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Yes the house do have hardwood floors which can be refinished. Exterior says vinyl on the info page.
First thought: It looks good! Much better than I thought it would! Might only need cosmetic upgrades, which you can do over time. This does not look like a tear down to me (unless that was your choice).
Second thought: The listing says "some repair, selling as is" - I'd want to know the details.......does that just mean 'needs a little plumbing? maybe a new roof?' or is it more serious. That would be the determining factor for me.
p.s.: What's with the water? Is it close to the house? Looks like a little creek or something - I would not want it too close to the house.
Defiantly a house with potential. I would keep the house the same color it is now. White seems to fit the style and area it is set in, Just needs a few coats. The metal carport needs to go in my opinion. You can have a detached garage added later on if you would like. or even have one added to the house. The kitchen looks to need a total redesign. The flow appears to be a bit off with cabinets hidden behind the stove. you can probably reuse the cabinets that are there, and just repaint them. do no counter tops and shift the stove to the left. since i cannot see the left side of the kitchen, I am not sure where you would move the refrigerator though lol. The wood paneling and greenish carpet in one of the rooms lol defiantly needs to go. with the rest just being paint. I think you found a good one. Check with a structural engineer to make sure it is structurally sound though.
It definately has potential.
Our first house was a fixer upper ; all cosmetic, it cost us $96,000.
We still have it now 11 years later and the value is about $300,000. All we did initially was paint it and take out all the carpets. There was oak floors underneath.
Now we are doing major renovations which is costing us aobut $50,000 ; new roof, some new windows, kitchen was gutted, 2 bathrooms also, basement gutted also. and getting those floors redone.
One thing that hasn't been addressed here is aluminum wiring. IIRC somewhere about this time period aluminum wiring came into use, shortly after it's dangers became apparent.
I may be off a few years too, does anyone else know the dates of the silver wire era?
First thought: It looks good! Much better than I thought it would! Might only need cosmetic upgrades, which you can do over time. This does not look like a tear down to me (unless that was your choice).
Second thought: The listing says "some repair, selling as is" - I'd want to know the details.......does that just mean 'needs a little plumbing? maybe a new roof?' or is it more serious. That would be the determining factor for me.
p.s.: What's with the water? Is it close to the house? Looks like a little creek or something - I would not want it too close to the house.
The water there looks like it's in a tiny pond....but its not that close to the house though and its on the other side of the dirt driveway. When we went out to look at it last week it was dry and empty. I also checked to be sure the house wasn't in a flood area, which after verification that it wasn't.
The house is being sold 'as is' because the seller's parents who were the original owners of the house are deceased, so the seller is in charge of their estate. From what the realtor said she didn't have the money nor the time to really work on the house so it pretty much sat as it was. So basically the seller is very eager to get it sold and was willing to take any offers (which has already been done). Surprisingly, the house does have central air but the vents inside are very old and dirty and most likely will have to be replaced; the seller offered to get that up and running so that's a bonus.
I will also check and see if there are any mineral rights on the property, so if they are will have that signed over to me once closing day comes.
The inside isn't that bad at all, with some work it can look pretty nice. I haven't found and structural issues yet that I can see (I was taught how to look for structural problems). But it smells very, very old in there lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by therrboomer
One thing that hasn't been addressed here is aluminum wiring. IIRC somewhere about this time period aluminum wiring came into use, shortly after it's dangers became apparent.
I may be off a few years too, does anyone else know the dates of the silver wire era?
Yeah I will need to check into the wiring too...most homes in that era had different types of wiring and none of the outlets have ground connections. So if that's the case with this house I will have to get all new electrical outlets and to check to be sure the electric is to code. You would have a tough time plugging in an appliance or device that uses a 3-prong plug into an outlet that doesnt have one unless you use an adapter.
Which reminds me. I will have to see if those appliances that are there work or not, else I will have to get new appliances. Gas out there is run by LP Gas which is shown with the big tank outside.
Last edited by AVTechMan; 11-03-2007 at 12:02 PM..
Be careful. No ground receptacles means no grounding wire in the walls. You will need to run new wires. Never retro fit electrical without meeting the current electrical building codes. You can't wire in a 3 prong receptacle without having the ground wire to connect to it.
Electrical is not difficult or dangerous if you religiously follow the building codes. Problems happen when people take shortcuts. If you want to do the work yourself, get a good how to book with the current electrical codes, and find out from the county what the requirements are. You might be required to take a class or pass a test to do your own wiring. It will be worth it.
I'm still appalled at the crap that was done in my house by pros that the county inspector signed off on.
