Frustrated

[jedimaster91]

We're somewhat seriously house hunting. Mr Jedi talked to a guy while they were both at Scout Camp and turns out the other guy has a house he's looking to sell. According to him, it was a fixer upper with a half-finished basement, pool, decent sized backyard, and an attic space. They were looking to convert one of the rooms to a second bathroom, replace the flooring, and turn the attic space into a bonus/playroom. The house is in the school district we want for Minion, nice neighborhood, literally two block from the church we would attend, and large enough for us to have the storage space we want. On paper, everything was perfect.

Until we went to look at the place. It's an older house (built in the 60s, I believe), so the electric only has 2-prong, not grounded outlets so that would need to be completely redone. The diameter of the plumbing is too small so it would all have to be replaced. Mold in the basement since the windows leak when it rains (thankfully it's not a foundation issue, but still). Landscaping needs a LOT of work. It's overgrown and contributing to the drainage issues. Front stairs should be rebuilt. Virtually no kitchen cabinets so those would have to be installed. As well as all the cosmetic stuff like paint, curtains, light fixtures, and such.

Mr Jedi is fairly handy (much handier than the current owner), but after some discussion, we pretty much decided it was more work than we were willing to take on. Especially at the asking price. And the current owner is not budging. I feel for the family and would hate for them to lose the money they've already put into the house, but for the work that still needs to be done and the condition of the house they're asking waaaaaaay too much. All that is frustrating enough. But the more frustrating part is the current owner is in denial about the situation. Mr Jedi has a connection to a person who is a professional house flipper and the guy would probably give Current Owner some advice on getting the house in sellable condition for free or a nominal fee. But Current Owner is unwilling to reach out to him.

It makes me sad as the house has a lot of potential and could be really cute. But it needs someone with the resources to make the needed repairs and updates. And that person probably won't get their money out of the house if they ever sold it.

[Pixelated]

At some point reality is (hopefully) going to set in for Current Owner. We are doing repairs on Mom's house, as it will be sold somewhere down the line, but the fact is the house was not well maintained during the years the family lived here. Other fact is we are only prepared to put so much money into it at this point. The basement is unfinished; there is the remains of a shower down there (we used to call it the Black Hole of Calcutta and nobody EVER used it; I can't imagine anybody doing so ... it would be preferable to stand out in the back yard and hose yourself down), there's a half-bathroom down there which does work but frankly, I'd rather use the cats' litterboxes, and so on and so forth. We are not doing anything about those issues, but we do realize they will cost us with potential buyers, because the buyers will have to deal with them.

Even if there's a potential buyer who doesn't get Current Owner's house professionally inspected, they are hardly likely to miss things like mold and a total lack of kitchen cabinets.

[EricKei]

jedi - Sadly, what you described sounds pretty standard for houses described as "fixer-uppers" >_< Sometimes you get an exception, but not all that often. The thing this seller doesn't seem to want to acknowledge is this: You will NEVER get out of a house what you put into it, unless you bought it for cheap 30+ years ago and it is now worth double or triple what you paid simply due to inflation and now being in a trendy neighborhood. You can drop 30 grand on an extension with a nice new den, but it's not gonna add anywhere near 30 grand to the house's value.

[protege]

Until we went to look at the place. It's an older house (built in the 60s, I believe), so the electric only has 2-prong, not grounded outlets so that would need to be completely redone. The diameter of the plumbing is too small so it would all have to be replaced. Mold in the basement since the windows leak when it rains (thankfully it's not a foundation issue, but still). Landscaping needs a LOT of work. It's overgrown and contributing to the drainage issues. Front stairs should be rebuilt. Virtually no kitchen cabinets so those would have to be installed. As well as all the cosmetic stuff like paint, curtains, light fixtures, and such.

Sounds like the place I bought in 2006 But seriously, I have an older, 1960s-era two-bedroom ranch out in the 'burbs. It was owned by an older couple, and very little had been done. Still, there wasn't a mark in it. Like the home you were looking at, all of the outlets were still 2-prong, not-grounded types. First thing I did, was have them all replaced...including the ones that were wired backwards

Some of the plumbing was a bit crude. Someone had attempted to "fix" the kitchen sink drain by using scraps of various pipe cut and soldered to fit. There must have been about a 8-9 sections in less than a foot of distance. I tore that out when I had to finally replace the trap.

Leaking windows can usually be dealt with. Nothing a caulking gun and a tube or two of Liquid Nails can't solve

Also, the front steps were falling apart. Mostly, because the owner's son was a "contractor" and tried to do it himself. Apparently, the concrete had been poured in the middle of winter, and didn't set right. That is, it froze, rather than hardened. I'm sure it looked OK when first done, but should have been replaced before the house was sold. Naturally, it wasn't a cheap project...but at least the demolition was fun

As for the yard, they'd truly let it go to shit. While the grass was cut, the gardens were overgrown, the pine trees were dying, and the entire hillside was covered with crown vetch and rocks. Someone had made a go of installing railroad tie borders, and did a mess of it. Why you'd use multiple foot-long spikes to hold the ties together and then into the ground, I have no idea. But again, at least ripping that out was fun.

Mr Jedi is fairly handy (much handier than the current owner), but after some discussion, we pretty much decided it was more work than we were willing to take on. Especially at the asking price. And the current owner is not budging. I feel for the family and would hate for them to lose the money they've already put into the house, but for the work that still needs to be done and the condition of the house they're asking waaaaaaay too much.

Unfortunately, that attitude is pretty common with sellers. They all have seen one too many shows on HGTV and think that their falling-apart single-bedroom shack is a "dream house" and refuse to budge on price. They only come down if/when they have to. Best time to buy, is if the house has been on the market for a bit. Sellers are usually more willing to negotiate if it's been on the market for a year. That's how I ended up with my house--I happened to be in the right place at the right time.

[jedimaster91]

There's the kind of fixer-upper that needs kitchen/bath remodeling, new flooring, and paint, and then there's the kind that's bulldoze it and start over. We were expecting (hoping for?) the former and got surprised with the latter.

I watch way too many of those home improvement type shows myself and some of the transformations are amazing. But I don't kid myself thinking I can do the same thing on my own on a shoestring budget and get a good return on my investment. I wish more people could be that honest with themselves about their abilities (or lack thereof).