We're looking at a house and need some opinions

[rw02kr43]

We went to look at a house today. It's cheap but we think has potential. If you look at this photo album you can see why it's cheap. We want to know approx how much it would cost to fix this thing to make it livable. It has horrible water damage and mold. We know it will need a new roof and lost of other repairs and upgrades. Does anyone here have any recommendations on who to call for an estimate or can give a rough estimate from the pics in this album?

house

Thanks
Jason

 

[Rookie]

Some questions.
Why does it have potential?
What is the difference between asking price and the other houses in the area?
How many square feet?
How much are you willing to do?
Is the foundation sound?

 

[.40caltrucker]

Wow that's a lot of mold. We bought a fixer upper it's definitely worth it for the right price, however with the amount of mold in them pics I would plan on complete demo and build a new house. Our house had some mold which I just finished tearing out a few hours ago. Not only was it on the outside of the drywall and carpet but even worse behind it.

 

[Rookie]

Liquid chlorine will kill the mold. It's better than bleach.

 

[Bullfrog80]

Where is this house located?

 

[.40caltrucker]

Liquid chlorine will kill the mold. It's better than bleach.

Actually it doesn't kill mold, it just cleans it partially. Also as soon as the mold is disturbed it sprays it's spores everywhere creating a bigger problem.

The best way to KILL mold is to use an enzyme based product. The enzymes will "eat" the mold to KILL it for good.

There would be no way to kill the mold that had started growing behind the drywall, in the insulation, on the framing. It would have to be removed.

 

[IndyBeerman]

one word.....


RUN


I think there's more underlying issues that can't be seen that nothing short of tearing a ton of drywall out, with an entire re-deck and re-roof thrown in.

What pictures are shown is merely the surface and much more looks like there needs to be done.

Unless it's a giveaway price, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

 

[Rookie]

Weird. It killed it in my house...

 

[.40caltrucker]

Weird. It killed it in my house...

It cleaned it in your house. If it was on a non porous surface it can be cleaned. All the porous surfaces in your house still have mold since you just cleaned the surface.

Most likely if you cleaned it and you aren't seeing it regrow it's because the humidity in your house is controlled. It needs water to grow so as long as it's controlled your fine.

http://blackmold.awardspace.com/kill-remove-mold.html#bleachhttp://ezinearticles.com/?True-or-False---Does-Bleach-Kill-Mold?&id=1075538

BLEACH DOES NOT KILL MOLD!

Bleach Does Kill Mold – Within Limits - Mold & Decay | Disaster Recovery & Assistance | Family & Home | LSU AgCenter

You ready to clean your house again with something that will KILL the mold?

 

[CountryBoy19]

IMHO, you're looking at a complete strip and reno in that house. Plan on a wiring nightmare so you'll be redoing all the wiring. New interior and new exterior all around.

Depending on house size, you're looking at a very large chunk of money.

 

[femurphy77]

Man your talking pretty much a total gut on this one, wall to wall and floor to shingles. Unless you just hit the lotto or have nothing better to do, as the Ventures sorta said; "Run don't walk". I like saving things that others say can't be saved but unless your walking into closing with a check for $1000 or less I wouldn't do it! Once it's fully restored, will you have the nicest house in the 'hood? You don't want that cause then you lose money when you sell.

Ultimately it's your money, what do you feel comfortable with?

 

[gunman41mag]

I would skip this house & keep looking, there are millions of home for sale. JUST W A L K AWAY

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Salvage the ceiling fan and build a new house around it.

The property looked pretty interesting from what I could tell from the pics. Thought I saw a pond or river in the background. The only way I would consider it is if you were looking at it for the land only. You would of course still have to consider demolition and removal costs before you could even consider bilding new. I'm also wondering if all of that mold came from leaking roof or is this property flood prone?

 

[rw02kr43]

house

I was wondering about all the damage too. I can't seem to get an answer. It's been through so many different reoltor companies and stuff. I think it was a mix of bad roof and bad flood of 2008. It is pretty cheap for the size of the house. It's 1850sq ft and the house itself is solid. Just needed gutted in most of the rooms. There were 2 rooms of the 9 that had no damage at all. They were just ugly. Think all the interior repairs and upgrades would be more than $35k?

Jason

 

[misconfig]

How people let their homes get into this kind of shape is beside me...

Looks like the land has potential - it would be costly to repair the house, also I'd check for termite damage etc..

