David's new digs
 

I put in a lowball offer today. Will keep you posted. 3 car garage + 3 horse stalls combined. lol. A definite fixer-upper/3 year vacant foreclosure with a f*@%load of problems...but sized right.

http://www.prudentialct.com/imgshow....pg&w=424&h=318

I hope this works out. Aren't places like that usually sold to a low-baller?
Anyhow, imagine that place all fixed up & landscaped ...with a nice cobblestone driveway, several first-gens parked out front, and ....well, I'm sure you are already having these visions.

Oh, and one day we'll park your Rallye Green Z next to my Ash Gold L30/M20 for a real clash of the late 60's colors.

The bank has turned down 3 offers from other people so far. From what I've read, within the first 30 days they usually don't go lower that 10% of of the asking price and after 90 days they are more willing to make a deal. Right now it's at 36 days. I should have an answer from the bank by Friday.

The cobblestone driveway will definitely have to wait. LOL. I got a ballpark estimate of $20,000 to tear out the old driveway and put in a new regular one. The quote to replace the roof should be a real doozy!

That would be psychedelic!

I went with Ayotte Brothers to do my driveway.

100 x 10 ft section had to be completely removed (12" Down) and a new section of 20 ft x 20 ft up top newly paved and widened to 12 ft wide.

Not sure how long that one is but these guys were 1/2 of everyone else's price, and they do excellent work.

As a matter of fact they've now done 3 others in our neighborhood since ours last year.

Thanks Eric! The driveway is about 800 feet long.

I'm not so sure if Wells Fargo will accept my offer though. I keep reading up on REO properties and for the most part, banks don't start to make deals.....until a property has been up for sale for more than 90 days.

My first pass at a low ball offer (-14%) was denied by Wells Fargo. I have also read so much REO/packaged security/bank info lately that I can't sleep well at night.

I was thinking of forgetting the whole thing since the wife was not totally loving the place, and she was on the fence because of all the repairs and renovations needed.

But....we went there again this morning and she was actually liking it much more and started planning out a bunch of stuff.

So a medium ball offer was pitched (-9%). I am planning on denial #2, but you never know. Hopefully the "car-guy castle" plan doesn't go down in flames after 2-3 years of looking. :flame:

An 800 ft long driveway? Think of the burnouts you can do! Then, think about getting 10" of heavy wet snow on that driveway. You'll need to get a plow for that truck for sure.

800ft long? I say we do some 1/8 mile racing in his driveway lol

Yeah - I figured there was a bit more than mine... LOL:giggle: Good luck with the second offer:playboy:

Yep. The driveway would be way too big for my 20 year old snowblower!!!

Mike was having some major problems with the door gaps. Even in some of the original pictures, you can see that the passenger side door gap was off.

The neighbors would probably freak out when they see the drag racing tree at the end of the driveway. lol.

Thanks!!! I will get some updated pics up soon.

First low ball (-14%) - DENIED.
Second medium low ball (-9%) - DENIED and they were in negotiations with another buyer so I thought it was over.
Third ever so-slightly low offer (-4.5%) ACCEPTED after they couldn't come to an agreement with the other guy.

time to watch that crappy 80's movie again - the MONEY PIT, because that's what I have waiting for me. lol.

3 years vacant foreclosure and bought "AS IS" - what could possibly go wrong?

Wow David, congrats, I think! (I hope? LOL)

Lol congrats

:party2:Congrats!!!

Ha! Awesome that you got the house. Let the real fun begin.

if you need any help call alex!!!! haha Congrats!!!

Sure just volunteer me LOL. Seriously though I do maintenance at work so if you have issues I might be able to help. If you're keeping the existing appliances I'm pretty good at fixing those if they have issues.

Congrats on the future Stelly estate.
Garage high enough for the lift?
let me know if ya need help with the move etc?

Thanks for the offer of help guys!!!! I should be A-OK, but you never know and I really appreciate the offer.

The garage has at least one spot that is high enough for the lift.

I spent most of this weekend camping out with Alex and his cubscout pack. I got back just in time to meet with the realtor and sign my life away with a bunch of preliminary paperwork. The closing won't be until the middle of February.

The first two nightmares are the roof and the heating system. It's got a 25 year old wood shingle roof that I need to check much closer to see how bad it is. I'm not sure if I can get away with having some patching done temporarily or if I need to have it stripped off and reshingled (probably with typical asphalt shingles).

