# Buying junk/condemmned property.



## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I stumbled upon a small (just under 2 acre) piece of land. The location is ideal - on the outskirts of the city, yet woodsy and close to the college my son will most likely be attending, yet within driving distance of the school my daughter would be attending a few years down the road. Ideal, right?

Well. We drove out there for kicks yesterday and called the realtor to make sure we could enter due to the no trespassing sign. We could so we did. We wandered around. On this land, there are 2 outbuildings, 1 cruddy home and an old RV. All are filled with junk. This person apparently ran some sort of car or truck fix it place because the entire property is littered with all sorts of parts, a pile of at least 40 old tires and a shop with all sorts of machinery in a shed. The buildings would have to all come down, the stuff dealt with as well as picking up all the nuts and bolts and junk that's all over the ground, plus dealing with the home and the RV. It's going to take time. There *may* be some valuables in there but it would take some looking. I believe it was owned by someone who simply died and was somewhat of a hoarder or got too old to properly care for things. It's just bizarre with random things scattered around like a Tommy Tipee plate next to an antique bedpan with a toothbrush in it and a set of dentures. Odd..and knives and forks laying in the grass. I have no idea how long it was vacant, although we peeked in the RV and there was a catalog from 2009. 

I was wondering if any of you have bought a place like this? The price isn't great, but I figured if I offered less, they might bite. It's been on the market for a while because I'm sure people see the place and freak out, rather than look at the potential. If I were to buy it I'd at least be able to take my time and clean the whole place out, though the thought of gasoline and a few matches came to mind. :heh: Part of me is saying run for the hills..the other part sees this as a challenge that will have rewards down the road.


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## Breezy833 (Jun 17, 2013)

I'm sure you'll get people to respond that are smarter then I, but is there a concern that the ground is contaminated? If you intend to have a garden or something i think that would be a concern.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Yep.. I bought and own a place like that... Matter a fact, just last weekend I took another trailer full of junk to the dump... that's about 7500 lbs we've hauled out now.. 

I've also burnt a whole lot of stuff that I could legally burn, such as books and lumber that we tore out of the house as we've basically gutted it.. 

We offered 30K less for the property than they were asking and they accepted it... It was being sold as a land deal since at the time the house was trashed and pretty much uninhabitable. They also knew no bank would loan on a residential sale but a place like Farm Credit would loan on a land deal.. which is what we did.. 

It's been a WHOLE lot of work trying to get the place cleaned up.. Not only was it trashed, but it was also very over grown... We've been working on it almost a year now (November will be a year) and while we have made a dent, and gotten a lot of things cleaned up and repaired, we haven't even begun.. .

We've found that we greatly underestimated costs for getting things repaired, and we've found that more stuff needed work than what we thought.. 

BUT.. so far, to us, it's been well worth it. We got what we feel was a good price even considering the work, and the fact it's hard to find as much land as we got with everything on it you need at the kind of price we got.. We've been spending on it as we make it.. That made the down payment much cheaper for us, than had we of found a place ready to move into... 

If you think you want to do all the work, and can get it at a price you feel comfortable with, then I'd do it, BUT, be prepared to do a lot more work than what you think it will take...


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

If you are interested.. here's a bunch of pictures we've taken.. If you go back in time on this page, you can get an idea of what we started with, and where we're at now... 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-duo/


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## DAVID In Wisconsin (Dec 3, 2002)

I buy properties much like you just described. I look for properties that are condemned and/or are not eligible for bank financing. I usually try to figure out what they are worth in the current condition and offer 25 to 50 per cent less. My realtor and myself are amazed at how many times people accept my offers. Just because they reject your offer today doesn't mean that they won't call you back in 3 months to see if you are still interested. Good luck! In cases like this a lot of hard work can save you tens of thousands of dollars.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

BTW, I think if we would have offered even less than we did we still would have had our offer accepted... even the neighbor next door that could afford it didn't want the work. The property connected to his, and would have put him at almost 300 acres, but he just couldn't see the work of taking down the house or fixing it up to be in his best interest... We were the only people who had a true interest in it.. .it had been listed for almost 9 months when we saw it, and the price had just been dropped 35K before we saw the listing.


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## DAVID In Wisconsin (Dec 3, 2002)

Cool pictures!


