Buyer Beware
Caveat emptor, Latin for "let the buyer beware," is a principle of contract law that places the onus on the buyer to perform due diligence before making a purchase. The term is commonly used in real estate transactions.
Home purchases are often the largest expenditure many families will make in their lifetime. Performing your due diligence, or checking on the state of things, is important in any property purchase, but especially for a property that you plan to make your own.
Home HeadQuarters has been in the home rehab business for almost 25 years and has successfully rehabbed hundreds of vacant properties in various levels of disrepair. We still find ourselves, at times, surprised by the repair needed and at the cost of those repairs. Sometimes, we also find to our dismay, that a house we thought we could save, costs far too much to repair and needs to be demolished.
Houses that have sat vacant, for any amount of time, need a great deal of repair.
Home HeadQuarters purchases more properties from the Syracuse Land Bank than anyone. We purchase homes from the Land Bank like other contractors and potential home owners, and then we rehab them and sell them to first time homeowners.
We also provide purchase and rehab financing for other Land Bank customers to do the same. We offer first mortgages and rehab financing because bridging gaps in the housing market is part of our mission. Land Bank customers are not required to use Home HeadQuarters to finance their purchase and rehab projects, but often, our organization is the only entity willing to assume the financial risk in doing so. The amount of a mortgage and rehab loan is based on an after market appraisal done by an independent and certified appraisal company combined with the purchaser's own contractor's bid for rehab work.
Aging and/or vacant properties = unexpected repairs.
Almost all of Syracuse's housing stock is old. The Land Bank provides a basic repair specification for home purchasers. This specification assigns a value to the repairs, but can not take into consideration unforeseen problems like broken sewer lines or the level of repair needed for an investor versus a homeowner. Understanding the true cost to make a vacant property your home is up to you. If you, as the purchaser, do not have the expertise or knowledge to determine the true cost to bring back an old, vacant property, it is up to you to hire someone who does have that knowledge and expertise whether it be a contractor, home inspector or other building professional like an architect. If you are not in the building or construction business, make sure you have the funds and patience to make long-term improvements with a trusted, reliable and talented contractor.
Take the time to do your due diligence before you buy!