The Inspection

With a contract in place and our lender working on securing our loan, we ordered an inspection. HUD does an inspection of the property and provides a property conditions report (PCR) on the HUD website, but as first time homeowners, we wanted to know exactly what we were up against.

Before the inspection, we had only spent five minutes in the house. When it was posted on the HUD site, we walked in, looked around and agreed, “yeah, this could work.” Now, was the moment of truth. What did the bathroom look like again? Was there storage in the basement? How much work does this place REALLY need? We were about to find out.

Our house was built in 1888 and is a historic landmark. In the 90s, it was gutted and renovated into condos. The good news, it has good plumbing, good electrical and drywall walls. The bad news, it hasn’t  been updated since the 90s. Overall the inspection went well. The inspector went over everything with us, pointed out some areas that needed work, but overall was happy with the structural integrity of the building, the boiler and the major systems. “It’s mostly cosmetic. This is a great home” were his parting words.

Immediately after the successful inspection, we celebrated over pizza and wine, of course. We also made a list of all the work that needs to be done. Here is a list of the big stuff.

• Repair sagging beams holding bedroom floor
• Repair/replace damaged hardwoods
• Remove popcorn ceilings
• Paint all 739 square feet
• Remove burglar bars  (HUD escrowed)
• Repair bathroom water damage on ceiling (HUD escrowed)
• Renovate kitchen
• Renovate bathroom
• Add additional storage

Yes, we have lofty plans. We HOPE to close on the 28th of July, which gives us four weeks to get as much stuff done as we can before we must move into our new home and out of our rental house.

In addition to all the work, we will also have to have a yard sale as we will be downsizing from a single family rental with two bedrooms, a full basement and a garage to a 739 square foot condo with shared storage in the basement. I have already started pairing down our things and pricing items for the yard sale. In the market for a couch, dining room table, a guest bed, a lawn mower or patio furniture?  We have you covered.

Surprise!

A few weeks after the lottery ended, I got a call from our realtor. “You have a house!” he exclaimed over the phone. “What? Really?” I was shocked. Come to find out, the original winners did not get their paperwork in on time and so the house went to the runner’s up, which was us! For the next 48 hours we scrambled to sign paperwork, gather documentation and secure financing. HUD does not mess around, so we wanted to make sure we had all the necessary paperwork in order to be qualified.

A few days later brought disappointment, as the HUD asset manager declared that Mike wasn’t qualified to purchase the home because he didn’t meet the GNND requirements. This fired my husband up because although it wasn’t black and white, he DOES qualify. To make a long story short, Mike provided all the necessary documentation and we were deemed qualified to purchase the home as a part of the Good Neighbor Next Door Program.

After quite an emotional ride, we had a contract in hand and could move forward with an inspection and financing to close the deal in 45 days.

Finding a Deal

For the last few years, Mike and I have considered purchasing a home. Considering how we rarely pay full price for anything, we looked for ways to buy a house at a discount. When the market crashed, we considered buying and spent many afternoons debating properties and even almost put an offer in on a tiny place in west Denver. However, we came to our senses and agreed that we should test our luck in the Good Neighbor Next Door Program (GNND). The GNND program is a HUD program designed to assist public service workers in buying homes in revitalization areas. In exchange for living in the property for three years, you get the home for half price. A half price house – we were all over that deal! The catch is that it is a lottery system, so you have to keep entering your name for qualified homes and hope that your name is drawn.

In order to make sure you don’t miss out, everyday you have to check the HUD website. As you can imagine, this becomes addictive. Mike and I entered our names in half a dozen or so houses without luck. Below are some houses that we weren’t awarded.

First Lottery.

Didn’t get this one.

Didn’t get this one either.

Back in May, Mike and I entered our name into two tiny condos. Spending only a few minutes in each one, we deemed them both “livable” and emailed our realtor to enter our name into the lottery. Once again, we were partly relieved and partly disappointed that we didn’t hit the cheap house jackpot. We decided that continuing to live near Wash Park in Denver wasn’t a bad runner’s up prize and that we would try again when the next qualified house showed up.