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Would you buy this house?


Granny_Weatherwax
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Our area had an active religious compound for about 10 years. Something happened this past year and the organization closed or relocated and the property is being sold. There are about 10 houses, a church, a dorm, a green house and an activities center. Most of the homes are average but there is one I really like. We used to live about a mile from the compound and this house faces the road; we would see it as we would walk the dog or ride our bikes.

 

It is a 4700sq feet log cabin style structure- 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, all hardwood floors, with huge picture windows on the north side. It was used as the compound's main office. It is being listed with slightly over 5 acres of grass prairie. The selling price is $170,000. There is no garage but the house is well maintained.

 

We would never be able to afford a home this large on this much property anywhere else in our area. The rumors are that we would probably be able to buy the house for less than $150,000.

 

The problem I have is that the church, the greenhouse and the dorm are less than .1 mile down the driveway. Due to a shared driveway we would have to look at them every time we entered or exited our property. I am not sure I want to look at vacant buildings for the next however many years. There isn't much need for these types of buildings in the rural midwest and the local skuttlebutt is that the property will sit vacant and decay.

 

All of the homes being listed for sale are well below appraisal value.

 

What do you think? Would having the vacant buildings nearby break the deal? Or would the prospect of unknown potential buyers be worrisome? I mean who would buy a church, a dorm and a greenhouse in the middle of nowhere?

 

---

I Googled the organization and they relocated to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.

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Guest inoubliable

I would! What about buying those buildings, too, and renting them out or using them for extended family?

 

Yes! That's what I was thinking. Hit the post button before I could continue my crunchy-granola thoughts... LOL.

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I would! What about buying those buildings, too, and renting them out or using them for extended family?

 

This would be great except we don't have much of an extended family. I thought about using the dorm for college kids but I don't know how many community college students wantto live in the country and commute 20 mins to class.

 

The greenhouse looks like it needs to be demolished. It is on the smallest parcel of land. Dismantling and recycling it would be fairly easy.

 

The church is quite pretty. It has beautiful stained glass windows in the front. I don't know what a new purpose for it could be.

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Guest inoubliable

 

 

The church is quite pretty. It has beautiful stained glass windows in the front. I don't know what a new purpose for it could be.

 

Couldn't it be turned into a house? There was a blog I followed once where a couple had done that, and I know of an old church here in town that's been turned into a home.

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Absolutely - BUT I would seriously look into buying the greenhouse and demolishing it. We've had some unattended greenhouse in our area, and ... well.... it doesn't take too long to figure out what happens to a place that's designed to grow plants that no one is keeping an eye on.

Maybe I can use it to my benefit to help pay for the other outbuildings. :) Entrepreneurship at its finest.

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Wow, I am amazed that so many of you say to go for it. I expected the exact opposite.

 

So now I must ask...

what questions would you ask the bank and the realtor?

 

I know to ask about the septic system and the well. We will need to have the roof inspected (it's huge and sloped).

No taxes have been paid in the 10 years due to a religious exemption. I need to know if the taxes will be based on the purchase price or the assessed value.

 

What else?

 

DH is going to go take a drive by with me this afternoon. I am not too worried about convincing him to set up a private showing. We always said if this property went up for sale we would at least look. It reminds us of the mountain properties in CO; it would fit in so well in Black Forest, near Salida or heck, in almost any mountain community in CO. It would be like a little piece of home (without the aspen or pine trees).

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I would so totally buy it. My kids, with their movie-making would have no problem putting the setting to good use. And the price for that house? That's over a million here. Tell me where it is, I'll go buy it. :D

 

When I saw that it was for sale my first thought was that it would be in the upper 300s. I was shocked to see the actual listing price and to learn that it can be purchased for less.

 

We are curious to discuss the property with the realtor and find out what isn't being shared at this point. We are concerned about hidden catches that might raise the price or make it less affordable.

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What is the legal set up on the driveway, etc.? Is it legally shared? An easement? A "private road"? Who is responsible to maintain it? Is there an agreement on how the costs would be split?

 

The house sounds great but I would double check the driveway situation. Could you move the driveway over or is this 5 acres land locked behind the other properties?

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What is the legal set up on the driveway, etc.? Is it legally shared? An easement? A "private road"? Who is responsible to maintain it? Is there an agreement on how the costs would be split?