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Thanks,... We've got hundreds more that aren't posted there.. We wanted to be sure some day we can go back and look at where we started and realize we really were insane


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

If t hey were dismantling cars or equipment, I'd be sure their isn't round contamination. That can be real expensive. With a mess like you describe, the price should be low, it will take time and money to clean it up.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I agree.. you don't need to be funding a Superfund..


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## homstdr74 (Jul 4, 2011)

On the plus side, if there's a considerable amount of metal on the property (you posted about parts, etc.) you could contract with someone to clean the entire place for the junk value---metal is still bringing enough money to make it worth someone's time. Here's a site that gives metal and parts prices, and tho' it might not be local, it probably represents something close to what they'd get:

http://www.earthworksrecycling.com/prices/index.html#selling

Assuming everything else's ok, that is. Others have posted about possible ground contamination already.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

You are all awesome.  I'll peek at the different links. S.S. I can't get your link to load right now though.

We happened upon a good find today - some mail in the RV dated 2009 (we honestly didn't set foot in it..just opened the door and it was sitting right inside!) - saw the name and googled the guy. Apparently he died in 2010 and was a WWII vet - purple heart. No blood relatives surviving. He did have a "companion" lady friend who is apparently still living with children..that may be why it's up for sale and didn't just directly go to them? Who knows.

We went back today and found a hidden trailer full of hubcaps. We did find the fenceline..he had used whatever he could find..an old fridge, windowpanes, billboards..just junk to mark the property line. This place would be a picker's dream. 

I agree about the contamination issue..I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't the kind of person to just dump oil or gas in the yard. My first order of operations would be to have the soil tested to see what we're dealing with because I do plan to have a garden and as someone mentioned, don't want to deal with that.

My dad had a great idea regarding the house though. He said that once we go through it, assuming it's safe to do so and retrieve everything of value, see if the city firefighters can come out and use it as a test site. This was in response to my casual mention of taking care of it with a match and some gasoline.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

So I guess the first step is to determine whether or not there's any soil contamination?


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

It depends on what kind of an area that the property is located in. You did not give us much info, other than U.S. which is a bit messed up as we speak.

Offer a lot less than the asking price. After all there is nobody else in line to buy this property, except you. Somebody may try to get you to believe that there are a lot of other interested parties... Call that bluff.

Find out who the seller is, and why the property is being sold. There may be something going on here that does not meet the eye.

Have I? Yes I have.

I once was involved with a property that had an asking price of $40,000. The main reason that the property was for sale was that the funeral home was owed about $4,000 and they had a lien.

The other heir was a long lost sister who had greed. It took a lot less than $36,000 to satisfy her. I mean a lot less.

In your case I would not do any tests, or ask for any until after the closing has taken place. Our government is shut down right now, and sooner or later tests would come face to face with the shut down. The deal would stop dead in it's tracks. We have so many alphabet soup agencies within our partially defunct government that it would be impossible to satisfy all of them. As a matter of fact most of them are non essential. That would leave you stalled for who knows how long?

Buy it dirt cheap or let it sit. 

Don't forget that the banks have foreclosed on about 4 million properties that are more or less like the one that you are looking at. The Realtor is in competition with all of those available properties. It might take you a long time to look at all of them.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Our place was pretty much trashed when we bought it. On closing we held back like $10,000 (can't remember the exact amount) in escrow that would not be released until he cleaned up the junk vehicles etc...that were trashing one field. Bulldozed and buried the old house and one small barn. Reinforced and resided the big barn, saved the one car garage and turned it into a barn. Bought the place in '95 and spent the next 4 years cleaning it up before putting in a double wide and garage and moving here in '99. The farm had been in the family for at least 3 generations and I don't know if they were all bad about just tossing their trash out the door or if it was just the guy we bought it from but I still find junk that rises to the surface after a rain in what was once their yard but is now a horse pasture.

Lot of hard work but well worth it. Love our little slice of heaven on earth.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Thanks Ed. I do plan on finding out a little more as well as if there are any liens. It's actually in somewhat of a residential area, with only a few other sections along this particular road that are this large. It's most likely the older area of town which was not split up into subdivisions in the 1960's which is why it's pretty rare to find something this size..looks like out in the country yet literally around the corner from stores. Though I dream of living "out there", my kids are still in school and I need stay here. My parents are also getting older and I want to stay in the area for them. This property seems to have the best of both..a somewhat rural setting, yet 10 miles from my folks while still close to schools and the VA for my partner's needs. 

