Should I buy a bullshit dilapitated hellhouse to /diy/ into something livible? It is a good way to break into the near impossible housing market? Or is it just a fantasy? Show me your work /diy/. I've got to know if I'll be able to making it with less than 20k initial investment.
There are plenty of people who do this stuff professionally, and even they won't touch these places. What makes you think this is a good idea?
>>2788345Ooga booga
>>2788345in my area, all the fancy old houses like that are in the "historic district" and you can't DIY it. you have to hire a company on the city's list of approved historical contractorsBuying one of the ghetto dilapidated shitholes for 15K$ that will be worth 50K$ tops once completely renovated aren't worth the investment, which is why they're being allowed to rot instead.I'm sure that with enough searching, you can find some unicorns, but in general-- if someone else isn't doing it already then it's because it wouldn't be profitable to do it.
I've actually done just that last year. I have no construction background so we'll see how that goes. So far I've only completely gutted the inside, demolished a shitty rotten addition and ran electricity to the property.
>>2788358That I can see. Luckily for me it's not about profit, it's about getting and owning property so I don't live with high rent and instead use that would be rent money for renovations. I'm looking to make a place to live, not sell. >>2788359Thar sounds about what I'd be able to do. I have a pest and mold removal backround, but construction was limited to just helping replace insulation with my dad and grandfather. Any advice for running electricity to a property/dealing with local government? I'm less afraid of the mold and roaches and more afraid of the fine print for a dead house.
>>2788360Unfortunately I won't be able to help you with dealing with the local government, as I'm not from the US. In my country you fill out a form online, pay whatever needs to be paid and then wait for an email confirming that an electric meter box has been installed on the border of your property. At that point you are free to run an electricity cable from the box to whatever structure you need electricity in.
>>2788345The house is the least of your worries.
>>2788364I'm more than aware of the fentynal inclined. I know how to deal with it and as long as I pick the right state and locality, I'll be fine on that front.
Depends on the house, typical American wooden construction, not a chance in hell but if its block or brick and has good bones then I'd maybe consider it. It might be worth it to buy a complete tear down job like in OPs pick just for the land and relative ease of getting future planning approval. Also look into rural properties, many can be had cheap since not many want to live there but again all depends on your work, family considerations etc
>>2788345$20K wouldn't even cover the cost to re-roof the house in your pic if the underlying structural timbers and roof sheathing were already there and in pristine condition.The only way to have even the slimmest chance of that type of project/ plan working out well is to begin with nearly god-like powers of home inspection and structural assessment so you know what will need to be done, and even people that good get surprised.That's why you also need to have a bankroll that will cover potentially a nearly a complete ground up rebuild since larger issues like foundations, roofing, windows, etc. often have to be done at the same time or else the work to fix one is damaged and deteriorates before the next one is finished.Just going on that pic, even if you did the labor like installing windows yourself, I can't imagine getting that building weatherproofed ie sealed up with real windows and doors and a roof for less than $60K in materials alone...and that's being extremely optimistic/cheap and not considering permits and other ancillary costs.Like another anon said that may be worth it if you get it for next to nothing and it's otherwise intact, but places like that rarely get missed by people who know what they are looking at and can afford the up front costs to fix them...when even Realtors and flippers don't give a place a second look it's usually for good reason.
>>2788365Buy property in a White rundown area, less likely to get mugged and better long term, they are 100% out there
>>2788383typical american wood is cheap easy mode you know nothing
>>2788633Absolutely. I probably should've used a different Pic just since everyone thinks I'm talking about a Detroit house, when I'm likely to be in a southern or southwestern state.
