A lot has happened since I last posted. I put off making an offer on the duplex. The owner let some renters move in to the second floor apartment. Of course, he didn't bother to get heat working. Don't know if he bothered to fix the window that was stuck open. He told the renters they could use a space heater until he got the boiler replaced.
I was watching the local news Sunday night and there was a story about a duplex fire in worktown. Sure enough! I called the realtor on Monday and it turned out there were no flames, just hot wires. The FD had to pull down the ceiling in the kitchen. The renters had actually plugged in about 5 space heaters! No other real damage.
So, I had my realtor contact his realtor to see if he was ready to deal. He was sticking to his price, so I decided to walk away. I'm still looking at properties, but I'm going to take my time.
Whoa!
Sounds like you've done the preparatory work you need, and now it's a matter of waiting for a great opportunity.
Swimpy, yes, take all the time in the world to find the right place.
And good luck in your adventure :-D
Did the new renters sign a lease, or are they month to month?
The wires shouldn't be a dealbreaker.
The owner is an idiot....use spaceheaters. You never want to tell a tenant to use those. A bedroom in my other place for some reason doesn't heat very well, and when I was living there my dumbass roommate asked me if he could leave it on during the day while he left, so his room would be warm when he came back. 30-something years old, and I had to explain why...
The renters are living there for six months. I don't know if they have a lease. I don't think I'd have to honor it even if they had one, but I wouldn't put them out on the street.
I've come to the conclusion the guy's an idiot. He said he'd sell me the duplex without heat upstairs for $4K less than the asking price. Big whoop. It would cost me much more than that to fix everything that needs fixing. New wiring, paint the exterior, new furnace upstairs and anything else an inspection would uncover. He can sit on it for a while and think about the fact that he has no other interested parties.
I'm still mulling the duplex over. I spoke with a local electrician who said he has been in the house since the "fire." He said there are "issues" with the electrical. He declined to work for the present owner except to secure the site after the fire department left. He claimed that the electric company pulled the meters after the fire and refused to reinstall them until an electrician certified it. My guy said someone else did that.
He will go with me to do an inspection of the electrical next Monday. I'm not sure if I can deal with this owner, but I want to make sure I'm not buying a fire trap.
I forgot to update this thread. I made an offer on the duplex last month, but we couldn't come to a mutual agreement. He still maintains that it's worth $10K more than it's worth to me. C'est la vie.
I've worked out an arrangement with my boss so I only have to drive into the office 2-3 days per week. That saves me a considerable amount of money on gas and wear and tear on my car. So for now, I'm out of the real estate market.
