First Home... Your Thoughts
 

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2 story Farm House sits on 5.53 acres of farm land. 5 bedroom, 2 bath, hardwood floors, open kitchen, newer addition on back side (1 story) Attached/heated 30'x36' garage recent laundry room, and lower bathroom renovation.
-We will tear the tin cheap porch off and replace with a nice shingled one with colums and a nice wooden railings/bannisters along with new windows and siding

1 Silo
1 Milk parlor / barn 20'x93'
1 barn 40'x60'
1 barn 40'x114 (It opens to 48'x70' where the stalls are).... so its around 5K sq ft.
1 lagoon that could be used as pond since its so old (25+ years of not being used)
(all barns are steel roof and sides, with 4'high wood on the sides) The large barn 1/2 of it are stalls but still concrete in between them and in the open part. All 3 are in good condition but will need minimal cosmetic work (repair missing, torn/dented steel) but could be used right away.

asking price of $149,000

No neighbors to the north or east (farm land)
1 neighbor to the west and 1 neighbor to the south with a new house across the road. I know both neighbors and they are nice people. My uncle with a Horse farm is to the south east maybe 1/4 mile away.

The house is on a dirt road but only 1/4 mile from a main paved road into Pittsford, which "Town" itself.... if you call it that is only 1/2 mile away. so its in a good location... Pittsford by the way has around 2K people give or take.... Its a one blinking light town.

Any thoughts or suggestions??? whats a decent price? Pittsford isnt the highest income town. Ill get some more pics of the barns later and house when we tour it with the Realtor.

Thanks!!
Ian

thats a hell of a prices. it would be 3-5 times that by me.

You can't even buy the land over here for that.

I'd be worried about the additions. I'm in a home where the PO did all the additions and it's amazing what you find when you're trying to straighten out their messes.

These older homes can be nice to get into but you should be ready to work your butt off to make them right and keep them right.

Michigans economy is in a pile so its a good time to buy:U: bad time to sell though:ouch:

My biggest kick is the house is in good shape and the largest barn is around 5000 sq ft!!! Id first off tear out the stalls and open it all the way up:U: the 40x60 barn needs tin on the roof in one corner but thats no problem.... Id tear the milk parlor down (brick) and use the tin off its roof for the 2nd barn then Id still be left with a 20x47 wood frame barn with concrete floor...

Oh it also has a 7'x6.6' mini barn thats inbetween the barns and house...

Sounds good from my perspective.
***Definitely ask your Realtor for comps on the property.***

He/she should be able to show you exactly what other properties have sold for in the past 6 - 9 months.

That farm in Chester Co. PA would be close to $690,000.00 even if it needed loads of work.

well if you dont want it let me know i will buy it

ACTUALLY......... I went on the county tax assessment page and got some information...

Sale date 6/26/02 sold for $110,000
sale date 11/25/03 sold for $152,000

reason for recent sales are the farmer passed away and the land was parceled out then the guy that bought all the land sold the house and 5 acres to the single lady with kids..... SHE has had it for sale for around a year now and moved out in the fall of this year...

The property assessment is $82,520

that is still a good deal in my book if you are getting a house and some land i would buy it even if the house needs some work. my thing is we aren't producing any more land so if you have a chance to buy land cheap i would do it

Thats a bargain (as long as the foundation and other important things are sound)....the huge garage and no neighbours thing woulda sold me on the deal.

Can't find land like that around here unless your ready to pay $500K +

Be sure to check out the property taxes with all those buildings it's gonna be high if you don'y have a need for them. And if it's a permanent type silo that reduces the property values. Good or bad deal depends on if it is what you want out of a place to live. Is 5 acres to much land for your needs. If you don't need the land it's a lot of extra work and worry. Or are you gonna outgrow 5 acres in a few years. If the wife decides she wants a couple horses you just pretty much outgrew it.

I would deffinatley agree with Johnny also on the maintenance. I lived in more then a few older farm homes and what a nightmare to work on. Farmers are notorious for being do it yourselfers that tend to do it their own way. Trying to come in after that presents a few challenges most of the time.

But if it's what you want and it's gonna make you and yours happy then jump on it. I guy explained the defintion of worth or value to me one time a long time ago. Anything out there is worth as much as you can get for it, or as little as you can give for it. If you pay that price and your family is happy their, then you got a bargain.

I don't know about your area but that would run about $2M around here. The land alone would cost me the better part of $500k.

On the subject of inspection - don't bother with the home inspector crap - get a real home building contractor with a considerable amount of experience 20+ and have him take a look around. Baring that, get a structural engineer or an architect to have a look see. Most of those guys will work for beer...

