The joists are about 2 ft higher but there is too much in the way to get to the joists, water pipes, furnace ducts, would take more work than needs to be and I am fine with the ceiling height where the drop ceiling used to be.Originally posted by @Theresa Harris:Is there no framing about the drop ceiling? 

@Benjamin Klos I buy the water and gas line insurance also.

Hopefully it would take off and pay for itself, but it's hard to take that big of a plunge without being able to "test the waters" first.

A property I am interested in purchasing had some extensive repairs - water leak from roof resulted in wood rot.  

https://smartasset.com/data-st...Interesting that most of these cities are in close proximity to water and/or a coast of some sort.https://smartasset.com/data-st...

How about water?

I tried calling the Water Company to see if they can provide a list of addresses with the water shut off and nope!

IF/when we ever run out of conventional 20% DP buyers, sellers wont have the luxury of being able to choose their preferred financing so the low DP FHA buyers will increase in market share. unless the macro perspective changes or we have a flood of new housing inventory, I don't see things changing any time soon. even then, the FED has taken drastic measures to prop up our economy since the start of the pandemic, who's to say they won't continue doing so. 40 year mortgages could be a thing of the future to help affordability once interest rates go back up - https://www.housingwire.com/ar...

Currently, the owner pays for hot water and heating.

By unfinished I'm talking about no running water, no range oven in kitchen, and some wiring in the newly renovated bathroom.