Looking at purchasing an older home a 30 minute drive from my office in the sticks. It sits on just over 16 acres off the side of a mountain (Part of the Appalachians within New Brunswick from what I can tell). I like the land and I want to make sure I don't frick myself on repair costs. What are some points you would be looking for that scream money pit? Also if any of you have interviewed realtors for purchasing and have advice questions I'd be greatly appreciative.
How old is old? In my country all houses are old
Mortar cracks from thermal expansion are allowed, but any crack that travels diagonally up from a corner means it’s sinking. Cellar should be dry, roof line should be straight
I think it's 50-60 years and is a recent flip. crawlspace so there's no cellar, I'd be looking to dig a root cellar close to the main structure. Hopefully I can dig one into the mountain without minecraft stone breaking. They redid the interior and siding but I can see some gaps in some rooms where the moulding doeesn't quite touch the ceiling.
Id be super wary of a rural nb flip
Whats the price difference beteen now and when the flipper bought it?
price is up by more than 100k since purchased three years back. Before the flip, it was probably in really bad shape I imagine.
imagine stickers and paste over rot then. I would be wary of aluminum wiring and no grounding wire depending on the age.
ducting as another post mentioned, I've had a newer house where the remodel just cut holes in the return ducts because it was conveniently located.
>I think it's 50-60 years
>It's old
lol, lmao even
American houses built between 1880 and 1930 are the work of Gods. Post 1940 and it is absolute shit tier trash. Never buy a house built in the 60s/70s. They were built with planned obsolecense of about 30-40 years. They are way past expiration with cracking concrete foundations and molding rotten walls.
>flip
walk in there with a tape measure and a level and i guarantee you'll be asked to leave
I've purchased a couple of century plus homes and even with my contractor with me investigating the purchase beforehand, there were still surprises. So, I guess the best thing I can say is what I heard from a house flipper friend of mine is this: for every 30 years the house has been around, expect to replace one major system. e.g. If your home is 60 years old, chances are that at least 2 major systems need replacement/complete overhaul (e.g. one of roof, windows, foundation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC) My last purchase was a home from 1920s and I had to do HVAC, plumbing, electrical. The previous owner already did the roof and windows which knocked those off the possibilities list. Later, we also had to do the hot water tank and also had to do some foundation shoring up too. So for this rule of thumb, I should have expected at least 3 systems, maybe more, which was what I saw. I also purchased something even older a few years ago and we basically planned for it to be down to the studs. The city then stepped in and put a hold on the project because of historical preservation concerns, which is also another thing to watch. Make sure you don't run into municipal issues if you plan on doing anything big - the city govt can really make things tough.
>for every 30 years the house has been around, expect to replace one major system.
I'm good for ~40 over asking if I call up the contractors to sign off on the work being necessary and quoted, (still well within budget btw I'm not going to do morono full pre-approval purchase and live on the mice living in my field). I know the windows were done recently and the siding and roof look different than the older pictures, but that seems to be mostly a patch job. If you were to take a wild guess, would 40K cover the cost of the major break-downs?
>Make sure you don't run into municipal issues if you plan on doing anything big - the city govt can really make things tough.
I'm going to be just over the edge of the nearest city border, actually moving counties as well and the other county and township are supposedly lenient to a degree.
Also should I be concerned about the three additions on the main house structure? they weren't part of the original build but look to be older work than the flip.
>If you were to take a wild guess, would 40K cover the cost of the major break-downs?
Good to know that the roof and windows are newer but yea, maybe 40 could cover 2 systems. Assuming just one unit, your HVAC alone could run 15K+ depending on if they can reuse the ducting. That'll give you about 20-25k to take care of any of the other systems. Oh, I'd also look at if the wiring is copper or aluminum - you want to see copper there and if you don't, it would be good to replace it since you'll be opening up walls already.
>Also should I be concerned about the three additions on the main house structure? they weren't part of the original build but look to be older work than the flip.
