Several weeks before school ended I had an appraiser show up on my door step. He had apparently been hired by the owner of the house that we live in. It seemed that the owner's had finally decided to get serious about selling their house. After the appraiser left we waited and waited and waited and never heard anything. Then a few weeks later I had a guy call me. He was the hired Realtor and wanted to come up the next morning to take pictures to list the house with. It was then that we learned that this house, a 3 bedroom, 3 bath house with a unfinished basement and too many problems to count (which many are against code) had appraised for $278,000.
WOW!
We were shocked. But knowing that the owner will NEVER get this amount for this house, in this area our fears of being evicted before we were ready subsided.
The next morning the Realtor showed up and started taking pictures. About half way through he put his camera away and told us he couldn't finish. There were too many problems and with house not up to code which rules out almost every kind of loan (FHA, Rural housing, VA, etc.) except conventional and cash. He also said the appraiser should loose his license because this house shouldn't appraise for anything near what it did. He informed us that he was going to head home and discuss the issues with the owner. He was going to advise the owner to lower his price dramatically like over $100,000 or to fix everything. We knew the owner's wouldn't be pleased with either option.
Like the Realtor it is our opinion that when spending $278,000 on a home a person is not expecting a stinky urinal that doesn't flush or
stairs that go upstairs with no railing or
kitchen cabinets that are either missing or broken or
a bathroom vanity with no drawers along with broken barely hanging cabinet doors or
holes in the wall's (every room has more than two) and
missing fan plates to a bathroom fan that doesn't work or
light fixtures that show off our L.E.D lightbulbs or
old pink carpet that have holes, stains and many rolls.
Like I said. It's just our opinion that a home buyer would expect better.
Now don't get me wrong. The house shouldn't be condemned or anything it just hasn't been well cared for and really needs some TLC.
So after a couple of weeks of the Realtor leaving we expected to hear something and never did. Almost 3 weeks later I had yet another stranger knock on my front door. It was the "hired" handy man. He walked through the house with the list from the owner. He spent a few hours making notes so that he could give a bid on the project. Almost 3 weeks later the hired man showed up with his father-in-law to make a list of needed supplies. The owners decided they were not going to lower their price but throw some money at the house to fix it up a bit. I was told that the entire house was going to be painted both inside and out. Texture on the main floor would be scraped off and re-done. Plumbing and electrical issues would be fixed, carpet to be replaced and much much more. All while living in the house. I was not happy but knew we'd survive. The handy man, Mark asked me to remove everything off our walls and told me that during this process all furniture would be moved into the middle of the rooms and that they'd go one room at a time. So I started collecting boxes. Closets were going to be done to so I figured boxing stuff up would keep everything together and clean.
Knowing the upstairs was going to be done first we boxed up most of the kids stuff including all the games, book, puzzles, drapes, etc. and put them in the boys closet for the time being.
I like Mark, the handy man, but he moves slow and isn't realistic on his time. I have lost count how many times I was told he'd be here and then not show up until 2-3 days later. Or told he'd be here first thing in the morning and he doesn't pull in until 2-3 in the afternoon. It was very frustrating. Like he had said he started with the girls room. So we pulled out all their furniture into the upstairs family room. It was only suppose to take him a day, it took almost 3. So the girls lived in the family room. When that room had the holes in the wall fixed and painted all the furniture went back in and then the boys room was done. The owner decided not to replace the carpets.
After the boys room was done Mark went home for the weekend and told me he'd be back the next week to finish the upstairs family room. Two weeks later he showed up and did just that along with the downstairs.
Everything in each room was pushed to the middle. It was quite the scene. Being Mark hadn't shown up when he told me he would I was not prepared for when he did show up. I had made sure that my upstairs stayed spotless but the downstairs was a different story. When he showed up I folding clothes on the couch which he quickly covered up with a drape cloth to start painting the ceiling.
It was chaos plain and simple. We had drop cloths all over our couches, furniture and my kitchen island. I fixed meals at my in-laws. We ate our meals outside or on the floor. I didn't feel comfortable using my own bathroom the two day's they were in my room fixing holes and painting. I did my best at keeping my kids playing outside or at a cousin's house. When Mark finally left Wednesday night I think we all had a sigh of relief. We could finally put things back in order where they go. Mark is by no means near being done. But it is getting closer to the day he never returns. They still have to fix the sink in the hallway that leaks. Mark says silicone will fix it. Kory says silicone is not a plumbing feature that should be used to fix a leaking problem especially when they just replaced most of the plumbing. It just shouldn't leak but.... I never use it anyways so really don't care at this point. The girls bathroom still leaks but the owner didn't say to fix it. It was decided that the texture wasn't that bad after all so it was never scraped and re-done. Just painted over. Carpets aren't going to be replaced nor light fixtures. Closets and the hallway will also remain the same. Doesn't make any sense but the owner doesn't think they need to be done. Mark will be adding a railing to our stairs and putting covering plates on the remaining holes in the wall's. Mark is hiring Kory to make the missing drawers in the bathroom and to fix the broken kitchen cabinets. The tree's outside apparently will be trimmed along with a few more odds and ends. Mark let me know he won't be coming back this next week but hopes to be back the following week. He hopes to get the remaining issues fixed in a 3 day period. I won't hold my breath! Like I said I like Mark but he isn't the best handy man. Instead of pulling out all the nails in the walls that were put there by previous tenants they were painted over. Some hardware was taken off the walls like the hooks in our room to hang bath towels while other's like the hand towels next to the sink remained and just painted around.
The house is listed. We do have a sign with flyer's. The owner is asking $268,000. Even with the new paint I really don't think anyone will be buying the house anytime soon. There is another house in town that is one year older. Has a finished basement. Has 5 bedrooms, sits on two acres and is just over all in a much better condition. It was listed and sold in one week for $160,000 a few weeks ago. I think if the owner dropped his price $100,000 he'd have a chance at selling.
