All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Nurre

Mark, 

I did reach out to Mark on his website. Hoping to pick his brain a bit. I'm also in the process of reaching out to local builders to see what it would costs to build on the property and what the timeline would be. We stopped opening walls halfway through for the can of worm reason. It was getting pretty ugly very quickly! 

I don't know if any of you have dealt with zoning before, but I'm wondering if I can build on the other side of my property which would be accessed by another street. This would in theory change my zoning. The lot next to mine was split three ways because its zoned differently and it's slightly smaller than mine. Just trying to be creative. 

Thanks Bruce!

Thanks for the slap in the face Maksu. This was in no way a way to make big money. My husband and I are active-duty military that need a place to live. In today's market it's difficult to find affordable housing so we thought we would do some work on our own. We've had to move to four different states in four years. YES, forced to move!!! I've moved my family four times in four years, twice alone because my husband was deployed! My kids have gone to four different schools in four years. We're not trying to get rich just survive. When you make sacrifices for your country your family pays the price. I had heard the podcasts before and thought I might find some advice. Please don't be rude. I have enough stress in my life besides this house. 

I think my next option may to be build. Unfortunately, the cost to do so is insane right now, not to mention the long wait time! 

Bruce, you hit the nail on the head. Biggest issue is the rabbit hole situation. I would spend the money if I knew the only issues were the few things we saw, but I'm very doubtful. I pulled the permits which were there and stated, "homeowner will do repairs." Problem is that the homeowner didn't know what he was doing. I have no idea how half of the additions done passed code. Only thing I can think of is that the additions were done forty years ago when they didn't care how things were done. There were no vapor barriers in the floor, floorboards were just thrown down without securing them to anything, some of the floor is not even touching the footers. Anyways, I looked at breaking up the lot (its 1.8 acres), but the way it's zoned prohibits us from doing so. As far as I know Lake Forest is super strict on their zoning, so I think there's probably little hope of pursuing that route. 

My husband and I recently purchased a house in Lake Forest, IL that needed some rehab. We did all of our due diligence (three mold companies, chimney inspector and regular home inspector). After beginning the mold remediation, we found many walls rotten to the siding (about 50% of the house). Most of the house will need to be reframed. Additionally, the previous owner did several additions DIY style and had no idea what he was doing. All of the additions will need to be redone. The roof also needs to be completely redone. This we knew, but thought it was our biggest issue.  It was leaking causing much of the water damage throughout the house. At this point the cost to get the house to where we thought it was (based on previous inspections) going to be is 250,000. This is without any remodeling. We now have a very expensive mortgage, with a house that cannot be repaired or lived in. What legal rights or options do we have in this situation.