Teej - that sounds like our situation exactly..it's like he just stopped caring and left stuff where it lay. I stepped on a rusty scythe and did the old slapstick "step on a hoe and it comes up and hits you in the face" routine yesterday. I would plan on carefully going through the house it it's safe to do so, retrieving valuables and knocking the entire thing down. It's made of what looks to be corrugated metal.

The one thing we have on our side is time...can easily buy this property and clean it up while still living in this house I'm in right now..may even at the end decide to sell the land at a profit. I know in my heart it's been passed over because people simply don't want to take the time to do the dirty work. Though it would be extremely hard, I know the results would be so worth every ounce of sweat equity. We'll see.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Here's a beauty of a shot - lol. The house where he apparently lived in is on the left..the metal one and I have not been inside. I know he's not in there dead, well, I don't think so because I found a picture of his gravestone online. On the right is where he had some sort of shop. You can see in the foreground a pile of junk, though I think that big milk can is pretty cool. Things like that I'd save for me.

But anyway, you can see how overgrown it is..like the chicken or the egg..clean up the junk first on the ground to be able to clear the brush, or clear the brush first to get at the junk?


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Less-is-more said:


> Here's a beauty of a shot - lol. The house where he apparently lived in is on the left..the metal one and I have not been inside. I know he's not in there dead, well, I don't think so because I found a picture of his gravestone online. On the right is where he had some sort of shop. You can see in the foreground a pile of junk, though I think that big milk can is pretty cool. Things like that I'd save for me.
> 
> But anyway, you can see how overgrown it is..like the chicken or the egg..clean up the junk first on the ground to be able to clear the brush, or clear the brush first to get at the junk?


That's not so bad.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

edcopp said:


> That's not so bad.


:happy2: Ok smartypants, come help me!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

See if your state is nutso on contaminated stuff. If not ... As for having the fire dept burn it down for practice. It's gotten to be a big PITA because the building, at least in WV, have to be stripped of anything containing asbestos first. You'd be surprised at how many products contained asbestos or other stuff that's a real issue now. An example is mercury in some of the rubber-like gym floor coverings.

You're looking at a don't ask and definitely don't tell situation.

Another possibility is reviewing aerial photos at the Farm Service Office. Your state's land college may also have them. Those were taken every decade starting in the 30's. Most FSA offices don;t have the old ones. A city identified quite a few potentially contaminated sites by doing a similar review and checking property for past industrial or automotive related use.

There's a very small parcel close by that often shows up in the tax sale listings. I know there's an underground tank there that was probably last used in the 1950s.

What looks to be junk could possibly be worth money. A car collector locally moved much of his stuff to another state. A friend helped him strip some of the cars first. I was very surprised at what some of the parts were worth.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

Interesting! We looked at a 5 acre lot right on a bluff on lake erie that had an old canning plant. Asking $50K sounded like a steal till we realized it would take about a million bucks to remove all the old equipment, outbuidlings cement (SO MUCH cement!) all while under the watchful eyes of the equivalent of the EPA. Yeah, right! No way.

However, I used to clean properties like you show there all the time. You can get metal guys to come out remove all the metal for you and gladly do so. Even old cars and farm equipment. Buildings can be winched down I bet. Doesnt even look like they are deep foundations on them. Maybe even pole barn?

I would find out the yearly taxes, look up the tax mill rate and see what the government thinks it worth, not an agent. Then I would look up how much it cost to dump stuff per pound at construction dump in your area (typically pretty high!) and double that and deduct from the town's tax estimated worth. Then I would knock 25 percent off that price just to make sure for unknowns. My worry would be septic situation. You may have to decommission the bed and tank and build another. THAT is expensive.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

Oh yeah, you mentioned machine shop. Some tool bits can be worth hundreds of dollars themselves and things such as antique metal lathes and mills can be worth a small fortune!


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Thanks for the info John. I have a feeling there's *things* on that property that are worth money which fortunately (or unfortunately) means we'd need to look at every last piece because we're 100% certain he ran a small car/truck shop based on what we found.

