I feel back asleep and now I’m awake for realz.
I cannot believe I slept this long.
So here is my dilemma
I like the house with the cistern. It is on a 3rd of an acre along with about a dozen other houses (all in about a third of an acre) in the middle of cornfields. It has a garage, a shed, and a little fenced in yard with a doggie door into the shed. It has a finished basement, 3 bedrooms (1 in the basement), two full baths. The master bath is huge with a large shower that is designed for the handicapped. The only repairs are a rotten windowsill (looks like a dog got to it), a few missing shingles on the roof, and a small tree growing in the gutter of the shed. The street is quiet, enough parking for two cars in the driveway and one in the garage. You could park on the road but there isn’t much room. I know that at any time the cornfields could go poof and turn into housing developments, at that time I’d probably be able to get public water.
FHA will not insure houses with cisterns however HUD can issue a waiver and from everything I have read this house should qualify for a waiver, no city water is available, cisterns are common in the area, etc. Another issue is that the house may not appraise high enough because of the cistern, however I looked up comps with cisterns and IMHO it should appraise high enough.
However, the realtor and mortgage broker both feel I may be wasting my time and money as you don’t apply for the waiver until after the inspection and appraisal are done, both at my expense. I think I should go for it.
The realtor thinks I should put in a offer on another house. It is a very nice house and like my friend said, as soon as you walk in the door you can feel the love in that house. However it’s a short sale so there are going to be hoops to jump through and delays. It has only two bedroom (very large ones) and one bath. No dining room but it has a huge eat in kitchen. It is a corner lot but has NO backyard except for part of the driveway. So there is a front yard and a large side yard but no privacy at all. There is no fence to keep the dog in. It has a carport and easily enough parking for 5-6 cars, you can pull all the way through the driveway or you can enter it from either street. It’s on a very busy street and there is a telephone pole right next to the driveway, so not only do you have to watch for busy traffic you also have to watch the pole. Of course if I lived there I’d probably pull all the way through and go out on the less busy side street. The house is in a neighborhood not the cookie cutter type but still still is close to town. The basement is not finished. The carport has some cute decorative trim along the roof that would have to come down I think. The realtor was afraid to drive her SUV through it. The other repair issue is that the paint on the aluminum siding is peeling and I think that neither I nor the neighbors would appreciate a silver shiny aluminum house. From what I have read though it shouldn’t be that expensive to repaint. The challenge is getting somebody who knows what they are doing so the new paint sticks. On the plus side I get to pick my own color
Both houses are the same price, and slightly out of my reach. The cistern one is bank owned and I would have to ask them to come down $10,000 - $15,000 and borrow $3,000 - $5,000 for repairs. The other one is a short sale but the selling realtor is sure they will come down $10,000 and I’d still need to borrow the cost of the repairs.
In the meantime another house I had been watching just came down to my price range. It’s on 2 acres, part of which by the way it look on the map, juts into PA. I have no idea how taxes work when part of your property is in one state and part in another. I suppose PA would just charge on the part that juts in, not on the total piece including the house. This house has 3 bedrooms, one bathroom and a garage. It needs work, from the pictures it looks like part of the floor is missing, the supports are there with yellow tape around where the plywood floor is missing. The kitchen is hideous. The price is low enough though that I could borrow the money needed to fix it up. The problem is getting out to see it when the realtor is so busy right now, it’s not in Hagerstown so it’s further out for her. Not that that is my problem but it means she can’t be there in 5 to 10 minutes. The listing says it has public water and sewer but I doubt that. Houses out in the middle of nowhere with other houses out in the middle of nowhere usually do not have public water and sewer. However if it has a well and septic that is no problem for FHA. I don’t like well water but I can live with it in exchange for more space and less zoning.
So do I take the chance with the cistern? Or say fuck it and keep looking? Or go with the short sale that is acceptable?
Then I have another dilemma but I already know the answer to that one.
However, no matter what way I handle it it’s going to be unpleasant and thus I don’t want to handle it at all.