I think that the propane heating system has been off for at least two years but it looks like it's not that old. Hopefully it will be fine.

let me know if ya need an HVAC guy?
my friends brother has a HVAC business and installed a new propane heating system in my house at a great price.
Also whens the house warming party ? hehe
how much acreage you got now?

AWESOME find!! love the house, congrats! just looked up a ton of pics on it, definitely a dream house for me. GL

Thanks! I'm hoping the HVAC is OK but don't know yet. I'll let you know if I need his number.

No house warming party yet Dawg. It's gonna be a while till it's fixed up.

It's got 10.36 acres.

Thanks! It took a while to find a place since we wanted to keep the kid in the same school. It also took some convincing to get my wife to like the place because right now it's in very rough shape and looks run down. In time though, it should be great with enough room to easily store all 3 Camaros.

:hungry:10.3 acres and I can take care of the deer problem for ya!!!!

Nein.

It's alright though Dawg. My wife is pretty good at running them over with cars. lol.

One thing I haven't figured out yet is remodeling the horse stall part of the garage where the Camaros and the lift will go.

There are 3 horse stalls on the sides with an open section in the middle that has bricks on it right now. I'm thinking the middle section is where the lift could eventually go since there's a lot of open space up top. But the sides and doors are then all screwed up for Camaro parking spaces.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../3269259_6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3269259_11.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3269259_10.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../3269259_9.jpg

I think the first thing I have to do is make a rough sketch/floor plan of the current layout and figure it out from there. It would be nice to have it all open space but there are loads of support posts & beams everywhere.

Since I have a bunch of changes and repairs to make, I was hoping to get a copy of the original blueprints. I went to the town hall today and they said they discard the blueprints after 1 year. Crud.

So I tracked down and called the original owner of the house (Malcolm) who had it built in 1986. He's in Palm Beach Gardens Fl now. I left him a message but he hasn't called back yet.

I then called the architect (James) who is now in Jupiter Fl. He didn't have any blueprints but he said that his brother is the one who built the house.

His brother (Frederick) has a construction company and is still in Farmington Ct. He knew the first owner and a lot of details about the house. He said that Malcolm salvaged and stored the posts & beams from old barns including old tobacco barns. He said he might have the original prints and is going to look in his basement.

Congrats on the house. And wow you are a master at research :)

Thanks Matt!!

Figuring out the history of stuff by tracking people down is the fun part for me.

Looking at a Google map picture of the land, I don't think my little push mower is going to cut it.

Dawg, How are your farming skills?

:hungry: Got green beans?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...n2013/land.jpg

[QUOTE=DavidS;77413]Looking at a Google map picture of the land, I don't think my little push mower is going to cut it.

Dawg, How are your farming skills?

:hungry: Got green beans?

I cant plant a weed to make it grow!
You better be looking for a way to cut all that grass lol.
Get Alex a riding Mower is the first step lol.

Damn that is a sick place man congrats!

Then your farming skills are the same as mine. HA. Yep. I've been trying to figure out the best way to mow it.


Thanks! The deal isn't done yet though and if someone comes through with a better offer, Wells Fargo can still drop me like a rock.

They made me sign a bunch of papers saying they could still sell it to someone else if a higher offer comes through.

After the closing date, if it goes through.....time to celebrate.....maybe. The place is still a 3 year vacant foreclosure that needs a roof, siding, rotted out deck, driveway, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

The Money Pit...part II

Can i have a branch off your money tree

a friend that owns acreage in torrington leases out a portion of his land to local farmers.
they pay him and cut the grass on his property.

It would be real nice to find a deal like that. There are a lot of local farms in the area though so I might not find anyone.

My father-in-law has a SCAG mower like this one and he flys around his property and gets it mowed quick.

http://static.fastline.com/assets/it...c92b296914.jpg

this might be what ya really need!
http://www.toro.com/en-us/sports-fie...-4000-D-4010-D

That would do the job. Nice! 58 hp. Wonder what headers will add? lol.

How much gp (goat power) would be needed?

http://www.takepart.com/sites/defaul...lic/goat_1.jpg

about 15 goat power will do!

Best idea yet! Then again I as you know I am rather biased towards animals lol