Have You Bought A Abandon Or Old Run Down Home?

[newchickgal]

Been there, done that, I DON'T recommend it! You will be 'married' to that project. It will take all your money and your soul! One part of the project will lead to another. If you think that one part will just be a small repair you will be Wrong! A small repair will turn out to be huge. If you are into building then I suggest finding a piece of land and build from the get go. If there is a house on it that is a total fixer then I would just tear down and start fresh. Wish I had done a tear down and started fresh instead of fixing up the fixer.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

The old house had "character" What it ended up with was all of my money!!

Our old house was in bad shape when I bought it. There was not a square inch of that house that did not need work.

But it became home and I look back on it kindly now. Now I live in a new construction house and you know what? Houses always need work. They're never exactly the way you want them and things wear out and break down faster than they should.

I have never in my entire life lived in a house where the roof did not leak at some point.

I think it is me.

However, I bought this disaster fixer upper as a single broke young woman. For several years it was the worst decision I had ever made. The house was falling down faster than I could find people to piece meal repair it. No one I could hire wanted to do the small pieces I could afford and every repair led to another. Hiring off the book friends of friends frequently led to disaster as they made more mistakes than they fixed. But, I learned ALOT about house repair and then I met and fell in love w DH who was awesome at it!

It still needed ALOT of work when we sold it. But, I bought it for $56,000. We put at the least another $50,000 into it. We took off the entire roof and replaced it. New siding, doors and windows etc etc. But, we sold it for $120,000 after having lived in it for ten years. So, good decision. BUT, we also sold it at the height of the housing market. Good for us, bad for the buyer.

I bouht it because I wanted to live there and I was hoping it would be a good investment instead of rent. I still think buying CAN be better than renting. But, make sure you want to live there for a long time. I had planned on 3-5 years. It was ten before it really paid off.

 

[SillyChicken]

It really depends on your skill set and what you like, and what you can afford and want to committ too!

I got a small home build in 1867. I had purchased 11 acres behind this home. When I found out the old woman that lived there was killed from a car crash, I told her son I was interested and got the place for 22,500K back in 1992. Not knowing at the time my DH at the time was planning a divorce... so it became my first house. (luckily I am a contractor so doing the work myself was not a problem).

The family who had it were poor and used what they had (she raised 9 kids in this tiny 3 room place). When I got the house, nothing had been changed in it since at least the 40's. There were 2 screw in breakers for everything, so first thing I had to do was replace the ele box. All the wires were 2 pole so, I spent 13 yrs, replacing everything, 1 room at a time. The original part of the house was 3 rooms. It was sitting on a 2 ft foundation (not good in MI)... at one corner, a long time ago, he beam rotted out, and the whole building sank toward the corner. They didn't fix or straighten it when they added on a kitchen/dining/bedroom and bathroom...... so walls and floors were crooked! Since I didn't have much money when it came to fixing the room, I just gutted it, and built a box within the space and it looked great! got attic space too!

I had to replace all the plumbing, roof, insulation (was none) and ele, heating (added AC).... basically, rebuild the house minus the structure. All the windows too. The old part of the house was built with small oak beams and filled in with brick n mortar, the rest was real 2x4 oak studs, and hair plaster, that they never put a finish coat on, just wall papered over it!

An old home can be a money pit, once you find one thing wrong, every thing around it will be wrong too. It can be a labor of love or a burden.

One of the cool things about renovating old homes is finding stuff! I found a bottle of General hostetters stomach bitters and a bunch of pristine newspapers with comics etc.

I sold the house 5 years ago, just before the housing market crashed for 99000K after 2 days on the market.

 

[Beekissed]

I found that my old fixer upper was comprised of wormy chestnut....huge, wide planks of it! I tore down a wall between two rooms and made countertops of great beauty out of the boards. Even made a butcher block style counter top for the area by the stove and window ledges for the same room. Also found that the siding was cypress!

 

[theoldchick]

Yes. Scavanged what we could-tubs, sinks door knobs, and the such. Sold what we scavanged to a company who specialized in supplying antique fixtures. Bulldozed the structure, graded the property, and sold the land at a profit. Lots of hard work, determination, and I 'll never do it again.

 

[bakerjw]

My wife's aunt died several years back and gave her house and land to my SIL who in turn gave it to me and my wife. It is one of the older houses in the county and was built on a wooden foundation so it is old and needed a lot of work.

We sold our house back in Illinois and started completely renovating the old place. We're in it for at least $40K so far and are over half way done. At least the heavy lifting so to speak is over. i.e. the 2nd floor of the addition is completed and it has been completely reroofed. I am also doing all of the work myself. Plumbing, electrical, framing, roofing, etc... All of it when I can. And believe me it makes for some ungodly long years. Working 40+ hours a week and then coming home to work on the house every night and weekend for several months straight makes for a very miserable existence.

In the end it will be worth it but it is not something to undertake unless you are handy and can do a lot of the work yourself. Had I hired the work done then we'd easily be in it for another $50K to $60K above material cost.