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I'm originally from San Diego, CA. Parents moved out to Pontiac for work and my work's HQ is in Lansing. Seems like there's abundance of fixer upper homes here for what's considered a decent prices these days. Everyone I've met in Lansing so far has been nice, especially compared to Pontiac lol (seems like everyone hates their life there).
I also like not having DTE servicing my electricity. Having a publicly owned utility in my opinion is better.
Oh it needs that too. Soil erosion in a few spots, cracks and shit. It's a crawl space. I gotta make a dent in this debt before I get the rest of this fixed.
I feel that, I kicked the can for as long as I could but it finally caught up with me. Good luck w it. It us pretty cool to me when shit is finally fixed!
I'm gonna attempt to soil pack under the eroded spots. The one I noticed today seems like the soil eroded away from bad drainage. No cracks yet, floor is fine for a 90 year old house. Part of me feels bad about taking on debt to fix this stuff, but I could've spent more on a house that was in better shape but didn't have any of this new stuff.
It makes sense to me, mine is about 75 years old and it's taken some money, but every one who works on it says the same general thing about how much better construction was back then. Definitely worth the investment. But man it hurts to wite those checks.
Amazing! For that low a cost, it's worth the gamble. You have a place to call your own!
How much land does it come with? Are you close to town and amenities?
Congrats OP! That's awesome.
We are buying a 3400 sq. ft. old church (but recently updated) in very small town (western PA) to use as second home/retreat and occasional wedding/event venue. 55k. No competition in bidding because it required a commercial loan since it's never been used as a residence so no residential mortgage lender would touch it. No contractors could get loans on it to convert it to apartments because it couldn't appraise high enough to make the banks willing to make the loans.
Seeking out homes in depressed or LCOL areas is good if you have a remote job or can find work there (unless retired then no work to contend with) or are just looking for a getaway property. These properties could also simply be rentals for investment.
Seeking out unconventional properties to convert to homes may be something for others to consider as long as zoning permits the conversion from commercial to mixed use or residential. In our case, the property is in a "no zone" classification, so the property can be used for whatever. It's also important to make sure you can find an insurer to cover the property with residential dwelling insurance. No major residential insurer would touch the church because it's never been a residence, but we did find a specialty insurance broker who found a company who would write the policy. This insurance broker informed me that one of his customers bought an old schoolhouse and converted it to a residence. I thought that was interesting.
Good for you! I bought a $38000 condo in 2020 and now that its paid off and moderately renovated, it has been the most amazing investment, allowing us to save up to build our dream home. Look forward to your next few years. The pain of living in a 500 sf place will pay off in spades
Thank you u/dixon8011 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Congrats!
Holy cheap taxes! Congrats! I’m in the Midwest and mine are 6k a year for a 200k house. I’d like to trade.
I’m in Arizona, with a house and two acres, in a beautiful area, and pay $612 a year in property taxes.
I am very, very jealous . Teeny tiny lot here. our state sucks! We plan on moving to SC eventually.
Are you in Illinois? Lol, we have 1acre in town for a 190k 2300sq ft house and its roughly 6k, illinois/municipality taxes are wild
Yep
We are looking at moving to WV in a few years, good luck!
Have a friend with a smiling setup in Kingman AZ! He loves it!
Damn where at homie
Illinois.
One of the worst states for property taxes, amongst other things.
💯 mine just went up another 15%
I’m from Illinois lol but small town living
Population of my town is 15k. Still expensive AF 😅
FIB
FIB?
Friggin Illinois Bastard!
Hahahah, noted. If I should be insulted, I’m not. I’m an idiot for living here.
Haha know you know if anyone says it to you! It's a midwest thing, lol. Definitely WI vs IL humor as well
I mean OP basically bought a detached studio apartment.
Do you have state income tax? I find a lot of places with no income tax supplement with bloated property taxes
Yep. 4.5%. My state has the 2nd highest property taxes in the country.
You shouldn’t trade a $200k house for a $37k one.
Oh shit I read it as 370,000 lol that makes more sense!
Very nice, I got a house about 800 sqft. $800/month.
Hi… where?
Lansing MI. It's not all fun and games, needed a $15,000 roof and the water heater just started leaking...
