We found a house we loved, it seemed perfect... then we had the inspection and realized that after weeks of emotional investment into this house, it wasn't going to happen. The foundation was literally washing away with each rainfall and going to cost thousands of dollars to repair. This was a blessing in disguise, it sent us back into the housing market.
The next day, honestly, the very next day my father caught wind of a house newly for sale on my favorite street, and about $20,000 cheaper than the first house. We spoke to the owner and set up a walk-through for the next Saturday. It was nice downstairs... but destroyed upstairs. It was completely gutted. A renovation started but never completed. A mixture of procrastination, divorce and debt had caused the seller to give up on his dreams of renovation forever. Being the psychos we are, we loved it. We could see the potential in this pile of bricks and drywall and immediately knew we had to have it.
Now that we found the house, well rather the shell of a house, that we know will one day be our dream home we can begin the process of obtaining funding. I have excellent credit and 20% down, so you may think this will be an easy feat. Unfortunately, when a house is half finished, or half destroyed, the bank is hesitant to give you any money at all towards the purchase. At the low price of $105,000, it seems silly for the bank to argue with us; they give away more money than that to less deserving people, with less deserving credit all the time. Its not the people the banks are concerned with though, it's the property. If I was buying a house at the very top of my price point, that i could barely afford, with monthly payments that will require me to take on a boiled rice diet and have no furniture, they would gladly give me money. But because i am fiscally responsibly, and i know my limits, because i am buying a house that will allow to me to maintain my lifestyle (albeit this lifestyle will now include a new hobby of home repair) they are weary to fork over the dough. But i am already this far in, I am determined to obtain funding.
After a home inspection (it went ok... the house is 160 years old after all), the bank assessment, and no less than a thousand emails, we now know exactly where we stand... the bank wants us to repair two bedrooms upstairs and build a wall to separate the rest of the house into an attic/expansion area. For this we are grateful. Believe it or not, this is a great deal. After this the house will be labeled a 3 bedroom instead of a one bedroom, which is all the bank seems to care about.
We are going to create an agreement between the seller and ourselves to protect any investment we make in this house (i know it's crazy to make repairs to a house you don't own, but i'm not stupid!). Once the lawyers draw this up, we all have to sign it... which is always a painful process.
2 weeks 'til we can begin repairs!
