Thinking of Buying a Condemned House? Here’s What You Need to Know
If you are looking for a deal on a house, you may be looking at houses that need a little work. There are plenty of houses on the market to choose from, but there is also a wide range of “work” that will need to be completed. On one hand is your traditional fixer upper, a house that is still livable, but needs to be updated and maintained. On the other hand is a condemned house.
How do houses get condemned?
There are many reasons that a house can become condemned, but they all involve the local government taking possession of the house. Some of the reasons that this happens is when a property has been abandoned for more than 60 days, utilities have been turned off to the house, or the house has been deemed unsafe to enter because of specific hazards.
Regardless of the reason, condemned houses can be purchased. If you are looking for a phenomenal deal, this could be a legitimate avenue to pursue.
Why buy a condemned house?
The main reason to buy a condemned house is you can get an incredible deal. The government is not trying to obtain a large quantity of houses in the area and wants properties to be taken care of. Property that has been condemned often sell for only slightly over the cost of what the land would be on its own.
If you love the lot, you can choose to tear down the existing house and build a new one. Many people are not willing to put in this amount of work, which means you can end up with the house of your dreams on a lot that many people overlooked.
If you are ready to do some rehab, you could get to work on the house. Rehabbing the house could help you end up with a finished house that you have quite a bit of equity in. Remember that houses that have sat empty with the utilities turned off can need a lot of work.
Buying a condemned house
Buying a condemned house is not the same as buying a traditional house. Most lenders will not finance you for the house as is.
However, there are several options that you have, and the best way to find out which one is right for you is to talk to your real estate agent and mortgage lender. There are also private lenders that are willing to invest funds into rehab properties.
It can be exciting to think of rehabbing an old run down house. However, there are risks that you need to keep in mind.
If you are rehabbing the property, you never know what problems you could run into. If you buy the wrong house that ends up needing a lot more work than you anticipated, you might not end up with as good of a deal. Proceed with caution.