WWYD...buy this house, or not? a really strange reason to buy a home, I think.

[Papa Deuce]

We own an average home for our area.... you know 4BR, 2.5 baths, quarter acre... yada,yada, yada..... we are told that it is worth about 400K. Houses on my street are worth 250K - 1 Million on my street.... Very strange neighborhood, I know.

Down the street is a rental property with an attached garage. It is owned by a company who rents the hosue out as 2 apartments. They company uses the garage for a small landsacping business. It is somewhat of a blight on the otherwise very nice street.

The renters of these 2 apartments have always been bad news, no matter who they are. Nobody ever lasts more than 6 months. Today I found out why. The owners of the home find the renters at the local prison. It seems that when someone gets ready for parole, the company that owns the house finds these parolees, offers them a job, and takes the rent right out of their wages. Last week the cops took one of the current renters away... he was arrested for a previous murder charge, from like 3 years ago.

OK..... THAT HOUSE IS NOT the one for sale....... now read on......

There is a house across the street from me. The house is old and probably should be torn down. It has a fabulous 2/3 - 3/4 acre of property. 3 car garage ( which I really like... and it is detached ). The owner is a nice lady who asked me if I was interested in buying the home since she knows that I would like to convert the garage into a place for my Mom to live in. The property alone is probably worth $275,000. They want $285,00 for the house with the property.... and would sell for less to us IF they don't need to go through a realtor.

If I buy this home, we WILL knock it down and put a new home up. I was in the house on the property, and I can see no way to make the current home useable by us for less than 125K - 175K. I figure that I can put a BRAND NEW home there for 200K.

So here is the "KICKER":

The lady who owns this house showed me a letter from the company that owns the house with the ex prisoners as renters. They want to buy her home.... sight unseen. ( Well, they know what it looks like as it is near the house they own ). Our fear, my wife's and mine, is that if this company does buy this home they will do the exact same thing at this house as they have at the other home. Now, the house IS NOT zoned the same as they other one so technically they can't. The thing is, they are VERY INFLUENTIAL people in our area. They own the trash company that services all the township. They own landsacping companies. And they own many properties, all of which seem to be rental properties.

Now, I don't mind renters, but I do mind renters that are convicted criminals. I do mind businesses with heavy contruction vehichles on our street.

I know this needs to be our decision. But what would you do?

If they make this home like the other home on our street it will surely lower the price of all the homes on our street.

WWYD?

EDIT: What we are thinking is moving into the new home, and then selling our home, which the company would NOT want as it would not be suitable at all for the purposes they would want to use it for..... they need huge garages, with TONS of parking.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I say buy the sucker.

And I call it "sucker" with the nicest of intentions...

Couldn't you sell off parts on Ebay for about $50K and then rebuild?

 

[mickeyfan2]

I think I would be looking to move to another neighborhood.

 

[drakethib]

I think I would be looking to move to another neighborhood.

Agree

 

[noodles]

If you could afford it my vote would be to buy it. You already have a plan for your mother to live there, you would be avoiding the prison neighbors and it sounds like it could be a good investment in time.

 

[Aidensmom]

Well, first let me say we ALL probably live in neighborhoods where convicted criminals live, we just don't realize it.

However, if my neighborhood was being turned into one full of halfway houses for parolees, I might find a problem with it. If you were interested in the property anyways, then yes, go ahead and buy it. If you really don't want it, is there a way to make all of your neighbors aware if they do not already? A bunch of homeowners gathered together can be just as "influential" as this company in keeping the area from being zoned for that use.

 

[twinklebug]

I say buy it, fix it up & sell it... make money
-THEN-
Quick as a bunny sell your house and move to a better neighborhood because they'll keep trying to buy houses in your area and will eventually succeed.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

With what's going on with property values lately, I'd be more than a little hesitant to purchase a piece of property purely for investment purposes, especially in a neighborhood with such a huge disparity in price from home to home, but hey...it is your money, and you know what they say in Vegas, "Scared money don't make money".

 

[Papa Deuce]

I say buy it, fix it up & sell it... make money
-THEN-
Quick as a bunny sell your house and move to a better neighborhood because they'll keep trying to buy houses in your area and will eventually succeed.

Actually, our neighborhood is wonderful with the exception of that one home. Great neighbors, people who keep their property nice, and a wonderful school district, with the grade school at the end of my road.

I don't think any other house on the street would interest them. Just the one they own and the one they made an offer on. No other property would really be suitable for their purposes.

Many of us have talked to the township about the house with the prisoners about almost every thing that is wrong. The township officers basically ignore us. I was able to cause them ( the owners of the house ) some problems by looking up zoning laws. They started to put an 8 foot high chain link fence on their property that went all the way to the street entrance. I was able to get the township to enforce the zoning laws there. The owners had to move the fence back 25 feet from the street and lower it to 5 feet.

It still stinks, but it is better than what they wanted to do, at least.

 

[VintageKnight]

molotave cocktails. they make pretty colors....


=D


DVK

 

[aprilgail2]

I would buy it if I could afford to! We used to have a house that was a rental on the block..the whole block was very happy the day the house was sold and no more renters were in it! I have NO clue if they were ex cons in there but it was certainly the shabbiest house on the block when it was a rental..now its one of the nicest!

 

[kdibattista]

Does that mean no North Carolina? If that's definitely out then I say go for it

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I'd look for another house in the neighborhood with a seperate section te for your mother to live

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

If you could afford it my vote would be to buy it. You already have a plan for your mother to live there, you would be avoiding the prison neighbors and it sounds like it could be a good investment in time.

I agree. And no wonder they're influential, the minute you said "trash company" it all made sense.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think I would be looking to move to another neighborhood.

I would move as well, pronto.

 

[nealymouse]

So here is the "KICKER":[/B]

The lady who owns this house showed me a letter from the company that owns the house with the ex prisoners as renters. They want to buy her home.... sight unseen. ( Well, they know what it looks like as it is near the house they own ). Our fear, my wife's and mine, is that if this company does buy this home they will do the exact same thing at this house as they have at the other home. Now, the house IS NOT zoned the same as they other one so technically they can't. The thing is, they are VERY INFLUENTIAL people in our area. They own the trash company that services all the township. They own landsacping companies. And they own many properties, all of which seem to be rental properties.


I think i've watch the Sopranos for to long but sounds like Tony may have a hand in this.

I would move.

 

[Beth76]

First choice, I'd move completely. Second choice, yeah I might buy the house.

Question: Do you live by the prison in Collegeville? I only ask because my sister used to live close to it before they moved back here.

 

[luv2nascar]

if moving wasn't an option I'd buy the property if that didn't put us in a huge financial strain. Good luck.

 

[DisneyForLife]

I think I would be looking to move to another neighborhood.

DITTO

 

[disneyaggie]

I say buy it, fix it up & sell it... make money
-THEN-
Quick as a bunny sell your house and move to a better neighborhood because they'll keep trying to buy houses in your area and will eventually succeed.

I was thinking the same thing.