murphysranch
Super Self-Sufficient
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
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- Location
- Southern Washington State
We love projects, if there is a value in our effort. Sounds interesting....keep us posted.
Going to look at a farm tomorrow.
- Thread starter miss_thenorth
- Start date
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
How exciting. Just the prospect of looking and dreaming sounds wonderfull.
justusnak
Almost Self-Reliant
A Project home. Just make sure it doesnt end up being a money pit! 30 acres....wow... 
Oh what we could do with 30 acres!! Good luck! I hope it all works out for you!
Oh what we could do with 30 acres!! Good luck! I hope it all works out for you!
lupinfarm
Almost Self-Reliant
Wow it's quite far from Toronto lol. Looks like the house next to mine actually haha. There is this guy who lives next door on 50 acres and his house looks *just* like that! It could definitely be pretty cute!
big brown horse
Hoof In Mouth
I'm so excited for you!!! Please tell us all about it!
gettinaclue
Almost Self-Reliant
I hope this turns out to be the one for and yours. Good luck...and please...don't forget the pictures. 
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
I'd be reaallll careful about the "across the road from a marsh" aspect. Even if the area, in general, is a fertile farming area, that does not mean that this property *in particular* is above the water table for long enough each year for you to do much with, especially if you want to run livestock on it.
(You can choose crops to avoid having to be on the land when it is sodden, whereas cattle and horses need to be *somewhere* year-round).
Good luck,
Pat
(You can choose crops to avoid having to be on the land when it is sodden, whereas cattle and horses need to be *somewhere* year-round).
Good luck,
Pat
- Thread starter
- #18
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
Well, it's pretty mucha no on this house. The real estate agent was not lying by any means. Starting on the outside of the house, yes, all windows, doors, and the roof need to be changed. The roof? shingles wer missing. all soffits were falling off, the wood was rotting. I wour require a whole new roof, wuite possibly trusses and all. If not trusses, at least all sheeting, then shingles would need to be done. Walking into the house, (kkep in mind that we already knew it was a "gut the whole house and start from scratch," project. O M G. I have no idea how or that people actually live like that. there wer no cupboard doors on the kitchen. Part of the wall in the living room had been ripped off and insulation was showing. The wall to the bathroom was missing, except studs. (meaning no door--they had a blanket hung up for privacy?)there was no sink in the bathroom. the bedrooms were okay--nice and big, with little to do in them other than paint and flooring. The basement was the kicker. part of the wall was caving in.
Moving on to the outbuildings, both the barn and shop had to be reroofed. the structure of both buildings was sound, but roofing for the two outbuildings would require at least $20,000. The wooden barn would also need some attention to make it draft-proof for animals.
The amount if would take to fix up the house would be in the $50,000-70,000 range. but sconsidering the foundation and the roof were shot, why would anyone really want to invest in that house. The value is in the land, only. The RA told us he had an engineer come look at the house, and an appraisal was done on the place. The land being valued at $120,000, and the house and outbuildings at $35,000. But the way we see it, is the building would be $35,000 liability, so subtract that from the land. Plus the yard was full of old machinery, and the driveshed was filled with junk,. The RA said the owner says all would be removed upon the sale of the house, but the RA says he highly doubts it and also siad he wouldn't be surprised if it was filled with more junk when they moved out.
The RA also said that his partner sold this house to the current owners 15 years ago, and it was nice houseIt sold then for $220K. I don't understand how anyone could let a house deteriorate so badly, let alone live in it like that.
The fact that the wetlands are across the road are basically a non issue. The area has never flooded, and dikes are installed with pumping stations which are vigorously maintained. However, this is reflected in the taxes. There was a local improvement tax on the property for the last bout of maintenance, and every 10 years or so, it will be hit again with a LIT.
It is melting here now, and none of the 30 acres is flooded as of now.
The location is beautiful. The house is way too much work,--it would be better to bulldoze this place and start from scratch, which we are not about to do. So it's a no-go on this place. Even figuring if we sold our house right now and got the 330K that its worth, we would be no better off buying this and fixing it up. It would just be a money pit and we would end up with the same amount of debt and mortgage that we have now.
Sorry, no pics We didn't take any. It really wasn't worth it. We are still going to do some number crunching and see, but we're pretty sure its a no go.
The real estate agent was not lying by any means. Starting on the outside of the house, yes, all windows, doors, and the roof need to be changed. The roof? shingles wer missing. all soffits were falling off, the wood was rotting. I wour require a whole new roof, wuite possibly trusses and all. If not trusses, at least all sheeting, then shingles would need to be done. Walking into the house, (kkep in mind that we already knew it was a "gut the whole house and start from scratch," project. O M G. I have no idea how or that people actually live like that. there wer no cupboard doors on the kitchen. Part of the wall in the living room had been ripped off and insulation was showing. The wall to the bathroom was missing, except studs. (meaning no door--they had a blanket hung up for privacy?)there was no sink in the bathroom. the bedrooms were okay--nice and big, with little to do in them other than paint and flooring. The basement was the kicker. part of the wall was caving in.Moving on to the outbuildings, both the barn and shop had to be reroofed. the structure of both buildings was sound, but roofing for the two outbuildings would require at least $20,000. The wooden barn would also need some attention to make it draft-proof for animals.
The amount if would take to fix up the house would be in the $50,000-70,000 range. but sconsidering the foundation and the roof were shot, why would anyone really want to invest in that house. The value is in the land, only. The RA told us he had an engineer come look at the house, and an appraisal was done on the place. The land being valued at $120,000, and the house and outbuildings at $35,000. But the way we see it, is the building would be $35,000 liability, so subtract that from the land. Plus the yard was full of old machinery, and the driveshed was filled with junk,. The RA said the owner says all would be removed upon the sale of the house, but the RA says he highly doubts it and also siad he wouldn't be surprised if it was filled with more junk when they moved out.
The RA also said that his partner sold this house to the current owners 15 years ago, and it was nice houseIt sold then for $220K. I don't understand how anyone could let a house deteriorate so badly, let alone live in it like that.
The fact that the wetlands are across the road are basically a non issue. The area has never flooded, and dikes are installed with pumping stations which are vigorously maintained. However, this is reflected in the taxes. There was a local improvement tax on the property for the last bout of maintenance, and every 10 years or so, it will be hit again with a LIT.
It is melting here now, and none of the 30 acres is flooded as of now.
The location is beautiful. The house is way too much work,--it would be better to bulldoze this place and start from scratch, which we are not about to do. So it's a no-go on this place. Even figuring if we sold our house right now and got the 330K that its worth, we would be no better off buying this and fixing it up. It would just be a money pit and we would end up with the same amount of debt and mortgage that we have now.
Sorry, no pics We didn't take any. It really wasn't worth it. We are still going to do some number crunching and see, but we're pretty sure its a no go.
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
Oh well. At least you have the sense not to get too romantic about it. Something else will turn up, when it is meant to happen.
ducks4you
Almost Self-Reliant
Me, TOO!!! Sounds like you're just the type to handle this place. Keep us posted!big brown horse said:
