Oh that must have been tough to leave, CB. Especially the dream kitchen.
I’m in a very small town, Mount Hope (really just one main intersection) south of Hamilton. The farm is about 25 minutes from me, just outside of Hagersville, Ont. If we did sell, we’d either put a modular home on the lake (not huge as we don’t need that much room) or there is the possibility of putting a nice big addition onto my daughter’s house and live on the farm. If we move to the lake, we’ll be closer to the farm, and my son’s place. He’s outside Hagersville as well.
I definitely think it’s the Toronto market pushing this one through the roof. I feel awful for anyone trying to buy a first home. It’s almost impossible without help from parents. My son picked up a diamond in the rough when he bought his place two years ago. It was in such awful shape (no water, no furnace, a complete disaster) as the old farmer who was fixing it up for his son stopped because the son moved. It was an as is, and in such awful condition that my son couldn’t even get a bank to lend him the bit of money he needed. They didn’t want to have to sell it if they had to - nobody would want it lol.
Well, I suggested to my son that since he had gotten to know this old farmer a bit, why not ask him to make a deal and give my son a couple of months to fix the house up enough to get a mortgage approved. After two months, he would sell it to him at the agreed on price, all expense of fixing it up paid for by my son.
Surprisingly, the farmer went for it. This was about 2 1/2 years ago. So my son spent $50,000.00. He put nice board and batten siding all around, cleaned up the junk on the property, put in a cistern, new bathroom, and all new flooring. Painted, fixed up the kitchen extensively, new ceilings, new furnace/air, the whole nine yards. The bank approved his mortgage and he wound up getting this nice little house with 1 1/2 acres of beautiful land, lots of trees and a couple of ponds, no neighbors nearby, for about $200,000.00 (including the $50,000.00 he had spent to fix it up.)
If he put it on the market today, he’d easily get over $500,000.00 for it. He worked like a son-of-a-gun for a month, got some help from friends, and it really paid off.
I hope your home sells quickly - maybe someone from NY or CA would like it.....worth a shot! Hope your arms are holding out!
Wow....what a great story, Judy, about your son and his very fortunate real estate deal. The place sounds just beautiful.
Did he have a written agreement, or contact, with the old farmer, before he sunk his $$ and his sweat equity into the project?
Bum luck would be the old guy reneging and saying....”Nah....this old place means too much to me....I can’t sell”....AFTER all of the work was done.
Wow, your son’s being handy has definitely paid off.
That’s nice you have two options, and both cheaper than what you would get for your house. Sounds like you can make a killing. What an odd phrase that is.
I missed this post yesterday. What a great deal your son made!