Sounds like you have started an adventure. Good luck. Talk to everyone you know who knows anything about each and every problem. Rehabbing a house can be a lot of fun but it will take a long time and probably cost more than you thought. Just be sure you understand each task before you get in too deep. There are tons of articles and instructions to be had on the web and in books and magazines. None of it is really hard, but there are tricks to every chore that the pros know and you don't. You just have to discover the tricks. The old house also presents lots of surprises once you peel back. Sometimes it will be a good surprise and often it just enlarges the job because now you have to fix a problem that had been hidden.
Defiantly a house with potential. I would keep the house the same color it is now. White seems to fit the style and area it is set in, Just needs a few coats. The metal carport needs to go in my opinion. You can have a detached garage added later on if you would like. or even have one added to the house. The kitchen looks to need a total redesign. The flow appears to be a bit off with cabinets hidden behind the stove. you can probably reuse the cabinets that are there, and just repaint them. do no counter tops and shift the stove to the left. since i cannot see the left side of the kitchen, I am not sure where you would move the refrigerator though lol. The wood paneling and greenish carpet in one of the rooms lol defiantly needs to go. with the rest just being paint. I think you found a good one. Check with a structural engineer to make sure it is structurally sound though.
I agree with the carport....imo it looks pretty ugly and definitely needs to go when I had looked at it in person. I will look into having a garage built big enough to store my two cars, plus space so that I can work on my cars when needed.
As for carpet, all of that is going. With a home that old i don't want carpet that old lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tesaje
Be careful. No ground receptacles means no grounding wire in the walls. You will need to run new wires. Never retro fit electrical without meeting the current electrical building codes. You can't wire in a 3 prong receptacle without having the ground wire to connect to it.
Electrical is not difficult or dangerous if you religiously follow the building codes. Problems happen when people take shortcuts. If you want to do the work yourself, get a good how to book with the current electrical codes, and find out from the county what the requirements are. You might be required to take a class or pass a test to do your own wiring. It will be worth it.
I'm still appalled at the crap that was done in my house by pros that the county inspector signed off on.
Sounds like you have started an adventure. Good luck. Talk to everyone you know who knows anything about each and every problem. Rehabbing a house can be a lot of fun but it will take a long time and probably cost more than you thought. Just be sure you understand each task before you get in too deep. There are tons of articles and instructions to be had on the web and in books and magazines. None of it is really hard, but there are tricks to every chore that the pros know and you don't. You just have to discover the tricks. The old house also presents lots of surprises once you peel back. Sometimes it will be a good surprise and often it just enlarges the job because now you have to fix a problem that had been hidden.
Thanks for the thumbs up. Yeah I am pretty sure the house would have to be rewired anyway so that it meets code and that everything is grounded properly. With so many electrically sensitive devices nowadays, a properly wired home and grounded outlets is a must.
One thing that does have me a little concerned though is that in the back of the home, there's a power line that has been ran to a small storage shed there (i assume to run a light there in the shed). Only problem is, this power line is too close to the ground the way it has been routed going towards the shed. That line will definitely have to be raised up on a high pole so that it will be safely out of the way. Will definitely inquire about that one.
Other than that looks like a winner. I look forward to the day where I can walk out there and feel good that I have a place of my own. Will take work I know, but it will be all worth it in the end. With all the worries out there about the housing market, what's selling and isnt and values, sometimes the simpler things in life like appreciating your new home is priceless.
You might want to run it underground in conduit. It won't be susceptible to winds and you already have to deal with it. It if looks unsafe, it probably is.
If a garage is in the works sooner rather than later, consider putting in a work shop area where you can do a lot of the work the house will need. Over do the electrical in it. Put in a 240V receptacle for a good saw and 2-4 circuits using 12 gage wire so you don't run the risk of overdrawing any circuit. I would rewire the whole house in 12 gage. The new code requires a lot of 20 amp circuits which require 12 ga and they just run cooler in any case. Safer all around and only a little more expensive.
Right...I will consider that. Running that underground would be alot safer and won't have to worry about any fallen lines should high winds get rough. Thanks for the tips!
I think in place of the metal carport once I have that taken down, I may have an outside deck built in its place. I love sitting outside in the decks, as I got spoiled to them when I had my apartment in Michigan the last two years. They make for relaxing places when you just want to reflect on nature.
I am in awe of all the hardwoods. That would cost a fortune to install new! And there is a lot to be said for the character of older hardwood floors. I'm also impressed that it has central air and a dishwasher. That's a lot of counterspace for the kitchen, too, and the open feeling to the breakfast nook is nice.
Any idea on what the tubing going into the sink is for?
There are some good odor absorbers on the market that you could use to try to help with the old smell. (Time will help remedy that, but you might want something to jumpstart the process. )
This is so exciting.
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Yeah I am pretty sure the house would have to be rewired anyway so that it meets code and that everything is grounded properly. With so many electrically sensitive devices nowadays, a properly wired home and grounded outlets is a must. 
