The people we bought our home from had drive-it put on to frame the front door. No idea why. It is two years old and we'll eventually have it replaced with stucco.

As far as remodeling... we bought our home with the intent of putting $50K into the outside (landscape & hardscape). We've passed the $100K mark and we are still $10K from being finished outside (not including the drive-it replacement). If you think it will take $100K to fix this get firmer estimates to be certain.

Besides great bones, it sounds like this house has location, location, location. After a four year search, I'd assume you know exactly what you want and what that is worth to you. On the short sale, is there a point where the bank will say "no"? For instance, it is listed at $200K, you offer $100K they tell her that will not work? Somehow, you need to figure out how low the bank will allow her short sale to go. Also, what are the area comps, and how much is it worth to you?

Herus, I have never purchased a home FSBO, but you would need to hire an attorney to view the P&S and find an expert home inspector to be sure you are not buying a "money pit" An apprasial will give you a good idea of what the home is worth.
I did find some information on synthetic stucco (check home for mold issues). I hope it helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Synthetic Stucco

I've dealt with short sales as a buyer's and a seller's agent. It's a PITA, but can sometimes be worth it. Just how much, or how little, a lender will take varies enormously. The job of the person making the final decision is to get the lender as much money as possible. One lender I represented wanted about 87% of appraised value. (The bank did an appraisal.) I had 4 offers on that place, but never sold it because the bank refused to allow the buyer to get some cash back at closing (The bank was still getting their 87% and the buyer needed the cash (only a couple thousand) to fix the place up. Another deal fell through because the lender took too long to respond. 3 years later it's still sitting vacant and unsold because of a lender's arbitrary rule.

A buyer offered 87% of the asking price on another property. Lender said no because it had only been on the market a couple of weeks. A month later lender lowers price, lender continues to lower price month after month, 15 months later house finally sells for about 75% of original asking price.

The point here is to be prepared for lots of delays in responding, illogical, and seemingly arbitrary, decisions, and lots of time on the phone trying to figure out their "rules." I was actually told they could not tell me the rules in advance, only when I broke one.

My advice: a. find out how much it would really cost to get the place in tip top shape and add at least 10% to that (include the cost for replacing the siding) b. find out how much the comps in good shape really sell for c. make lender an offer based on those real figures d. expect delays and headaches along the way

Good Luck to you on this!

Thanks to all who responded so far; please keep 'em coming! We are really interested but as you have all indicated, need to be very careful.

Finding out a potential 'asking' price that would be set should it go into foreclosure is very difficult. The current asking price is simply equal to the payoff, which as I mentioned is inflated due to borrowing against the house in a refi. If anything is priced correctly I have no problem paying. In fact, our first home, years ago, was bought following foreclosure. It was very competitively priced and we paid 101% of asking the first day it showed up for sale, in a slow market. It was in move-in condition though, and we sold five years later and made a modest profit.

This house is unquestionably overpriced, but it is not the seller's fault. She is now under orders from the bank. I guess it would be worth an appraisal to find out true value.

Question: As I do not have a realtor's support in this (she specifically does NOT want a realtor in the deal) I will need to find an honest and competent appraiser. What resources, if any, can I tap for this? We really don't know anyone who has bought a home lately; all our friends/acquaintainces, locally at least, have tended to stay put for a long time.

Been there. Had perfectly nice home in nice suburb. Didn't *have* to move. Didn't *need* more space. But, after living there for 30 years, DH retired, DS grown and married, we wanted *nicer* home in *nicer* suburb.

We found our home after looking for six months, but didn't buy it until three years later. The seller would not come down 6% to appraised value although the house had been on the market for years and she had a reverse mortgage. Two years after she rejected our offer, we approached her directly and paid the same asking price. It was still over appraisal. We were paying the same asking price, but she was getting 6% more by selling direct.

OK, so now we own the house. We'd planned to remodel extensively -- everything you outlined for your purchase plus replacing a virtually flat roof with a 10/12 pitch roof; creating a mudroom from one of the garage spaces and adding another space at the far end of the garage; replacing landscaping around the house -- rest of the acre was lovely (main reason we loved the property).

So...ready to remodel. Wait. A portion of the house is SINKING. Plus, every GC we spoke to said it would cost more to remodel than to tear down. Our $150K remodel turned into a $350K new build after teardown.

If we had not had the resources, this would be a tale of woe, but...we are delighted with the house, and the upmarket for the last five years has left us dollars ahead. The acre + ranch next to us sold in 2002 as a teardown for just under what we have in our land and house. Ours is one of the smaller homes in the area. We're ahead in contentment --and financially, at least for now.

I'm saying all this because you need to be ready to do MUCH more to this property than you now estimate. And the current market is vastly different from 2000, when we bought. (If you are staying a long time, that doesn't matter as much.)

Can you remake this house and still have less invested than the value of neighboring houses in good condition? You don't want to own the most expensive home in a neighborhood.

Can you stay in your present home until this one is ready? You'll have to work with the HOA. It could take a year or more.

It seems to me that this is a "good deal" only if you can buy it for near land value; are prepared to spend what it takes to re-build or build new; are OK with how much time and effort this will take.

Near our home is a development where just one house is EIFS. It has consistently sold for less than its comps that are not EIFS. A realtor owns it now and is in the process of removing the EIFS and replacing it with true stucco -- before putting it on the market. She's owned it for three years of high appreciation in the area, so will still come out ahead even with the replacement expense. Im not sure how you would fare if you had to sell before the market stops dropping -- if it is dropping in your area as it is here.

Before you put the money out for an appraisal on a house you may/may not buy, I would contact the lender and see if they have had an appraisal done since agreeing to the short sale. It never hurts to ask and this is usually one of the first things a lender does when agreeing to a short sale. Now that I'm thinking about it more clearly I'm a bit surprised that the lender is allowing the owner to go FSBO. They typically require it be listed with an agent. All of this begins to make me wonder if the owner has anything in writing from the lender regarding a short sale or if this has all been verbal or just what the owner "hopes" will happen. If a lender is really interested in a short sale it probably wouldn't be listed at the payoff amount since the lender should realize from an appraisal it's not worth that much.

My advice is to ask the owner for permission to contact the lender directly. Also ask her to notify the lender that they may speak directly to you. (Otherwise they cannot legally speak to you.) Find out if they have done an appraisal and anything else you can. At that point if it seems promising, go forward with an appraisal of your own.

In regards to an appraiser--call your bank, or any bank, or a mortgage broker you've worked with in the past for some recommendations. At this point they have nothing to gain by recommending an incompetent appraiser.

"By my guess it will need the $100K to bring it up to shape, and may even need more."

That's WAY too much uncertainity to move on this. I'd ask the seller for permission to bring in some general contractors and get written estimates on what you want/need done. And then bear in mind estimates tend to be on the low side.

I vote no.
Not the house for you and the stucco is a problem.

My home search is largely about lot and location. So such a property would catch my eye, as it has yours. If you are serious about the house, I'd hire an inspector before making the offer. Maybe have a contractor or two visit the property. You have been looking for four years, so you should be able to do the math to decide what this home is worth to you, but hire an appraiser if you wish. Any home purchase is a gamble, but I think a home on a great lot may be worth a gamble.