Everyone else who’s house hunting these days is probably seeing a lot of foreclosures for sale like we are. We’ll admit we were torn about whether or not we wanted to consider them. It’s one thing to buy a home from a willing seller, but to take a home that someone else didn’t want to lose seems so sad. Especially given all of the recent issues coming to light about houses being foreclosed on when they shouldn’t have been. But we decided to tour this one, even though it was a little outside of our comfort zone, just to see what it looked like inside (since the outside was pretty charming indeed).
THE STATS:
- Age: 1960
- Home size: 2,659 square feet
- Lot size: 0.4 acres of land
- Bedrooms: 4
- Bathroom: 2.5
THE PROS:
- Extremely inexpensive
- In need of TONS of work (which is a plus for us)
- Slate roof and gorgeous hardwood floors throughout
- Nice private backyard
- Great neighborhood (near family and awesome schools)
THE CONS:
- Smells heavily of smoke inside
- Sagging drywall in nearly every room (re-doing drywall isn’t as fun as most DIY projects)
- It’s huge (and we prefer a more modest footprint that’s easier to clean)
- Can’t be purchased with a contingency (meaning we’d have to sell our house before putting in an offer)
- Foreclosures can be a good deal, but they make us sad (and may even be a liability given the murmurings of “foreclosure fraud”).
So even though the pros seemed to balance out the cons (in numbers, at least) we just couldn’t get past how virtually uninhabitable it would be while we tried to fix the drywall and rid it of the heavy smoke smell. It’s certainly not something we’d want to move Clara into before that (and since we’d have to sell our house before even making an offer, we would most likely have to figure out interim housing which seems complicated and unnecessary if we can persue other homes that will accept a contingency instead). But we’re glad we toured it just to know what’s inside and rule it out as an option for us. After all, every house that we enter without getting that “this is it” feeling means we get to cross it off the list, which hopefully brings us closer to The One.
Psst- Help! Over on BabyCenter we’re calling all moving experts for tips and tricks to help keep our upcoming move organized and efficient- especially since we’ll have an under-a-year-old baby along for the ride. Any varsity movers with advice for keeping things as uncomplicated as possible! Share them right here.
Kate says
I just have to say THANK YOU to the commentors who mentioned the walls “bleeding” yellow in the bathroom when you take showers. I’ve had that happen in the last two apartments I’ve been in (including the current one). In the last apartment, the walls had not been painted before I moved in so I assumed that was the cause, but in this apartment it had been painted and I was starting to wonder if it was actually something I was doing. Glad to know that my guess was right and it must have been some previous smokers.
Carrie says
We bought a foreclosure last year. My husband was brave enough to go over to some neighbors he saw outside and ask about the previous owners, and the house itself. It gave us a lot of answers to some of the questions we had about the property that the realtors and bank could not/would not provide.
And ditto on one of the other positive comments about buying a foreclosure, the neighbors will all love you for fixing up the property. Even one of the trick-or-treaters we had complimented our progress! haha :)
Shannon says
We are living and redoing in a foreclosure and we are planning on doing it again if we ever move. As much as I feel bad for the people who lived here at one time, I also feel bad for the community that is sitting with a house that devaluing the neighborhood and could become a problem (vandalism, squatters) and I also feel bad for the builders who had a dream for this house and now it has been left in shambles. It makes me feel better knowing I am helping the community and doing the houses ancestors proud.
Amanda says
Oh it is so tough not to get to see pics of the backyards and interiors of these houses!!! I think it is very thoughtful of you to be that considerate though. Thanks for bringing us along on the search!
Bet says
A slate roof is very charming, but it can be a con when it comes time to replace it. You would have to start saving now for when that very pricey day comes!
Paula/adhocmom says
The prospect of moving with a little one is so intimidating. We’ve put if off for almost three years. . we’re looking for tips too. We’re hoping to put our place on the market soon.
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
Yuck, I’d pass on it for the smoke smell alone. That stuff gets into EVERY.THING.
There are a lot of empty houses in the neighborhoods around here. It’s very sad. If no one is taking care of them at all, the grass gets too high; and in the winter the driveway remains unplowed. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but in some areas that can be an invite for vandals. Plus, houses (of ANY age) just don’t like to sit empty for long. They start to deteriorate very quickly. Hubby and I always talk about houses like that, like they have feelings: “Ohhh, that one looks REALLY sad!” or “Wow, this looks like a very happy house,” LOL. (I know, we’re nuts).
