Would You Buy This House?

[Marc]

A friend of mine wants to buy a 10 room house priced at $559,000. It needs a complete renovation, sort of like a This Old House type of project. Everything that you can think of in a house, plumbing, electrical, heating, carpentry, painting, masonry, driveway repaving, window replacement, garage doors,
kitchen, roof, has to be either repaired or replaced. And there is also a fairly large mice population there also, judging by all the mice droppings that we saw in the kitchen. And the place has been vacant for a year.
I told him not to walk away from it, but to run away from it. But he's still considering it.

[anandsihra]

Whereabouts is it? How big? How big is the lot? And how handy is your friend? IMO, the price seems pretty steep for a fixer upper, but I've seen houses like that go for more in Toronto.

[Marc]

Aug 6, 2013 10:27:06 GMT -6 anandsihra said:

Whereabouts is it? How big? How big is the lot? And how handy is your friend? IMO, the price seems pretty steep for a fixer upper, but I've seen houses like that go for more in Toronto.

1. Fairfield Co., Connecticut
2. 10 rooms
3. Appx. 1/3 acre.
4. He can barely tie his own shoelaces.

[Deleted]

A 10 room house on a 1/3 Acre listed at $559,000? You said it needs a new roof, or repaired. Which would be suggestive that it is leaking. With it being abandoned for a year, it has probably had no ventilation which means that mold spores have probably turned into something much more. Moisture and mold do not mix. I would run, and very quickly. The price seems too high for too little.

[RCA1186]

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[anandsihra]

Run! Maybe worth half of that.

[Marc]

aura1, rca99aurora, anandsihra.........I'm going to tell him to look at your opinions. Maybe, just maybe, that'll make him change his mind about possibly buying that dump.

[Deleted]

Maybe. And I mean MAYBE, if the home is surrounded by $1,000,000 homes it would be worth it. But such an extensive renovation would leave very minimum profit margin. Especially in this dump of an economy.

[Marc]

Aug 6, 2013 12:53:14 GMT -6 aura1 said:

Maybe. And I mean MAYBE, if the home is surrounded by $1,000,000 homes it would be worth it. But such an extensive renovation would leave very minimum profit margin. Especially in this dump of an economy.

All the other homes around it are in the $500,000 to $600,000 range.

[XJSman89]

If the other homes around it are in one piece, don't need work, and they are in the same range that seems like a no brainer. If he likes the area that's great, find a different house. I wouldn't pay that much for a house needing that much work if houses in the area that DON'T need work are the same value. He's going to sink a ton of cash in with no return on the investment.

Just my opinion!

[Marc]

Good news, gentlemen.......he came to his senses & decided to forget about that joint.

[Toronado3800]

Sept 11, 2020 15:56:42 GMT -6 account_disabled said:

It was in vain that he abandoned this idea. After all, you could contact IK Home Pros Company ikhomepros.com and they would have done everything at a very reasonable price. And after that you would calmly live in a ten-room house. I would even call it another name - it could be a family estate. Plus it's a good investment of money. The house will rise in price every year.

I will counter, houses you can buy are potentially good investments.

Houses you mortgage at 5% must increase in value sufficiently to beat your interest payment, plus inflation, plus upkeep, plus zero risk alternative investment income.

Sometimes you can flip those, sometimes not. This is 2020, we've played those games. If big government bankruptcy doesn't bother you, go for it btw. The socialist part of our economy helps makes them capitalistic risks palatible.

[RCA1186]

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