Incredible Craigslist Find

I can't help it - I seriously am addicted to Craigslist. Look at what I found this weekend!



There's about 3700 pounds on this trailer. It's overloaded!

A nice couple was tearing out their 14 x 16 paver patio and just wanted to get rid of it.  It's a blend of red, grey and black.  In other words, the perfect color to match our $1400 house! 

When we went to look at the patio on Saturday afternoon, the whole family was pulling the pavers up from the patio in the backyard and stacking them neatly next to the curb for pickup.  With a neighbor's help, we stacked them in the Dingo trailer and the back of the truck.  Oops...we overloaded the trailer and it started to smoke as the wheel rubbed the inside of the fender.  So we had to stop and take a row off the trailer and throw it in the truck.   



These used to be stacked nicely.

These pavers go for anywhere from 78 cents to a dollar, so I estimate we've got about $1400 in free pavers. That's definitely going to help keep our budget down on this house.

 

Can't beat that with a stick!

The Mightly Craigslist Hunter

Man, is Craigslist fun.  I think of it as being on an expedition in deep dark Africa where we're hunting an elusive legendary creature of some kind - you know the kind that no one has ever seen but people whisper about it around the fire.

 

But the creature I'm hunting doesn't run very fast but it IS exciting (or at least I think so).  I'm talking about old house parts.  Our $1400 house is missing two fireplace mantels - one in the downstairs parlor and the other in the master bedroom.  I want them to be authentic for the time period of the house and what better place to find them than Craigslist? 

 

The hunt has been ongoing since we bought the house last August.  And Craigslist was a source of entertainment for me on the many evenings that I spent flat on my bad back on the sofa with the heating pad. Antique mantels just don't get posted that often and, when they do, they're often $800 and above.  I have all the time in the world to be patient, and it finally paid off when I saw an ad for a tiger oak mantel for just $350.

A nice gentleman named John, who was an old house restorer like us, had sold his home (it was on the National Register, no less!) and was moving to Palm Springs.  He'd collected a basement and carriage house full of old house jewels from some of the many houses that had been torn down in the neighborhood and needed them gone ASAP.  A quick phone call and we knew we had to go see the mantel, as it was the perfect dimensions to fit in the $1400 house's parlor.

The oak mantel has been stripped and sanded, but a light stain and polyurethane will be bring out the beauty of the wood.  The mirror is obviously old and some of the silvering is off of it but I like it, so I probably won't replace it. 

On the way out, we passed the mantel on the left, which is solid cherry and DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.  I thought I had seen the listing for it at $1800 but he informed me that he needed to get rid of it and would take $400.  Screeeeeeeccchhhhh....hold the phones!  WHAT?!  I immediately told him we would take it as well. 

 

It's in perfect condition and the new mirror had been removed to prevent it from getting broken.  Since it's a little smaller than the oak one, it will be beautiful in the master bedroom.  I can't believe we just found both mantels for $750, which is what I had budgeted for just one! 

Now if only that guy would drop the price on that mounted buffalo head.  I mean...who *doesn't* need one of those!?

Bring in the Professionals

Yesterday, I gave you a look at the progress on the front of the house.  What a difference, huh?  Now to move on to the back of the house.

That big ol' tree on the right gives great shade to the park-like backyard, but it is WAY too close to the $1400 house and overshadowing the roof.  So it's got to go.  But it's also way out of our league so I had to bring in a professional tree service.  When we need help, I always call Eli's Tree Service, because they do good work.  In fact, I called them yesterday and they said they could do it today. 

It looks weird without the tree there now.  But now we can get a dumpster close to the house.

Not only did they take the big tree down, but they also finished our job on the front tree and took the rest of that down, use their bobcat to take out the rest of the fence posts, and chipped up all the brush that we cut down yesterday.  They really do a great job.  Look at the front now! 

But you can also now see the broken windows I need to fix!

 With winter not far off, something new that Eli's is doing this year is posting Craigslist ads for free wood pickup.  That allows people to get free firewood and it also help lower the amount of wood that Eli's has to pay to haul off and dump.  A win-win situation.  Either way, the wood gets recycled and that makes me happy.

I know this project may seem crazy to a lot of you, but this grand old house can be saved.  I'm sure of it!
 