 

The house sounds great but I would double check the driveway situation. Could you move the driveway over or is this 5 acres land locked behind the other properties?

 

 

Good questions. If we get that far I will definitely ask about the driveway.

 

This property is the front property and the first thing you see from the county road. The bulk of the 5 acres borders the county road. I think it would very easy albeit expensive to make a new private drive.

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Thinking about the other bldgs . . . Is your town a travel destination? You mentioned a college relatively nearby. Is it large, and does it have a well-known football program? If so, are hotel rooms hard to get during football season? If yes, you could buy the other bldgs and use them as a family inn or B&B type place - if you're able to put in the work of running a business, that is.

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Shared driveway? Nope. Do you have the money to eventually buy the rest of the place? If not, then I, personally, would not even consider it. Who knows what group wold ever come in and buy the rest? What if it were some some sort of survivalist nut-bunch?

However, if you could get the other properties at a super bargain, then that would be great, as long as the taxes were doable, too.

You can get crazies anywhere.

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I have always thought it would be so fun to have an extra property on my land (if I had land) that I could use as a learning space. What I mean is that you could rent the space to teachers, tutors, artists, musicians whoever to use to teach groups of kids. Do you have a nice homeschool community around you? Imagine the learning that could take place! How fun would that be? You could also possibly rent the extra buildings to someone who needs some sort of office space for their business.

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Thinking about the other bldgs . . . Is your town a travel destination? You mentioned a college relatively nearby. Is it large, and does it have a well-known football program? If so, are hotel rooms hard to get during football season? If yes, you could buy the other bldgs and use them as a family inn or B&B type place - if you're able to put in the work of running a business, that is.

 

No, our community isn't a destination for anything. The community is actually becoming smaller with fewer and fewer business opportunities as time goes on. I think it is one of the reasons the religious community left the area.

 

The college is a small LAC. None of the sports teams is a big draw. The only times extra rooms are needed are Freshman orientation weekend and graduation.

 

It is a good idea, though.

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I wouldn't rule it out but I would be concerned about local kids breaking in to use the empty buildings for hanging out or about squatters and the accompanying litter, noise or illegal activity. I would ask who owns those buildings and what their plans are for maintenance security if they can't sell them.

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Well, we did a drive by, peekin' in the windows. It is awesome. No appliances though. It isn't really 4000+ sq ft. The basement, which is unfinished, is included in the sq footage. The upper levels are closer to 2800 sq ft.

 

The basement used to be a two car garage. The garage doors were removed and french doors put in to convert it to storage space for the business. DH thinks it will be easy enough to convert it back in to a two car garage.

 

Two of the acres, which includes the house, are nicely landscaped with a few young trees and flower beds.

 

The remaining three acres look like they were planted with alfalfa. DH thinks that these three acres can be used to produce some income.

 

DH called the realtor for a private showing so we are going in this afternoon. We did find out that the house has been under contract three times and all three sales have fallen through.

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DH called the realtor for a private showing so we are going in this afternoon. We did find out that the house has been under contract three times and all three sales have fallen through.

 

 

I think the realtor is obligated to disclose the reason why those sales fell through. If it was due to not being able to get the financing, you'll need to know why. If a bank gets into the process and then finds something off with the property, they will not ocmplete the financing. You'd want to know that before you waste your time.

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I would definitely buy it! You could take down the greenhouse and use some things to build your own. You could ask the city if they want to buy the church and use it for community events or a landmark? And the dorm... if you could aquire it somehow, do you think you could sell it as senior living to another company? Even if the buildings were vacant, I would jump on it.

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I would buy it, and the other buildings too as pp's have mentioned. I would think there would be some way to make an income off of the other buildings (rent out the little church for weddings and ceremonies, turn the dorms into a retreat center and rent it out to groups, etc. - so many possibilities!). Sounds beautiful! :)

 

Definitely find out why the previous contracts fell through before you give it serious consideration.

 

P.S.: I was tickled that you mentioned Black Forest, CO. That's where I live. And yes, this property would fit right in here. :)

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Wow, I am amazed that so many of you say to go for it. I expected the exact opposite.

 

So now I must ask...

what questions would you ask the bank and the realtor?

