All Forum Posts by: Ryan K.

Welcome! And best of luck with your plans! I grew up just up the road from you in Ebensburg, PA. I now live in Virginia and enjoy the weather much more!

I've found the HUD inspections to be very limited, and sometime even incorrect. I would definitely recommend getting getting someone on your side to do a full inspection before commuting to buy a HUD property.

Be sure to determine if it soaked into the sub floor or not, and also if it soaked into baseboard or walls too at perimeter of rooms. If so you might need to remove hardwood and baseboard, and paint subfloor will Kilz paint to seal in odor, then put down new wood floor. If you leave any pee soaked areas it will just come back and will be noticeable like mentioned above. I really HATE per urine odor! I can't tell you how many homes I've looked at that smelled horrible because of pets.

I appreciate everyone's response. Looks like I'll stick with my local title company to be sure it's done correctly.

I'm buying a REO, Wells Fargo is seller, and they offer to pay for owners title policy if I use their chosen title company. This could be a decent $$ savings. Who has gone this route before and any opinions whether good or bad? And how will I know if I'll be getting a good title policy where any issues have been cleared versus just made into exceptions?

My rough calcs indicate there are enough bricks on site to do the entire exterior. With that in mind I think the return on investment to finish with the brick vs other siding is there. Also they put in a new electrical service and had to lay the brick on one section in order to mount the new panel, so it would be tough to redo that spot or transition to a different siding material.

As far as the two fireplaces I might consider eliminating one of them because I agree that the return on investment for both isn't there due to the high cost involved to finish a fireplace. I can leave one foundation and cap it, or maybe frame it out as an exterior storage room or something. 

Thanks, appreciate the info. Some more details - the house was/is in the middle of having a large addition, and will end up approx 1600 sq ft when complete. The owner was foreclosed on by the bank before the work was finished. The original structure had aluminum siding. The brick exterior was started - all bricks were laid to the top of foundation so the rest needs to completed and the bricks are already on site. The mason that did the work also put in two foundations for two planned fireplaces. There will be sone additional work to remove the old aluminum siding that still exists on a small portion. I've never dealt with brick before so unsure of cost except I know it's expensive compared to other exterior materials. 

Yes, labor for a mason.

Anyone have an idea for labor only cost to install brick siding? Assuming I supply brick. I did a quick search but numbers appear to be a wide range, seeing anywhere from $350-$550 per thousand bricks for the labor. I have a 1600 sq ft rancher, I'm assuming under 10k bricks total to do all four sides from my rough calcs.

Just my personal preference but after using flat, satin, and semi gloss I really prefer flat. It hides imperfections the best, plus if you need to touch up areas you can do it with flat it tends to blend into existing paint without having to repaint entire walls or rooms.