The first thing I'd look into is if they were permitted or needed permitting. From what little I know, if they're over a certain size or are meant to be habitable, that makes them fall outside of being a shed. After that, if you think they're older structures, the most costly thing that you could find is asbestos. Was looking at a beautiful old home that was already down to the studs but then I found asbestos in some of the additions there. Remediation on that I was told could be easily 60k so running the numbers and including the asbestos removal, my offer on the entire home was a bountiful Two Thousand American Dollars. Included with the offer was a letter explaining what I found. Never did hear back, lol.
But for something like this, if you already have a contractor you work with, I'd strongly advice them to help you walk through the place before deciding on a number.
That's about all I can think of to say, but AMA if you want. It's tough to give advice from just vague descriptions, though.
Also forgot to mention, I would assume that the 40k does NOT include any cosmetic fixes to the place. Any new bath/shower, new kitchen, flooring, etc should all be budgeted separately from this emergency fund imo. 40k all-in reno budget seems low, if that's what you're thinking, especially considering what could happen with the additions. Luckily, the cosmetics are easier to estimate. Just my 2 cents though.
I have a LOC for desperate emergencies with available space and make enough and spend little enough currently that I should* be able to budget back for a 5K e fund a few months after buying. Ideally, I'll be sitting on small stuff since I'm single and young and grew up in an old house with quirks, but big things like leaks, heating failure (wood furnace and baseboards are installed but I need to check the wood furnace out on the first trip out), and appliance failures will force my hand. My vehicle was recently purchased with an inspection from our mechanic and it's an '18 colorado so it should be fine* for those few months.
It's good that you have a bit of a cushion. It sounds like you are going to have this as a primary residence but one other thing I'd do, just in case, is to try to get a sense of what it would be worth on the open market should you make your improvements and then sell it. A good realtor will be able to provide you some rough numbers for you if you ask.
Not that I'm thinking you will get into trouble, but you never know in this day and age what kind of horseshit will come up. So if things go wrong for whatever reason, it will be a mental comfort for you to know that you could sell it and at least recoup the money you put into it or, worst case, sell it quickly at a small loss. Remember to include potential closing costs plus commissions and small incidental costs that are often required to sell. Again, a realtor can help you estimate this but just as a rule of thumb, at least around my area, people estimate that it takes about 10% of the cost of the home to sell. So after selling, for example, a 300k home, you'll be walking away with about 270k (assuming no mortgage)
The whole trick to it is knowing all of your numbers to the best accuracy you can. GL!
same as buying anything old: if you don't have proof of replacement then budget to fix it yourself
Why does anyone care about the foundation of a home. I have literally never seen a home collapse from it. I see morons with homes falling apart and major cracks. Everyone says "it's only a matter of time" but for these people the time never comes. Why is it me who has a house where some frick wires a 20 amp outlet to a 15 amp circuit BACKWARDS causing a bunch of shit to burn out, but people with their foundation on stilts just get to live in peace.
>Why does anyone care about the foundation of a home.
Because it's important?
>. Why is it me who has a house where some frick wires a 20 amp outlet to a 15 amp circuit BACKWARDS causing a bunch of shit to burn out
Oh it's an amerimutt. You all go on about MUH BRICC EARTHQUAKE THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT and then say shit like this? May you get anally impaled by a 2x4.
There are collapsed homes all over new brunswick
>I have literally never seen a home collapse from it.
Your lack of experience isn't grounds for comment. I mean I've seen collapsed houses, it's hard to rightly say whether it was the foundation or not, but I've seen plenty of wrecks. Otoh, I've also jacked up a house that was failing. And I know foundation repair whether or not it's mudjacking is still a thriving business. Last, I've seen houses buckled across a heaved slab that twisted it so bad all the interior doors had to be redone and you could see the rooms were parallelogram shaped. That was from 1970 and also when I lost my last possible shred of respect for realtors. Still, your coddled life is no dipstick for gauging the problem so next time maybe don't bother to post.