Reply to Do we buy the abandoned disgusting house?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1. Get an inspector and contractor to go through it with you.
2. Make sure to have an appraisal contingency. 
3. Make sure you have funds to keep renting while you repair.
4. If there is a smell and it’s not a huge house, consider taking it to the studs if you can afford it. You may also be able to gain some functionality by taking a non load bearing wall down.

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+1. if you do it, go in with very open eyes, especially if you are in the DC region and have never worked on a house before. there is a reason why the house is offered at $550K under comps, people are not stupid, they dont lose half a million dollar just because they dont want to hire some laborer and rent a dumpster and throw everything away. i dont know how you can say that the house is structurally sound without an experienced contractor looking at it. a house abandoned for years, no heated and cooled for many seasons, and likely deferred maintenance even before. it is also ridiculous the idea that the prior owner simply moved into assisted living or something and the family did not bother clean up the food on the plates left around, it does not make sense . i wonder if there were swatters, maybe drug addicts who lived there. with everything everywhere it may be also hard to see if there are issues with the house.

as for costs, they are astronomical. I redid a small full bathroon (4' 9 X 7') and a powder room    in 2021 (both decades old and taken down to studs)  with decent materials but just above basics, small contractor with just one worker who brought others when needed and spent , and materials and labor were in total about $28K. in 2019 we called various contractors recommended by friends to turn an existing second story sleeping porch into an extra bedroom + bathroom and after chasing the contractors for two months we got just one quote for a ball park of $250K. new AC last year was $18K (for a 3bd 1800 sf house). at least until recently, contractors in this area are so busy that it is hard to get somebody with references to come out unless you are interested in a $600K addition to the house. so the dirt and smell of death in the house is nothing, having to deal with a money pit is way worse. dont think you are the only one who is so smart to get something for $550K less than market and that can become a great house with some DYI and $50K, at least not in this area [/quote]

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