WatchHere is the zillow listing, I am already the tenant, and the goof trying to sell it, it is family owned, I could buy it for 80k.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/925-Northport-Dr-Madison-WI-53704/55431065_zpid/
It needs roof, dishwasher, bathroom ceiling vent fan, and landscaping to stop the water seeping into the basement which I'm not to worried about as it just runs over to the drain anyways. Just need gutters and to fill dirt is all. It just seems like a no brainer for the price.
I just sold my last house about two years ago, it was in a suburb 30 miles out of this city. This is smaller, and would double as a rental if I have to move.
Still, just the taxes alone make me shy away from buying anything in WI.
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Half Moon Bay, CA
I'm surprised you are renting that place, with the way the bathroom is setup.
How do you manage to flush the toilet when it's facing downard like that?!?
I bet taking a bath in a sideways bathtub is nearly impossible.
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What will you do when Gov Walker sells the state and everyone in it to the Koch Brothers?
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I don't know much about Wisconsin. Patricks advice is to buy when it's cheaper / break even with renting. Provided your financial house is in order.
Sorry can't help you there much.
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Victorville, CA
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taxes do not look to bad to me. course i do not know your books look like. over all the place tho i can not see the square ft seem to me to be clean and wel maintain. whatis that flooring you got goin on in the head?.
look to me like a good deal. i say its a buy for investment
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Madison, WI
Not a problem financially, I'd put down 25% on the loan, and either 7 year arm it or a 15 year most likely. Madison is a pretty cool city, low unemployment. I was living in a small town in a big house I did not really need. I don't care much for the city though, rents are up these days, and it's either sell it cheap, move out, throw money at rent, or buy this, and throw money at it instead. This just seems like a good investment property as well.
The bath floor is original tile from the late 50's, some of the tile pieces have what appears to me to be gold overlay, which looks kind of cool, nobody seems to notice it though.
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Victorville, CA
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would not put that much down. no way. you lookin at total monthly expanse of may be $400 with min down
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Saint George, UT
elliemae's website
The only concern is the water seeping into the basement deal... maybe you can put a sump pump around the outside or something.
If $80k is a good price for the area, why not?
waiting_for_the_fall says
You manage. Obviously he's managing well if he's considering buying the place.
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47 male
Lafayette, CA
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The answer is yes.
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http://www.zillow.com/local-info/WI-53704-home-value/r_81422/#metric=mt%3D34%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D5%26rt%3D7%26r%3D81422%252C81421%26el%3D0
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Monterey, CA
I would consider buying it. Nice, clean little pad with a yard. Cheap enough to buy, and should be relatively easy to rent out should you decide to leave.
A mortgage of only $60-70k is as cheap as they get.
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The price is right the size is all wrong.
3 bedrooms in less than 1000 sqft. is cramped.
Though surely if you are already living there, and the size doesn't bother you, then maybe it's fine for your needs.
Though in this market, it's not when to buy or how for how much.
In this uncertain market, try to get the most house for the least amount of money. That will mitigate any regrets later on as prices may fall some, either temporarily or permanently.
There doesn't seem to be any near by amenities, that would create demand, if and when RE rebounds. Is there any public access to the near by lake?
It has a good size yard, 11,130 sq ft, and the garage seems half the size of the house.
All that being said, it's definitely a deal over comparable sold in the last ten years. Seems to be better than 2002 prices, which I wouldn't think Madison WI would have been experiencing bubble prices at that time.
http://www.cityofmadison.com/assessor/property/salesByAreaResults.cfm?Area=56
Houses in that area seem to be intrinsically small.
If it were me, I would try to get a house between 1800-2000 sq ft if possible for a price you can live with. Big houses with more to offer will appreciate faster and better when RE ever does rebound. If 70% or more of the offerings are small houses, then the larger houses will be in greater demand for a premium, when that day comes.
In the end you'll have to decide if it's right for you. If you have been living in that house, and for what ever reason you like the character and charm, and the space suits you. And for the price you can't do better, then I say you should buy it.
Still you can't go wrong for an 80K house in your town.
But this is a BUYERS market, get all you can.
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Monterey, CA
Small house, but should be relatively cheap to heat/cool.
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
iwog says
Yes, I concur. My calculator says it's clearly a better deal to own this one for $80K than to rent it:
http://patrick.net/housing/calculator.php?forsale_ID=2090764
I assume a rent of $1,068/mo. You should put in your real rent and re-check it.
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Madison, WI
The nearby lake has lots of public access, nice beach/swimming/park area real close. I want small, property taxes, smaller upkeep, etc. I don't want appreciation either, my last house appreciated to 175k for property tax purposes, but it was only good for 105k when I sold it. I'll be doing everything and anything possible to NOT make improvements that affect my assessment. For instance, the new driveway turnaround would be gravel, not concrete or blacktop. Their are hardly any small homes for sale in Madison, just lots of big homes people paid way to much for and lots of condo's as that market has yet to take a big hit, although it's beginning to happen. I see larger properties taking a further hit as the property taxes are flipping ridiculous.