 

I know to ask about the septic system and the well. We will need to have the roof inspected (it's huge and sloped).

No taxes have been paid in the 10 years due to a religious exemption. I need to know if the taxes will be based on the purchase price or the assessed value.

 

What else?

 

DH is going to go take a drive by with me this afternoon. I am not too worried about convincing him to set up a private showing. We always said if this property went up for sale we would at least look. It reminds us of the mountain properties in CO; it would fit in so well in Black Forest, near Salida or heck, in almost any mountain community in CO. It would be like a little piece of home (without the aspen or pine trees).

 

 

As someone who lives in CO, buy it ! A small piece of home at a great price? Absolutely!

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Okay.....that was interesting.

 

The house is not what it seems. It is listed as a five bedroom but actually has 7 bedrooms on the main floor. All are fairly small, maybe 8 X 10. Only 3 of these rooms have closests.

The two bathrooms are strange. The main bath is a 3/4 bath. The shower stall is tiny. The area where a tub should have been was drywalled and converted into a pantry accessed through the kitchen.

The second bathroom is a 1/2 bath and is impossible to turn around in due to a urinal that was added at some point; the door barely has enough room to open inward.

 

The house does have potential, esp. for someone with remodeling skills or a contractor in the family.

 

These are our thoughts:

-we would convert the home into a 4 bedroom home with an office

 

-combine two of the bedrooms on the east side into a master bedroom with a small walk-in closet.

-combine two of the bedrooms on the west side into a larger bedroom with a medium sized walk-in closet.

-drywall a common entryway between two bedrooms so that the entry way forms a closet for one of those bedrooms

-the fourth bedroom (no closet) would be used as an office/library once floor to ceiling bookshelves are added

-the living room is beautiful and only needs a new front door (the current one looks very much like a business entryway)

-remodel the main bathroom to include tile floors, a new sink & cabinet, and a new combination tub & shower;the existing shower would become a linen closet

-there are no appliances; these would need to be purchased and a dishwasher would need to be plumbed in

-the kitchen countertops need to be replaced

-the second story loft area is smaller than we thought and could not be used as a bedroom; there is currently a plexiglass divider in place; the divider could come down to make the loft one large space for a tv area

-the french doors in the basement would need to be removed as would a paneled wall and garage doors would need to be reinstalled.

- the wall separating the garage from the rest of the basement would need to be rebuilt

-a laundry room would need to be added as there are no washer or dryer outlets to be found ??

 

We have a good idea about what the offers the sellers have had and what they might be willing to accept. However, we need to have estimates from contractors regarding the modifications before we will know if we can afford it. The realtor did tell us that every person who has made an offer has also wanted to bring in a contractor to discuss fixing the bedrooms and the bathroom.

 

DH's estimate for making the house more livable for our family: $15,000-30,000.

 

We are both a little sad because the exterior design of the house and the acreage are very nice. We just don't think we could afford the renovations and the purchase price and then gamble on the sale of the other houses and buildings.

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The church has no parking and the realtor said that nobody has looked at it. The dorm/activity building has a little bit of parking but it also has not had any interest.

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Re: the shared driveway

 

Try to recall summer camps or church camps. There is a main entrance and smaller roads going off to the separate buildings.

 

That's how this place is. The main driveway turns off the county road. From there you either turn right toward one house, turn left to the main office/house or go straight (deeper into the property) to the church, dorm and remaining houses.

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For those who think the property can be purchased as a unit. It would take about $1.5 million in order to do that. That's never going to happen for me unless I win the lottery and I don't buy lottery tickets.

 

Each of the houses that are for sale are listed between $140,000-170, 000. The greenhouse is $25,000 and the church is $150,000. I couldn't find the price for the dorm/activity building.

This property is located in the country, not in any city limits. Zoning laws prohibit car dealerships, junk yards, etc out that far.

 

These properties are all very close to each other. Remember, it was a religious compound. The people worked in the main buildings (the house we are interested in & the dorm/activity building) and walked to the church (hence no parking).

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I agree with checking and double checking and then triple checking the zoning and planning commision ideas through the township for the properties. Their "master plan" might allow a commercial farm or commercial business or ????? on the neighboring properties in the future. Not only do you want to know what YOU are and are not allowed to do on your property but also what everyone around you is allowed to do or not do as well.

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