Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
thanks willow wind. We are looking forward to starting an orchard and understand the start up costs and the length of time that it takes to become profitable. We have done a lot of research and actually have hired an apple orchard specialist to advise us.
I am more worried about the house and the condition there. It might be better to buy raw land and go from there. Thats' why I think this has been sitting on the market so long, I would guess? It's way cheaper to buy raw land and build something small ourselves. We would want the discount on this property to reflect the headache and work involved. Considering that, what do you think it would be worth? My theory is that I wouldn't pay for than 300k for it.
Willow was right. Whatever you pay for it may be a sunk cost and the only recovery will be when you sell.
If the current seller is intelligent, he'll probably toss your 300k offer and won't bother responding to it. He wants a BIG sucker.
Jut because something is old does not make it valuable. I'm in New England,we have plenty of homes dating from the mid 1600's .Living here is like living in a museum at times. Old is valued, old is loved, old sells - if maintained or if the cost to cure is worth it to the market.
What you can't do as a buyer is to go off into fantasy land about the value of a home of low end, generic farm house style. This is not a small but gorgeous Georgian, Federal, etc. Getting a home into livable condition costs money. That home is a mess. Look at the photo of the room with the closed off fireplace.What is that sticking in the flue- a space heater ? No central heat ? A fireplace that may take thousands to be opened and made workable again. The rooms have acoustic tile ceilings. People do that when the plaster underneath is a mess. I could go on and on.
This, to me, is a total gut job. To those that are scoffing, let me ask you something. How many of you want to live in a home with old wiring, with no central heat, no A/C, drafty windows, old plumbing, paint peeling off ceilings, indicating something wrong with the roof, etc. Who knows what is going on with the well and septic ? Romance does not make a home livable.
This is not about saying new is better than old. It's about getting old into minimum standards to live in.
Sure you can fix all of, I've done it. But what do you get if you put $125,000 and more so into this place to make it livable and up to code ? Will it add back at least $125,000-150,000 to the value ? It appears to be in a depressed area. They can't sell it as it is.
It's important to distinguish between money pit and viable renovation. And for the dreamers out there always remember that what you think it costs to fix, will always cost a huge amount more--.basic rule # 1 of home renovation.
Although I wouldn't subdivide the land. The land is beautiful. I'd just ditch the house and start over.
Last edited by willow wind; 05-27-2014 at 10:41 AM..
The responses on this thread are making me smile. I suspect some of us are the type who would much rather live in a brand new home on a quarter acre in a lovely subdivision than ever consider a hundred year old home on a chunk of land. The first type see the falling wallpaper and the pushed-thru ceiling and shudder. The others see the same thing and think, oh, if that is the main problem this could be a really nice house!
Having seen a few of these old farmhouses and jumping to conclusions because of the furnishings, etc., I would say that up until recently the place was reasonably maintained but not updated. The kitchen will probably need all new cabinets, a new floor, newer applicances. If you buy cabinets from Lowes, flooring from another box store, and bring your own appliances, I am sure you could do the kitchen for 15K. Really. Fixing up a bathroom could be done for 3K. The electric service may need to be increased for about 1K, but after that you could take your time adding outlets, changing some light fixtures, etc.
These old places are usually structurally built like a rock. This place, being on a flat piece of ground, probably has good drainage and a decent foundation. I would really give it a shot, unless it will really stress out your budget.
The ceiling tile in one of the rooms suggests asbestos. I'd be willing to bet the hvac ducting is also put together with the old asbestos tape. That would make any renovation or demolition subject to asbestos abatement which is not cheap. Would not surprise me if it was lead paint as well given the age.
An appraiser is likely to miss things like this other than the obvious lead paint concern so I'd suggest you get a local architect to do a site survey instead. It's really not that much to have them just spend a day examining the property and you will be getting a much more qualified report than what a general appraiser will provide.
The ceiling tile in one of the rooms suggests asbestos. I'd be willing to bet the hvac ducting is also put together with the old asbestos tape. That would make any renovation or demolition subject to asbestos abatement which is not cheap. Would not surprise me if it was lead paint as well given the age.
An appraiser is likely to miss things like this other than the obvious lead paint concern so I'd suggest you get a local architect to do a site survey instead. It's really not that much to have them just spend a day examining the property and you will be getting a much more qualified report than what a general appraiser will provide.
The last thing I would want is formal notification of asbestos...what i don't know can hurt me, but i can take reasonable precautions. But what the government knows can kill me, and there are no precautions to mitigate their input. But then I'm always in the camp of begging forgiveness rather than ever asking permission.
well you all have given me a lot to think about. The asbestos and lead paint things bring up good points. I am definitely not willing to sink $125k into this house. If i wanted to spend that kind of money I would buy raw land and build a house as that would be only slightly more expensive.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,311,234 times
Reputation: 6471
Unless you are paying cash, you may find that lenders are few and far between for that kind of property. check them out first before you spend any money on appraisers.
DMenscha brings up a very good point. The lending powers that be are very leery about lending on more than 10 acres or so with a house . The basic problem being that the land could be worth much more than the home.
A residential lender wants to lend on the house and not the land.
If you are going to try to mortgage this property, check with small, local lenders first. Also, you may be able to mortgage through Farm Credit ( this is a lender for farms and land ).
There have been a few recent threads in this forum on trying to mortgage homes on large parcels of land. The search feature should bring them up. Hopefully, you can pay cash.
DMenscha brings up a very good point. The lending powers that be are very leery about lending on more than 10 acres or so with a house . The basic problem being that the land could be worth much more than the home.
A residential lender wants to lend on the house and not the land.
If you are going to try to mortgage this property, check with small, local lenders first. Also, you may be able to mortgage through Farm Credit ( this is a lender for farms and land ).
There have been a few recent threads in this forum on trying to mortgage homes on large parcels of land. The search feature should bring them up. Hopefully, you can pay cash.
unfortunately, no we do not have all of the cash, but we do a substantial down payment. The only lender I can actually find is Ag Carolina but they have approved us based on our income.
ETA: they have approved us for the purpose of purchasing LAND alone.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
