Have You Bought A Abandon Or Old Run Down Home?

[chickened]

I bought a fixer upper home with awesome land and I was going to fix the house up but after researching the permits and all the fees involved with remodeling it was much cheaper and easier to buy a manufactured home, presto and you are in it and it gave me time to build more outbuildings, a pond and yes of course more chicken pens.

 

[eggbuster]

Quote:
I'll TAKE IT!
well, that is, if you can move it to SW MO, along with the 153 acres of land....
ok, and if that land is at least 50% pasture...
er, wait... how's the fencing? barn?

You just had to ask!

The barn and fencing is 100 years old too. I was trying to keep it positive. I alternate keeping the house from falling down with keeping the barn from falling down. I had to buy a mortor mixer to keep up with the stone foundations. The mortor in the stone has degraded to sand and like an hour glass it keeps running out. I am about halfway through the perimeter fencing, and with winter coming I have to patch up the corrals in a vain attempt to keep the cows in one more winter. You sneeze on them and they blow away. Hubby is on me to get at least one side of the barn walls repaired this year but it ain't going to happen. I can only do so much at once and he is off working to pay for my wasteful ways.

There isn't enough glue on the planet to keep this place together long enough get it down the driveway (crap, thats washing away as well) let alone to SW MO but if you want to move to Canada, your welcome; just bring a hammer and a big sack of nails.

More then 50% hay and pasture.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
Ha! yep, I feel your pain.
My hubby's canadian, born in toronto, his family's in vancouver and victoria island...
SW MO is the limit on winter cold for him... ah well. and it was sounding perfect right up to then.

 

[eggbuster]

zzGypsy

2 hours from Toronto, kids live there. Family in Vancouver and Victoria as well.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
hey maybe we're related! not a Smith are you?

 

[Beekissed]

I think the problem with most folks who buy a fixer upper is impatience and too high expectations. I've owned one and am now renting and keeping up with one, as my landlord has no intentions of doing maintenance. The thing is with older homes like this is that they have character, are built from wood that you cannot afford to buy nowadays and are sturdy enough to have lasted this long, so why not much longer?

If you work on the important things and don't get concerned with your house looking like Better Homes and Gardens, it doesn't have to be a money pit. People have existed in far worse dwellings for thousands of years and survived just fine. I understand a young person's point of perspective...things are expensive and the only thing affordable is old houses that no one wants to put any money into, so why not buy one and at least have a starting point in life?

If you compare the cost of building a new home of much less sturdy construction to the cost of new roofing, plumbing and electrical wiring in an old, ramshackle farm house you can see why this idea is so attractive to the younger, or even older, less wealthy crowd. These repairs can be done as the money allows and one can "rough it" in the house until the repairs are complete....much cheaper than paying rent/mortgage on a place while also paying mortgage and building costs of a new place.

Who cares if the floors are uneven? Unless you are falling through them, live with it. Poor insulation? Blow some in. Faulty wiring? Try to find a retired Union Electrician...they often do things cheaper and have years of experience and even some left over equipment from jobs past. Bad plumbing? These things can be lived around and suffered past while you work out solutions.

Starter homes are just that...a starting place and doesn't have to look finished in order to be a home. You can heat with wood, plastic the windows, use screens and fans in the summer, insulate each part of the home as you can afford, put plywood over soft flooring and run all sorts of funny looking pipes and hoses to get hot and running water to your bathrooms. I've seen people live in homes that look like they wouldn't shelter a family of bats....it may not be pretty or even functional at times, but it is shelter and a home.

 

[TigerLilly]

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I agree & I'd go as far as to say that as long as the animals had a good barn/shed/whatever, I'd deal with being a little uncomfortable & having to take my time getting the house fixed up!

 

[Ole and Lena]

I think the biggest issue people have is taking on too big of a project and expecting too much. You can't polish a turd. If stuff's broken it'll need fixing. If too much stuffs broken it may need a book of matches... what's that called? Jewish lightning I think.

We bought a forclosed 1900 farmhouse just over a year ago at auction DIRT CHEAP and it is beautiful... now...
The main selling points for us were: Large 6 acre hillside lot easy commute from MPLS area, New septic and well casing and pump 2006, Newer barn and garage 1970's aluminum sided, new roof 1997, framed like a brick S-house (8/4 hardwood studs) most exterior walls remodeled and insulated, dry basement capped late 1980s, knob and peg wiring replaced 1986 with modern romex and breaker box, copper plumbing (some freeze damage but all piping easily accessable for basic repairs). Basically we found one somebody had done most of the hard expensive work for us. We went into it knowing we had to replace windows all-around. We wrote that into the FHA loan and had it done by a contractor. House needed a lot of basic remodeling, but nothing like knocking out walls or cabinets. Just pulled up all the old nasty carpet, sanded the hardwood floors and rubbed on several coats of linseed. Had to replace HW flooring in a couple of rooms. May not look completely professional but I have to say it looks darn good for my first time installing HW flooring. The only big surprise we got was that the almost new water heater and softener didn't work. We had some good cash reserves to counter that one though.

If you are handy at fixing stuff and have some contractor friends to give you some technical assistance and can live with your DIY repairs looking less than professional and nothing in the house being square, level or plumb, and you do your shopping very carefully, fixing up an old house can be very rewarding. Make sure to hire your own inspector or befriend a general contractor to look over it before you put any money down. He'll spot any of the really major costly repairs so you can steer clear.

 

[IowaQuackHead]

Well I figured with my parents(4) and 5 siblings which one of them builds houses ect for a living we could all get it done. So i have at least 20 people that would help, plus i would like to get a house and make it inhabitable and work on home and garden look later

 

[Katy]

My son too had wanted to fix up this house since he was in high school, but he's finding out it's waaaaay more of a project with a wife and family than what he ever dreamed. It sets in the middle of one of our farm fields.

The basement walls were falling in so they moved it off and put a new basement under it.

Stripped the entire inside down to the studs.

Put a new roof on it and are adding on the porch that was removed decades ago.

It is a neat old house and it would have been a shame to tear it down since structurally other than the basement it's very sound.

But he will tell you in a heartbeat that it is more work, time and expense than he ever dreamed it would be......He can't afford to hire most of it done with 4 small kids so he, his wife, a couple of friends once in a blue moon and his dad and I are the work crew. He works an off the farm 12 hour a day job, helps his dad and I here on the farm when we need him, tries to spend time with his kids everyday and then in what time is left works on the house.

They are living in a mobile home across the yard from it during this process.....originally estimated to take two years.....now almost four years into it.

One thing I would like to say is don't depend on your friends and family to help.....there will be many offers of help, but when it boils down to it the help that comes thru is little and not very often. They have their own families and lives going on so you can't even blame them.