BobL

The well is functional, actually. Pretty neat. There is running water in the house. In the barn is a well head with a pump driven by a stationary engine. It pumps water into a tank, then static pressure moves it throughout the house. I was told there is no plumbing on the second floor. Probably all that will need updating. Thanks for the link to LifeFlight, that looks like a service worth buying!

That's all well and good until you or someone you love needs emergency medical services in the middle of the night. Something my fiance and I were talking about. If I have an accident while working on the house it could well be an hour before an ambulance shows up, several hours before I'm in a hospital. We think it's something worth contemplating before we decide to live in the boonies. Oh yeah, you can see a little bit of the barn in this shot. Click to Enlarge 81.02 KB

The house is east of Kendrick ID. That's as much of an address as I'd like to give, don't want to get out bid by another old house aficionado. The main reason to get an inspection is to make sure the structure is solid. Since the inspector isn't charging me anything I figure why not? There are a few drawbacks to the house mainly in terms of location. It is remote. Figure a 30 minute drive to the nearest store. There are utilities near by. This house is part of a dying community. So there are several other houses in this condition nearby, old barns, old general stores. Property value likely won't go up. However over time we could own most of the "town". The old general store would make a nice woodworking shop or something. Perhaps I could start my HVAC business out of the abandoned depot? We plan on heading out on Friday to see the inside. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

Marc, that's exactly what I thought when I looked at the house. It is remarkably straight.

Under the tarp is plywood.

Yes, that's correct. $3,500 for a house! With an acre of land. It's being described as a turn of the century farm house fixer upper. Haven't had a chance to see the inside yet. It is definitely in rough condition, however we could get into a place with no debt if we decide to buy this place. We're thinking that we would need to move a travel trailer or 5th wheel type camper on site to live in until we get this place habitable. There's a lot going on with this property. Anything jump out at you professionals that I might miss? Anything I should look for when I gain access to the inside? Having a professional inspector look at the place is in the works. He's doing it as a favor and it's a 2 hour drive to the property so he'll come after we look at the inside. I didn't include pictures of the barn, it's beyond saving as a structure. However some neat wood beams lurk in there... Click to Enlarge 83.02 KB Click to Enlarge 74.68 KB Click to Enlarge 82.79 KB

There are small towns in Montana and Wyoming where you can still buy a house in town for $10,000. Small fixer uppers in the 1,000 square foot range on a 1/4 acre lot. I have an aunt and uncle that retired to a tiny town in Wyoming. They bought a house in town for $12,000. They had to do a lot of remodeling and upgrades but now it's really nice. Has central heat and everything. It took some adjustments, they still don't have cell phone service. They get their TV through satellite and have medium speed satellite internet service. Spend a lot of time in the outdoors. No chain restaurants or chain stores. Nearest Walmart is a 2 hour drive. Basically no jobs to speak of. Not even a movie theater within an hours drive. Small grocery store, hardware store, and a gas station in town. Plus side is they live really comfortably on his pension. He was a Sergeant Major in the Army. He jokes that his Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 cost more than what he spent to buy and remodel his house.

I just looked at a house on an acre for $18,000. It's what the realtor called a "handyman special". I was surprised it wasn't condemned. Huge though. 2 stories, partially finished attic, and a basement. Roughly 4,000 square feet. Built in 1898.

What do you think is scarier electrical work or carpentry? I'd say carpentry. It has the potential to dismember and be really bloody. Something about exposed bone and gushing blood is scarier to me than electric shock.

Talking about accidents, my 4th day as a satellite technician. Didn't know squat really. I was out on a job with my trainer. We were installing Dish in a homeowner remodeled house. Throw a rock anywhere and chances are it would hit a code violation. Anyway the homeowner installed cable and the electrical. Cable was mostly RG59 and no good so it had to come out. It was a mixed bag of Chinese junk cable. Grabbed a hold of what in my newbie mind had to be some sort of white coaxial cable and cut it. Turned out to be the 240V feed for the stove. Destroyed a nice pair of Klein dikes and gave myself one heckuva jolt. Lots of spark and smoke.

Your rug got up and walked away!

What 3 tools give you the willies? We were talking about this at church since we're building on to the sanctuary. Extension ladder. I use one of these 5 times a day, have for years. They still make my blood run cold. Especially using one to get on and off a roof. Never had an accident or even a close call. Something about falling though is my biggest fear. I sure do pray a lot more on days when I use on a lot. Table saw. When I was 10 years old I helped my dad build an addition to the house. He had his table saw set up in the garage. We were ripping some lumber one morning when the saw kicked back and launched a board through the garage door. Seeing that lightning fast, violent reaction left an impression on my mind. Whenever I fire up my table saw I do so with a healthy respect. Nail gun. After high school my best friend Jim and I went to work for a roofing contractor. In the name of productivity he had disabled all the safety features on the nail guns. Well one day Jim had a freak accident with a nail gun. He managed to nail a testicle to his thigh. That was enough for me to say a hammer is good enough.

Bank won't loan me more than $70K. That's as much risk as they're willing to take. Low income and very little credit history. I only have one credit card with a $250 limit. Never took out a car loan or anything like that.

One thing you have to remember about north Idaho vs. Puget Sound is there aren't very many jobs here. What jobs there are aren't very high paying. It's tough out here. Right now as a sat tech I make right at $28K a year with overtime. That's considered a good paying job out here. In the future as an HVAC tech I can likely make about $33K a year. Still not a lot of money. It's all a matter of perspective. Yeah we could move somewhere else and make more money, but the cost of living goes up. This is a fine place to raise a family. We plan on having at least 7 kids and I can't think of any place I'd rather raise them. As long as I work hard and have faith God will provide the rest.

This is great information. In addition to a home inspector there's an electrician, plumber, roofer, and HVAC contractor who are members of our church who would appreciate the opportunity to look at any home before we purchase. Anything we get would be heavily inspected by folks that want the best for us. I'd call that a blessing! I'll give you guys an honest review of my abilities. Carpentry, well I'd say I'm a fair carpenter. What I struggle with is the trim carpentry and the fine detailed stuff. Too often I get the math mixed up and cut a baseboard a few degrees off and leave a gap. Or I cut it a sixteenth too short. As far as framing and rough carpentry goes I'm good at that. Slow, but that's because I measure too many times before committing to the cut. Probably a confidence issue. With money being tight every board counts. I get frustrated if I cut a board wrong. HVAC. Well i take college courses as I can afford them. Working towards a degree so I can be an HVAC tech and make more money to support my future family. What I'm best with is oil furnaces, probably because I've worked on those the most. Weakest would be electric furnaces. Not much experience with those. Air conditioning is pretty straightforward and I haven't hit a system yet I couldn't figure out. Same with natural gas furnaces. Some of the electronic controls can be exasperating to figure out. Electrical. Sometimes the NEC can be clear as mud. When I run into an issue I call a member of my church who's an electrical contractor for an interpretation. Since I don't have much real world experience I default to what the NEC says. I don't know all the short cuts and tricks. Plumbing. My weakest area. Other than straight replacing a fixture I haven't done any real plumbing work. If there's a good code book I'd buy that before I did anything. Mostly I can look at something and say "That doesn't look quite right". Then it sticks in my mind and I research it, ask knowledgeable people, whatever it takes to get an answer. My day job is a satellite technician. Installing satellite TV and internet. So I'm in, around, on top of, and under all kinds of houses and commercial buildings. I see a lot of different types of construction techniques and materials.