Low-priced bank owned property and what to do?

**cardwellave** · 10-11-2009, 08:07 PM

Hello everyone,

Let me start off by saying I was not really in the market for a house right away when I stumbled across a nice little property at a low price. This house is located in a neighborhood I very much like and I found it as I was sort of browsing. Realistically I was thinking of looking for a house or apartment maybe a year or two down the road.

This house is listed at a very low price. $12,900. I viewed the house this weekend, and it is clear that the house needs work to bring it to livable conditions. Now from what I could see a lot of it was cosmetic: broken plaster, bad floors, paint, fixtures, appliances, but I don't know how much is serious: plumbing, electrical, etc. I was sort of put off the day I looked at it as to how messed up it was but as I've been thinking more, I'd like to find out about how much work it needs. The $13,000 price tag of the house is about how much I have saved up right now. By all means I could buy this house, but I was curious as to how much it would take to fix.

Is there any tool I can use with an agent or something to find out how much needs to be done and the cost? And also are bank owned properties negotiable on price??

It says the square footage is around 800 but that includees an upstairs room which is about 6 foot high, so without that room it is around 500-600 sq feet.

Also, it says the house sold on Aug 8th, 2009 for $117,407.

**AdamAgent** · 10-11-2009, 09:25 PM

Call at least three construction/remodeling/handyman companies that specialize in this type of repair and have them give you estimates.

Doing alot of it yourself may bring it to half the prices quoted but remodeling a house is a pricey venture so I wouldn't expect to spend less than 10-50k depending on the condition of the house.

**cardwellave** · 10-11-2009, 09:51 PM

Will these people come to the house to look at everything? It's one thing to say I can do plastering and painting but I have no idea how to look at or determine the condition of bigger things like plumbing and electrical. Is there a general type of contractor who will come look at all these things?