I'd better invest in some good gloves and boots and get over my fear of spiders. 

I asked this on another thread but will ask here too. *Are old tires useful to anyone or are they just junk?* I don't mind paying someone to haul them away to recycle or whatever they do with old tires (or haul myself) but was wondering if there's a demand for tires...meaning I'd place an ad on CL for someone to haul with no cost to me, assuming they could find a use for them or get $ themselves. A few have the metal part inside but most are just tires of different sizes.

Editing to add - just got an email from a city official: 'This property was contaminated by tires, fuels, lubricants, and more garbage/rubbish that I could adequately describe! If you choose to purchase this property, please be aware that you will be required to provide soil borings for the site on a 10&#8217; grid to ensure that all contamination has been removed. This property had heating fuel oil, gasoline, motor oil, tires, and a makeshift cistern on the site. '

I may walk away.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2013)

After reading the e-mail you received I think I would RUN away .


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Sadly, I'm thinking the same thing..cleaning up would easily add a ton (like $100,000 to the cost)..it's just not worth that to me.  But I don't know unless I test, yet I hate to test and spend the cash and then be out that money if it's contaminated everywhere. Grr.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Ouch.. sounds like a superfund to me... Don't walk away.. RUN!

If a city person says there is gas and oil.. then I'm sure there is.. and even if there isn't, they are going to make you spend a fortune in testing.. and I'm sure they will make you test until they find that one 5 foot spot that is contaminated and then bring in the EPA...

This isn't the only peice of land in your state... Not even worth thinking about..


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

I knew a lady that owned a property that she leased to the city of toronto and they used to clean the buses there. We are talking a super valuable piece of land. She was ordered to dig the entire property down 10 feet, pay for toxic disposal of that dirt and then refill that dirt with clean fill. All in the middle of a city. Don't remember what it cost her but it had to be done no matter what to sell it. Ironic that the city caused it then the government made her do that.

Regarding tires, some places they are of value but most you have to pay to dump them.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Oh shoot..my partner wants to get the soil testing done and proceed from there.

?? Not sure how I feel about this. It's a gamble but at least we should be able to walk away if it's as contaminated as I think. Then I get to say "I told you so" for the rest of my life.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

you could always look at land out in WV where we got a place.. where all the old wells have dumped oil all over the ground and everyone turns a blind eye to that..


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

NO, boring is expensive, they bring in machines that look like well drilling machines, drill below the water table AND the City will be there watching and waiting for the bad news. IF anything is in the ground water, OH BOY. RUUUUNNNNN.

There was a place just like this in an old part of town here. The State gets involved and everything has to be done by the book. They find anything and it gets expensive fast....James


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

LOL.. I figured you'd like that Darren... When we were looking at our place I was so worried about the two 100 barrel tanks on our property.. but then I figured out no one cares out there... I mean if they can't even plug the one abandoned well on our property. then why not just go wit it.. 

Besides.. I know who owns the well and tanks now.. he's responsible if they leak..


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

The current owner is going to have this problem anyway with any purchaser. In fact, the seller would be legally obligated to disclose the potential soil issues, so it would be a fact that would be out there in the open -- which is going to hurt any potential sale of the property.

So, I'd make a reasonable offer contingent on the soil results and, if it come back as having to have something done, that the owner would designate sufficient funds into escrow (from the sale) for the soil cleanup.

The owner might be willing to do it that way, rather than have someone low ball due to the soil issue anyway. This way, the owner gets a fair price; you get the property without the cost of the soil cleanup -- it's a win-win for you both.


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Less-is-more said:


> Here's a beauty of a shot - lol. The house where he apparently lived in is on the left..the metal one and I have not been inside. I know he's not in there dead, well, I don't think so because I found a picture of his gravestone online. On the right is where he had some sort of shop. You can see in the foreground a pile of junk, though I think that big milk can is pretty cool. Things like that I'd save for me.
> 
> But anyway, you can see how overgrown it is..like the chicken or the egg..clean up the junk first on the ground to be able to clear the brush, or clear the brush first to get at the junk?


Why not a mix of both, clear the brush as you go and remove the junk as you go.

