Updated almost 7 years ago on . Most recent reply
Would You Buy a Flip Project with a Cesspit?
Hey All, I've been looking for my first flip project for a couple months now and finally got one under contract. It's a banked owned foreclosure that went on the market about a month ago. It was listed for $120,000 but was recently dropped down to $98,000, and I now have it under contract for $92,000. I went and saw the property today for the first time, and met a contractor there to walk through the house and get a quote for the rehab.
During the walkthrough we discovered that the property has a cesspool type septic system which they stopped allowing many many years ago. I am unsure if it is still functional or not, but have an inspection scheduled for it on this coming Thursday. Since there is no place to put a drainfield in for a new septic system because of the way the yard is configured, the cost for the type of system I would need is around $30,000 I have been told.
My question is, if my numbers still look good after getting a firm quote from the contractor, having a home inspection done, and the cesspit clears the inspection, would you recommend proceeding with the purchase? Or do you think the chances of the cesspit causing issues down the road and the extremely costly replacement would make it not worth it? I guess I'm just wondering how much I need to worry about it even if it does pass inspection...the house was built in 1955 and I'm assuming the cesspit would have been put in around the same time. Thanks in advance for any advice!