CA Newbie Tackling Large Rural House + Land In Upstate New York

[Cheryl Griffin]

Hi –

I’m a new investor, and have an opportunity to help an owner sell their inherited large country house, along with 50+ acres, in a rural part of upstate New York. I would greatly appreciate feedback as to whether or not my approach makes sense. Here are some general specs:

• 8 br/4 ba
• Over 4300 sf
• 3 stories
• Majority of the house outdated
• Lots of knotty pine ceilings and walls
• Unfinished basement
• Missing copper pipes (stolen last year out of the basement and never replaced)
• Roof 10+ yrs
• Well water
• Septic system
• Pond on property (large enough to paddle boat on)

My plan of action is to first see if the owner will allow me to get a pest inspection that I will provide to a contractor and ask for a bid. I will then do my due diligence to determine the ARV (this will be challenging due to the size of the house/land), and finally put together an offer.

To complicate the situation even more, I live in California and the owner lives in Nevada, so we don’t have easy access to the property or local resources.

First of all, am I on the right track or should a take another approach due to the uniqueness of the situation? Also, because of the size of the home and the amount of land its on, how should I go about finding comps? Is it okay to look at similar properties that are outside of upstate NY, i.e. other rural parts of the Northeast?

As I mentioned, any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Britt Abbey]

"Upstate" is not a singular neighborhood (and for that matter, there's great debate over what is considered "upstate".  Personally I consider it to include only areas north of Interstate 90 (Thruway) or Syracuse north.

That said property values will vary greatly even throughout my narrower definition of the term. I suggest you hire an appraiser (my personal preference over a real estate agent/broker for this situation) to do help determine your current market value and ARV.

Unless it's a 1 in a million property, there will be comparable sales within reasonable distance (25 miles?) that will eliminate the need to consider sales out of state.  Remember - real estate is local....

(full disclosure, I hold both an appraiser's certification and associate broker's license... and live upstate).