 

[rimfire_crazed]

You could easily put $100k into that place before it was livable. Electrical service looks stripped, hVAC looks to be at end of life. Anywhere you see that much mold on a CEILING, you're looking at a gut of the entire room. in my opinion the entire house would need to be gutted to studs, allthewhile treating for mold, and then reconstructed.

That house isn't worth the land it sits on.

 

[woowoo2]

Think all the interior repairs and upgrades would be more than $35k?



Only if you do all the work yourself.
I would double that.

 

[Suprtek]

Doing a cosmetic repair on that kind of damage will only create a more expensive problem later. The only way I would be happy is if it were stripped to the frame so all unseen damage can be corrected before it gets covered up with an expensive remodel. Also, the fact that it had a flood before would likely be a deal breaker for me at any price. It happened before, it could happen again. Bear in mind, many insurance policies don't include flood coverage unless you specifically ask for it. The fact that there is a flood history is likely to make future flood coverage very expensive.

 

[VaGriller]

Hope its a land only price. The fire department would probably be happy to help and do some training.

 

[88GT]

I think there's more underlying issues that can't be seen that nothing short of tearing a ton of drywall out, with an entire re-deck and re-roof thrown in.

What pictures are shown is merely the surface and much more looks like there needs to be done.

Unless it's a giveaway price, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

THIS!!! The damage is always more than what you can see. And unless you can make it your full-time job, it will take quite a long time to fix it up.

For comparison: in 2004 I bought a small 2bedroom home with just 720 square feet. This was our first. (We've since improved our estimation) Here's what we did:

carpet $1050 (living room and two bedrooms)

interior repairs (drywall, mud, doors, paint, door trim, base boards, etc) $4075--includes a furnace-A/C replacement we were hoping could just be repaired

bathroom $340--was in fairly good shape and we just replaced the toilet and vanity/sink with fixture, with some vinyl squares for flooring)

kitchen $1900 (complete tear-out, new floor, cabinets, countertops, fixtures. keep in mind these were low-end cabinets as this was going to be a rental and we probably had a total of 15 lineal feet;

exterior $5000--complete replacement of all windows (6), exterior doors (2), second layer on roof, new fascia/soffits, new vinyl siding with underlayment foam edit, gutters, I forgot we put on new gutters

plumbing $4300-repair turned replacement of entire supply line, some drain/waste replacement, also including gas line replacement

electrical $1200-re-wire kitchen and bath to bring up to code

termite treatment $847--damage was discovered AFTER purchase

lumber $250--miscellaneous for window install, etc.

dump runs $370--at $30-60 a run;

utilities $700--just what was needed to work there; we didn't get the bathroom operational until 8 months into it so it didn't even have water turned on for that long

misc $1400--nails, screws, caulk, sealants, odds and ends

Total $22,000 and some change.
It took us 14 months to get it done and ready for a tenant because we only had evenings and weekends. And we did all the work ourselves except some plumbing and electrical, and the HVAC install. All of it.

We originally budgeted $12,000 when we were considering it.

That doesn't include the tools we purchased....or the trailer when we realized the pick-up truck wasn't going to cut it. But that's not really a cost. Just saying if you don't have one, consider it. It will make your life easier.

You can easily double the cost if someone else does it.

You're looking at roughly 3 times the space, more damage, plus the unknowns. I would think even doing most of the work yourself, you'll be looking at around $30-50K, depending on what needs done. And that's bare minimum. Higher end choices will increase your costs a significant amount. Remember all of our work was with the low-end in costs. Of course, if you don't need to replace the siding or windows or other big-ticket items that would go down tremendously too. It's hard to say without having seen it myself.

I will say this: it was the most valuable experience of my life, hands down. How many other people, let alone women , can say they've done roofing, windows, siding, drywall, door installs, etc? You will learn a ton if you don't already know how to do those things.

Another thing to note: real estate disclosure laws require you to disclose the presence of mold, historical or current. If you ever go to sell it you will technically be required to disclose that the home had mold when you bought it.

One final comment and I'll end this, f you have small kids, consider passing this one up, unless you want to pay someone to do it. It it a huge time commitment and your kids will suffer the brunt of if. It's not as if you can take them there and let them play while you work. They will want to help and watch and will basically get in the way. And that doesn't even address the safety/health issues.

It looks like it has a lot of potential though. And the barn rocks. I hope this has helped some. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me. I'm also a Realtor/Broker so if you aren't working with an agent yet and have questions on the process, I'll be happy to share my experiences...I'm assuming it's a bank-owned/HUD/REO property based on the conditions.