>>2788345No, you shouldn't.First and foremost, it almost always makes no sense to fix some badly designed and badly built shit.Also, if it's still for sale, it means the cost of buying+demolishing+rebuilding is way above the cost of buying something else (like this: https://www.immobiliare.it/annunci/90130939/?entryPoint=map )
>>2788365> right state and localitymeans you're willing to relocate, and so don't insist on the Projects/Ghetto.Go look for properties with unpaid taxes in the county you want to relocate to. Don't wait for stuff to list. Fortune favors the bold. Pick something without Code inspection so you can do it yourself at your pace, and some nanny isn't up your ass. You don't seem an unsafe anon, you seem like you'll be conscientious - housing burns down here, when it does, due to old electrical, uncleaned chimneys and other kinds of really poor maintenance or oversight/ignorance.I say we're all ignorant of one thing or another. But there's deliberate ignorance.. A couple of words: we are all familiar with the established, statistical fact, that the poorest white areas are less violent than the richest 'melanated' areas (U.S. Stats). But, what you'll run into (here), particularly in economically impoverished counties with low percentages of children, is a 55-and-up mentality, insular thinking, anti-this and that, straight (one might say blind and obsessive) Demonrat ticket voting. Poisoned water: the 'city water', even though it comes from a deep well, is then poisoned and unfit, hence most enterprising homesteaders I see move in, have their own well, rainwater collection etc. That shit will gradually poison your ground, body mind soul and spirit, as it's intended to. Turn you into a mindless NPC.Keep in mind that those burn-out neighbors are on their way out: they are not having children, and their absence of that authority, creates a vacuum, hence moving people in. It also creates a negative impression of the area, from a pragmatic examination of the facts. However, considering the tremendo
>>2788726well wtf, readchan just submitted the post by itself. ...tremendous douchbaggery elsewhere - in contrast, a geriatric county where many existing opinions that are retarded and addled by subservience to the wrong things, doesn't / don't matter - because those people are rapidly dying-out.Offgrid homesteading is the way to go. Not trying to resuscitate a giant old near-castle like that, but instead a decent house with promise that maybe needs a new roof, and hasn't gotten decayed to the point of mold etc. Far away from ghettoburg and collapsing cities.
>>2788657To build. Once the rot settles in, due to wrecked windows and doors, you may as well tear the whole thing down to start over.
>>2788345>less than 20k initial investmentunless the township is giving you a condemned property for literally free, no you absolutely cannot make this work.
>>2788346How far gone does a house have to be before it's a lost cause? I'm trying to fix up my grandparent's house but it's being destroyed by a hoarding problem.
>>2788345Did it a few years back, worth it if you have the time to do it imo.>>2788383Also this. I wouldn't fuck with older stick construction homes in America but an older block/brick isn't a bad idea. You get the added cheat code of being able to walk around the exterior and look for cracks in the mortar or blocks to see where the house has settled and how badly
if the dilapidated house has a basement jesus, you're good to go
>>2788890Basically, it either needs to be mostly dry or made of brick with no visible foundation problems.The squarer and straighter it is, the betterA dry crack house is infinitely better than a wet old wood mansionThere are some caveats to this but all new electrical is 10k+, same with plumbing and HVAC, double if no existing ductworkJust buy a kind of shitty house that's square and lived in and slowly fix it up
>>2788345FHA loans only require like 3% downJust buy a decent starter home that way instead of buying a $100k cash sinkhole that would ruin the next few years of your life if you don't go bankrupt on the process
>>2788358>we'd rather see them rot because nobody can afford a 5mm dollar rennovation than see someone save them
yes and noyour plan would work if you found a house that was burned down to the foundationyou coould get that for few dozen k and rebuild the wall utilities already therei would say the easiest way to get a home know is mobile homesyou need to find a lot of land if you dont mind driving out you can get an acre cheapfinance a mobile home like a car paymenta 50 80k home is like 600 dollar payment for 30yearsbetter if you build your septic and water tanks or wellbut value add is always amazingyou can buy shacks and make them something
>>2788383i would say if its big, fix like the garage with a bathroom and make a nice 200 300 sq foot appartment while you fix the house, or live in an rv they allow that
>>2788345Looks good to me how much does it cost I might be able to buy it.
