Looking at a fixer-upper....

[O4L]

A few hundred dollars spent to hire a quality home inspector may be money well spent.

 

[Vamoose]

Best advice i can give is finish as many projects as you can before you move in. Once you're living there, it's hard to get motivated to finish. I've had all the supplies to redo the bathrooms for about 2 years and still haven't gotten around to it.

From personal experience that's very good advice. Live with relatives, live out of a motel, use vacation time, whatever it takes to get the "fixer" part done before you move in.

 

[criticalbass]

Be aware that unoccupied houses under renovation are prime thief targets. One owner had three sets of new cabinets stolen.

Just make secure that your security is pretty tight.

 

[OKCShooter]

Don't "guess" at anything...spend a couple hundred on an inspector and be there when he inspects.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Live with relatives, live out of a motel, use vacation time, whatever it takes to get the "fixer" part done before you move in.

I can't seem to find what the move-in time-limit is on the FLI owner-occupancy affidavit. Besides, doing the whole house at once would be outside of our budget from what we've seen in photos, and without seeing it in person making it livable is well within our budget. We'd basically be going up 4x in square-footage.

I don't get any vacation time, by the way. I'll just have to cut my work hours back to <60/wk.

Be aware that unoccupied houses under renovation are prime thief targets. One owner had three sets of new cabinets stolen.

Just make secure that your security is pretty tight.

That's another reason we'll live in it as soon as the minimum is done to make it livable.

We'll definitely hire an inspector if our initial tour goes well.

 

[amadera]

Neighborhood looks good. Ask price is ~40% of normal sale price from what I've looked at.

The plan is to only consider it if the roof is good. Windows need replaced. And we want to tackle interior work one room at a time because we don't need all of the rooms and we can't do the entire thing at once but we will be there at least 10 years.

Windows are not,repeat NOT,a job for anyone except a seasoned PROFESSIONAL! Its a nightmare job!Proceed carefully.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Windows are not,repeat NOT,a job for anyone except a seasoned PROFESSIONAL! Its a nightmare job!Proceed carefully.

Yep. Especially since it looks like these are all custom.

 

[Vamoose]

Go for it Vegie and best of luck to you!