I stumbled across a deal on a house one of my customers owns. He asked me to come out again to do some more work in preparation for sale and when I was there, I sort of realized this had most (if not all) of the features I was looking for if I were to build our new home on my property. Herein lies the problem. It’s such a unique home that it’s virtually impossible for my realtor (friend) to be able to establish a comparative cost based on the normal factors such as square footage, age, location, etc. Since I know many of you on here have, are looking for, and are buying quite a few properties, I wanted to get your opinion in hopes that I’m making a little more educated decision before this goes too far.
Basic Specs:
Size: Approx. 1800-2000 sf. (hard to be accurate because the listing information from the realtor is not counting the first floor as it is claimed to be a basement (even though it’s ground level). Layout is not simple so calculating sf, is difficult. I know it’s not the 1500 sf. they list and don’t think it’s any more than 2000. Basics: (2) bedrooms and (1) bath (which I remodeled 4-5 years ago) on second floor and (1) master BR and Bath on 3rd floor loft. First floor is (2) car garage, entry / closet / staircase, general living room with small kitchen, full bath / laundry room. Built: 1976. Family got the plans for a ski chalet they saw in the northeast and had the exact same thing built here. Location: Hamburg / Derby border. Construction: Brick exterior on entire first floor. T-111 siding on remainder. Heating: Hot water. Boiler is original and still working. My HVAC contractor says we should plan on replacing sooner than later. Same with HW tank. Cooper and PVC. City water and septic (which has been set a couple hundred feet back into the woods) Roof: Original and tight. Actually looks really good for it’s age. Siding / Trim: IN good condition. Minor areas but nothing of concern. Windows: Andersen casements. I would be replacing them over time but nothing seriously wrong with them right now. Electrical: All copper with backup generator transfer panel already install to plug in a portable generator.
Goods:
Fantastic location about (7) miles south of Southwestern and Camp Rd.
Land. Currently part of a (83) acre wooded parcel they own. He is going to give me (3) acres with the home and donate the remainder (as per his aunts will) to the nature conservancy (no development, no hunting, no building. Ever.)
Very quiet with one neighbor I can see and the other even further away. No properties behind me with nothing but miles of woods.
Really cool layout with cathedral ceilings in the living area and (2) fireplaces, one pellet, one gas.
Nice level side yard with room for a garage / workshop if I ever decided to.
They started doing some demolition on the first floor living area so I wold convert that into a wet bar / rec room with a half bath and laundry off that. Nothing else on the first floor but a party room and patio.
New Pergo floors on the stairs from bottom to top, and all of the second and third floors except the bathrooms.
Seller lives in NJ and only comes up here to the house a couple times each summer. Maintains the property and interior (even though no one has lived there full time for 4-5 years) and has not put it on the market yet. No one else know about this.
Bads:
Furnace and HW tank would need to be replaced sooner than later. Looking at the neighborhood of $ 7500.00 (guesstimate)
Interior wood work is dated, but clean and undamaged. Third floor bath is clean, but slightly dated.
No AC but I don’t have it now and that doesn’t bother me.
Kitchen is clean, functional, but dated. I will need to remodel that (as per my wife) prior to move in.
Rear deck is structurally OK but not maintained as well as it should be. I would want to replace it.
Stone work and brick on the fireplace are SOLID, up until it’s get’s above the roof line for some reason. Veneer face of the brick has peeled off and their aunt hired some knucklehead who tried (and failed) to patch it. I may be able to repair this myself.
Need to sell my current home and vacant parcel of land (with stage 1 of the tree farm) as part of the financial package. All this needs to happen before the start of the school year so I can transfer my son over.
My biggest question is this. In it’s current condition, with what specs are above, what would you expect to pay / offer for this setup? Again, any opinions or suggestions are welcome. I hope to have some sort of answer for the seller soon.
Great location, only thing that hurts the value in my eyes is the school.
Tough call on price. The land is nice and so is the location. But the house really isn’t anything special, plus you’ll have a hard time selling it if you ever want to because its so different. You’ll also dump lots of money into it by updating this place even if you do it over time it’ll still add up.
I always felt that school is what you make of it. I’ve known family members that went to expensive private schools all their lives and didn’t amount to much more than anyone else. I can’t say I’d agree with you on the “nothing special”. If this were some Marrano or Ryan pooped from the sky, sales brochure floor plan I would agree with “nothing special”.
I like the layout and I’m not exactly overly concerned with resale value as I don’t plan on moving again in my lifetime.
As far as the upgrades or remodeling, I save a ton doing it myself, and who moves into anything but a new build and doesn’t make some changes, even if they decide they’re not going to stay there? Working on getting some tax info. We’re going at this with a “worst case scenario” on all fronts, and would like to be pleasantly surprised if it’s goes better.
