An acquaintance would like to sell her house, but it is in need of extensive repairs that she cannot afford. A previous bankruptcy rules out a loan. Know of any programs from charities or student projects that could offer assistance in the Hudson, MA area?
Steve (reply to group)
so sell it for its worth , everybody else does. Why dont you fix it for free.
This kind of thing can vary widely from one area to the next. Your friend should look in her local phone directory to find phone numbers of vocational schools, then call those schools, for a start.
she could check with city hall, and see if she qualifies for any available low-interest home improvement loans. sometimes city redevelopment agencies offer them.
Banks will make equity loans to ANYBODY....cause they hold the house as collateral.
Hmmm. First, those charities doing the free work may not be too happy to do it in service of a house sale. Second, there are many repair jobs that could be done which would NOT improve the value of the house. First make sure, with the help of a competent real estate agent, what the local value of the house is and what problems it has that are hurting that value. Keep in mind that a house in disrepair is not unsaleable -- it's just not going to bring the highest price. Those looking for bargains, fixer-uppers, or even tear-downs will be happy to find such a house if the other factors (location, location, location) are right.
I think it's best your friend sell the house now to get the equity she'll need to move into a new (smaller? cheaper? less maintenance?) place, and put the effort into that abode. I just don't think the return on investment of time and /or money will be worth it.
"Steve B." snipped-for-privacy@excite.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:
First check with a bank to see if she really can't get a loan. If the house is being fixed up for a sale then they may be more willing to loan money since the loan will be paid off when the house sells.
Next check with local trade schools or Habitat for Humanity. H-f-H may not want to take on the project, but they may be able to suggest somone who will. Perhaps the promise of a sizable donation upon the sale of the house will soften them up.
Also, if you do a bunch of little fixups it will help. Big things can be left for the buyer. You can offer a repair allowence for the buyer to help with the additional repairs.
After reviewing posts to date:
Habitat builds and repairs houses for sale to resident owners, not for resale. However, Habitat might buy the house for a new owner. They would not pay a lot.
Local government might have one or several programs that would support refurbishment. However, they would be for owner occupants, or for someone who agrees to rent to low income folk, not for resale. The goal of local, state, federal, & Habiat programs is to porvide homes, not enhance resale value.
One cannot always sell a house as-is. We are dealing with a local home owner who's family used government funds to refurbish a home some years ago. She now wants to sell the house and cannot because the house is not in condition to get a CL100 certification.
Tom Baker
Thanks for the summation, Tom and others. The owner has a much better idea now of what she has to do, and some ideas to follow up on. You guys are great!
Steve B.
Sadly, you haven't listed the house repairs that are necessary. Home Depot and most hardware stores will tell you how to do it. I can't think of a single repair that an unskilled person, man or woman, couldn't do. Please list these extensive repairs.
Water tank - electrical or gas are easily replaced. After turning off water - gas or electricity, remove, reconnect water gas or electricity. Get inspected and it is done. stove - gas or electric, turn off gas or electricity, repair/replace, get inspected, turn energy source back on. furnace - same as above. plumbing - mostly plastic and easy to install or fix. Little or no soldering at the best of times. windows, doors, floors, lots of inexpensive options. painting - for most people it is easy. I can't stay within the lines in a colouring book, so painting is very difficult and messy for me but probably not you. roofing - get it delivered roof top - get plastic tarp and work at it as weather and time permit. Box cutter knife, hammer, nails and roofing are basically all you need. concrete - buy dry premix bags and mix by hand and pour. gutters - snap together - a drill and screws and anyone can do it. electrical - most hardware stores have displays and diagrams and the guys/gals will usually draw what you specifically want to do so you can follow it when you get home. Power off, do work, get inspected, power on and away you go.
It will take you longer than a professional to do the work for a few reasons. You probably won't see the problem areas because it is your first time doing it. People are usually slower at anything they are inexperienced at.
The only problem I can see is working above ground and scaffolding can be made out of 2 X 4s that are safe and easy to build with a hand saw manageable by one person as high as the roof on a 2 story building.
Steve B. wrote:
I haven't seen the house, but was told that there are extensive plumbing problems as well as structural damage to the house. The house sits on an acre of land and is in a "good" neighborhood. It's just "too much house", and I thought with real estate prices so high, she could get the house looking good and unload it and get out of debt and live frugally. Be a shame to try to sell after the real estate bubble bursts.
I'll pass your comments on to her. Maybe someone at Home Depot could suggest someone reputable for the repairs. She's not "handy" making repairs and her partner just suffered a stroke.
thanks, Steve
Is replacing carpet easy? Oh I think you forgot the chalkline for the roofing. ares
She should be able to sell it as a Fixer-upper on a prime lot. But it might have to be a cash sale to keep the banks' and insurance companies' and goverment's noses out of her business. If it's uninsurable, she may not get much more for it than what the lot is worth, but she won't know unless she tries.
The only kind of repairs y'all should be making is stuff like painting, repairing shutters, replacing broken glass, putting new washers in the dripping faucets (because you will never recoup the money you spend making major repairs.)
Opinionatedly, Bob
You need to understand the purpose of charities and student groups is to help those who are poor or elderly and can not help themselves.NOT to help someone who cannot get a loan because they mis-managed their finances and took out bankrupties thus causing the rest of us who are financially responsible, to pay for their debts with higher interest rates!
Habitat is not a give-away charity. It's more like a cooperative. Anyone getting Habitat services, which generally consist of *brand new* housing rather than renovation of existing, must contribute both *sweat equity* and monetarily to a special mortgage (I think in years past they were nothing-down, but I'm not sure what they offer today); they also must meet strict income and need requirements. A typical community might have only one Habitat home constructed every year.
Actually, there may well be a community-development loan program available to owner-occupants. If the neighborhood has been designated as "blighted", i.e. with a high percentage of deteriorating or abandoned structures, there might be loan programs available to fix up blighted properties and keep them from being demolished due to code violations. This improves the neighborhood and keeps properties on the tax rolls.
The important thing to do is to ask.
Ah. Sell it as a tear-down. Offer to cover demolition as part of the purchase price. Believe me, there *will* be takers in this market.
I recently saw, along a street in a semi-suburban outer Chicago neighborhood, three lots that must have at one time been identical boxlets (one story,
The "sell as tear down" idea makes good sense when one finds there is an acre of land in a good neighborhood. Dan's experience is similar to mine.
Tom Baker
She could always sell the house as-is. Probably attract more buyers also, as demand exceeds supply for that kind of house anyway.
We have a home next door that was built by Habitat. It was built mainly by volunteers and the home owner has to put in X amount of time also building it and helping with others. You do have to meet income limits and there are certain regulations and rules set up before you buy. Last I heard it was a no interest mortgage. They built 3 in our city last year and now have banned them because some neighborhhoods say the houses are too small.
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