As to the milk can, if it isn't rusted through they bring on average about $17 each at auction in my area. People clean them up and paint them for decorations.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Karen said:


> The current owner is going to have this problem anyway with any purchaser. In fact, the seller would be legally obligated to disclose the potential soil issues, so it would be a fact that would be out there in the open -- which is going to hurt any potential sale of the property.
> 
> So, I'd make a reasonable offer contingent on the soil results and, if it come back as having to have something done, that the owner would designate sufficient funds into escrow (from the sale) for the soil cleanup.
> 
> The owner might be willing to do it that way, rather than have someone low ball due to the soil issue anyway. This way, the owner gets a fair price; you get the property without the cost of the soil cleanup -- it's a win-win for you both.


I think this is exactly what we're going to do. I plan to then make available the phase 1 testing to the city since it's never been done. I figure it's in our best interest to have the city on our side early on anyway. I know they want this mess cleaned up and back on the tax roll. I hate to be out the $ for the initial testing, yet it's one of those cases where if we don't do it, we'd never know what could have been. Worst case is that it comes back horrible and we can walk away...

I will say this has certainly been an education and I can't thank you all enough for your tips and wisdom..completely invaluable


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Wow.. you got more guts than me... I wouldn't touch that place with a 50 foot pole.. especially since the city has already been sending you info on it that would serve to scare most people off.. almost seems like they are trying to scare people away for a reason..


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I don't scare too easily..or maybe I'm too naive? Hard work has never bothered me, but you can bet that if we find out the entire property is a little Chernobyl-ish..that's a different story. :runforhills: I did eat a raspberry off the property (the entire place is almost all wild raspberries and grapes) a few days ago and I'm still here, for what that's worth. :grin:


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

LOL.. well seeing all the vegetation in your pictures, looks like it's not a waste land, but the EPA has some pretty strict rules concerning carcinogens in soil... That's where things get ridiculous and expensive if the government gets involved.. and sounds like they already are..


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Definitely. And yes - if it seems like this is going to be a financial nightmare, we're out. I'm thankful I have *many* people coming up to bat with me who know more about this type of situation than I do. It's times like this when it pays to have friends/family with knowledge and my best interest at heart. I know the end result of whether we proceed is really up to me, but I'm also not too bullheaded to listen and consider what each of them say - and that goes for everyone here too. I read everything you all write


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Here's a couple more shots (though it's been somewhat cleaned up by *someone* since this, so it looks marginally better now).:yuck::yuck::yuck:


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Wow.. that's a lot worse than what I have been dealing with... Knowing what I know about what it's taking to clean up and repair our place, I'd pass on that.. I wouldn't even think about it.. .

My wife and I are still questioning our sanity.. Were getting there, but it's been a long expensive hard work road... and we didn't have contaminated soil to deal with..


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## LoonyK (Dec 12, 2009)

lol I see the images and looks like a lot of fun. I guess the 'stuff' is not what would bother me, but soil contamination would make me walk away.


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2013)

LoonyK said:


> lol I see the images and looks like a lot of fun. I guess the 'stuff' is not what would bother me, but soil contamination would make me walk away.


You & I definitely have a lot different definition of fun .


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Today we met with the city officials. Let's see if I can convey what transpired with emoticons, shall we?

 :stars: :huh:   :hrm: :shocked:

Resulting in..:umno:

Followed by :run::run: (the two of us were at least in agreement)


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

And they say a picture is worth a thousand words . . . 

By my reckoning, there appears to be enough to fill 10,000!

Too bad . . . had hopes that we could watch either a major transformation

taking place for the next several years . . . OR

the makings for the remaking of the movie - 'The Money Pit.'


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

ound: Typical of Government, be they local State or Federal. 
They will put so many restrictions and red tape on something, so it seems that they don't want improvements done. Although, maybe they truly don't want it cleaned up.. If you cleaned it up they may not have enough "poisoned" land to collect Fed or State money..

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out. I was definitely curious as to the little treasures you may have found in the scrap...

But there is always another (nicer) property that will come available and meet your needs and wants.. The hardest part is waiting to find it..


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I know..I was looking forward to a complete before/after.

So, details were revealed that scared us away. Actually it was a squirrel, but more on that later. The below details are public info, btw..nothing was revealed to us yesterday that was confidential.

