# Abandoned Brick House???????



## L&Jfarms (Jul 16, 2008)

So my family has bee in our small town in Iowa since the mid 1800's and one of the first houses they built is no longer lived in. Hasn't been lived in since about 1955. The house sits on about 3 or 4 acres. It has a small barn. (still nice) and a corn crib. (also nice) The house on the other hand is in disrepair. The roof has fallen in to the house and the fist and second floor have also fallen. The foundation seems to be solid. The only spot that i can think of that NEEDS WORK (for the walls) one small section of the wall that some bricks have been pried away. (to put around someone's flower bed) It is a 4x4 section of the wall where the first section of brick was taken. So to sum it up all there is is the shell of the house. The land is owned by a distant cousin of mine. I was thinking of a REBUILD! I know can be a bit $$$$$! I want to make him a offer on the land. What do you think i should offer??? How much do you think it might cost to repair? the house is 20x25.


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## Stonybrook (Sep 22, 2007)

I suspect the value is in the land and not what is left of the house. I would figure how much the land is worth (average per acre for undeveloped land in your area) plus a little over that for what is left of the house. I am guessing maybe $20,000. The reality is that you are basically looking at a rebuild if I understood your post. Yes, the foundation is there and most of the brick, but I also think you would be prudent to rewire and re-plumb the house (might have to because of code issues anyway.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Sounds like the house is pretty much worthless. I would put no value on it and then the only thing is the land. Does the land still have septic and a well?


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

starjj said:


> Sounds like the house is pretty much worthless. I would put no value on it and then the only thing is the land. Does the land still have septic and a well?


Or even subtract value for it, as in cost to demolish... Doesn't mean you have to actually demolish it...


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

if anything I would say the house is devalueing the property, what happens should your rebuild not be viable? then you have the expense of removeing the house. the out building has some value.

I would start with the land value and haggle from there, being family I dont know how much you would want to haggle but seeing as it will remain in the family may be something you cousin will take into account as well as you wanting to reclaim the house and preserve some family history. 

if it where a motivated unrelated seller, I would not offer full value of the property 10-20% less. you can always up the offer or they may just accept.

some of the history may factor to was this inherited or did they buy from another relative? do they have a use or is it just costing them taxes every year?


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## L&Jfarms (Jul 16, 2008)

The house does have a well on it and as for the septic... they were still in a out house when they left the house. I was thinking of having a house that was "off the grid" So possibly no power (still thinking of that) and no indoor bathroom. Can i do this... what i mean is it legal? Does the law vary from place to place? I want to live a very simple life. (i would like to be Amish lol)


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Check the zoning and health department regulations in the state/county/township where the house is located. They can tell you if what you want to do is legal.


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## ROCKIN R FARM (Mar 29, 2010)

definitely check the zoning and building codes or lack of them in the area. house probably is of no added value if the foundation is solid considder taking the time to dismantle and reuse the existing foundation and reuse the bricks then you know everything is solid. also some zoning does not require permits for smaller buildings IE: under a certain amount of square footage. some places will make you install bathroom and septic they cant make you use it but..... also keep in mind if going off grid like no elect / no air cond be aware of window height and placement for best cooling /heating things like that. sounds fun I am just finishing up making our home out of what was a 20x25 garage building so i can tell you it is big enough to be comfortable to live in.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Just a suggestion. Is this property the only ones that is avaliable for you at a good price and where you want to be? it sounds like it has a lot of negatives and if your buying for family history then I would say make your offer AFTER checking out zoning and building requirements. If it is not for family history i would look at other places.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Offer a lot less than you are willing to pay. You have a massive clean up operation to do. Disposing of it is not cheap.

Offer less and then be willing to go up if need be. You never know, the person might be thrilled to get rid of it.


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

I agree, the house is actually a financial liability to the property. IMO, I would make an offer based on the land value alone, but first, subtract a certain amount from the offer, based on an estimated cost to demo or restore the house.


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## uhcrandy (Sep 16, 2010)

The rebuild the house, you would need to pull a Building permit. Doing so would require you to bring the house up to current code(foundation/plumbing/electrical etc). It sounds like it would be cheaper to start from scratch with a new home.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Sounds like no one on here would ever tackle the job of rebuilding, if the foundation and walls are in good shape go for a rebuild. If you rebuild useing the same house, your property taxes won`t be as high. Our assessor in our township told me if your build on an old foundation you will pay taxes according to the age of the foundation, or even building on to a house that is older. Around here if you build a house from scratch you can expect to pay a butt load on taxes. Just had a neighbor, young man has a great job, built a two story brick home before ever checking with the assessor. Well he was very shocked when it came time for the assessor to come out. Sit down for this one, has the new home, machine shed, horse barn and grain bin. Going to cost him over five thousand dollars a year for taxes, he couldn`t believe it. I could, and I couldn`t believe he didn`t check with them first. Around here if you tear down older buildings, they think that is an improvement, and you will be charged more taxes because you are tearing them down. So one more good reason to rebuild, she also my have no codes to follow, as alot of small towns don`t have codes. I am always one to say rebuild if you can, and tear down if it`s impossible. >Thanks Marc


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

Call your county assessor and ask them the value of the property, and make an offer of the value and 5 - 10% more.


