All Forum Posts by: Alfred Edmonds

as @Dorene Mangels-Bacalhau mentioned, if you are doing anything structural the building department will want an engineers stamp on the plans whether an architect draws them or not. where I live the lumber yard where I buy my materials provides that for free in house to contractors who they do business with. they do this because it's good business, they do the math and I buy from them. also they are much cheaper than the big box stores and actually have a clue which I've never seen at the big orange store.

I have to agree with what everyone else has said! it really sounds like you found a winner and I can see why he would want to work for you rather than out bidding jobs even though he might make a bit more money or not. I have to say it is refreshing to hear everyone agreeing to pay a valuable guy a living wage rather than nickel and diming. I will guess that everyone who responded to this thread has been through their share of nightmares and see the value in paying a fair wage when warranted. 30 an hour is a bargain price for a hard worker. As a contractor, I'd pay a guy that all day long if he worked hard and showed up on time without a hangover!

@Letitia Harris I have removed chimneys on other people's houses, just took down 3 on one property, 2 just below the roofline and one all the way down but that one was outside the home. below the roofline is easy as long as the rest of the chimney is structurally sound which a good GC will tell you. I can say that they usually are ok once they get inside out of the weather. As far as cost, it depends on height, pitch and accessibility. The repair to the roof is pretty straightforward but it depends on roof materials and condition. the other issue could be water damage to the surrounding sheathing and rafters which could cost more. if it was all good, and just a matter of removing chimney and replacing sheathing and tooting in asphalt shingles, I'd probably do it for 1000 if it was a day project. I'm in Massachusetts so I don't know what you may find. I would make sure your guy is licensed and insured and has the means and ability to do the whole project and not be subbing out masons and roofers. It's easy and usually fast. hope it helps, as with all projects there are many variables which need to be identified for an accurate estimate.

Yes @Steve McGovern it is confusing!

The woman who I spoke with at the town says the seller is the owner of the land so I guess it's the mobile home that is in question. Like I said, the seller has made some moves without doing much research and I think that she has got herself in over her head. 

The question is, do I want to involve myself in cleaning it up?  the answer would like in the numbers which I'm currently sorting out. I'm following through mostly in an exercise of due diligence because at this point I'm not sure it's worth the effort but I'm learning a thing or two in the process.

I'm looking at a property in Vermont and need some help and opinion on.

It is .23 acres in a rural area with driveway, septic, and well in place. There is a 2 bedroom 2 bath mobile home built in 1989 in the property. There is said to be electric but the woman who owns it said that there isn't because the previous owner who was foreclosed on pulled the wires from the property to the street. The town says there is electric but I'm going with what the owner said.

The current owner planned to build on the site and seems that she got in over her head. She brought the mobile home to the property because she was told she had to hook up the septic due to some state regulations (I'm unsure of which regulations she is talking about) She began to gut the trailer and because of money and the town, has abandoned the idea. Honestly, from speaking with her several times, I feel she just had no idea what she was doing. 

While speaking with the chair of the board of listers with the town, I was told that the owner never had a bill of sale for the home and that seems to be the real issue. Like I said, the owner just seemed to plan nothing.

I am in a position to buy the property for 5000 and am currently in the due diligence phase. I still need to get a septic and well inspection done. I still have no concrete plan for the land, I'm a builder and have options. There is no zoning in the town but plans still need approval, but I've considered seller financing the land to someone with a tiny house or trailer and ran a test ad to that extent with decent results. Another option is to rehab the mobile home and sell or rent.

If I were to keep the trailer what do I need to do to make it legit without bill of sale? 

The property was last purchased 18 months ago for 15000. In my opinion, if the well and septic get a clean bill of health, plus the driveway in place and the land cleared, the land has value well above my price. She is asking 15 for it but I'm sure I can get her to 5 as I know she wants it gone

Any other advice/ideas are greatly welcomed!

@Melissa Kirchhoff Thanks for the response, I was thinking exactly that when I posted, that it may be somewhat of a breech of his responsibility to his clients and the sellers.

My question is pretty simple. I would like to ask a friend of mine who is a very reputable home inspector in my area to let me know about "problem" homes he has come across through his work. I'm thinking that he would know about what properties just aren't selling due to inspection issues and that information seems valuable in terms of negotiating a deal that no one else wants.  

My question is about ethics and his profession, I don't want to put him in any kind of position that could hurt him or his reputation. I'm pretty confident that there isn't any issue, if anything he may be helping the seller. I guess I could just ask him but I thought maybe some of you have any experience with this. Also, I wonder if he would even have any information that I can't already get. Of course I'd be willing to pay him a finders fee on any properties he brought that I closed on.

I'm a licensed GC in Massachusetts and am not afraid of foundations or other structural problems that scare others (as long as the numbers work) 

Any thoughts and experience?

Just noticed the 150k rehab estimate... I can't imagine it being that cheap for a total rehab after move. I would seriously get a few bids on that. I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. there are so many unknowns in a project like that, I would imagine anyone giving you an accurate estimate is selling a bag of sunshine

@Davon Blackwell I'm sure you know that after moving any house especially 100+ year old house and getting it set on a foundation and all hooked up the fun has only just begun. Lots of damaged plaster and structural issues. A house that has settled into it's foundation over time is all kinds of twisted fun. trying to straighten it out on a nice new foundation will break more stuff. once you decide to expose framing which you'll likely have to do at least partially you'll also have to bring it up to code with fire blocking and headers and such, and that's just the framing. The charm of old houses is the craftsmanship and proper renovation cost lots of dough. That 1 dollar house is going to cost 100s of thousands after all is said and done. if you're up to it, I say go for it because they don't build them like that anymore and never can or will. You'd be saving history. if your plan is to remodel it into a "new" house I'd say pass and build one, probably cost the same.

I would really listen to @Steve McGovern on this one. even though it looks to you like drainage won't be an issue all it takes is a little water on a consistent enough basis to do real damage. If one low spot hold water on even one little part of the house it's gonna eventually bring issues, obviously water but bugs love that soft wood. Water kills homes