Help! 100 year old house. Need advice. Lead, Asbestos, etc.

[Cameron Price]

I need serious input! I just looked at a Historic house in my town that has been sitting vacant for over 30 years. The family finally put it on the market and are asking $80K. The realtor thinks they would take $40K or maybe even less. Several people have already looked at it, but it has overwhelmed everyone so far, myself included, but I'm considering making an offer on it. Its almost 3600 sf. 4 bed 3 bath build in 1911. It has water leaks in several places  that have caused extensive water damage. I'm pretty sure it is covered in lead based paint and probably has asbestos in it too. It would be a $360K house MINIMUM restored (decent houses in my town hang around $100/sf) . Realtor guessed $450K! Problem is, she also guessed $200K in repairs! Complete new electrical, plumbing, hvac required. Plaster is cracked on the ceilings. It has a crazy gutter system that was built into the overhang that has deteriorated and caused most of the water damage. 

The house is structurally SOLID from what I could tell. All rough cut lumber that appeared to be in great shape other than where the water damage has occurred. It has TONS of character and would be an amazing home when restored. 

I can start putting together some numbers of what it might cost to rennovate, but I have no idea where to start with lead based paint, mold remediation, and asbestos. Anybody have suggestions/ resources? RUN? lol. 

My current thoughts of what I could do to it:

Get some portion of it habitable, or move a camper on site, or rebuild carriage house on property... make it my primary residence.

Rennovate along the way.

Get it in decent shape and take out a HELOC on the property for a handsome sum.

Use heloc to finance pretty much any other flips I wanted to do.  I would have a large amount of money available whenever I needed it. 

I could rent out rooms to others if i wanted to, it's huge! It's directly across the street from a college as well. student housing, maybe? possibilities are endless. 

[Cindy Browning]

Cool house! The first thing I would look into is the mold. I just did a flip on a 900 sq ft house and to do mold remediation the right way, it cost $2,300 and you have a lot of sq footage. Asbestos aren't a problem unless you open them to natural air but considering you said the plaster on the ceiling is coming down means you'll need to scrape and there for need to worry about the asbestos.

 I wouldn't be worried about it being a big project as long as you keep in mind that ALL old homes have unforeseen problems. There will always be stuff behind the walls and under the house that you won't know about until you get into it. But don't let that stop you if you have the vision and drive to do it. Seems like a great investment if the numbers are correct!

Good luck!