At one time there were TWO houses on our small street that were vacant. Thankfully, nice people have moved into both of those houses this year. But the other ones we see while driving around? Sad. Seems like every few weeks, we notice another one…
Elizabeth says
We bought our house 2 years ago as a bank-owned property, and the neighbors told us that the prior owner had bought it after the first owner died (yes, he bought it when it was built in the 1950s), and had left it vacant… I kind of don’t feel that bad for her. She never even lived it, I think she was trying to flip it.
Maybe it’s the fact that we waited to buy until the market was down, didn’t get a ridiculous zero-down, zero-check loan and actually wanted to live in the house that we bought?
It’s definitely worth looking at bank-owned properties, because sometimes you can find a gem – but we saw a lot of horrible houses first! But you can’t really bargain with the bank, so since you guys need to have contingencies, it might not be the best option.
Also! Avoid short-sales — they take FOREVER.
Haley says
I am a sucker for a deal. But, the smoke smell is a major turn off on this one.
Suzanne says
My mom (age 79) bought a house a few doors away from me so I could help her out. It was a total steal, and was a foreclosure.
But consider this: not every foreclosure is a horrible thing. The elderly man who lived in the house had died (not happy, but he was very old), and his kids didn’t want the hassle of repairs and trying to sell it, since they lived states away. So they decided to just let it go back to the bank.
We did a lot of work on it to bring it back into shape, and one day, there were some people standing around outside her house, taking pictures. Turned out they were the man’s children, and they were so delighted to see someone living there, who had fixed it back up.
But I understand the hesitation about foreclosures. Before the realtor told me the story of the house, I had visions of a family being thrown out onto the street. I’m not sure we could have lived with that.
You guys are just adorable, and I so enjoy the projects!
Amy E. says
Not all foreclosures are sad things. I know of a small handful of people who’ve willingly (sometimes eagerly) walked away from their mortgage payments and their home and left the bank with the consequences. Although I personally don’t agree with their choices (they were still financially able to make payments, but through a technicality they were also able to walk away), I feel that it’s no different than a great find at a thrift store: the previous owner may be regretting their decision to part with the item or they may not, but their time has passed and if you love it then you should go for it!
Even though I totally agree with your assessment on this house (smoke smell would be a big fat instant NO from me), I hope you don’t let that sad feeling be a deal breaker in the future!
YoungHouseLove says
We hear you guys loud and clear! Of course we understand that not every foreclosure is a sad thing and that some people willingly leave and want to start over and we also agree that every old house deserves a new life- including foreclosures! We just share how we’re feeling about certain things on our site, and that specific house honestly felt very sad to tour. And maybe that’s not a rational reaction, but it’s how we felt (there were childrens items left behind that suggested it was left in quite a hurry). Maybe it’s my new mommy hormones, who knows!
We considered a number of factors that ensured us that this house wasn’t the one beyond the fact that it was a foreclosure (the smoke, the sagging drywall, the fact that they wouldn’t accept a contingency, etc) and we certainly believe that when we walk into the house that’s The One, we’ll know it! Until then we’re just sharing the homes that we look at along the way and all the feelings that we have about each of them (from wanting it to be a certain size or have a certain layout to ideally finding something that would accept a contingency so we don’t have to move twice with a baby). The search continues…
xo,
s
Kelly says
My husband and I bought a forclosure just less than 2 years ago, and I do not feel guilty at all. I think it is a great opportunity for a responsible buyer (especially 1st timers like we were) to buy a home.
A lot of people made irresponsible decisions to buy homes they could not afford, so I do not feel bad that it did not work out. I think you should definitely capitalize on the fact that you were finacially responsible and can now afford this new home. Plus that bank has already forclosed, so if you don’t buy it someone else will.
I hope when you find “the one” you won’t be haunted by the forclosure ghost…but instead view it as an opportunity angel.
katy says
How do you guys make the cool photo filter on all these house images? Is it something I can easily do in photoshop? I have a DIY idea and love this look. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Katy,
The photo filter is called “Paint Daubs” and it can be found in the Filter menu of Photoshop under “Artistic.” We just had to adjust some of the setting to get the exact amount of filter we wanted. Have fun!
-John
Ayelet says
We had to deal with some smoke and cat odor with our house when we bought it, but it never factored into our decision making. We always planned to gut renovate one floor at a time (we purchased a three story row home), so all we cared about was whether the house had good bones. It also helped that the odors didn’t seem to permeate the house. I guess the smokers only smoked in their bedrooms, and the roommate with the cat kept the cat in his bedroom.