>>2788345Yes, if you have the ability. Just like buying an old car that needs work, you have to find one that has good bones. I'd stay away from anything with a royally fucked roof, water damage and mold will make it a nightmare. Researching the county is more important than some of the nuances with the property, inspection and permit requirements might be more costly.
>>2788812Still cheaperStill easier
>>2788345you'd have to do literally ALL the work yourself, and you'll quickly blow past your $20K investment money.I inherited a 2 story 3 bedroom craftsman house that hadn't been lived in, in 15 years from my grandmother who had it as a rental.Total gut job down to studs.New wiring and power service was just under $9000 and that's a good deal from a local electrician who did the work over 3 weekends. I did the PEX replumbing and new heating boiler.The mechanicals all passed inspection.$4K in new windows and doors$1500 in insulation$3000 in siding$2500 in drywall$2000 in flooring laminate$3000 in HomeDepot kitchen cabinets that I got a good deal on b/c they were a canceled special order$3000 for the bathroom, tub, surround, vanity, toilet, tileshit adds up...I'm like $35K+ in the hole on this house after 2 years with me doing almost everything myself on a house I technically got for free, what's keeping me going is that similar houses in the area are now selling for over $200K which I think is insane as back in 2008 these sorts of houses were selling around here in the $60K rangeYou'd have to be either rich or certifiably insane to want to BUY a broken crackshack in the hopes of fixing it up
I bought one of these about 5 years ago. Thought I could DIY it on the weekends. Took my a month to empty the hoard out, some rooms it was to the ceiling. I left the couch which was the only piece of furniture used by the former owner. Through a tarp over it and used it to sit and rest. In one room the trash columns had become structural over time and once removed the bathroom above began falling through breaking a water supply pipe. After turning off the main I grabbed all my tools and tore the tarp off the couch. I took a large smooth shit on that couch and walked away. The town tried contacting me a few months latter when high school kids found the house and started hanging out in it. One night I set it on fire. That was about 2 years ago. I moved in with my brother a state over and changed my number. Have no idea what happens now or what legal responsibilities I have. Thinking about saying I was the victim of a scam. Would do it again, learning lesson and the ending was kino
>>2789888Where's that house standing for your expenses being all over the place this much?
>>2788359that roof is making my throat itch!tar paint?
>>2788345>Should I buy a bullshit dilapitated hellhouse to /diy/ into something livible?The answer for the house in your pic is "absolutely not" but something like >>2788359 might be manageable.>It is a good way to break into the near impossible housing market? Or is it just a fantasy?Depends; are you a master builder with no commitments, experience in historical construction techniques, in possession of at least $150k to dump into this project and have a place to live for the literal years it will take to rehabilitate it even working full-time?The difference between un-fucking an ugly but structurally sound 1700sqft post-war crackerbox and a beautiful but a structurally unsound 3500sqft multi-story brick house from the gilded age is night and day and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Anyone can rip up floors and scrape popcorn ceilings and most people can even manage to rennovate a bathroom or kitchen or install windows if they hire a plumber to put the pipes where they want them but have you ever repaired a brick foundation or built a mansard roof or installed a lath and plaster wall or dealt with knob and tube wiring? Moreover, if you want to keep the historical character of the house (which is the ONLY reason to even think about something like this) then that's a whole other layer of skill and expense and considerably more so if you're paying others for the fabrication and only handling the installation. Replacing and trimming out the front door with something appropriate to the house will probably cost $4000+ all by itself, to say nothing of period-appropriate hardware for lights/faucets/cabinets/etc., custom stairs, and things of that ilk. You'll enter the rotting library, see a redwood Versailles parquet floor and built-in English Oak bookshelves and then cry when you realize that restoring that one room alone would put you over budget
>>2789899>the trash columns had become structural over time and once removed the bathroom above began falling through breaking a water supply pipeThats amazing and a nightmareWhere was it and how much did you spend if you dont mind?Was always a dream of mine to buy one of those old detroit crackhouses and rebuild it but ive since come to my senses and bought a decent, well looked after little 1970s home and its still kind of a neverending expense and repair job to keep liveable
