Looking at a house w/o basement...is it a mistake? (apartment, houses)

[ksbd4]

Hello,

My fiance and I are looking at a house in a small town. It's very large and very nice. It's all been updated with the oldest updates in 2003. The house is double the size from when the owners purchased it. 3 stall garage, 4 bedroom, and 2 full bath. It's ideally what my fiance and i want. The location is great: a block away from a golf course. And the walk around porch is gorgeous as is the kitchen.
The only problem (or so we've been told) is the fact that there is no basement. The whole house is on one level. The "basement" is actually just a large crawlspace. It doesn't bother me at all because I am not a basement person and its large enough for a family if there would ever be a tornado or anything. But we've just been told by family that not having that space would not be good and it would also make it very hard to re-sell.
Any professional opinions? Or any opinions that are un-biased and not family! They would all be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you!!!

[pepe1]

Your perception is accurate. There is nothing inherently or structurally wrong with not having a basement. The only drawback is re-sale of the home - you will really limit the pool of available buyers without a basement in this market and consequently, homes without a basement are worth less than a comparable home with a basement.

[Luke9686]

Just curious, are you originally from the midwest?? Being from Iowa, I would never buy a house there without a basement. The above poster is right, there is nothing wrong with the place. There is always that little tiny thought in the back of most Iowans heads about having a basement and tornados. Even though chances are, they would never need it.

[Tiger One]

I am from Indiana, and I tell you, I will NEVER live in a house without a basement. We get tornado's here also. The last one that hit 7 years ago, was just 3 blocks from my home. My older daughter's apartment building, which was 5 blocks from here, was hit by that one. Thank God I had just picked her up a few minutes before. I just had a gut feeling to pick her up that day. Normally, she would have been out walking to pick up my grandson at his preschool. Her walking route to the pre-school was the same path the tornado took. The twister heavily damaged several homes in her neighborhood, and did some damage to her apartment building. All I got here, was part of my fence knocked down, and branches knocked off the tree's.
A house without a basement in almost any part of the country, is lower in value than a house that does. But, if you really love this house, go for your heart. The first thing you do, if you buy it, is build yourself a good storm shelter in the yard. You can make one yourself, just for the cost of materials, and a lot of elbow grease.

[my54ford]

I'm from Iowa (MN now) If I could find one I'd never have a house with a basement! Just a hole in the ground to dump money into. As t a previous poster mentioned Just build a storm shelter. A friend of mine built house his sans basement and put a storm celler in the garage 8x8 cement box with a trap door...........Good luck!

[falcon271]

Personally..........living in the midwest all my life and now moving out west where there are no basements....I say.......get a home with a basement. One day hopefully you will have children and going downstairs to play will be a welcome relief when you have been cooped up all winter. Secondly......my friend has a home with no basement and just a crawl space. Guess what? The water main broke from the house to the street and everything had to be torn up.......There was all kinds of water damage to her floor and finding someone to crawl underneath and rework everything was not easy and more expensive. And last of all......the tornado factor. And sometimes it is difficult to get to your cellar you may of made. Good Luck....

[ksbd4]

Originally Posted by Luke9686

Just curious, are you originally from the midwest?? Being from Iowa, I would never buy a house there without a basement. The above poster is right, there is nothing wrong with the place. There is always that little tiny thought in the back of most Iowans heads about having a basement and tornados. Even though chances are, they would never need it.

Yes, I'm originally from central Iowa. And that's the issue we're struggling with. We love everything about the house. But are uncertain about the basement, and obviously the protection from tornados. I remember when my parents bought their first house and the houes i grew up, we didn't have a basement for a long time until they finally saved up enough money to put one in.
So far, we've found nothing in our price range or in the location. The "crawlspace" is big enough for people to stand up and walk around in so it's not that small. The previous houses we've looked at have not compared with this one.
But I really appreciate everyones advice!!

[Tiger One]

Sounds like you got a "root cellar". That is what I had at my previous house, which was over 100 years old. IF you got that much clearance, it IS a basement of sorts. IF you really got your heart set on this place, buy it, but pick the best corner of your "root cellar" to reinforce it for a storm shelter. There are plans available on the net for free, and the cost will be very low if you do the work yourselves.

[ksbd4]

Originally Posted by Tiger One

Sounds like you got a "root cellar". That is what I had at my previous house, which was over 100 years old. IF you got that much clearance, it IS a basement of sorts. IF you really got your heart set on this place, buy it, but pick the best corner of your "root cellar" to reinforce it for a storm shelter. There are plans available on the net for free, and the cost will be very low if you do the work yourselves.

Okay, I'm very new to this. by "reinforce" you mean putting stones up? planks? metal shanks? I may have no idea what i'm talking about. But that sounds like a good idea.

[Tiger One]

There are specially reinforced materials that are for shelter construction, that will give you substantial protection from airborne objects in a twister. THAT is what you need to use to build a "storm closet" in the corner of your basement. You can build your "storm closet" as a regular closet, storage room, a laundry room, a bathroom, canning room, etc. FEMA has shelter plans available for free, that are for adding a shelter in a basement. Go to the FEMA web site, and check it out. I got my FEMA book several years ago. Not only does it have all the shelter info, it also gives you an idea as to what kind of hazards are most likely in your area.