Around here that is easily a 750k to 1m property. I have looked at several lately and the more buildings and land there are the more they ask for them, even if they are falling down. If the property assessed at ~90k and they are asking ~150k then I would go to a bank and see what they will actually loan on the property, it probibally won't be much over 90k since it only assesses at 90k.

you could hire a house inspector:humm:

I would buy it for that price.

I'd buy it too!! Second not getting the house inspector, they usually just a cursory scan, if it's not major they're gonna miss. Do some research before you trust a contractor as well. Barns with concrete floors = garage with concrete floor!!!

Thanks guys!!! we looked at the house yesterday and its in good shape, Needs a bit of work to be where we want it.... The wiring needs to be updated and to make it how we want Id pull the plaster/lath down and put drywall up as well as knock a wall out.

Basement is a old Michigan basement but in good shape and dry!
new renovated bathrooms, and laundry room

the previous owner is a RN that moved to Ohio for work.... thats the reason for sale.... BUT looking on the county assessment page she paid $152,000 for it but thats wayyy to much so we wont have much luck bringing the price down from her asking 149,000 Id pay 90-95,000 for it...

Man if you can get all of that for 90-95K I need to move.

I'd offer 90, AFTER a thorough inspection. Is it a full MI basement ? Stone walls or poured ? You've already mentioned puttin in windows, and new siding. Before the siding hire someone to blow in insulation on the outside walls. Get yerself a nice new outside wood/coal boiler for primary heat, (BTW what is your primary right now, propane?) These old farm houses will kill you in the winter on heat bills. If you don't need a second story at all, by all means keep looking!!!!! ( i speak from experience on this one)

What is the history on the well? I just paid a hair over 8k for a new well, 180feet, ouch!
septic, drain field ? Can get costly here too. Make sure the PO absorbs the cost to suck the septic before you purchase. Pretty cheap, but every penny helps.

This for me is the single most important aspect of buying. Where is the property located between neighbors (hog farms, horse farms, pastures) and the WIND. The wind carries everything from bugs, mosquito's, and SMELL, and dirt. In my case i have a horse farm across the street, every night they run their track with a stone picker, all the dust on dry days blows towards us. It is a royal pain my a$$, grilling my nice new full size front deck and end up eating dirt bugers.

If you would like some help, or a couple EYES to look for things you may miss, give me a call, i'll gladly help ya out!!!!

Curtis

That's a pretty sweet deal! My 2-bed, 1-bath on 0.2 acres cost me around that here in Delaware! Go for it!

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I would also agree with that lol

Thanks Curtis!!!
Full stone Michigan Basement that is in good shape, no wet spots or any issues visually.... Its actually clean too!!

We offered 80K but she came back with 147500.... Maybe we ticked her off :ouch: so were going to wait and come back with 110 or 120 whichever we can afford and let her sit on that for awhile... NOTHING is selling in the area and homes for sale are popping up everywhere!! We spent most of friday night driving around looking at homes for sale... they are either too much or they are shat holes.

As far as size eventually we'll have a family so that extra space will be needed!!

My banker just had a kid so there is a hold on the paperwork to see if we can get approved and what the numbers will be.


here are some more pics:
Attachment 57971

parlor will be torn down
Attachment 57972
Attachment 57973

in the big barn
Attachment 57974
Attachment 57975

lagoon & back of barn concrete
Attachment 57976


hopefully we'll get the home:humm:

Man for that price, i wouldnt even negotiate....

It would be 1.5m-2m here, and 30 people fighting over it! Man thats nice! Your offer seems too low though, most times 10-15% less is considered a genuine offer, coming in at 90k wont get her attention at all.

You really have to understand our economy around here right now. As Ian said earlier nothing is really selling around MI. I would offer up 92 - 97,900 don't make an offer an even xx,000 ammount. always put a simple xx,798 or something to attract their attention to the actual number instead of maybe going in 1 ear and out the other with no stop in-between other than to say NO!

Good Luck Bud

In Mitchell, SD that would be pretty close to what that type of acreage would sell for. The assessed value and the appraised value are usually two very different numbers. My house (pretty crappy) appraised for 52,000 when I bought it, and only assessed for 28,000 with .6 acres when I bought it 7 years ago and I financed 49,500 of 50,000 purchase price. My point I guess is that usually the assessed value for taxes is usually way lower than what you would likely have to pay on an older residence.
Like they said, farmers are notorious for doing lots of their own stuff. If there are additions, there is a good chance that it was cobbled together. I personally wouldn't blow insulation in the walls (too much settling, just my opinion). I would replace the windows with some good Andersens or something of similar quality (DO NOT go cheap with windows and doors, it will bite you later) and reside the house with cement board siding and some quality housewrap. Later you can tear the plaster and lathe off of the inside and reinsulate, poly, and sheetrock the walls. Also, if the heating system needs work, think about going with an electric heat pump and switching most of mechanics to electrical. I guarantee propane isn't going to get cheaper ever.
Just my thoughts. Oh, and take a carpenter in like has been said to look at the foundation before anything. That is one of the most important parts of the house.

