Its totally relative. If you do the repairs yourself they are of course less expensive. If you hire someone to do these repairs and upgrades it will probably cost 50% of the purchase price by the time you are done.
In the northeast some kitchen remodels alone cost 120k!

We had the same thing,good thing hubby is a builder he knew what to do,We also didnt want dining ,kitchen combo we wanted more room,we closed in a porch .Thats my kitchen,We spent good bit we put wormy chestnut cabinets,Aga stove but it wasnt 120 K..

Thanks for the replies. So I guess with everything that needs done $120,000 is a fare as is price. We found out that we will not be able to get a loan on the house with the kinds of repairs it needs & the age. So the owners will have to fix them to code or sale as is. So they can't expect someone to have a huge amount of cash to pay. The agent said as is sales or mostly cash only. We know they don't have the money to fix the house. The house has been in thier family forever, so I know they didn't pay much for it. So either way they stand to make money from it. I was wanting to check some public records on the house, how do I do that?

What kind of info are you seeking? That will tell which public records should be searched.

Molly~

I was wanting to know the history of the house and also how much the owners paid for it. That would maybe give me an idea of what to offer.

To get the price paid by the owners, in many areas all you need to do is get a copy of the filed deed at where ever the deeds are registered or filed. In my area it is the county clerk's office. However, in lots of states this is not public info, so it will depend on where you are.

And a caveat, what they paid for it, really doesn't have anything to do with what it's worth now, for a whole host of reasons. If you want to know what its market value is now, why not pay (anywhere from $300-$1,000) to have it appraised? This is a not the same as a "market analysis" that is done by realtors, nor is it really the same as the "appraisal" that you might do to get a mortgage or loan. Yes, the base data is the same, but the purposes of these other valuations are different. Whenever I have bought or sold property, I always pay to have an appraisal done and it is very helpful in doing negotiations.

The history of the house is something that also can be illuminated by doing a chaining of the title (identifying the successive previous owners). But that is only one aspect of researching a house's history. Doing a house history project takes awhile, and you may not want to put the time into it until you own it. OTOH, if you think there is a problem that the history might reveal, then you might want to do it beforehand.

I read that you reported difficulty getting a loan on the house, because of its condition. I wouldn't accept just one lender's answer there. People buy structures to tear down all the time, so the condition of the house shouldn't have much to do with it. These days there are loans for everything ....

Also give some thought to what you might need for homeowners' insurance; some companies are really sticky about structures in trouble, but you will defintiely need insurance if you have a mortgage. You might be able to get a builders' risk policy while you are doing the major repairs - these can be expensive, however.

Molly~

In the court house near us you can look up what someone paid for thier property.

The purchase price is not public information in some states. Don't know why this is so, but that's the way it is. Even in my state (NY) the purchase price is often somewhat obscure when reading the deed, but since we have to pay a real estate transfer tax of $4.00 per thousand on the sale price and the amount of the tax is listed, one can do the math...!

In Rochester NY, the city maintains a website that shows a picture (most taken in the summer of '95) of every property in the city limits, how much its taxes are (and if they are paid), information about water billing, and the last purchase price and date. It also lists the names of the owners if they are not private homeowners. Landlords, for example, are always named. It will also locate the property on a map. If you know where it is on the map, you can click on it and it will show you the address and the picture. It's a very handy site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look it up!

We have just put our 1910 farmhouse on the market today!!! 2 story victorian. When we moved in we had some of those problems but not many. Good luck to you!! We're in NC too. Where are you?

WE are in Jacksonville Fl. So it's hard to do all this long distance.

where in NC is the farmhouse? This is ours that we are selling. The MLS lists it at $128,000. What do you think?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Hi idetect,
I love it , it's beutiful. Where in NC is this house , and why such a low asking price. Can you give me some info on this house. how many rooms, sg footage, is it on land or anything like that. Why are you leaving it , I think it's so pretty.

