1837 Farmhouse (Eastern PA)

[Eperot]

Good looking house...are the barns included?
Funny about property taxes. My little 1400sq/ft house is over $6,000 a year and I don't think that is too bad. My brother pays more than 12K for the same size lot and marginally bigger house in his town east of me, and his in-laws? $17,000 a year. Crazy.

[nhguy]

Thank you everyone for the input!

Nicholas,
The lot is just under 2 acres. It is surrounded by farmland and in a very peaceful setting. There is a Barn and a couple other smaller out houses.

Gothichome,
It looks as if the wall has slid off of the end of the beam and shifted down about 2 inches. I threw in some pictures showing the floor from top and below. I have a masonry contractor from Quakertown that works on older stonewalls/limestone repair who will come out to look at the foundation and give us a quote on sagging wall and kitchen ceiling repair. I am comfortable doing the kitchen ceiling myself but the wife wants to get that as part of the quote regardless.

homescribehistory,
Unfortunately I'm thinking it will be the larger amount of the listed tax prices too. The house is located in Monroe County, Chestnuthill twshp. I did read up and see that they had a homestead exclusion, but the Monroe county website is pretty faulty and doesn't load correctly.
I also read there is a HB/SB76 Property Tax Act that they are pushing to knock down our taxes... maybe we'll get lucky if something like this passes.

Attached pictures:
1st floor sinking

Inside_1st Floor_08_SM.jpg

Nice location for sure. Are there protective easements on the surrounding land? I'd worry about development all around otherwise. The sinking floor edge appears to be a bad sill. That's an easy fix for someone with experience in old buildings. It's probably been bad for a long time, so I wouldn't make that my deal breaker. Get some contractors to give an estimate on repairing it to give you piece of mind.
Basement floor sinking 1

IMG_3768_SM.jpg

Basement floor sinking 2

IMG_3770_SM.jpg

Basement floor sinking 3

IMG_3769_SM.jpg

View of the house as we drive up.

_Veiw_01_SM.jpg

[PA1837]

Hey Eperot,
Yes, the barns are included. The large one has an overhang on the road side that has fallen off the foundation and is precariously leaning towards the road. My brother-in-law is a roofer and will help me to take off that portion of the barn. We will leave the other 2/3rds intact and attempt to save it once we get the house mostly completed.
Wife and I are finally starting to get over the sticker shock of the taxes. Looking at the homestead exclusion, pushing for another reassessment since each real estate listings show different square footage of the house (2k, 3k, 4k)... We ran around while looking at the house and measured all the rooms and it should only be in the 2k sqft range. Maybe we can look at some farming tax break? I've always wanted a cow...
Edit: Spelling

[Ober51]

Congrats and good luck with everything. Taxes will never go down, so you need to be sure. I say this because the house we just bought is 2,500sf and on .3 of an acre.... and it's nearly $14,000/year. No garage, tons of work, and we are crazy, I know. But this is where my Italian family set its roots and so we decided to stay, taxes be damned!

[Eperot]

Ober, you are in Bergen County, right? My Brother is in Cranford (Essex) so you know the drill, anywhere close to NYC = crazy high taxes. On a train line? Even higher.

[Ober51]

Ober, you are in Bergen County, right? My Brother is in Cranford (Essex) so you know the drill, anywhere close to NYC = crazy high taxes. On a train line? Even higher.

Yep, we are in Bergen County. We are central to everything, including the train for my wife to work in NYC. She can walk a short distance to the train/bus. We are walking distance to the park, school, and all main highways etc. It is honestly, in my opinion, maybe the best location we could hope for. That's why we got it for a "decent" price and have to put all this time, work, money into it

[PA1837]

nhguy,
Thank you for the comment on the bad sill. Now that I relook at the pictures, that's where the old cistern pipe comes in. It does look like that corner was pulled apart\messed with at one point. I do have a contractor that will come up from Quakertown to give me an estimate on the foundation once the bank and I come to an agreed upon price.
Not sure if the farmland around the house has any protective easements. I know it is actively farmed and I would think the farmland closer to the main road would be used first... A lot of farmland all over this area.

I called the tax assessor and collector. Both confirmed taxes are $3600 a year with a $400 discount on top of that once I get the PA Homestead Act paperwork filled out. Whew, what a relief.

The saga continues with the realtor\bank. They are slow to respond to our offers and they have been even slower to respond with it being a holiday week.

And being that, Happy Thanksgiving All!

[homescribehistory]

Great news on the taxes! Have an extra turkey leg to that!

[nhguy]

It's great you found out your taxes are only $3600, more money for renovations!

[lisascenic]

Oh my goodness! What a charming home.

Did someone have a party in the basement with urethane spray foam?