the "long game" has paid off.

[74AD]

I would have normally dug up the old thread to add a comment to it, but since those are gone I'll update here.

in 2010 our neighbors house burnt down and he decided not to rebuild it and just moved away. We considered offering to buy the property from him but didn't because we couldn't afford the property and what it would cost to have the house taken down and disposed of.

a couple of years later the fire dept did a training exercise with it and burned it to the ground but it was still a mess with the cinderblock foundation (which was above ground) remaining. It sat like that for 6 months until the township made him deal with it and an excavator did a rather hasty and sloppy job burying the blocks and debris.

For reasons unknown he stopped paying his taxes and they just kept compounding and adding up. In May 2013 the house was going to be sold for back taxes. It was like $2000. I was ready to buy it, but at the last minute he paid taxes to clear the most delinquent year of taxes and the property was removed from sale. He didn't pay anything more and it went back on sale again in Sept. It was going to auction for $2300. I was ready to buy it but we were on vacation that day and out of town. It went unsold at auction. Today it went up for sale again, this time it was a judicial or free and clear sale. All liens and back taxes were waived. Starting price was $1057. I took $2000 in cash with me. I didn't need that much as I was the only bidder. Got it for the minimum.

As a bonus, Rice energy is leasing up all of our little town and giving $500 signing bonuses for parcels under 1/4 of an acre so we can sign up with them (we did this for our main house) and get $500 back meaning we're working at a $600 net for the purchase!

Also found out real estate taxes are $25 / year and school taxes only $200 so even the taxes aren't that bad to have it as an extension of our lots.

[Semper Fi]

I remember some of that story. what a kick A$$ deal! Now when it's time to sell you're going to bank something fierce! Good job hanging in there for so long!

[74AD]

I remember some of that story. what a kick A$$ deal! Now when it's time to sell you're going to bank something fierce! Good job hanging in there for so long!

yeah hopefully it makes our house more attractive with that extra land when we try to sell it and build on the other property we own.

[3fingersalute]

That's awesome, glad it worked out! I'm really surprised it didn't sell the last time given how relatively cheap it seems to have been.

Congrats, that should definitely up the resale value of your place!

[74AD]

That's awesome, glad it worked out! I'm really surprised it didn't sell the last time given how relatively cheap it seems to have been.

Congrats, that should definitely up the resale value of your place!

I don't think many people know about these sales. There are easement and zoning issues that would make putting a house there now a bit of a chore (not impossible, but not really easy either) so it's really only attractive to his neighbors which was us and two other houses.

[3fingersalute]

I don't think many people know about these sales. There are easement and zoning issues that would make putting a house there now a bit of a chore (not impossible, but not really easy either) so it's really only attractive to his neighbors which was us and two other houses.

Yeah, I know what you mean with the zoning laws. We bought a 27' swimming pool to replace our small 18' one with and I decided I'd go in and get a building permit for it to keep it all legal. So I get this paper that I'm supposed to draw a sketch with measurements on and the stupid regulations in my borough read that your house, outbuildings and "other structures" (which for some reason includes above ground pools) cannot occupy more than 35% or something like that of your ground. Well, doing the math my house is already over that so that amount by itself so that means I can't have a pool at all......so I threw the stupid application out and just put it up without a permit.

[74AD]

I still probably have to invest another $1500 or so for a quiet title action that will clear any defects off the title so that I can sell it. When we did a title search on it to make sure there weren't a crap ton of liens there were a few minor defects in the title that we need to clear, nothing major, but it'll need done. I'll probably wait a bit though. I'm not ready to do it right now.

[Webhead]

Cool!

[Pinnacle-Project]

Fantastic! I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

[slgrieb]

Yeah, I know what you mean with the zoning laws... so I threw the stupid application out and just put it up without a permit.

I'd call that a sound decision. Back when I lived in Austin about 30 years ago, I bought an 18x32 ft portable building and dropped it on my lot without needing a building permit. Now, here I am up in Bullwind Texas. When I bought my current 8 1/2x 16 portabuilding, I went to planning and zoning to see if I needed a building permit. I did. I got one. But, reading the fine print, it turned out that the city expected me to pour a full slab for the building! f me. Thanks to small town cronyism and cheap bribes, I got a variance to install concrete footings, and secure the building to them, without the expense of a slab.