All Forum Posts by: Heidi Kenefick

@Alvin Sylvain

Fear is a very real emotion, but it also keeps us from getting eaten by bears! So, maybe fear did have something to do with it, mostly what I felt was that I was making a mistake however. I could go back with a very low offer, but I don’t think I’m up for all the needed repairs. I’ll keep looking.

@John Hovanec

That’s a good idea. I’m not a member of the CT Reia. I’ve been to a meeting, as well as a couple of meet ups, and should probably go to more of them. You are right, it would be fun to follow along!!

@Bryan S.

Maybe I misunderstood, but the inspector made it clear that to have a contractor do any work, they would require it be removed. And for some of the work, we would of needed a contractor since we don’t have the experience or expertise to remove weight bearing walls.

@Brian Pulaski

I agree. It was attractive since it was already producing some income from the cottage, in a good area, and we thought we could do a live in flip and sell it after 3 years. Houses in glastonbury often rent for about 2k a month, so even keeping it as a rental was another option... but not after realizing what I did yesterday. At the end of the day, I thought, this would be better to knock it down and start from scratch. The mold in the cottage was really bad too, and I thought to myself, am I the type of person that would knowingly rent out a moldy house to someone? The answer is no, as a doctor, I just can’t stand the the thought of putting a person in harms way knowingly. And it wasn’t possible to actually clean it since most of it was inaccessible.

@Kyle Smith

We were considering that. And I realize I have serious leverage right now. It’s really hard to walk away knowing the position I’m in, but I also know I’m in over my head. Since this was going to be a live in flip, we were hoping to get most of the dust producing parts of the rehab done before moving in, which we planned on for June. We are having a baby, (and I’m a pediatrician) and know all to well, the dangers of exposing an infant to lead containing dust. The timeline would be pushed back due to the asbestos and so I’m not confident we can get it done.

@Brian Pulaski

Yes I knew the electrical was like that, and wasn’t too concerned, I just knew it would have to be fixed at some point. The inspector said the wall could come down, but I would have to install a support beam, which means first getting rid of the vermiculite... everything is tied together.

The septic quote was for the tank only. Sad part is, that tank was installed in 2011, so it was a big surprise that it is leaking. Leech field was fine. Apparently there is septic at the next house, so I asked the septic people to quote me on the cost of hooking up to that as an option. Unfortunately, that quote won’t be back until Monday, but he said he thought it would be closer to 9-10k depending on where it ends exactly.

The house is in Glastonbury. Maybe it’s a better deal for you! :)

@Thomas S.

Yes!! That’s exactly how I feel!! Like, I’m way in over my head. When I thought it would mostly just be a cosmetic upgrade, I knew I could do it since my brother in law has done a lot of that type of work, and my boyfriend has experience as a roofer and in building foundations. But because I don’t have any real concept of exactly how much it will cost, I just know it is going to be a lot more than I thought at first, I didn’t feel comfortable finding myself in an expensive rehab that was miscalculated from the start. I did read J Scott’s book on rehab costs... but it just wasn’t enough to tell me what I needed.

@Dennis M.

That’s very true. I didn’t get quotes for a lot of the things, because I opted to walk. So to be fair, I’m not sure how much some of it would cost. The inspector said he couldn’t even tell me because it was so many problems. He did mention I could get the vermiculite tested and if it doesn’t have asbestos then we could just “sweep it away.” My concern with that is, if I wanted to sell the property in about 3 years (which was my exit plan) and things like asbestos removal were not done properly, it could really come back to bite me.

The septic guy said 5-6k for the new tank.

I would have to pay a well expert to come figure out what is wrong with the well and give me an estimate before I knew how much fracking it could cost. And as for the vermiculite, the inspector just said it is upwards of tens of thousands of dollars to have it removed.

The purchase price we agreed to was 180,000, which for the neighborhood is a good price for any house. Similarly sized houses that have been remodeled sold for about 280,000ish within the past year. My projected arv was 250-280,000. Everyone kept saying it is hard to comp bc of the second house on the property, but the town considers it single family since the cottage was built before multi family zoning laws were in effect.

@Victor S.

Yes you are correct, some things were obvious. But the septic, well, asbestos, and mold weren’t until the inspection. Being new to this, I was really naive and thought, ok, we can replace the windows, remodel the kitchen and bathroom, and resurface the hard wood floors. I have family that have done all those things before, so they were planning on helping. There was a lot I thought we could get done on a shorter timeline, but once I realized that there were bigger more pressing issues that needed to be addressed before we could fix the things I thought needed to be fixed, I realized that would eat up my budget, and kill my time line. I didn’t mention I’m also pregnant and due mid May, so was hoping to have a lot of stuff done by then.

@Frank Geiger

Yea, there were also a lot of smaller things like the wood around every single window was completely rotten... and some stuff that is workable but a bit concerning like the main beam holding up half the house was built on two rocks just inches from the dirt in the crawl space... hasn’t been destroyed by termites yet, but looked like a set up for a disaster!

I don’t know what the owners are thinking. But I am sure it is devastating for them as well. I’m sure someone will come in after me and pick it up for probably 100k+ below asking, and then just knock it down and build something fresh. But that’s not my strategy so it will be interesting to see what someone does with it.