thnx!
It sets on just .85 acre. 3000 square ft heated.New roof last 2 yrs Heating and air new this year. Upstairs- 3 bedrooms, foyer and bathroom shower- no tub.
Downstairs- Foyer 2 bedroom,2 bathroom, living room, dining room and kitchen. Fireplace with gas logs in kitchen, fireplace in dining room Built in backporch laundry room.Unattached workshop/ garage. County water.exterior paint in 2004.Reason for the low asking price? Well thats the going market rate here in this area. The neighborhood is 300 plus population.Crime rate here is nil. The house sits 13 miles from the South of the Border/I-95.Our home is less than 2 miles from Interstate 95. The little town is McDonald, NC
Why are we selling? Bad knees and they are not getting any better. The two young ones at home have upstairs bedrooms. My age will soon be a factor to those stairs too. There are also regular things to do to an older home and I've run out of gas.Come check us out!

hi idetect,
well it sounds lovely , it's to bad we are looking to live in Elizabeth City are close around that. I have family there and in Va Beach so it will be close to everyone. I will try to figure out how to post a pic of the house we are looking into buying.

Glitter, my brother and SIL lived in Elizabeth City for a few years, so I've seen the area. He told me that he would see cars parked on the sides of the roads after work, because people would shoot something for dinner on the way home, and that he hardly ever saw squirrels around there. He thought the two were connected.

detect -only 128,000 ????That sounds cheap.abilevel near us just sold for 189,000 that was cheap.Our property more than doubled since we bought it and restored it completely.We have 40 acres.Land alone is outragious now.Hubby has 2 construction businesses,I see what he pays.

The asking prices are definitely all relative, depending on where you are... My parents bought a farm a few years ago in northwestern PA-- old and huge 3 BR/2 bath Victorian, 2 large barns, water (stream and 2 ponds) on property, fenced pastures and partially wooded, total of 92 acres, for $88,000. Yes, less than $1000 an acre, INCLUDING a house and two barns. Granted, they had to do A LOT of work to bring it to their standards, but still... where I live in central PA, real estate is pretty reasonable but you'd be lucky if $88,000 would buy you a crappy townhouse.

You said it they bought a few years ago.Theres 3 acres here in scentral pa-some places 250???Land is going through the roof here.

DH and I live in Central PA, real estate prices here are pretty good (we bought our 1800 SF, 100-year old fixer-upper farmhouse on almost an acre for $115K), but in northern and northwestern PA, prices are ridiculously cheap. Beautiful area if you like mountainous wilderness or are a hunter, but there is almost ZERO industry out there-- hence, very few well-paying jobs, so no one can afford the $300K+ price tags I always see on the house-buying shows on HGTV. Winters up there are unusually rough due to lake-effect weather patterns, there's very little to do in terms of cultural/social activities (firehall bingo, anyone?), and a trip to the gas station or grocery store could easily be 20 or 30 miles, one-way. It's definitely not a lifestyle many buyers would be comfortable with, but it could be perfect for the right people.

Offer whatever you think its worth TO YOU.

Dont rely on their numbers, get your own estimates from contractors/trades people. Can sometimes get verbal ball parks by phone or sometimes seller will agree to let you bring someone in to see the house. Actually, a good inspector should be able to give you ball park numbers-- didn't yours do that? Come up with a total for repairs. And then double it! I guarantee you'll find more things once you get in the house. Although, if prop values are rising in your area then you may feel more comfortable about offering more $$$$ than you might otherwise.

Here all info about assessed values, sale history and etc. is public info available thru the city property tax assessor's office.

You might want to get a GOOD buyer's agent if this is your first house? They can really help with all this kind of stuff. It won't cost you any more to use a buyer's agent (although if you've already made offer and stuff it may be too late to get another person involved.)

Kashka is correct- Offer what you think its worth and then the negotiatians start with counter offers and such.

Wow. I went to college in Laurinburg, NC.. pretty close to McDonald.

Get a licensed professional engineer to inspect the house, NOT a normal "home inspector". With something this old and major problems, you want the report coming from someone who's actually responsible for its content. A real PE is subject to a state licensing board; "home inspectors" aren't. (NC technically licenses home inspectors, but the process isn't at all rigerous.) A regular home inspector can miss major problems, ones that were right in their face during the walkthrough, and not be responsible at all.

Cnvh, are you near Centralia? I hear there's a lot of land up there going for really cheap. ; P Just kidding.

idetect, you have a lovely home!