I've got a chance to buy a vacant ***METH HOUSE*** for $20,000 with a lot in a lower income neighborhood-would
It's a 50's home with a slab foundation, 2-bedroom one level---I'd need to carpet it, get a furnace, the last guy who lived in it burnt the cuboards off the kitchen cabinets in the wood sotve before he sold the stove. It's a dive, but with some fixing up, it's located by the post office and neighbors around it have a nice little modest homes---it's livable and I figure even if a guy got a track dozer in to level the house for maybe a double wide (which it's zoned for trailers) the lot will always be worth $10,000---- taxes are only $170 a year--- I'd plan on having it down in 1-year---then sell it for who knows.maybe $48,000++?
Still though, a lot of work and wondered if anybody else jumped on a project like this and wish they hadn't or were happy they did??
Thanks,
Raidehz
ps, the Meth Lab is gone and no traces that it even existed in the house anymore. Deed is clear.
Answers:
I'd jump on it if it's undervalued for the neighborhood. I bought a small house in a "bad" neighborhood and it's zoomed up to over 3 times what I paid for it less than 4 years ago.
Make sure they didn't pour their meth chemicals in the yard, though. Those will leach into the soil and it's possible that the owner (you) would have to pay for the environmental clean up if those chemicals are detected.
Other answers:
Be careful. The health board may have different ideas if you try to fix it up. New carpet and some fresh paint won't get rid of the nasty chemicals.
Be careful. The health board may have different ideas if you try to fix it up. New carpet and some fresh paint won't get rid of the nasty chemicals.
BUY IT, though I can't say that I have experience with this kind of deal. The price is right, and neighborhoods sometimes go through cycles of improvement and declining.
A recent "This Old House" episode showed a home that had been purchased and remodeled at a great price in Washington D.C. in a bad neighborhood. The remodel itself encouraged other homeowners in the area to fix theirs up and the next thing you knew, there was this vibrant remodeled neighborhood full of proud homeowners!
Make this house nice and who knows, maybe you could start a trend. Sounds like something this neighborhood could really use.
I'm really not sure if it's a good thing or bad. Of course, with all the television commercials lately(about people living in old meth houses)I have to say it's a bad thing. Did you know that even though there is no lab there now that paople can still breath in fumes left behind? I wouldn't want to live in a house knowing it had contained a meth lab at one time.
Go for it! Good Luck!
If you can do the work yourself, if the numbers make sense, yes.do it. The neighborhood with thank you to boot. Your bank account will be happy...win-win, if you ask me.
But I wouldn't do this with an eye towards renting! Either do it to sell, of don't do it. Renting in these neighborhoods could me more problems than it is worth.
The only way this would be worth considering is if you can do all or most of the fix-it-up work yourself. If you end up having to pay a lot of subcontractors to do the work, you won't be able to recoup your investment in a year's time; you'd have to hold on to the house longer and live in it yourself or rent it.
first off, check with the police, health dept, and a couple different Realtors. Is varies state to state i think but some times when a house has had a meth lab in it, it has to be disclosed when selling. another thing, add up all the expenses you can think of to remodel the house and add about 20% to that sum to cover things that you haven't thought of. (35% of u are dumb like me)
I would go for it.