The Historic District

I found this cute little house for sale near us for $7500 and I am trying to talk DH into buying it.

It was built in 1850 and remodeled in 1891 after a fire. It has 1120 sqft, good sized lot and a garage in the back.

I am going to try and get in it this weekend to get a better idea of what all it is going to take to restore. The whole place is mostly gutted but it does still retain a bit of it's charm.

Here are the photos I currently have of the place.
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/front.jpg[/img]
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/gabledetail.jpg[/img]
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/kitchen-1.jpg[/img]
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/living.jpg[/img]
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/mantel.jpg[/img]
[img=center]http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab20/Thomolli/backyard.jpg[/img]

What do you think? Worth messing with?
Holli

I got a free car once. That was the most expensive car ever.

Could be a money pit and that's why the price is low. Are you looking to live in it or flip?

LOL Matt! It would more than likely become a home for some of my employees. DH and I used to take in foster children...well, now they aren't children but they are still struggling and broken. We give them jobs but none of them has ever learned money management skills so they are frequently homeless etc...

One of them is trying to get his life together and go to college and someone stole his books from the shelter where he lives.

I figured we would get them to help fix it up to give them a little pride in their accomplishments and hopefully they will want to keep it nice. We could take the rent out of their paychecks.

Seems a reasonable idea; you might want to have a contractor friend go with you & give you a better idea of what needs to be done.

LOVE that mantel!

At a first glance it doesn't look too bad! Some things to look for are obvious (big cracks in the brickwork that point to settling for example) but I guess you'll definitely want to have a thorough inspection. The house probably does need completely new systems and a whole lot of new walls. If I were you I'd remove that ridiculous insulation from the walls and have them plastered as they originally were - framing or firring out exterior brick walls is a sure recipe for condensation issues and 12" of brick or more provide plenty of insulation.

Why is it that cheap? Is there any hidden trouble such as contamination? Could you recoup any serious investments into the house if you ever had to sell?

Edit: at that price you could probably pay cash and renovate as you go and as funds permit unless you're under some sort of pressure (insurance, town threatening to condemn the house etc.) so the financial risk is pretty low.

I'm probably late to the game here but I absolutely love this house and even more, I love the reasons behind your motivation to do it.

It's a wreck but anything can be saved with enough time, effort and heaven forbid money, and with such a worthwhile reason for doing it, I can't see anything but success. You can put a price on plumbing and electrical but you can't put a price on lives and the impact you could have on the people you're trying to help.

I wish you every success.

The $7500 house guy sold the house without ever returning my calls. Thankfully. Next Thursday we close on a $5000 house right next to our shop. This house is in much better condition. It was built in 1900 has 1650 sqft. 3 bedrooms one bath, 3 fireplaces. It needs a new water heater and plaster throughout. The electric has been up been upgraded and the furnace was new in 2006.

I will post some photos as soon as I can get some.

Lucky you! Fate sometimes works in our favor...

I'm excited to see pictures! I can't imagine having the pick of multiple old houses with original finishes, all for less than 10k.