^ word, not here to argue about schooling, but strictly for a resale value you’ll get more bank from a Hamburg/Frontier/Op school district. If you never want to sell go for it! Just look at long term items you’ll never recoupe or be able to adjust such as Taxes and utilies. You will never ever see that tax money again, so what will you be getting for it?
For me personally this place would probably have to be in the lower 100’s for it to be a bargain. BUT I’m always trying to make money. ALWAYS!! LoL
Number one rule when buying cars or houses… Don’t fall in love, be able to walk away!
Look at 6444 engel dr hamburg. Similar size on 2 acres. Updated, new roof 2010, finished basement normal layout hamburg school. They are asking 185 and can’t sell it. Been for sale for 42 days plus dropped the price. I bet you could get it for say $170? Now to compar what would all the updates cost you, even for materials? Less for odd layout and “lesser” school. Plus this one is move in ready.
I know you like the different layout and so do I, but generally you’ll be limiting the range of people interested in buying it in the future. Again resale.
Ask if you can run the mortgage through her, and put it on the books as sold for say $50,000. Cheap taxes for life baby. Even pay her at a higher interest rate to save on taxes. Give her as much cash down as you can off the books pay in sexual favors etc…
I think $1,000 per sq ft is a good starting point for fair market value.
Believe me, I certainly understand all your points. I am living with my wife and son in a 900sf. home with no garage and limited parking, and trying to run a construction company with a home office. It’s always been a starter home for many families and we’ve outgrown it yrars ago. My son is still young enough to switch schools without too much socialbtrauma and my wife and I are starting (have been quietly) fighting each other for every square inch.
Realtors always say location, location, lication and this is a perfect blend of country seclusion and suburban conveniences. The price is mid 100’s and I look at it like what would I get for that in a new build and / or subdivision. I have asshole neighbors now and for those who have them, you kniw what it makes living near them like.
Again, with resale, the only one who’d have to sell would be my son, and I don’t see anything that would depreciate it’s value. I can’t helieve there are onky people out there who only want subdivision or city life.
As far as sf. value, based on your formula, we’re in or below the ballpark.
Wow, I have 800sq/ft and I know how it feels to be a little cramped. I can’t imagine adding in a kid to the mix. I’d be a little annoyed with the nature conservancy part of it. I’d like quite a bit more than 3 acres.
It has it’s plus sides, you don’t have to worry about neighbors ever moving in around you in that area.
But can you still go on the land? can you walk it, ride on it, etc…? I don’t know all the laws as far as the conservancies go. I’m assuming it will become state property. I’d probably push to get ownership of the land, ha… When it comes to real estate and money/business, I lose some of my morals. Oh, well your dead aunt said such and such? Will an extra 25k change your mind? No? How about 50?
How about Water and waste water? Well/septic system?
You said they have a gas stove… Is it propane? I don’t see propane tanks outside though.
If they’re burning propane, that gets pretty damn expensive. Might be better switching to wood if you’re up for the labor aspect of it. Even better if you can get the extra 80 acres, then you’d never have to pay for heating again.
Change out to an Outdoor boiler and heat your hot water as well… Then you have free house heating + hot water for showers etc…
But if they have a natural gas line out there, I’d just stick with the NG
Yeah, I did forget to mention the gas. It is natural gas. Matter of fact, one of NFG’s satellite sites would be my neighbor. I don’t expect any “neighbor” discounts though. I did mention septic in the basic specs. It is set way away from the house (which I like) I’d just have to time it so that it didn’t need to be emptied in the middle of winter.
As far as the land, I’ve already seen herds of wild turkey and I’m sure there’s deer and other stuff. I would love to be able to have me and my buddies hunt that property (if I ever get time to hunt) but I’d rather have the peace of mind knowing I’d never know if someone could be building a house, or subdivision, next door or across the street from me. I like the idea of seclusion / peace and quiet. I’m quite certain they would only give me (3) acres (I think it’s the minimum required to do the separation deal from the 83 acres) and quite frankly, I don’t really need anymore. It would just be more trees and taxes.
I already asked him years ago if he would break off a parcel when I was looking for property. He made it quite clear that the family wishes needed to be respected and he politely declined. House has a gas insert on the first floor and a pellet stove on the second, which I know works because we used it when we did work out there before.
I quickly checked them and Zillow valued my current home at about 77,000 and Trulia 89,000, and the another similar real estate site close to 200,000. I guess you could say that I don’t have much faith in those sites. Also my realtor friend mentioned that the information provided on there is not always accurate and should be used more as a reference.
trulia and zillow are a waste if the source information is out of date or incorrect. in many places they use the assessment records that may be way out of date or lack accurate building information.
the place looks interesting and if you don’t expect to ever have to seriously worry about selling it then your only real concern will be securing financing if that is the route you take. in that case they likely will not count the area of the lowest level when determining the value and will consider it similar to a finished basement.
pay in sexual favors etc…