He did run a makeshift, illegal fixit shop. At one point he had about 200 cars on the lot on various stages of disrepair. There were also more than 1,000 tires and when he started to get complaints, he threw up makeshift fences, using whatever he could find..old fridges, billboards, etc. He had huge 50-gallon drums of oil, gas..who knows what, on the property that eventually leaked out. The shop/shed where all the tools were, that was his shop and he had dug out a small bay to go under the vehicles. This is where he seemed to have drained and then subsequently dumped a lot of oil. Why the city didn't enforce rules, I have no idea. And why they're not enforcing them now..I think there's more to the story with this as well. 

Yesterday with our realtor we peeked in the bottom of the house (which we later found out was actually an old quonset hut). We saw some sort of tube that went up. At the meeting we learned that the man, most likely suffering from PTSD was living in the upper level. He would go through the basement, up the tube and lived at the entrance, where he had surrounded himself with old phonebooks and a small camp stove. He had boarded up all the windows. His nephew was living in the RV for quite some time as well.

And the kicker..the city officials told us they hoped we hadn't explored the property too much because he had booby trapped the entire thing. 

But about that squirrel. I was standing on the property waiting for my partner and the realtor to come out of the brush when this squirrel appeared from nowhere at my feet and made this sound like I had never heard before, this really weird screeching/cautionary noise, almost like if a squirrel could talk, he was telling me to walk away. I swear it was a sign. 

So - because of all that extra info (and the squirrel), we're going to walk.


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## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

I would have loved to pick thru all that stuff there very well could have been some serious treasures hidden there .


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

Grumpy old man said:


> I would have loved to pick thru all that stuff there very well could have been some serious treasures hidden there .


I know..it's a bit hard (especially for my partner) to walk away. But thoughts of Deer Hunter came to mind. :hohum: I guess for us it's going to be one of those great mysteries...


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

So sorry it didn't work out... I had a feeling though with what I was seeing and hearing, the city is going to be a real stickler about everything.. 

I wonder too about the booby traps, if that wasn't more of just something they are saying to try and keep people off the property...


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I had thought that too..except he told us after the fact. This city guy was a real straight-shooter. Besides, the WWII vet was in what would today be considered special ops, so he was no dummy and judging from the hermit-y condition of that house...no telling what he had going on in there?


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

I see you have already walked away from this, but being in a "residential" area. Another word of caution is: sometimes governments will force you to clean it up in 30 days or start charging you fines. Sometimes you don't get the luxury of doing it in your free time. 

The "junk" is easy to cleanup if you can do it slowly. The contamination is not.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Sorry it didn't work out, but I think you are wise to walk away. The environmental stuff would have been an expensive nightmare and it was just too much work to end up with only 2 acres of land with neighbors waiting in the wings to add to your troubles.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

I think the city would have given us time to clean as long as we were making progress..heaven knows they have been hands off on the current owner(s). The neighbors would most likely be happy to see all that junk gone..not to mention I think they all have wells...what about groundwater contamination? But yeah..expensive nightmare is right. 

I admit, that night we decided 100% jointly that we were going to walk...I had a really good, sound sleep.


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## arbutus (Jun 8, 2006)

We were going to buy a 10 acre parcel that was listed for $10k. It had an old barn on it and a falling down farmhouse that was beyond repair. A portion of the barn was in good shape but the house would have had to come down with an excavator and into a couple of roll off dumpsters.

There was considerable junk, just like your pictures, and from what I was told two old brothers were born there and lived there until they died. They were misers and hated banks, and when they passed the family scavenged for cash and left everything else to rot.
Kind of sad walking in a deserted falling down house with a few b&w photographs of family from better days and lots of junk strewn around.

The tales of booby traps and possible leaking fuel drums make it sound like you made a good choice though.


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## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

Watch how fast that property is sucked up by one of the local politicians ! Right after they use city services to clean it up . That's why they don't want anyone there so they use the (booby trap threat )


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## SimplerTimez (Jan 20, 2008)

simi-steading said:


> If you are interested.. here's a bunch of pictures we've taken.. If you go back in time on this page, you can get an idea of what we started with, and where we're at now...
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-duo/


Simi, what a great job y'all have done! Love the bones of the house too. You're not crazy, you're livin' the dream 

~ST


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