All that said, one of the first things we did after closing was rip up the carpet in the cat room, which became our bedroom, lay down a new subfloor, and a paint every possible surface. That eliminated most of the cat odor, though I still catch a whiff of it on a hot day if the bedroom door has been closed. It was really important to me that one room in the house be fresh and new in the midst of the chaos of future renovations.
On the third floor, where the smoke odor was worst, I mopped not only the floors, but the walls. I scrubbed the blinds. Most importantly, I opened the windows. Since we knew we were gutting the third floor first, we never did much more than store things up there so we didn’t really have to live with it. At this point, we’ve gutted it down to the plaster (even the subfloor is out), and I can safely say, you won’t catch a whiff of smoke up there now!
MichelleS says
We bought a foreclosure after looking at over 75 houses–no joke! We looked for almost 4 1/2 months before finding something inhabitable and affordable. We couldn’t afford to rent and pay a mortgage at the same time, so we had to be able to make it liveable and move in within a month’s time. Where we live it is teeming with foreclosures, many of which are nightmares. We saw one home built in the 1850s with a dirt basement–to be expected–with absolutely no kitchen left–not to be expected. These people had literally stolen every single fixture, cabinet, and countertop out of the house, which is beyond illegal. Unfortunately with foreclosures, you run into many homes with so much stolen from them (i.e. copper piping). We were lucky to find our home for a reasonable price and were able to work in some of the repairs into a cash back option on our purchase agreement. Luckily for us, my father-in-law is a former furnace installer and a certified electrician, so he was able to do much of the work for us. It was missing a furnace amongst other things, which the previous owners had stolen.
Like a previous post said, we went and talked to some neighbors before putting an offer in and found out the previous owners had some serious personal issues that led to spending issues, which is why they lost their home. The positive is that you are helping the market and home values by buying foreclosures. Good luck–let us know when the “hallelujah” moment hits, as my mother-in-law calls it :)
Amy Button says
Re smoke smell: Even after we ripped up flooring, stripped wall paper, primed and painted when the a/c or heat came on it smelled like someone was smoking in the house. Having the air ducts cleaned finally took care of that.
Debs says
I wanted to agree with other commenters that stated that a foreclosure is not a lose lose situation, even with all of the bad hype. Virginia is a non-judicial foreclosure state so many of the issues that you read about in the news do not pertain to a Virginia foreclosure. Also, as a title agent in this state, a good title insurance policy would protect you from those pesky issues anyway. (The Bureau of Insurance for VA has a great title insurance brochure).
As a person that purchased a foreclosure, with a little helpful advice in the beginning and a lot of hard work and love in the end, I now have a great house that I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.
Chanda says
Ahhh too bad! I bet you two could have made it wonderful! Do not cross foreclosures off your look at list for sure. We bought our foreclosure in June. I had the same feelings you did as well. We actually got some of the backstory and have met one of the previous owners. He ran his own business selling insurance and got cancer. One year of bad business will do you in around here so he had to cut his losses.
Our foreclosure has been a ton of work. As I type this my default (if hubby can’t do it) handyman is putting in my new front door. But I have to say it has been really rewarding since it looks so different than when we started.
Also check into whether your state is offering any types of grants if you buy a foreclosure. We were able to get a $40,000 grant (it comes off the mortgage) but it sweetened the deal! As long as we live here ten years we never have to pay any back.
Kristy says
You made the best decision. I bought a forclosure two years ago. It looked like it only needed paint and fix the kitchen that was missing some of the cabinets. I thought I would move in two months. WRONG! This house which is currently almonst done except for painting the basement. Is now ready to move in. I’m lucky I’m single was able to stay with my parents till its complete. I totally gutted the house. I get a lot of my ideas from you both because it too is a ranch build in 1955. Best of luck finding your next House!
Heidi H. says
Ohhh, these posts keep me on the edge of my seat! I cannot wait to see what y’all choose!