Clearing a Path

Before.  Can you spot the house?

Our helper, Charles, joined us today for the first real day of work on the $1400 house.  We need to get a new roof on the house and get a get a dumpster close to it so we can clean out all the trash and debris.  So today's objective was to take out the old fence in the backyard.

 

The grapple attachment on the Dingle made short work of the fence and made an easy job of taking out the huge posts.  J. made some serious headway on taking down a bunch of the trees, including part of that tree that's preventing you from even seeing the house from the street. 



After.  Wow, there is a house under all that!

A couple of the branches are growing up and over the front porch roof and we were worried they would either hit the neighbors house or bust the window, so we left them until we could get a ladder up there.
 

Charles is scrapping all the metal from the house, including all the old fencing, so it's nice to know it's not going into a dumpster. 

 

Things are looking better already!

 

It's Official: The $1400 House is Ours

The day has finally come.  After weeks of waiting, J. and I headed to the County Courthouse at 9 a.m. to find out the fate of the $1400 house.  Would the owner be there?  We didn't think so, but that would be really awkward if he was.

 

Having never done this before, I didn't know what to expect.  The courtroom was teeny and people were packed in there like sardines.  We got there just in time to find seats in the very back.  Little did I know that you have to actually go up there in front of the judge so, when my time came, I had to crawl over a bunch of people to get out. 

 

There are three outcomes to the situation:  (1) they confirm the sale, which is what happens 99% of the time, (2) they ask you to pay more for the property if you paid less than 10% of the assessed value, or (3) the owner shows up with an attorney and they delay the judgment.  In our case, the owner didn't show.  However, the assessed value was $15K and some change and I paid only $1402.  The judge could have asked me to cough up another $100, but the county attorney asked that he go ahead and confirm the sale.  We were out of there by a little after 10 and then headed straight over to go inside and assess the state of the house.  No more worries that the cops might show up and arrest us for trespassing.

 

Here's a taste of what we found inside:

Lots of crap! 

In fact, it looks a little like some of those houses on "Hoarding: Buried Alive".  Granted, it's not filled to the ceiling like those, but more like every closet and storage space opened up and puked all the clothes and other contents onto the floor.  Mental note:  bring a scoop shovel!

That's an old piano on the left and stacked cardboard on the right.  The hot-cold cycles of an empty house have caused every piece of wallpaper to start flaking off.  That's a good thing because we'll be able to get the walls cleaned up quickly.

And then there's the original trim that is all there except for the stair railing and spindles and the fireplace mantels.

Yes, it's a mess.  And, yes, there's a hole in the roof around the chimney.  But the house has empty for more than 10 years and we were expecting much, MUCH worse.  The basement floor is concrete and the foundation is in great shape.

 

It's all ours!  Now the fun begins.  Nicole Curtis ain't got nothing on us.

I've Been Summoned

Tucked in between the chiropractor bills and catalogs was this little nugget from the mailman.  We were originally told that the hearing to finalize the sale of the $1400 house wouldn't be until December.  But apparently Jackson County is in a toot to get their back tax money as quickly as possible and now the hearing is scheduled for early November. 

 

Maybe if we're lucky we'll still have this Indian summer weather then.  A girl can hope, right?  We've got several trees that need to be cleaned up and, even though the front porch floor needs to be demolished and replaced, that will probably have to wait until Spring.

 

In other news, we've got a neighbor who is willing to help us out with cleaning out the house.  Charles has been helping Dave and Christine (of TheDeadlyNightshade fame) with cleaning out the cottage that they're working on. I think that is winding down, so the timing on our project is perfect.  When I first met Charles, I thought he was such a nice guy and a great father to a beautiful little boy.  He told me this weekend that he was blessed and given a second chance at life.  Apparently he used to be a gangbanger and he said, during that time of his life, he didn't think people could be good.  He said he's just trying to make a life for his kids and make them happy. 

 

He went on to say that, even if we couldn't afford to pay him, he would help us.  Well, I believe a man should be paid for a good day's work. I'd rather give the money to Charles, a neighbor and really hard worker, than to a big company. 

 

We've got quite a nice little community shaping up here.  And we need more people like Charles in this world.