My Best Friend's House Remodeling/Repair- Project #4

[MoBookworm1957]

I have a question?
Why are you putting all this money and effort into your friend's place?
Don't you talk about how your place is falling down around you?
I would think putting forth the effort and money into your own place would be more important than your friend's place.
Don't you think your mother be better off if you spent the time and effort on fixing up her home than your friend's place.

 

[zannej]

My friend is the one who bought the lumber, the fireplace, and the plumbing stuff. He also helps me out with our place when he can. He's fixed plumbing, helped me renovate my bathroom, ran the PEX under the house when all our pipes burst. Mom offers to pay for a lot of things for him because she wants to help him out too. She also promised his grandmother that we'd take care of him. It's not like he doesn't reciprocate. He's done a lot of things to help with our electrical and computer stuff.

Plus, I'm overwhelmed when it comes to fixing things up at home. I have zero help from my brother on things and it gets frustrating. I don't even know where to start on my house most of the time. When my friend has the time, he's going to come out and help me get the place cleaned up and get things fixed up, but he doesn't have much free time.

I forgot to mention that my friend let us stay with him when we had to evacuate after a hurricane and he saved Mom's life when she had her dka incident. He got a wheelchair, he helped me clear a path for the wheelchair, he picked Mom up and put her in the wheelchair and followed us to the hospital to help us get her back into a wheelchair to get her inside because no one at the ER acknowledged us or was willing to help when we got there. She was refusing to go to the hospital but he convinced her to go. Our gp said she would have been dead within 24hrs if we hadn't taken her to the ER.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

My friend is the one who bought the lumber, the fireplace, and the plumbing stuff. He also helps me out with our place when he can. He's fixed plumbing, helped me renovate my bathroom, ran the PEX under the house when all our pipes burst. Mom offers to pay for a lot of things for him because she wants to help him out too. She also promised his grandmother that we'd take care of him. It's not like he doesn't reciprocate. He's done a lot of things to help with our electrical and computer stuff.

Plus, I'm overwhelmed when it comes to fixing things up at home. I have zero help from my brother on things and it gets frustrating. I don't even know where to start on my house most of the time. When my friend has the time, he's going to come out and help me get the place cleaned up and get things fixed up, but he doesn't have much free time.

I forgot to mention that my friend let us stay with him when we had to evacuate after a hurricane and he saved Mom's life when she had her dka incident. He got a wheelchair, he helped me clear a path for the wheelchair, he picked Mom up and put her in the wheelchair and followed us to the hospital to help us get her back into a wheelchair to get her inside because no one at the ER acknowledged us or was willing to help when we got there. She was refusing to go to the hospital but he convinced her to go. Our gp said she would have been dead within 24hrs if we hadn't taken her to the ER.

I was just wondering.
I was re reading this thread as I do to refresh my memory.
Thank you for replying.

 

[zannej]

I was just wondering.
I was re reading this thread as I do to refresh my memory.
Thank you for replying.

It's understandable to wonder. Its a long thread so I wanted to clarify. My memory sucks so I don't remember things well so I can relate.

 

[zannej]

My friend added a coat rack to the wall I painted for him. He plans to drywall the wall that the door is on.

Bandit, the cat, jumped into frame just as he was taking the picture.

 

[zannej]

Friend got tired of people leaving the shower curtain hanging out and water dripping all over the floor. New shower doors are in (caulk needed to be cleaned up after pic was taken)

 

[zannej]

Apparently the house is sinking in the middle-- foundation is undermined. Not enough room for anyone to crawl under there though and friend's wife doesn't like the area and doesn't like the fact that the friend's mom is still holding the deed (even though she promised to sign it over). So they started looking at houses for sale. A real estate agent is trying to sell a property he and his siblings inherited that they want to get rid of so they can split the $. Not sure if friend can get a loan for that much but he's trying. Not sure if he can afford the monthly payments but he said he's already cutting back on expenses. His wife absolutely loves the place.
These are the blueprints he showed:

It has a detached garage and central AC. Two areas where laundry can be hooked up. Plenty of storage space. Needs some roof repair on the family room and one duct for AC needs to be fixed. Needs to be cleaned up. There are some buildings in the back yard that have a bunch of old furniture that will be left behind.

These are the pics my friend sent from inside:

 

[zannej]

More pics:

Google street view of the front

 

[zannej]

I forgot to update this. I warned my friend that the seller was unreliable but he really wanted to move and ended up paying hundreds of $$$ for an inspection. It needed over $30k in repairs and was valued much lower than the seller was trying to get for it. So the seller backed out and sort of screwed my friend over. But then my friend's aunt told him about another house for sale in a rural area just outside of town. It was more expensive but in better condition. The seller was willing to work with my friend and give credit for any repairs he did to the place to make it sellable. Ended up being about $2k worth of parts and stuff. An outbuilding needed stuff torn down, outlets and switches needed to be repaired, a door inside the house needed to be fixed, and that was it. Did paint walls and stuff though. Appliances were not an issue since my friend replaced them. They closed in January and he and his family are moved in.

It's a 1974 brick house with 4 bedrooms, a car port with a storage/work area attached, a small barn with chicken coop, and a small workshop. The workshop needed some parts demo'd and we knocked that out. I'll have to get some before and after pics. The house is well insulated so it didn't get too cold during the freezing weather.