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

uhcrandy said:


> The rebuild the house, you would need to pull a Building permit.


Not necessarily. Where we live in Iowa, there are no building permits. It varies from county to county.


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

FYI, the FHA has a mortgage product called the FHA 203K; it is a re-hab loan, and it can be used as long as there is a foundation standing, nothing else required! You would have to "put in" a septic, but don't have to USE it, lol. Would help with re-sale (not that you would plan on selling, but one never knows what the future will bring....).

The FHA 203k allows you to borrow the amount that the property WILL BE worth, when you're DONE re-habbing! Sooooo, let's say you get into the property for $20,000. and need $70,000. to re-build walls, roof trusses, electrical and septic, they would give you a loan for $90,000. (as long as they felt the repairs you did would increase the value of the entire place to $90,000. or above).

Again, you would not have to USE the electric or septic, but it would be there. The Amish I lived next door to in Delaware had electric and septic, but just capped the electric and disconnected the plumbing while they lived there. Come time to sell, they simply re-connected after they had moved to their new place.


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

rean said:


> Call your county assessor and ask them the value of the property, and make an offer of the value and 5 - 10% more.


That doesn't always make sense these days, a lot of assessors have gone to over valuing property..

The place I just bought I paid 30% less that what the county had it assessed for... And that wasn't a cheap price for it my mind.


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## RWBlue01 (Aug 11, 2010)

I think it will cost you more to rebuild than to remove and build new.

Here are some things to think about.
What was the floor plan of the house?
Can you salvage any of the interior or is it all rotten? If you are going to salvage, it will cost more.
The electrical is probably toast.
You say there is no indoor water, so you don't even have copper pile to scrap.
I am just thinking about the difference in code between now and back then. I expect everything will have to be brought up to code.

I like good old solid houses, but I don't think the building you described is good and solid.
Flatten and rebuild with a full basement, modern wiring, (keep the well and septic) tie into city water, power, sewer. If you can do it in concrete.


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

jill.costello said:


> FYI, the FHA has a mortgage product called the FHA 203K; it is a re-hab loan, and it can be used as long as there is a foundation standing, nothing else required! You would have to "put in" a septic, but don't have to USE it, lol. Would help with re-sale (not that you would plan on selling, but one never knows what the future will bring....).
> 
> The FHA 203k allows you to borrow the amount that the property WILL BE worth, when you're DONE re-habbing! Sooooo, let's say you get into the property for $20,000. and need $70,000. to re-build walls, roof trusses, electrical and septic, they would give you a loan for $90,000. (as long as they felt the repairs you did would increase the value of the entire place to $90,000. or above).


Hmm, the place I bought has a concrete foundation with plumbing and septic in it that was built 13 years ago, with a basic steel frame for a house... The old guy's wife died and he stopped construction and never finished it..

I wonder if it would be eligible for a 203k?


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

I wouldn't make him an offer. I would have in mind what I'd be willing to pay and then ask him if he's thought of selling it and if so, how much. If it was more than I had in mind, I'd negotiate, if less, I'd keep my mouth shut and tell him sold.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

springvalley said:


> Sounds like no one on here would ever tackle the job of rebuilding,


Actually, I am in the process of rebuilding 2 houses, one with all exterior walls in good condition, one needing a new exterior wall. The op needs to know if their plan is legal. Here it is not legal to rebuild if less than 50% of the structure remains. It's considered new construction and the whole structure is subject to current zoning regs.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Yep, you have to check with your county and see what will work and what won`t. In our county you can rebuild on an old foundation, and it`s not new construction. I sure hope you get the place cheap, and can rebuild the house. >Thanks Marc


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I'd ask a local realtor for a price determination. Many times they will do it for a small fee.


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## mountainwmn (Sep 11, 2009)

I agree with just asking if he wants to sell, first, and with talking to a local realtor if he says he does. A realtor can give you the most accurate idea of what a property is worth, in the condition and area it's actually in. You can check out Realtor.com, but it's not the most accurate. My realtor broke it down for me into what similar properties were listed at as well as how much they had sold for in the last 90 days. In my case the property was listed competitively, but nothing in the area that actually sold went for nearly as high as they were asking.


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

Txrider said:


> Hmm, the place I bought has a concrete foundation with plumbing and septic in it that was built 13 years ago, with a basic steel frame for a house... The old guy's wife died and he stopped construction and never finished it..
> 
> I wonder if it would be eligible for a 203k?


ABSOLUTELY. I cannot stress enough what a GOOD loan product this is! Really google FHA 203k and read up all about it; it's a loan product made for big rehabbing projects! You will need to stay on track and be good at documenting, etc, in order to get your "draws" to pay for the project, and finding subs that will work around the FHA pay-out schedules, but it's a small hassle compared to having a finished project done with good funding and in a good timeframe (i.e. versus doing it all yourself, bit by bit, over the course of YEARS....)


