Skwerl's new cabin

[skwerl]

Chris, with my bad hip I've thought a lot about it. A hip replacement is not just a vague suggestion in my future, but a definite requirement. Just a matter of time. My house mover guy said for $17K I could put in one hell of an elevator. I replied that for $17K I could get a new hip!

Got a couple pics inside the house this morning. At some point in the past it was occupied by vagrants and there is a small amount of damage but very minor. The kitchen needs to be replaced but I already have cabinets and some appliances. It did have AC installed but the air handler has been gutted and the outside compressor is gone but all the duct work and wiring is in place. A buddy has an almost new water heater I can have. The carpet is stained but I have 800' of laminated wood flooring I was going to put in the first cabin. And the yellow paint will have to go.

Here's the kitchen and utility room (a/c, water heater and laundry).

 

[irishpwr46]

forget an elevator, put in an escalator in place of the stairs

 

[skwerl]

Rejected again. The seller just rejected my (full asking price) offer because his attorney doesn't like the idea of moving a house onto the property before it's paid off. Fucking lawyers. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

 

[tjm73]

Rejected again. The seller just rejected my (full asking price) offer because his attorney doesn't like the idea of moving a house onto the property before it's paid off. Fucking lawyers. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Can they reject a full asking price offer in Florida?

 

[Wes06]

What an ass hole

 

[skwerl]

Can they reject a full asking price offer in Florida?

The agent said the seller may finance, then the 'wife' agent asked me to present a very specific proposal and ignored all my notes that I was very flexible on terms. Then they rejected my proposed terms. I just sent a scathing text to the 'husband' agent, I refuse to deal with his wife again. His first excuse was that the seller needed $100K down and the second excuse was that the attorney didn't like the idea of me moving a house onto the property without paying it off first. A bunch of bullshit IMO. No wonder the property has been listed for 5 months without selling.

 

[skwerl]

Still looking and trying to get back to basics. Now that I've filed my taxes for 2014 and I'm showing a bit more income, I think qualifying for a mortgage will be a lot easier. I'm also looking a bit closer in to town as the last couple days driving 10-12 miles out to the property is a bit of a pain depending on the time of day.

This morning I found another house only about 2 miles north of my current house. Unincorporated, backs up to a power line easement so no neighbors behind it, house on the left faces the side street so I only have a neighbor on the right and one across the street to deal with. 4/2 with 2 car garage on .42 acres. Garage faces the back yard so nothing is visible from the street. Tons of parking room for the truck and anything else I want. The house is in pretty good shape for a foreclosure and has a new AC unit installed.

Here's the driveway approach from the side of the lot facing the back yard and the back yard facing the garage. I'm meeting my agent this afternoon to look at it.

 

[Wes06]

Buy it now!

 

[NickD87]

Looks great, any idea if it needs work?

 

[skwerl]

Not much, I'll be getting inside to look in an hour or so. I see a couple water stains on a bedroom ceiling and the roof facia at the ends of the house look like there might be some moisture in the attic, but it has been empty almost 2 years. But the pool pump works and there's a new AC unit outside and a 777 square foot garage!

 

[5.0 Probie]

Well this looks far better than any of the other options thus far from where I am sitting. Heck, looks like all kinds of potential!

 

[skwerl]

Just got back from viewing the place with my agent. Previous owners were in the middle of doing some reconstruction between the garage and adjacent room but it looks like I'll just have a huge air conditioned work shop at that end of the house. There is some minor water damage in the master bedroom but it's coming from the AC air handler in the attic. The roof is dry and solid with no leaks. There are three small bedrooms which will just be extra storage rooms for me for now.

Here's the front of the house, the dining room and the kitchen.

 

[Steve@Tasca]

Not bad, potential for sure.

 

[skwerl]

I'm beginning to realize that 'bargain' houses usually aren't bargains. I can get a lot more house by increasing my purchase price by $30-40K than I can by dumping $30-40K into a dump after I've bought it.

 

[NickD87]

yep, this sure looks nicer that what you started off looking at!
so with this could you finance through the bank? or still doing private lender?
I would sure be proud to own it and it seems like the kind of place that the value can only increase in.

 

[skwerl]

It's definitely a lot more traditional than I expected to buy. I really think I would be happy in the first cabin I tried to buy but this is a lot nicer on the public opinion scale. And yes, I'm beginning to realize that I'm not a lowlife scum unworthy of banker's approval. I just need to work the system like everybody else does. I finally have a banker who is willing to work with me and help me check the right boxes in order to qualify for traditional financing. I suspect I'll be approved for a mortgage on this house by next week. I am still borrowing some down payment money from my private source but that will be repaid out of my equity in my current house.

 

[weather man]

Good luck Brian!

 

[Strengthrehab]

This is awesome man. Good luck.

 

[skwerl]

I'm a firm believer in fate. When the right place comes along then everything will fall into place. Unfortunately nothing is falling into place today. My Realtor still hasn't gotten back with me to submit a bid on the property, my private money guy isn't returning my calls, my banker informed me that I can't qualify for a mortgage as long as I still have my existing mortgage and calls/messages to three other mortgage brokers have gone unanswered.

 

[skwerl]

I've made some progress with the mortgage broker, assessed the current condition of the house a little bit more closely and today decided to submit a bid. I'm not sure if I should follow through with it because I'm fairly anxious about even bidding on the house. If the last house I bid on were to become available tomorrow I'd bid on that one again instead of this one. In fact the longer I think about it the less I want to submit the bid. I doubt I could find a better location for my work and I love the way the garage door faces the back yard but other than that it's just another house. It does back up to a power line easement with a much less desirable neighborhood on the other side, only a few hundred feet away and nothing to block pedestrian traffic other than my fence.

I'm undecided how to proceed. I guess I will keep inching forward with this house but keep actively searching in the meantime. I'm thinking that my hesitation should be enough sign to pass on it but it's the best thing available at the moment.