Why not ask a roofing company to come out and give you a bid? I'd trust their pricing over a realtor's. Pricing is too variable geographically to give estimates from the internet.

We bought our house a year ago and every project we've done it's been free to get estimates. I am sure you can get a few estimates before buying - I'd just run it by the realtor.

That house is gorgeous. The doors and the floor have me drooling. It's quite a treasure. I don't think you're crazy - as long as you're willing to spend the money to fix it all up and like projects like that! Good luck!

Weedyacres - I've been trying to get one to come out. The town we live in was hit by a massive tornado in Nov so most of the roofing companies are over booked.

Gorgeous home! Lots of work and money will be required to restore to its former glory!

Saltidawg - tell me about it! That's why I'm pretty sure I've fallen off the crazy wagon...

I did finally find a roofer who was answering their phone... He's going out next week to take a look.

>> The house needs to be completely rewired (more) ... that there's no
>> AC, it needs a new kitchen & 3 new bathrooms...

Some of that is an opportunity. With that laundry list, let's be positive! Think what you could do with the roof open. The electrician would love you. You could bury cat cable and coax in every wall at the same time. The plumber would be in seventh heaven running new pex for both standard water uses and for hydro heat/chilling. And, yes, you probably have really and truly lost your minds, but think of the regret you'll have if you pass up this five year project!

thatgirl2478:

The sellers aren't stupid. They know it needs all that stuff too. One of you has to pay for it. If I were you, I'd pay it, but I'd want a premium for my risk.

Get an estimate on everything, total it, then add 15%. Subtract that number from your after-rehab appraisal and subtract 30% from that for your risk. That number is your first offer price.

My mom's victorian $22,000 and they didnt do the turret.
This is in NH.
Kathy

It doesn't look like it's falling down to me. As long as it has not been abandoned or left unheated, it may be fine. The nose knows what the eyes can't see, so I'm at a disadvantage.

The biggest problems with rehabilitating older homes, I have found, arise from decades of disastrous "improvements." This house looks frozen in time.

But if the tiny burgh of Henry is similarly frozen--and it looks like it is--overimprovement will be your biggest risk.

As others have noted, costs are so local you're best getting local quotes.

Worthy - it has been left alone for 6 yrs. The roof is leaking severely in at least 1 spot, the porch is rotting & unsafe. Supposedly the boiler works well, but I'm not sure if it's been turned on over the past 6 yrs.

I will say that the only thing you can smell in that house is moth balls - it doesn't smell like mold (of course, older homes were built with better quality materials that didn't mold as easily).

thatgirl,
You stated in your post that according to the tax deed, the home has more land than you were being told.
Did you buy a tax deed on this home?
ARe you buying someone else's tax deed?
Every state is different, I know this, but I do know that in my state of SC, when you buy a tax deed, the original owners have 2 years to pay the taxes back to get the original deed in their name again.
In other words, in SC if you purchase a tax deed for a home, you really don't own it for 2 years.
Please check in your state to see when you can start improving the home. Mabey call a person who works in the tax section of the little town.
You should be issued a regular warranty deed, not a tax deed when you own it free and clear from any claims against it.
Oh, by the way, I absolutely love that house.
I would buy it and fix it up, but then again, I'm a little crazy.

butterfly4u -
Yes, it's about .87 acres vs the listed .25 acres. I'm unsure why there's a discrepancy, but the whole lot is for sale. Should we move forward with this crazy idea, I will definitely make sure that we're buying the WHOLE lot and not a portion of it.

If part of the land was sold to a neighbor, for example, and the paperwork was recorded in a sloppy manner it might have less land than on the deed. My brother-in-law recorded a land exchange himself and the cocky lawyer who did most of the real estate in that area didn't even check when he supposedly did a title search before a new owner bought the rest of the land and house. He just assumed he had done everything. Dumb stuff happens!
Kathy

That's not a real bad deal if you need extensive roof repair. If it's shingles, and tar paper alone, I'd say it's pretty steep. Plunk down a few bucks and get on Angie's List. Awesome house!

We needed almost precisely that amount of work on our house of similar vintage and size, purchased last year, and the costs were roughly what you are listing: c. 35k for roof replacement, 15k for new high-efficiency boiler/water heater, 15-20k for re-wiring from old knob & tube. It will be a few thousand to get the toilets and sinks all working properly again.

Is A/C really necessary? That's a huge expense if you have to slice everything open to put in ducting. Most old houses are built to function just fine without it -- transom doors, double-hung windows, etc.

Are the windows original and not ghastly replacements? If they're wooden, you can learn to rehab those yourself. Looks like that carriage house/garage would accommodate a pretty nifty workshop space. :)

The kitchen will be costly as well, depending on what your taste and expectations are. In small towns like this, you can often find very talented carpenters who cost far less for much nicer fully custom cabinetry than you'd get from commercial cabinet lines.

How is the basement? Looks pretty rough in the photos; what does the inspector's report on water intrusion, sewage lines, etc, look like?

Good luck! Gorgeous house.

Re: air conditioning. I see you live in a place that has snow so maybe you arent' too far south...
We have a whole house fan in our attic. We strategically open certain windows at night and the fan sucks the cool night air through the house. Then we close it down during the day. We are in NH and very well insulated. But our house seldom rises above 72 even on days in the 90s. There are a few days in a row in July that are uncomfortable.
I love our whole house fan!
Kathy

My new roof and gutters on my simple small brick colonial (1650 sf) cost $13,000. I'm in the suburbs of Philadelphia. An estimate of $15-20k for a house that size may be low, but as others have said, it depends on local costs.

I have an attic exhaust fan that has done wonders for keeping the house cooler, even with central ac. If you are adding AC, look into the ductless high velocity type. Costs more but no need for large ducts.

That house is gorgeous!

Well - I took my contractor there and he estimates about 130 - 140k in reconstruction costs.

There are about 4 layers of shingles on the house, so there's that. The central hallway is having some issues that would need to be addressed. Other than that he didn't see anything that would be overly expensive to fix (it will be pricey, but may not be TOO expensive lol).

We're looking into 203k loans, unless someone else has a suggestion. There's pretty much no likelyhood of getting a conventional loan on the property in the shape it's in.

We live in California. After buying our 1913 home, we had a tough time finding a company that would give us home owners insurance because of our shingled roof. You might need to check into that in your area. We need to replace our roof as well. We had an estimate about four years ago and at that time it averaged about 20K so I'm suspecting it would be more than that now. We were able to sustain the bad portion of our roof for now but will need to have the full roof done very soon.

what about the foundation?? i just ran into that issue on a 1935 house i was interested in?

we need an update lol

what about the foundation??

Indeed, as it may well have been unheated for six years, according to the OP, leading to frost heave of the foundation.

Signs of Frost Heave Damage