Looking for some insight, opinions, and overall suggestions on how to approach a home owner to reduce the price they are asking.
I've been looking at this particular house/property for years.
The current owner bought it back in 2007 for $120K when the original owners got foreclosed on. He bought it site unseen and seriously overpaid by $50K (he purchased based on records back in 2005 and the values of the surrounding homes... idiot).
Quick back history on the original owners. I knew them my entire life. They were spend freaks, never paid their mortgage... just took them 24 years to finally lose the house and get foreclosed on.
Anyways, when the current owner bought it back in 2007, they did ZERO improvements and began renting it out. It's had six different tenants in it (all with kids and dogs) over the last ten years. No real maintenance has been done to it, no paint, no new windows (it has the original aluminum windows that were installed in '83). nothing.
The current tenants have done the most to the house by actually mowing the weeds around the building.
In April/May of this year, the owner listed it for sale for $150K. Nobody came to look at it, because from the street it looks like a crackhouse.
Shortly after that, they took it off the market (again, he has tried to sell it in years past too).
Now this is where it gets interesting. I know EVERYTHING that is wrong with the house. Why? I knew the original owners and what they did to the house.
Just to name some of the issues... the garage has been 'lifted' to accommodate larger trucks, but was done so without a permit and without any engineering, thus the roof of the garage is leaning to one side by about four inches.
The front room addition was done without a permit as well. They just dug out the foundation and poured a 24" slab and built on that (the carpeting is glued to the concrete).
The back lean-to porch area is sagging as well (didn't build it right).
They poured a concrete patio OVER the septic tank. They've had to saw out a nice block so you can have access to it.
The house has been flooded twice, once via a 550 gallon fish tank and another via frozen water pipe bursting.
The original owner poured concrete in the crawlspace as some sort of DIY method to keep the house cooler (I never understood his philosophy behind this).
The list goes on... seriously it has a sh*t ton of issues. Getting a home inspector called in would probably get it condemned (not a bad idea to be honest).
Does anyone have suggestions on approaching him?
I know he wants to sell (he's old), but he is simply way over priced for the market, the area, and especially the value of the land/house. I don't want to lowball his ass and get him pissed off to the point he won't even want to negotiate, but he is just way off base.
EDIT: Forgot to add, the reason I want it is that it's an adjacent property.
I've been looking at this particular house/property for years.
The current owner bought it back in 2007 for $120K when the original owners got foreclosed on. He bought it site unseen and seriously overpaid by $50K (he purchased based on records back in 2005 and the values of the surrounding homes... idiot).
Quick back history on the original owners. I knew them my entire life. They were spend freaks, never paid their mortgage... just took them 24 years to finally lose the house and get foreclosed on.
Anyways, when the current owner bought it back in 2007, they did ZERO improvements and began renting it out. It's had six different tenants in it (all with kids and dogs) over the last ten years. No real maintenance has been done to it, no paint, no new windows (it has the original aluminum windows that were installed in '83). nothing.
The current tenants have done the most to the house by actually mowing the weeds around the building.
In April/May of this year, the owner listed it for sale for $150K. Nobody came to look at it, because from the street it looks like a crackhouse.
Shortly after that, they took it off the market (again, he has tried to sell it in years past too).
Now this is where it gets interesting. I know EVERYTHING that is wrong with the house. Why? I knew the original owners and what they did to the house.
Just to name some of the issues... the garage has been 'lifted' to accommodate larger trucks, but was done so without a permit and without any engineering, thus the roof of the garage is leaning to one side by about four inches.
The front room addition was done without a permit as well. They just dug out the foundation and poured a 24" slab and built on that (the carpeting is glued to the concrete).
The back lean-to porch area is sagging as well (didn't build it right).
They poured a concrete patio OVER the septic tank. They've had to saw out a nice block so you can have access to it.
The house has been flooded twice, once via a 550 gallon fish tank and another via frozen water pipe bursting.
The original owner poured concrete in the crawlspace as some sort of DIY method to keep the house cooler (I never understood his philosophy behind this).
The list goes on... seriously it has a sh*t ton of issues. Getting a home inspector called in would probably get it condemned (not a bad idea to be honest).
Does anyone have suggestions on approaching him?
I know he wants to sell (he's old), but he is simply way over priced for the market, the area, and especially the value of the land/house. I don't want to lowball his ass and get him pissed off to the point he won't even want to negotiate, but he is just way off base.
EDIT: Forgot to add, the reason I want it is that it's an adjacent property.
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