Josh

Its been on the market for a year and NO offers, the realtor said shes shown it a couple times but no real intrest..... thats how I came to the low ball number. Granted if the economy was greater it would surely sell but we'll let her sit on it and pay the morgage as well as her rent or 2nd morgage. :pca1:

Amber wont let me look at a house thats a foreclosure and the water pipes burst.... unfortunately its across the road from our office manager whom shes not fond of. granted it has a actual pond and only 2 acres plus a garage that needs to be torn down... but if we could get it for around 40k then put 20k into it I think it would be nice..... but she says no:argh:

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farmer renovations- the barns are cobbled as far as shelves and stalls but the house is in good shape.

If we were to own the home Id start upstairs and gut it room by room, new insulation, sheet rock, ADD A/C duct work, and electrical.

I still think its a hell of a buy...man I wish I could find anything close to that up here.

Me too. I might have to think about moving.

Just need to find a job. :humm:

That looks like an awesome place. Good Luck... :U:

one thing if you are going to do siding is look into insulation factor, cost, and value, and the ability to make it look good.

i would have gone with Hardy board on my 1904 house but NOTHING was straight/square/plum/ or flat enough to make it look good. granted the hardy would have held more value in the future but the labor would have been twice as much as it would require installation labor then caulking and painting. then painting however many years in the future when it needs it......

i opted for vinyl siding, the second to the thickest available on the market. we also put 3/8 inch foam insulation board up first and then the vinyl. total cost was less, cost was way less for materials and to me it made a world of difference in the total look of the house being able to float out the vinyl to eliminate the waves in the walls and the electric bill has also decreased too.... we are averaging 80-90 bux a month with everything electric, central h/a, stove, dish washer and water heater....... we blew in insulation in the attic though and that seemed to help alot too.....

i'd weigh all options before you decide on one thing or another..... and it never hurts to think outside the box on some things......

oh and i'd be on that house like a pack of dogs on a 3 legged cat......

anything new ?

we made another offer last week, and the Realtor commented about a "Short Sale" for the seller.... She was going to talk with her and find out if that might be possible but so far no word back.

Short sale usually means that the seller is atleast 4 months behind in payments. In a short sales, banks sometimes accept less than what is owed on the mortgage in lieu of a full blown foreclosure.

The seller has no say in accepting less than the owed amount unless the seller can pay the difference. Banks are slow as molasses when it comes to approving the seller for the short sale process.

I wouldn't hold my breath while you wait for the bank's response. 30-60 days or more for the bank to approve the seller for a short sale aren't uncommon.

Good luck!

Definitely check w/ the county tax assessor on past taxes paid. I believe its public info. You may even be able to find in online by county, address, owner.

Its all public information, I checked online and found the info:U:

Thanks!
there was a forclosure paper on the door a week ago, she OWES 139,XXX on it, so she applied for the short sale which isnt a sale but its not quite forclosure.... the bank just has to come up with a #, we hope they take our 90 w/ 6% back (closing costs)

we'd like to get it asap! out reception for the wedding is August 16, so I have quite a bit of work to do!:argh:

oh man, thats cutting close...:humm:

I wouldn't dink around too much longer, someone else might come in and give the asking price.

That house is a steal for that price.where i'm at it would go for an easy $500,000/$600,000.

were still waiting on the bank, this is taking forever!!:argh:

we were finally contacted by our realtor.... the bank counter-offered a nice price of 145K....:argh::madd:

what a bunch of idiots!

Meanwhile we found a home for 145K 10 acres wooded, built in 1980, and 2458sqft

here is the link with pics:
Hillsdale, MI (49242) Property: 10 wooded acres with a private winding driveway, a...

http://cdn-928.homes.com/c1/cgi-bin/readimage/280381928
http://cdn-917.homes.com/c1/cgi-bin/readimage/280381917
http://cdn-904.homes.com/c1/cgi-bin/readimage/280381904
http://cdn-921.homes.com/c1/cgi-bin/readimage/280381921

Soooooo while the bank eats that home into forclosure were going to do a walk thru of this home. Its a bit more on the budget but it looks awesome, from the photos and its half way between Amber and I's work 10 acres woohoo! another reason to buy a backhoe:yeah: plus its not far from the local golf course:U:

From the pics, it's way nicer, and sounds like in a real good location.