Ellen says
We had a really bad experience trying to buy a foreclosure: We had our offer accepted by the bank (Chase), and so we got the inspections done and the appraisal paid for, even brought my parents over to see it. Oh yeah, and gave our notice to our landlord. We were so excited, we had been looking for a home for almost a year. Suddenly one day about halfway through escrow, we get a call from our agent, saying she just heard the house had just been sold at auction to someone else!!! Some investor paid significantly less in cash than we had agreed to pay with a mortgage, and there was nothing we could do about it. Never got our inspection money back (the contract the banks make you sign for foreclosures basically allows them to do anything they want), but I think we got our appraisal money back from our bank. Mostly though, it was just so disappointing. We didn’t even get an apology from the bank – no one was ever held accountable for crushing our dreams of our first home. I would highly recommend staying away from foreclosures, especially with all the legal issues now coming out about banks improperly foreclosing on the properties. If all the paperwork isn’t in order, you may buy the house and later find out you didn’t actually have the right to buy it, because the bank didn’t actually have the right to sell it to you. How much would that suck! Anyway, we eventually got a house we love, but it was a short-sale and took over 6 months to process (from our offer to close of escrow). I really mean this: GOOD LUCK!!
Kari @ Foreclosure2Fabulous says
Hey guys! My husband and I purchased a foreclosure a little over a year ago and we are rehabbing it from top to bottom. I will say it’s hard enough to do with two adults and three cats, I can’t imagine doing it with a baby.
If you want to check out our adventures renovating a foreclosure check us out @ http://foreclosure2fabulous.com
Good luck! I LOVE house hunting!
karen says
yah…that’s a lot of vacuum time! Love the exterior.
bfish says
To me, it still doesn’t look the right house for you — too conventional. Don’t settle for anything less than what grabs you. Since you are dedicated DIYers, you have more houses, than most people, that will appeal.
I agree with other posters that there’s no need to feel bad about foreclosures. Until the RE bubble burst, banks, mortgage companies, and real estate people were all equally guilty of encouraging people of questionable financial means that “YES!! You can afford to buy this house!!!” when that really wasn’t the case. Some people were aware enough to question the hype but others were sucked in. Because you (S & J) are so grounded in the reality of your financial capabilities I think it’s hard for you to relate to the fact that many, many less aware people were seduced by the dream of home ownership. I believe in that dream wholeheartedly, but lots of people were sucked into it before they had the means to go there.
Maureen E says
My husband and I bought a short sale home just recently, so I understand what you mean about the feeling of guilt. The way the previous owner’s situation panned out is that the father was military and ended up being relocated in Colorado. They had to move and couldn’t afford two house payments. At first we were really torn about even considering anything like a foreclosure or a short sale, but the way my close friend (and realtor) explained it was that in order for some people to get back on their feet, they need to sell their home to regain some of their losses. I honestly can say that we feel like we helped someone else out who was in a hard situation without feeling like we’re a bunch of jerks.
Erin C. says
You can get rid of smoke smell with an Ozone Machine. You let it run in the house for several hours. Nothing living can be in there because the machine replaces all the oxygen with ozone. The ozone gets into all the small crevices (you have to leave all the drawers and doors open) to really get rid of the smell. My landlord did this in my last rental and it really worked. I would recommend doing this before you move all of your stuff in though.
pam in nc says
Stay away from the smokey houses! Can’t post moving tips using the link you provided but http://www.flylady.net has the most practical, best moving tips ever. Check her out.
Julie says
Not sure if you’ve already answered this, but why is a slate roof a “pro” for you guys?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Julie,
We just love how they look. So classic and thick and “special” when compared to the asphalt roofs that we see everywhere. Although we do know it’s much pricier to patch or replace, there’s just something fancy about it that appeals to us.
xo,
s
Charlotte says
dudes, I am totally with you–when my husband and I were shopping for our house about 2 years ago, we looked at some foreclosures. BAD juju I tell you!
Renae says
We bought our house as a short sale this summer, which has way more issues than a foreclosure, but I would NEVER recommend it to someone who has another house to sell first. Our settlement date move 3 times and was almost 2 months after our original date.
As for the smoke smell, we had to deal with that, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. We ripped up all the carpet(which it doesn’t look like you’d have to do) and wiped EVERYTHING down with a vinegar/water solution. It did an amazing job! A coat of primer later and there isn’t even a hint of smoke in the house!
Miki says
Good decision on the smoke thing. We looked at a house we loved but the owners smoked in the master bedroom and it smelled awful. Then I heard about the carcinogenic risk of 3rd hand smoke on NPR…so glad we decided to pass!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html
Sally says
I hear you on the smoke smell. We rented a house that smelled horribly like smoke, which triggered my asthma. We washed the walls, ceilings, and hardwood floors. We aired it out. Replaced all the blinds. We were getting ready to paint but weren’t sure it would work, so we broke our lease and moved out. Ugh. Awful.
I second realtor.com for searching – I love being able to filter by price then see all the listing on the map. (Why isn’t it that easy on all the sites?) I’ve used zillow too, but found it’s “zestimates” can be WAAAY off. I recommend folks look at actual sales prices instead of those.
