H is for House

[the_siobhan]

By request;

The building that Axel and I refer to as "The Falling Down House" has been visibly tilted since we moved into the neighbourhood. A month or so ago it was put on the market. I looked it up on the MLS website, and they were asking a quarter million for it.

Since the "SOLD" sign came down there has been the biggest dumpster I have ever seen parked on the front lawn. It has been filled, removed and reappeared again twice in the past week with massive quantities of wood, carpet masonry, fixtures, you name it.

About three days ago the front wall started to slide downward, detaching from the rest of the building.


Full frontal shot. Without dumpster. Note the upper right corner.
Also note the mold discolouration on the shingles.


Where the front wall meets the roof. Or rather, used to.



The side of the house. The red is the siding. On Saturday the siding stated sliding down, exposing the lighter coloured wood underneath. Today those wooden slats were added, I assume to try and hold the siding onto the wall.

If I lived in the attached house next door I would be really nervous about where this entire situation is going.

What I'm listening to right this second: Dearly Beloved

Comments

[eveofdstruction.livejournal.com]

wow

[okoshun.livejournal.com]

A quarter million? You've got to be kidding? What kind of crack were they smoking?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

The properties around here regularly sell for $300G +. We figure that was just the cost of the land.

[(Anonymous)]

That would make sense. I still think it's a bit high. :)

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Is it a long, narrow block? It's hard to tell from the images.

Would 23 and 25 be directly connected? If so, hell yeah, I'd be getting the insurance in now...

[the_axel]

Not that long. The houses are pretty small 2 up, 2 down, kitchen sticks out the back.

The houses are an inter-war working class terrace.

[victorianrose23.livejournal.com]

Wow. That just - 1/4 of a million??????

Dang.

[spikella.livejournal.com]

good greif... the dog is the least of which they need to 'beware' of

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

The term 'money pit' would seem to be accurate here.

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhh that is so not going to end well...

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

If I lived in the attached house, I'd be calling the city and screaming for a building inspector. That, and possibly arranging for a hex to be placed on whoever built the house at #25. :)

[the_axel]

It's a row. The row is about, I'd guess, 70 years ago so I doubt a hex on the builders would do much good.

The city could put a lien on the property for the work to be done, but that's about it.

[elixxir.livejournal.com]

Dude how sad is it that a QUARTER OF A FUCKING MILLION DOLLARS can only buy you a shithole like this? I totally need to steal one of those photos if you don't mind. I'm in the middle of a PMS-induced rage and need to rant myself stupid...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Go nuts.

On the plus side it makes me happier about my construction zone house every time I see it. I go downstairs and lovingly stroke my support beam...

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

O_o


DAMN.

[miss_squiddy]

Doing it on purpose to claim on the insurance or just idiots?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Probably closer to a century of neglect.

[miss_squiddy]

But why on earth would you take on the job of restoring such a wonky house - especially for so much money?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Because it's the hottest neighbourhood in town. They can tear it down, build a new house, sit on it for five years or so, and then roll it over for twice what they paid.

[miss_squiddy]

Ahhhh! It all makes sense now!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Is this one of those situations where the house qualifies as "historic" and thus can't just be leveled and replaced? Because I can't imagine the, um, optimism of someone thinking they could actually rehab that thing.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Nope. I'm betting they don't actually care about fixing more than just the cosmetics.

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me why building inspections are so damned important. (she said, mid-way through doing the work to sell _my_ place)