OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
We've owned our current house for about ten years now. The location, when we bought, was part of the "old town", was in a good neighbourhood, generally the neighbours were doctors, teachers....etc. We had a few elderly folks that had been here since the dawn of time, but we liked where we were.
Fast forward a few years and some of the older folks have died and their places have turned into duplexes/triplexes/rentals which has changed the demographic of the neighbourhood. Despite having surveillance on my deck, we've had bikes stolen, chairs stolen and most recently one of the trees out front vandalized.
We are rather sick of what has changed around us and are subsequently considering moving to the boonies.
Now, I have an obsession (gee, that's shocking
) with older homes. Our current place is around 106 years old and a couple of the places we've looked at have been built in the mid to late 1800's. One, which is a bit more than I'd like to spend, has been completely redone, and would need absolutely zero work for the next 20+ years.
However, it is small.
Which brings me to the place we are currently thinking about which is a bit of a project. It is an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Heat is propane, has two wells, dirt floor basement, but all insulated, new cement piers, supports, furnace (heat pump), water tank, wiring...etc and is quite large in size (probably 3500-4000sq ft). The basement is setup for the most part to have a poured concrete floor, it looks like it was just never completed. There are other things around the house which are also in need of completion. It is on a roughly 1.5 acre lot with the nearest neighbour over 1/2 a mile away and surrounded by farm land.
The items that need completion will roughly cost around $50K, that's new windows, a new door for both the upper and lower level for the deck and mud room access, and the roof on the back section re-done (main house already has a new steel roof). We LOVE the lay of the land, the location is very good and we really like the house, which is open concept (they've removed a number of walls) with functional fireplaces and low utility costs.
My problem is that generally I'm very slow to complete house projects due to time constraints and the like (work), and these items would, IMHO, need attention before winter, which means a contractor taking care of them. My wife loves the place (and she hasn't loved many of the places we've looked at) and the price is right, as we'd be able to do a sidestep on the mortgage, as the place would be about the same as what our current house is valued at.
It means a longer commute for both of us, as it is around 20Km out of town. Not a huge deal, but something that needs to be considered. But I'm more concerned about buying somebody else's project, since it is obvious that while there has been some SERIOUS money put into this house to get it to its current state, there is still plenty more money that will need to be spent.
It checks pretty much all the boxes for us minus the fact that it is a project. And as I said, the price is right. Am I nuts to consider buying something like this, which I know needs work and that I'll have to have somebody else complete?
Thoughts appreciated.
Fast forward a few years and some of the older folks have died and their places have turned into duplexes/triplexes/rentals which has changed the demographic of the neighbourhood. Despite having surveillance on my deck, we've had bikes stolen, chairs stolen and most recently one of the trees out front vandalized.
We are rather sick of what has changed around us and are subsequently considering moving to the boonies.
Now, I have an obsession (gee, that's shocking
However, it is small.
Which brings me to the place we are currently thinking about which is a bit of a project. It is an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Heat is propane, has two wells, dirt floor basement, but all insulated, new cement piers, supports, furnace (heat pump), water tank, wiring...etc and is quite large in size (probably 3500-4000sq ft). The basement is setup for the most part to have a poured concrete floor, it looks like it was just never completed. There are other things around the house which are also in need of completion. It is on a roughly 1.5 acre lot with the nearest neighbour over 1/2 a mile away and surrounded by farm land.
The items that need completion will roughly cost around $50K, that's new windows, a new door for both the upper and lower level for the deck and mud room access, and the roof on the back section re-done (main house already has a new steel roof). We LOVE the lay of the land, the location is very good and we really like the house, which is open concept (they've removed a number of walls) with functional fireplaces and low utility costs.
My problem is that generally I'm very slow to complete house projects due to time constraints and the like (work), and these items would, IMHO, need attention before winter, which means a contractor taking care of them. My wife loves the place (and she hasn't loved many of the places we've looked at) and the price is right, as we'd be able to do a sidestep on the mortgage, as the place would be about the same as what our current house is valued at.
It means a longer commute for both of us, as it is around 20Km out of town. Not a huge deal, but something that needs to be considered. But I'm more concerned about buying somebody else's project, since it is obvious that while there has been some SERIOUS money put into this house to get it to its current state, there is still plenty more money that will need to be spent.
It checks pretty much all the boxes for us minus the fact that it is a project. And as I said, the price is right. Am I nuts to consider buying something like this, which I know needs work and that I'll have to have somebody else complete?
Thoughts appreciated.
