All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

As others said if the wife is on title you may end up having to buy it twice...

We have a Lakehouse in Orleans county on Lake Ontario & several around us are rented. One small run down cottage is constantly occupied, 2bedroom 1 bath & no a/c. Whereas the larger one, also 2 bedroom 1 bath & also no a/c is rarely rented but they want $250/night $1500/week. We have been offered $400/night & $2,000/week for our 4+ bedroom 2.5 bath & a/c, but declined. 

Another neighbor owns several small 1 & 2 bedroom cottages that she has on VRBO & said it's slow this year & last year was a bust. She insists on a minimum of 3 nights otherwise it's too much work. Then again she started buying them 5 years ago so she is way ahead just on appreciation.

Listing prices for the cottages/Lake-houses around us are running $250-$375/sqft, many of which need a complete rehab. 

We have a 2 bedroom cottage a mile from us that is rented every weekend & sometimes the extra 'visitors' put up tents outside. We have often seen 3-5 vehicle's parked there.The cottage is 1950's vintage so the septic o/flows a couple of times during the summer & has to be pumped. The immediate neighbor, within olfactory distance, has complained but to no avail, so I guess the village is not too concerned. Then again we have massive dairy farms nearby spraying cow effluent over their multi-acreage feed lots & that apparently washes down into the lake.

After 12 years of great tenants our large 6 bed/3 bath 1828 mansion was again vacant. Being Semi-rural & in dire need of some updating & cosmetics we threw it on Craigslist to assess the demand & we were swamped with applications. I bet we had 20 couples through it before I pulled the advt. Some were very interesting & told us their life stories as the walked the property. One couple had their medium friend walk the grounds at night to make sure it wasn't haunted. I bet the mosquitoes had a feast.

We had an application from a mid-30's couple with 11 children between them from a number of youthful assignations & 2 Pit Bulls. Another couple were unemployed due to covid but hoped to have work in the fast food industry soon, if their unemployment & stimulus runs out. Another took all morning to fill an application but refused to enter his income, SSN, Driver Lic, because he didn't want his credit being hit again?? Then hounded me with many texts about how great he & his disabled mother would be as tenants & he wanted to take me out to the Olive Garden for dinner.

Then we had an interesting cash offer to buy with an early possession (I'll pay rent until my divorce is finalized). But as my wife predicted, it fell through once she had 14 of her family members go through the place & talk her out of the work it would take to upgrade the interior. 

Finally we had a great middle-aged, recently married (3rd time for both) fill in an application to rent. Then surprised us via text with a low ball offer to purchase. We ignored it as we had so much interest. Then they came back with, "I hope we didn't offend you with our offer, please counter". I did text that we were still considering our options & they knew we had a lot of interest in the home. Then came the proverbial signed offer you couldn't refuse,  'as is' no conditions with them paying all closing costs. Plus 3 months rent for early possession paid up front until the close, separate from the earnest money deposit.

So we lost one months rent but it was worth the exercise & we did meet a lot of interesting people from so many walks of life, all struggling to find a home. What surprised me was the number of young families that have nothing but a couple of menial jobs & nothing saved.

As an owner of many 1830-1960 properties & to comply to our building inspections, here is my 2 cents.

Roof..if it ever needs replacing it will need new sheeting & OSB is ruling @ $50/sheet. Not to mention the 7-10 layers of cedar/tile we have experienced. Then you may need extra rafter supports as trusses were not the norm & long roof beams sag a lot overtime. We have had insurance carriers refuse coverage due to a sagging roof in otherwise perfect condition.

Plumbing: cast iron water & waste pipes will be corroded & could fail especially if your rehabbing & retrofitting new PVC. Old venting can be insufficient &/or blocked. The old cast iron drum traps are a nightmare to replace in small floor cavities if 2inch PVC traps are the code requirement.

Electrical feeds could have been be scabbed in to cover K&T behind the walls & if upgraded it may be ungrounded & many junction boxes could be buried inside ceilings & walls. So new circuits (up here for code compliance) will need to be pulled. New panels with breakers are a must if they are no longer code or the amperage is deficient. Then you need the hard wired Smoke/CO detectors that are fun to wire in an old building.

Windows: if egress is required for code compliance you'll need to address that on all the upper bedrooms. That can be fun if your window sizes are 'set in stone' complete with a limestone sash.

Then there's the mechanicals. Old systems will usually be in need of replacement. The duct work may need upgrading & Hydronic systems are prone to leak & corrode even if they are Cu. Cast iron feeds are also prone to corroding & bursting especially if it's high PSI steam. In fact we had one radiator blow & a piece of shrapnel was lodged into an adjacent wall.

Basements can be a nightmare if mortared field stone. Rim joints can be compromised & age sagging floor joist may need to be supported with the support embedded in the correct footing as per code.

Then depending on age you may have the lack of any insulation in the outer wall cavities. Then again some will have granular dust like insulation full of asbestos poured into the ceiling cavities & that is a nightmare. Furthermore, up here if you break into an outside wall to run electrical the wall must then be fully insulated.

Good luck it's an experience.

Good health...at this stage of our lives nothing else matters !!!

Exactly!!  & all the co-workers who warned me of going broke, laughed at my run down "you'll never make money" rehabs (one is worth $780k from a 1981 $72k investment) & who called me a slum landlord because I rented rooms. All these mutts worked into their late 60's. Then they took menial PT JOBS to supplement their retirement incomes & payoff their wives who left them. So who's laughing now !!!

Did I mention the fact my wife is an absolute Saint !!!

Old guy here...

It was a tough knuckle busting, very frugal few years, complete with many sleepless nights as rehab costs & interest rates of 18% ate into rents. Then came a very early retirement from that well paying JOB..

Looking back I was definitely happier spending all my spare time/vacations, blood sweat & tears & disposable cash on rundown properties, than going to work each day in a beat up vehicle no-one would ride in.

The years of tenant drama, rehabs & 'oh no' surprises still bring a lot of smiles & hearty laughs as we tell our REI active kids our war stories.

It's definitely an adventure !!!

You said it was just a empty lot. Assuming you sign off on the encroachment would it compromise future development of that lot??

Instead of $40k (or less depending on the sellers mood), I'd just try & buy the lot, but again that depends on the cost &/or the potential it has.

Best one ever. We met for a corporate dinner with a British couple who had recently arrived in the USA for a big project we were commissioning. They had just moved into a large old home & having arrived late for the dinner they apologized explaining that while checking out the large attic of the old home they saw these things with black eyes (aka raccoons). So we asked what they did to get rid of them. She replied they just locked their cat up there to scare them away...we were stunned. 

This same couple then bought a huge above ground pool that they put together on the back lawn which had substantial slope to it. Sure enough after a lot of rain it collapsed & washed the dog & dog house down the slope into the sliding glass doors that subsequently collapsed & the kitchen was flooded. He was an engineer so you'd have thought he had an inkling of that disaster.