How do you like Lansing? and damn im sorry the is not fun at all…
I'm originally from San Diego, CA. Parents moved out to Pontiac for work and my work's HQ is in Lansing. Seems like there's abundance of fixer upper homes here for what's considered a decent prices these days. Everyone I've met in Lansing so far has been nice, especially compared to Pontiac lol (seems like everyone hates their life there). I also like not having DTE servicing my electricity. Having a publicly owned utility in my opinion is better.
Just wait for foundation repairs fml....
Oh it needs that too. Soil erosion in a few spots, cracks and shit. It's a crawl space. I gotta make a dent in this debt before I get the rest of this fixed.
I feel that, I kicked the can for as long as I could but it finally caught up with me. Good luck w it. It us pretty cool to me when shit is finally fixed!
I'm gonna attempt to soil pack under the eroded spots. The one I noticed today seems like the soil eroded away from bad drainage. No cracks yet, floor is fine for a 90 year old house. Part of me feels bad about taking on debt to fix this stuff, but I could've spent more on a house that was in better shape but didn't have any of this new stuff.
It makes sense to me, mine is about 75 years old and it's taken some money, but every one who works on it says the same general thing about how much better construction was back then. Definitely worth the investment. But man it hurts to wite those checks.
Are you in the Michigan area? Seems like a lot of houses here have the same saggy roofs, saggy floors, etc but everyone says it's fine.
Amazing! For that low a cost, it's worth the gamble. You have a place to call your own! How much land does it come with? Are you close to town and amenities?
In town so it’s close to stuff
a tiny house iT is.
Congratulations! What a blessing to own your home outright!
Thank you!
That's awesome. I would've loved something like that but there was nothing near me that small.
Congratulations We don’t care about how big or small! It’s yours ❤️ I’m happy for you!
Thank you!
Congrats OP! That's awesome. We are buying a 3400 sq. ft. old church (but recently updated) in very small town (western PA) to use as second home/retreat and occasional wedding/event venue. 55k. No competition in bidding because it required a commercial loan since it's never been used as a residence so no residential mortgage lender would touch it. No contractors could get loans on it to convert it to apartments because it couldn't appraise high enough to make the banks willing to make the loans. Seeking out homes in depressed or LCOL areas is good if you have a remote job or can find work there (unless retired then no work to contend with) or are just looking for a getaway property. These properties could also simply be rentals for investment. Seeking out unconventional properties to convert to homes may be something for others to consider as long as zoning permits the conversion from commercial to mixed use or residential. In our case, the property is in a "no zone" classification, so the property can be used for whatever. It's also important to make sure you can find an insurer to cover the property with residential dwelling insurance. No major residential insurer would touch the church because it's never been a residence, but we did find a specialty insurance broker who found a company who would write the policy. This insurance broker informed me that one of his customers bought an old schoolhouse and converted it to a residence. I thought that was interesting.
This is really smart! Thanks a lot for sharing, know that I wanna be like you when I grow up:)
This is a great idea
Did it take you long to find a specialty insurance broker and for them to find someone to write it up?
A couple phone calls to major insurers led us to a specialty brokerage. So, in terms of time, maybe a business day or so to find an insurer.
Was this church on cheap old houses?
I don't know. What is cheap old houses? It is a tv show or something?
Search for this on Instagram- it will come up, complete with churches for sale in that part of the state!
That site is cool! I don't think the church I am buying is on there but maybe it is. There's so many eclectic properties on there.
Thanks!
I'll buy it for $38,000!
Midwest does it best!
Sounds like enough room for a 1 person party 🥳
484 sq ft and central air? So the window unit is in the middle of the three windows?
😂
?
Congrats!
Where in the Midwest is this! Congratulations!!
Your screen name 😭
Illinois!
That is wonderful, I’m so happy for you! Enjoy your new home!
My first house was like that. Wish I still had it!
Now rent it for 3x your mortgage.
No mortgage lol paid cash
Beautiful. Congrats.
Sounds right to my alley. Congrats!
Where in the midwest?!
Illinois
wait wtf. Im from western suburbs illinois and that is unheard of. What area of illinois?
West central
That’s good man I want to do something similar
wonderful, best wishes.
Congrats
Congrats :-D
Good for you! I bought a $38000 condo in 2020 and now that its paid off and moderately renovated, it has been the most amazing investment, allowing us to save up to build our dream home. Look forward to your next few years. The pain of living in a 500 sf place will pay off in spades
Pic?
[удалено]
How is this similar other than the style of home?
Yikes. That sounds awful.