Vicki K says
Be wary of short sales. They can take months to close (if they do at all) & be very complicated. If two lenders are involved they both must agree to short sale. The house we are interested in is priced 500K below the balance owed on 2 loans. Bank A will not sign off because they do not want to take a big loss, while bank B gets paid off. What a Mess!!!
We have been waiting 6 months already and no one seems to know how this will play out.
If you do bid on a short sale just make sure you get all the facts and find out if there is more than one lender involved.
Good Luck!
Kate says
Just to encourage you about purchasing a foreclosure that has come about due to sad circumstances… having a sweet family who will give great TLC to the house and make it a real home might be a very comforting thing to those forced to leave their home behind. I would be so much happier (and relieved!) knowing a caring family was buying a foreclosure, rather than another investor taking advantage of the economy and buying up a slew of homes. I’m just sayin’. ;-)
Claudie says
Foreclosures can be depressing. When I see them, I wonder about why they are now sitting there empty with stickers in the windows. That didn’t stop us from buying one though. The previous owners didn’t pay their taxes and the county took their house. From what I later learned, they were renting this property out and then just decided they didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I think foreclosures can be a great deal, if you pick the right one. We were lucky with ours. It had a newer furnace, A/C, water heater, and roof. The changes that we needed to make were mostly cosmetic (though we did have to have the main shut off valve replaced). We got a great deal and our mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance) is less than what we paid in rent.
When we first bought it, I used to think that the neighbors were going to be mad because we bought this house for so much less than they bought theirs. But the fact is, this house was empty for a really long time and that would drive down property values. We are actually taking this house and making it better and I think they’re grateful for that now.
I sometimes wonder about the previous owner, but I mainly wonder about the previous tenant. They didn’t treat the house that well and I wonder if they’re doing the same thing to the next place they rented.
Martha says
I had similar sadness about buying a foreclosed house, which lead to some major guilt in the first few months we lived in the house. I kept picturing a sweet, hardworking family out on the street.
After we got to know the house a little better and we got to know the previous owners a little better (by virtue of the fact they didn’t forward their mail), I stopped feeling bad for them. We’re pretty sure they were trying to flip the house and were taking short-cuts and covering things up rather than actually fixing them. Also, based on their mail, they weren’t at all financially responsible.
Also, I have a friend who jumped for joy the day her condo was foreclosed on. It was a last link to a very bad marriage and she was thrilled to see it go.
I say go for the foreclosure! Just be wary of excessive bead-board use. ;-)
Leslie C. says
Howdy Y’all!
I certainly understand what you mean about not feeling comfortable buying a forclosure.
When I was house hunting, my realtor showed me a house that was a forclosure. It was a great house that certainly needed some updating.
however, I couldnt get past the fact that it was a forclosure, and the people that were being forclosed on were obviously an elderly couple, one who was possibly in failing health. All I could think of was that this was a family that had probably lived there since the house was built and now they were losing their home.
Lauren says
While I’m sure there are SOME sad foreclosure houses stories out there, most of them are NOT…they’re just people that were financially stupid, bought a house they couldn’t afford, and the second things get tough they stopped paying the bank…a promise they took on with not too much consideration. Oh yeah and then they get to live for free in the house for over a year most of the time while the foreclosure process goes on…oh and then when they leave the strip the property as much as they can…they take the appliances, sinks, heck I’ve even seen them take the toilets, and most of these people never put a penny down on the house bc they were bought when you could get a no doc loan and 100% financing- you should def. look at foreclosures, great deals!!
stephanie says
I agree that foreclosures can be sad, but wouldn’t you rather turn it into a wonderful home than the bank do what they wish with it. The money you’re saving could be put away for college for your little one…so even though it’s a sad story for someone else, you also have to think about what’s best financially for your fam! good luck either way!
M says
Foreclosures were actually out of my comfort zone as well, but the house we ended up purchasing was a foreclosure. It needed (still does) a lot of work, and had been generally neglected for quite some time, but when it came down to it the situation/price/property was right for us.
I think that in this case you two made a good decision to move on; with a no contingency sale & smoke damage & drywalling to do with an infant wouldn’t be something I would want to take on (not to mention trying to find affordable intermittent housing, yeesh!)
I’m sure you’ll be able to find a home to better suit your needs anyway. Happy house hunting :)
Guy says
Hey there! I’ve been following your website for a while now
and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from
Dallas Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the good
work!