My real rent is not much on this place, I'm just keeping it occupied and paying the taxes and bills.
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San Jose, CA
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According to Patrick's calculator, this property is worth $145k. You're getting a steal at $80k. Hey, maybe you could resell it to Patrick for $120k, and it would still be a great deal to him. :)
Kidding aside, I notice your area is saturated with a lot of recent sales. Do you know why? So what if their property dropped from $184k to $156k. That shouldn't be a reason for people to walkaway from their home since the cost of renting is still more expensive than owning. Something you might want to look into.
For me, I'm a buyer.
Cheers.
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Victorville, CA
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yes the value will probably stay flat for 10 year on but if you are just wanting a bachelor pad this is it. rent it out for $$$$
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Madison, WI
The reason for so many sales is the people who paid to build most of these 894 sq.ft. 3 bedroom houses back in 56-58 have recently either died, or went to a nursing home, unlike one of my 90 year old neighbors, meanwhile they were sold and sold again for ridiculous prices during the run up.
I don't think I'll buy in the city, seems like a great idea as I am stuck here with my job and all, but I figure more and more cities will be looking like Detroit within ten years. I've also seen what renters will do to a house like this, several near by have turned into complete teardown as a result of years of renting. On a positive note I cannot find a comp. in the whole city that even touches this place, I love it, but sadly, I must pass.
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check back with us next year. you may be pleased you passed.
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Madison won't become Detroit any more than Birmingham will become Detroit, not in 10 years.
Still, sad what Detroit has become. But it's been that way for 25 years at least.
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The good thing about this place: It's small, it's on one level, and if it's close to UW it seems solid as an investment.
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Water seepage. Not good. I'd hammer that one good. That can be really expensive to cure. Then again. I do things in many different ways when it comes to rentals.
Don't go off of Zillow of course. Best to drive around and make some calls. Get estimates for repairs of course. Dosen't cost anything.
Sounds like you made out ok on the last one. Ran for cover and your going to give it another shot. If your going to get a loan however I would not go off of zillow for any reason. Don't know all the details. Hard money etc. You are going to need a fairly good LTV with the way things are. Unless you go O/O.
Lake is a really big plus of course. Near a college. That can be a triple play in itself. Might want to consider an addtion also. Or cure that basement if you can and is full. Should be ok. Check the variables.
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44 male
Egg Harbor City, NJ
ArtimusMaxtor says
He already lives there, if you bothered to read the post. I say buy it. If you can get it for 80k, with 25% down, that's a 60k mortgage. So your looking at $750 for a 15 year mortgage at 4%. Looking at similar houses for rent, you could easily rent it for $1,000 a month. My first house was very similar to this one, build in 1950's, basement, no garage, I was paying $750 a month, but it was a 30 year mortgage.
The GOP says
Really depends on who is living there. My first house, 2 bedroom with a basement was plenty of space for me. If he has 3 kids well that be a different story.
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Tarzana, CA
In my opinion, and knowing nothing about Madison, WI RE market, I would say no, do not buy. Just yesterday on this blog was an article about the tsunami of foreclosures and shadow inventory yet to hit the market, add in the sluggish economy, etc.. Just this past weekend, I looked at a property in Southern California for $148k. It sold in the bubble for $355k. It was about 1000 square feet with a huge Great Room (relative of course) with 6 Skylights and a New York Style Formal Entry. But, the bathrooms needed some repairs. I didn't like a few features, so, the bank can keep this one, I'm in no hurry.
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I read something of interest. Bear with me I chipped in here. About food prices and one guy on the occupy channel was talking about soup lines. There is really no excuse for stupidity.
Deal is EVERYONE bought into the paper game. Which of course leaves the debt merchants to supply food to their debt slaves housing-transportation.
I don't see why anyone would be dependent on someone else. For their food when its so simple to build a GD greenhouse. You can be in a fucking tent and go and get material to build a GD greenhouse on clear land. Fuck you can make a greenhouse out of a tent in the desert. Snap, in the desert no kidding. If I hear of one GD person bitching about no food. Dependant on the debt merchants. I got no sympathy for you. Plastic and frame of what you make. A grocery cart pusher can figure out how to build one. Use your brains.
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44 male
Egg Harbor City, NJ
David9 says
OK, assume the tsunami of foreclosures does hit and this house is worth less/ It's only 80k now, how much more can it fall, 10%? 20%? That's another 8k to 16k lower. Not dramatically lower. The rental income more than covers the cost of ownership today, its a good investment. Your never going to be able to call the absolute bottom, why bother to try? If this was a 500k house, then I could see waiting, another 10% or 20% would be 50k to 100k. It's not worth waiting for such a small cut in prices.
The current Foreclosure rate in Madison, WI is 1 in 914 homes, that below average and the shadow inventory is estimated at 61 months, about average for the country.
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Redwood City, CA
Who wants to live on a major street feeding into the airport? I wouldn't!