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## txquilter (Dec 29, 2009)

Do you talk with the distant cousin? If so, give him a call and talk about the property. If he doesn't live in the area he may not know what to do with it and may be willing to cut you a better deal than the value is. 

Don't be afraid to open those lines of communications. If he's not doing anything with the property and strapped with the property taxes every year he might be willing to part with it for a less than market price.

If this is not the case then go online, look up the current tax value. See if you can get someone to give you a "rough estimate" on the demolition and then make him an offer based on that.

I would tend to go for the rebuild knowing that the foundation is in good shape and solid. You could even reuse some of the original materials to keep some of the original homestead present in the property.

Good luck!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

OK, sounds like my kind of place. Small brick house 20'x25'. 1 story? It is small but bigger than my cabin. Can you do it? Depends on the county, check it out. Rebuild, run it as a small homestead to show how the property was in the mid 1800's. Get it on the Historical register. The County historical society here rehabs properties that are donated that have historical significance. You have to open for a tour once a year. Has this property been operated by your family since mid 1800's? Is there a century farm program in your state? Neat idea. I hope you can save it, my kind of project. Sounds like a win/win situation for you and the public interested in saving the history of the area. Our church was looking for a building and we found an old warehouse that was built as a machine shop in the 1800's, brick and solid, we tore everything to the walls and it is an interesting chapel. The City here took and old downtown building and gutted it and made our library out of it, kind of a loft homey feeling, great use of spaces and the people coming along get a feel of the history of the area, both buildings are on the historical registry. They help save old buildings. This summer I went to a conference in Cannon Beach Oregon, walking around town they have signs to show the old building as it looked in the day and a story on how the building was used or if the building has been rebuilt , what was there, many had pictures. Neat to see the history. Check this out....James

http://www.nps.gov/nr/


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## Rocky Fields (Jan 24, 2007)

I'd offer $10,000. Don't go past $12,000 tops. If you don't have the full amount, try for a land contract from him with $2,000 down.


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## iaragwooler (Jun 26, 2010)

We bought an Amish homestead with a 4 bdrm home (vinyl siding, metal roof), huge barn (all metal siding, roof and less than 5 yrs old), a 40x60 pole shed with 20' extension, garage, pond, good well (rural water is next to road if we wanted it), fruit trees, couple small outbuildings and 5 acres for $37,000...one year ago. Southern Iowa. Taxes are $700/yr. We are off grid. I was a real estate broker in nw Kansas. Where is this property? Values were "in the tank" when I left a year ago. Acreages always demanded more money but I think location will be important.


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## Willowdale (Mar 19, 2007)

I rebuilt our old family place, originally built mid-1600s and continually added on to over the centuries until around 1900. When I started it hadn't been lived in for seventy years, no electric, no septic, holes in the roof. Very similar situation to what you're proposing. My place is brick foundation, brick end walls and wood frame on the sides.

Restoring the house has cost me twice (yes, 2X) what new construction would have cost. The brick repairs -- restoring the foundation and the end walls and fireplaces -- were the costliest chunks; in fact I'm not done with one brick end. Have to save for that. I'm very happy with the house, wouldn't have it any other way. I'm in love with this house, and have been all my life. But have your eyes open.

If the house has historical significance (I put mine on the National Register) then you might be able to justify the expense. There's some cachet to that. But you'd want to be historically accurate in the restoration, and some folks would honestly prefer a more modern, convenient home. There's no shame in that! If you're going to update it anyway, changing the layout, then question very seriously whether it makes sense to struggle with a home that wasn't designed to carry modern insulation, plumbing, etc. And it is a struggle! You have to compromise, a lot, with an old house.

Restoring a falling down house is *way* more work than you might think going in. The floors and roof all having fallen in means big costs for structural repairs before you even get to the fun stuff. Did I say big? I meant HUGE.

You'll also need to make very good friends with a competent brick mason and structural carpenter. The old brick is softer, and will crack apart if you use modern cement mortars. A good restoration brickmason can be hard to find, and the wrong brickmason can just tear the place apart in a couple of seasons. 

You can do masonry repair yourself once you get someone to teach you the ins and outs of the old brick. The structural stuff, though, you'll want someone to look at that who really knows what they're doing, before you put your family in there!

Best wishes to you!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Whether or not it's legal depends on where the place is located.

Here in our little corner of the world, there are NO building codes at all. Some folks know that it's important to do the job right, code or no; others just slap anything together.

Either way is cool, as far as I'm concerned. It's not my or the govt's business what people want to do with their property. It's wise to build well, but some regulations are just silly and over the top.

Good luck on your adventures, wherever they lead you!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Just wondering if any more has happened here. This subject is near and dear to my heart. I hope something can be worked out and this family history is not lost....James


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