Architectural Designs

Buying a Foreclosure/Rewire house?

So we are first time home buyers and wanted to get a fixer-upper so we could make it into our cozy little dream traditional style ranch house. The house was built in 1950 and is a 3 bedroom 1 bath approximately a little over a 1000 sq ft. The house is appraised at 67,500 due to its lack luster and none HOA community, we are getting it for about 50,000. The house has to be rewired, gas lines capped, drains fixed and the right outlets in each area, at our cost due to it being an sold as is where is deal. Plus our mortgage company requires this done ASAP. Anyone have any guesses and how much this is going to hit us cost wise, and if we should even deal with this house, we have a contract and planned closing date of march 31st. But we still can back out. Thanks for all advice given!

Public Comments

1. Several thoughts: 1) Costs will vary per area. Where I live in CA costs for handymen is usually 35 an hour while a place I have in Ark costs 7.50 an hour. I'd recommend getting bid for all work that needs to be done. Your agent can provide you with recommendations. Get bids for at least 2-3 people per job (electrical, plumbing). Find out if they would be available in the beginning of April so that you know that you can have the workers set to start. 2) Make sure you know exactly what the bank is going to require you to get fixed. I've never seen a whole house needing to be rewired....even 1920 builds. The worst wiring, per my understanding from electricians I've worked with, is 1970's wiring; where they used aluminum instead of copper. But I've never even heard a bank requesting that that be corrected. 3) Make sure that you can get insurance. If the house is bad enough that the bank is only giving you a limited amount of time...it is important to verify that you can get insurance. If you can't, banks don't loan. 4) If you didn't get your own inspector, do so. It is worse the expense to get a great inspector that can walk you through the problems. I know of a couple who decided to use the seller's inspection report and, after they bought it, they found out it had so many addition problems. It destroyed their relationship. Make sure you have a full understanding of the house and the costs (by getting real bids). A realtor can get you in contact with good reputable people. Good luck!