I got a call last week from someone that was looking for a deal (aren't we all?). They said they found a "Fixer Upper', it was a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 3500 square foot home on two acres that they really liked. It was in a nice area and they wanted me to take a look at it for them. They have been seeing my blogs on Active Rain (thank you AR!) and thought I would be the right guy for them.
One thing they said that had me worried. The house has been vacant for a few years and it was a little rough. They said they thought they could make the repairs and end up with a "steal". Ok, I said. So I met them at the property a few days later. They were right, it was an exclusive area back in the day, all the homes in that subdivision were two acres or more and some beautiful homes. This one... not so much. It needed just about everything! The roof 
was bad, it had been leaking and a good portion of the sheathing was wet on the underside in the attic area and molding, and most
of the facia and soffits were rotted out.
There were missing windows and it had been vandalized. The place was infested with termites and the pool was about as green as it gets with vegetation and mold growing all over the deck.
The 
whole HVAC unit was missing; the water heater was all rusted out. So what was salvageable and in good enough condition to consider re-using? Ummm... the key to the front door?... or the block walls I suppose.
This was not a handy couple that could
make this house a project; they would be hiring contractors for everything.
Sometimes, you got to just call in the bulldozers and start over, I'm afraid this was one of those.Too far gone to 
salvage.
Maybe not, but it would be a very costly task and would take a long time to accomplish, gutting the whole thing back to the concrete walls. Probably not cost effective. It was a nice piece of property, buying it and doing a tear down and rebuild would probably be the answer. Pity, at one time it was a beautiful home.
Whenever you are looking for a deal or even a fixer upper, the costs and effort to make it the home you want it to be might just be more than finding your dream home already in move in condition!
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