Bought the described property for ~$75,000 (got ripped off). The exterior walls have rotted through in parts. It's got 3 roofs and leaks through in one spot. The plumbing works but is made of defective parts. The furnace is shot. Everything in the house is substandard. To make it habitable the exterior walls and roof would need to be replaced and a new furnace put in. I'd need to buy an HVAC unit and air it out for a month after completing repairs.
The question is, supposing the land is worth $25,000 and it'd take $30,000 to complete the necessary repairs... is it worth trying to salvage or should I demolish and do something else? I could put a tiny home (~$40,000) or metal kit house (~$20,000) on the property instead. Property's on city electric and water but has in ground septic. The mobile home is ~1,000 square feet. There's low demand for housing in the area; whatever I do it'd only sell at a very attractive price. The local price floor to buy a home is around ~$100,000. I'm leaning toward demolition with intent to replace it with a structure about half that size but don't want to waste materials. It's not in a bad spot... close to a grocery store in the back of a suburb a little ways away from a clean river, fairly scenic area. Something on the property could make for a good vacation or retirement home. My craziest idea is to demolish and build a watch tower home ~30ft up on a metal frame to take advantage of the view. Thoughts?
