Thanks for your advice. I think I'll keep looking.

I doubt anyone can give you really good advice on this without seeing it and being there. I know it may seem hard to do but if you are serious about buying it, you are going to have to sign a regular real estate contract with all the protections that you need to have, including a solid inspection clause, and then you are going to have to pay for the inspection. There is no way you should buy it without an inspection.

The idea that houses in lower neighborhoods don't sell is not exactly correct. They gain and lose value the same way all other properties do. My brother and I bought a bunch of townhouses for 35k to 40k each, we rented them for 5 years or so and then started selling them over the next 5 years. We did no improvements at all, just normal landlord maintenance, the cheapest unit brought 55k and a few of the 3 bedrooms went for 80k. All of them sold to investors looking to buy rental property, this is not a one off either, I have a coworker who does nothing more than buy/rent/sell lower end realty and he probably makes 3 times more doing that than he does in salary.

If the numbers you are throwing out are accurate then this sounds like a great deal. But let me caution you, I would never buy real estate from family. It is a recipe for regret. Plus you better be a lot more sure than just "knowing a guy."

The house is on a city street. Its walking distance from the schools and near downtown. However its in a rather small town (less than 2000 people). The houses around it are fairly nice. Two houses up the road there is a 3 bedroom stucco house in better shape for 49k and further up Is a house for 65k. But this house is most likely the odd one out it the neighborhood.

I used to work with some amish carpenters for a year so I know how they rate their jobs and a guesstimate of what materials will cost on the low end. So it would end up costing more than that no doubt, especially if I put in new windows. I really dont know for sure what it will cost. I'm more or less wondering if I should even consider it or keep looking. If I were serious I could have them come over and give me an estimate on the job.

May I ask why you say not to buy from family? I would have thought that would be better. I guess maybe it depends on how honest and trust worthy said family is?

We have bought from family (step-father, when he married my mother & moved into her home) and sold to family (brother's daughter & her hubby, who still live in that home). I don't see anything wrong with selling to family, but maybe not if the family is dysfunctional?

There are too many opportunities for things to go south when you mix family and money. While this sounds like a house that you can turn to a profit, in a town of 2,000 people how many people are looking for a house like that? You could end up dropping an extra 6k in this house only to be stuck with it for years just because there is not a market. When things like this happen we tend to blame others, you don't want to get into a situation where you are blaming your sister.

As a general rule I give money to family instead of loaning it. If they give it back great, if not, I didn't want it back anyway. Even as a financial planner I will not give my family financial advice, I will not do their taxes, I don't want there to be a time when my actions can cause them financial hardships and vice-versa. It keeps Thanksgiving from being lonely.

I have a stucco home and wouldn't change it. I'm in the NE and with the freeze/thaw cycles, I occasionally get cracks since the house is long and different parts move separately. I have had a mason come and fill/cover the cracks before. No big deal.

A few cracks over a period of a hundred years to fill in vs. frequent expensive painting or vinyl that is lucky to last 10 years before splitting and fading. Hmmmm, I know what I would do!

Like plaster/lathe, stucco is the superior product - dont be so hasty to remove and replace with something inferior. Would suggest educating yourself how to diy or if you get quotes, make sure it is someone who knows the process, not someone whos skills are strictly only modern bldg materials.

(This is assuming of course that wht your seeing is just normal routine repair vs. something flawed about the original installation - ie plaster or stucco that was not mixed properly)

Is this house real stucco or synthetic stucco (EIFS)? My concern would be that you don't know what is behind the stucco. If it is EIFS there could be water damage, mold, termites, etc.

Walk. Away.

" has stucco siding that has cracks in several places and is starting to fall off near the front porch."

That could be cosmetic or it could be a structural disaster under there. Unless you know which it is, skip the house.

40 years ago we bought a stucco house that was at that time about 80 years old. It was 3 stories and 5200 sq. feet. The stucco was black with carbon and age and was cracked in many places. We patched up the damaged parts and then re-painted it with latex acrylic and a large fluffy brush. Yes, it took around 20 gallons of paint because it just soaked right in but the house was still original. It was the original home of Edward Hines of Hines Lumber in Oak Park, IL. The inside of that house was full of oak woodwork/wainscotting, etc., solid oak hardwood floors, marble baths/shower and was just an incredible house in bad condition when we bought it.

We restored it, sold it for twice what we paid in the 70's which was $165,000. That house is still standing, still has a stucco exterior, and recently sold for close to $1,000,000. (Great house, great suburb of Chicago and GREAT PROPERTY TAXES.

What Lazy G said..... AND, the wrong person to ask is a vinyl siding salesman (or any type of siding for that matter).

Could someone educate me on what a "stucco house" is? I live in a block house that has stucco on it (common here in FL) and we just spent a couple thousand to get it re-stucco-ed (a concrete product) and painted ourselves - the primer just soaked in and took forever, and then two coats of paint. But I think this story is about something else - what is the frame of the house made of? Just framing for the stucco? Or is the stucco a siding for a wood frame house? Confused.

c9pilot ... pretty much what you described. My Western NY house is concrete block, covered in brick and then stucco was applied over that. I have no issues with stucco. Some people obviously do.

Most of California is wood framed with stucco!

A bit of a hijack -- I live in CA and I think stucco homes are lovely -- our siding is T1-11. Is wood frame with stucco a weird type of home? I'm not that familiar with the rest of the country.

And what is the difference between real stucco or synthetic stucco...is it easy to tell by looking?

If you are looking at a tract house built in the 80s or 90s with stucco, it is very possible that the stucco is EIFS. EIFS was often installed incorrectly and many homes have moisture behind the stucco that is hard to detect. Mold grows, wood rots and it can be a mess.

Hardcoat (real) stucco does not have the problems associated with EIFS but in some real estate markets buyers avoid hardcoat houses as well.

If you Google "EIFS problems" you will get tons of hits.