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Implicit advantage is that you know the house already, since you rent it.
You know its pros, its cons, and its recent history. That's good intelligence that most buyers don't have.
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I always suggest buying cheap houses to those that don't mind living in cheap houses. Less debt, less risk.
I suggest making a chart on how much money you'll save (or not save) by staying there X years. Plan for a 10% housing decrease as well.
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Madison, WI
I was not worried about water seepage when it rains, the place just needs a concrete steps jack-hammered out, fill dirt, and install rain gutters. These concrete foundations are all the same, they settle over time. Now my brothers house with a dike for a back yard and an ever growing watershed above that, now that's a different story..
I agree with the naysayers, and I'm not much of a kool-aid drinker any more. Parts of Milwaukee, Chicago, and even Madison already resemble Detroit. If you think the ponzi derivatives and bond markets will go another ten years then that's great, maybe it will. Any major adjustment on all the larger homes which are a majority would hammer the valuation on this one right into the ground. And, nope I don't have a family, sure I could probably afford one, but my view on marriage in America is would you get on a plane if you knew it was going to crash 50% of the time? As it is, I have to keep a girlfriend around somewhere or people think your some kind of a nut otherwise.
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Sacramento, CA
eastcoastbubbleboy says:
"Implicit advantage is that you know the house already, since you rent it.
You know its pros, its cons, and its recent history. That's good intelligence that most buyers don't have."
very true - an enormous advantage.
i'd love to have an opportunity to first rent out a property that i was seriously considering buying. seems like a good price, and 900sf is plenty for a single person - or a small family if you decide to rent it out.
btw...that's a lot of lawn you'd have to maintain!
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Madison, WI
Look guys, this house is exactly the same as about 50 other homes built around it with the same sq. footage. It's a simple structure with the heating and hot water heater right smack dab in the middle of the basement which is nice, it also has all copper water pipes all the way out to the main which is cool. It is a very simple home with beautiful original maple floors, but when all the RE priced above it is repriced accordingly this home will lose value. A house is a house, but when the banksters and wall street control control the real value, it's no longer a home to me, it's a ponzi investment suited to their needs, not mine. This is my last comment, thanks for everyone's input.
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Murrieta, CA
you don't have 80k I bet. so you're not really buying anything BTW. RUN as fast as you can. why would you want to borrow money to "own" liability.
debt is slavery
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Live in your car for 10-12 years until you can buy houses like these the price of a car.
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Monterey, CA
everything says
Then don't buy it.
APOCALYPSEFUCK is Tony Manero says
Or this.
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Alexandria, VA
I think the price (80K) is reasonable, and buy may be a good idea. But you will definitely pay more, and have few things to fix, so it will cost you. If it's comfortable enough for you, that's what you can afford. But the bottom line is that, You don't have to buy when you're not sure about the buying idea.
By the way, about the marriage thing, that's one of the best thing ever happened to me. Try get the right girl instead of few having arround. Then you won't be on crashing plane, of course, if she is the right one and you're willing to keep your ego down for her.
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Could you EASILY rent it tomorrow if you had to and make even a small profit? Always have a back door plan. Look at other properties to be sure. Make life easy not hard.
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Madison, WI
Without a doubt, I bet rental vacancy rates are down everywhere you go these days.
http://www.mge.com/ecodev/business/rental_vac/index.htm
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More like weld my ass to the wall. Sure I will be glad to pay a 75% markup on a car. So everyone that is connected to the Fractional Reserve slave and labor pool can have something to eat. Not to mention the fact its all so cute. For that reason I will be glad to go into fucking debt for four years. I want you to be happy Becky Sue. I want all of your neighbors that if the plant goes down. That can't figure out WHERE to find something to eat. Be happy. You and your friends would make a wonderful ant farm.
So lets face it Becky Sue. It takes a slug a long time to get anywhere much less figure out anything else for itself.
Its time to stop trying to figure out what happened the last time a sociopathic politican farted. Its time to stop reading between the lines. Which means nothing but bullshit to me. Its time to stop trying figuring out Heloise's fucking helpfull hints. You can't find with a microscope for the bullshit involved with it.
There is an internet. Its a wonderful thing. Jesus dosen't like the porn. Jesus ain't around.
Forget the Y2K bullshit. Forget the survivalist bullshit. Looks like a big case of the nuts dosen't it. There is a little trick to all of that. To keep you FROM DOING FOR YOU. After all no telling what or who you will run into into in those senario's.
Truth is one more time there a crapload of people out there. Not just in Kansas. All over the place in the United States. They aren't crazy people in a bunker. They don't get loans. They own shitloads of land they did not have to buy. That they pay no taxes on. Have more than you will ever know. You want to get pidgeonholed. Believe all the bullshit you hear. They want your labor. Don't ever forget that.
The internet which is pretty damn good in my estimation can be filled with knowledge in this time of many things THAT PEOPLE REALLY NEED. Save the crazy people in a bunker for the tourists. We aren't that stupid.