There are lemon squash and tomatillos growing in the barnyard area. Some pokeweed and some flowers are near the septic tank. It gets city water and city electric. Neighbors have been friendly and the USPS employee was nice. He was hoping his uncle wouldn't find the place but someone said the street name on FB and that stalker went looking for my friend until he found him. The kids love their larger rooms. The kitchen is smaller and needs some reno. Bathrooms are smaller but there are actual closets with lights. They managed to fit an 8 seat dining table in but they want to expand the kitchen a bit.

They are currently in search of a washing machine. Friend's wife doesn't want a dryer. Partially out of a phobia of fires started by dryers but also to deter friend's mooching mother from demanding to come over and us the washing machine. She was constantly barging in to the other house and would even take their clothes out of the wash and dump them on the floor (without asking or even telling them) to do her laundry.

Oh, forgot my friend has attic access from the walk-in closet of the master bedroom that has pull-down stairs. Good thing he's lightweight. I don't think they would hold me. I started going up them and they made too many noises. LOL.
This is an older street view. The red building on the right had to have portions removed because of rotted roof beams.

there is a little stream/water feature in front of the house. there is also a 2nd gate off to the right not visible in this picture. It gives access to the side barnyard area. Cattle guard should be filled in, a gate could be added. Some solar lights and reflectors on the gate posts...
It's nicer than the old home that was over 100yrs old.
Editing to add that the white building behind the truck is another property. Those are the neighbors. They bought part of the land from previous owner.

 

[havasu]

So, your friend did all that work, and just walked away from the first house? Seems the warning signs should have been large enough to smack him in the face?

 

[zannej]

So, your friend did all that work, and just walked away from the first house? Seems the warning signs should have been large enough to smack him in the face?

Oh, no he didn't fix up anything at the first house. He just payed for the inspection and I pestered him to NOT try to fix it up himself bc I told him the seller was an untrustworthy jerk. He was out a few hundred $$$ and some time from going back and forth with the seller and was really bummed when the seller reneged. I told him he should not touch that house until he had something in writing from the seller guaranteeing he wouldn't back out of the sale. Seller was really hoping my friend would fix it up so he could turn around and sell it for more to someone else but friend couldn't afford to fix it. The seller has a reputation of being an a-hole. And I had dealings with him and found him to be a liar on top of being unreliable. My friend didn't remember that years before he tried to see about buying my late elderly friend's house and the same jerk was the real estate agent for it. Guy scheduled an appointment and then no-showed and ghosted him. Then he denied that he represented that house even though the widow was paying him to list it. I got in touch with her son and told him how the clown lost a possible sale on the property and he changed real estate agents.

My friend had to spend $2k plus inspection fees on the 2nd house to get it. He's too trusting of people-- especially after the traumatic brain injury and stroke. He doesn't always think things through and can't see how people might try to screw him over. The inspector had only flagged a few things and my friend took it upon himself to preemptively fix some things that bugged him- with permission from the owner. I still thought it was a bad idea for him to fix things not flagged by inspection prior to purchasing in case things fell through, but it worked out this time.

This is the same friend that almost got conned into trying to buy a $20k truck for $8k from a repair shop that only had a lien on the truck. They didn't own it or have the right to sell it.

but the good news is that he's in this house and happy now. Had a little plumbing trouble but was able to clear grease out of the trap and ended up getting the copper 1/4" line to the fridge water supply working. He's got a wood-burning furnace thing in the living room for extra heat if power goes out, but thus far his power has remained on.

 

[havasu]

Yes, there are lots of unscrupulous sellers, who like to take advantage of others, and make a little more profit by doing so.

I really hate dishonest people.

 

[zannej]

Yes, there are lots of unscrupulous sellers, who like to take advantage of others, and make a little more profit by doing so.

I really hate dishonest people.

Me too. Well, I strongly dislike them. I'm not a hateful person. There seem to be a lot of them around here. Liars and thieves. Hard to find reliable handymen that won't take $, steal stuff and run. I don't know if its the traumatic brain injury or the fact that my friend was raised to be a doormat or both but he gets taken advantage of a lot. He's too trusting and doesn't think about worst case scenarios. I on the other hand, am a total wet blanket and I think about these things. I remember he wanted to buy a car and was all excited at the dealership and I said "Wet blanket time! How much would insurance cost on that thing?" He said "Damnit, you're right" and realized he couldn't afford it. He's got a pretty good car right now. It's beat up but it has good gas mileage. I have a very hard time getting in and out of it since it is so low to the ground, but its a nice little car.

Since my friend is trying to find a washing machine right now we've both been scouring marketplace, swap shops, and craigslist. Absolutely nothing on craigslist for our area. He was going to get one from someone but she sold it to someone else after agreeing to sell it to him. I jokingly sent him this listing:

So, his grandfather got tired of paying for a storage unit and gave him the old dining table from his house with 8 chairs. Friend then brought over all the other stuff from the storage unit to the grandfather's house for him.

They've decided they like the murals on the doors of the pantry and closet.
This is his wood burning heater for winter

During the short snowstorm this shows his driveway (at the back of the house), the barn and workshop

Back of his house when it was snowing

Car port and little storage area

Not the best photo, but this is the door to the master bathroom. LOL.

It is one of those barn doors that slides. I'm thinking he might be able to attach something to the bottom for more privacy rather than replace the whole door.
I'll have to go over and take more pictures at some point. He knows how much I love taking pictures. LOL. Then we can get some measurements and I can draw the place up in Sketchup.