $100K for gutting it down to the studs and rebuilding + dry wall, $50K to do the same for the floors. You have no idea.

You're assuming they will have to gut the entire house. They may not have to.

[Anonymous]

I've actually done something like this - didn't read through all the posts. I put less down so I can have more cash for reserves (that's if the house qualifies for conventional).

My advice: if you're going to do this, do it right. Don't skimp out on upgrades you'll regret later. Depending on how old the house is, you'll have to do a demo to the studs- we had to put in new electric, plumbing, insulation (new drywall, paint obviously). Most likely you'll have to put/patch in new subfloor, joists, and to patch that all up you need all new hardwood or whatever flooring. It's very costly to reconfigure plumbing for bathrooms/kitchen so make sure you plan for that as well. The smell is probably from the house sitting in the heat in the summer and if it sat empty for even a full year, you'll definitely have moisture and mold issues.

I'd be interested to see the condition of the house and could probably give you better advice but this is something you'll need a lot of patience from and something that a regular contractor will take forever to do. Even if you contact the big general contractors who are capable of doing this it'll still take forever and cost a lot to do. More if you need a designer as well.. Not trying to scare you away from your dream home but the reality is there's a very long journey to get an old house to today's dream home standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your estimate of $75,000-$100,000 to fix up is laughable. This will cost you AT LEAST $250K to fix up and probably closer to $400K. There is a REASON it's priced so much under market, and that is because that is how much it will cost to fix it up. $100K for the kitchen, $20-30K for each bathroom. Another $100K for gutting it down to the studs and rebuilding + dry wall, $50K to do the same for the floors. You have no idea.

You're assuming they will have to gut the entire house. They may not have to.

We DIY'ed most of the house but the roof and siding and we have a very small house and we spent way more than that and still have a ways to go.

[Anonymous]

OP, what did you decide?

[Anonymous]

tbh the smell would deter me. I think buying s fixer-upper can be a great move but you have no idea where the smell is coming from. cleaning alone cannot get rid of some smells.

[Anonymous]

You should not do this. It will cost you way more than $75-100k to fix it up. It is will also consume your time and energy. We bought a place that needed some TLC in a nicer neighborhood, and it has been one of the biggest mistakes of my life. It took us 2-3 years just to deal with the basic stuff. By then, I was so burned out that we still haven’t done the stuff we actually wanted to do. I also am tired of spending money on our house, so don’t want to dump more into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not do this. It will cost you way more than $75-100k to fix it up. It is will also consume your time and energy. We bought a place that needed some TLC in a nicer neighborhood, and it has been one of the biggest mistakes of my life. It took us 2-3 years just to deal with the basic stuff. By then, I was so burned out that we still haven’t done the stuff we actually wanted to do. I also am tired of spending money on our house, so don’t want to dump more into it.

It's so personality driven. If you want to go home and just relax, it's a bad idea. If you like doing projects, have at it.

One of our neighbors moved around the corner, from one large 100-year-old Queen Anne to another. They'd pretty much done every conceivable project on the first and were getting restless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your estimate of $75,000-$100,000 to fix up is laughable. This will cost you AT LEAST $250K to fix up and probably closer to $400K. There is a REASON it's priced so much under market, and that is because that is how much it will cost to fix it up. $100K for the kitchen, $20-30K for each bathroom. Another $100K for gutting it down to the studs and rebuilding + dry wall, $50K to do the same for the floors. You have no idea.

You're assuming they will have to gut the entire house. They may not have to.

Based on OP's description, they have to do a lot of work. I mean, honestly, nowadays, redoing a kitchen alone is $50-$100K. Bathrooms are $20K. OP needs much more work than that. Even if her husband's contractor friend gives her a good deal.

[Anonymous]

Gutting/re-doing a kitchen and 3 baths (plus a few other projects like removing non load bearing walls, moving laundry to the main level, and installing a few new doors/windows cost us $250k in 2021 prices. It’s only gone up since then and we didn’t have to do major cleanup ahead of time as our house was old, but liveable beforehand. I am a huge fan of fixing up old houses in great neighborhoods, but you need to budget more.

Any chance you could get the price knocked down? Maybe see if it sits for a while once listed.

[Anonymous]

What did you decide OP?

[Anonymous]

Walk walk walk

[Anonymous]

Mold alone may not be remedied. Have you even done indoor air testing