Free House Gets Ready For Viewing
"We finished doing a partial cleanup and we took some of the exterior boards down - one off the first floor and three off the third floor (see photo below). This week(end) we are going to show the property to nine people who expressed interest from the BRO post. Everyone else who doesn't get the house will be shown others on the West Side that might be compatible with their needs. The front apartment is almost ready to be lived in. The brand new electric looks to be fine... this was a high-end rehab not too long ago. It sold for $80,000 a year and a half ago. This would make for a great double. There's a beautiful fireplace on the second floor. The two back apartments need to be completely gutted. It has a new roof and a new paint job... that alone has to be worth $25,000. The exterior just needs new glass where the windows are. The main issue with the interior... it needs to be re-plumbed, and the back apartments are 'tear outs'... the rest need plumbing, and that will require patching with some drywall. Once this is acquired we'll find homes for the rest of the people who were interested in this one."
So in summary:
Bad news:
- Lots of clean up needs to be done.
- One fire damaged apartment that will need to be completely gutted
- One water damaged apartment that will need to be completely gutted
- Copper pipes stolen and will need to be replaced throughout, and walls patched in every apartment.
- Windows will need to be repaired / replaced throughout house.
- One front door (of a matched pair) missing.
- Vacant house next door that needs to be addressed but is for sale (which is good news)
Good news:
- Roof near perfect (from what I can tell)
- Paint and clapboards near perfect
- New electric throughout - even the remaining plumbing (that wasn't copper) is new.
- One apartment that could not only be easily livable while the rest of the project is completed but is very, very nice.
- Two other apartments could be fairly easily brought back - need work but not gutting.
- Great 3rd floor mansard space that was never built out and has a lot of potential.
- Beautiful house. I would take this one for free in a heartbeat if I were looking right now. It could really be great if it was converted back to a single or double.
So - far from perfect, will need a lot of work, but in my opinion worth a dollar and a lot of hard work.
What Others Have To Say
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Comment Options
Brette
Captain, the people here appear to be out of phase with the space-time continuum.
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HarveyAGarrett
I really want to take the remaining 4 boards off the second floor but it's the weather side of the house and it's missing too much glass.
And Brette, we're not blurry - maybe your still hung over from the St. Patrick's festivities yesterday. :)
Let me know if anyone else is interested in going through the property this week.
Harvey harveyagarrett@gmail.com
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mpitman
Harvey,
What's the painted brick building to the right??
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PaulBuffalo
How many rooms that face the brick building (a former wire manufacturing company if I remember correctly) are totally cut off from daylight? Even if this house were renovated to perfection, doesn't anyone think this is an issue?
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hashma
You know, I was thinking that too, PaulBuffalo. Yes, we want the city to be urban, by a house usually should have ALL of its windows at least get some sunlight...this may be a problem in the future when the building is renovated- maybe its better suited for small office or something?
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HarveyAGarrett
mpitman - The brick building next door is Better Wire Products. They are a good ongoing business owned by Bill Breeser. he's a good owner and he owns several other properties nearby including the building across the street that houses Riverkeeper.
Paul and hashma - you are right, and that is the south-facing side of the house which should be the sunniest. I'm not sure how much of an issue it is because all the windows are currently boarded it's hard to tell. But considering how nicely rehabbed it was previously it couldn't have been too bad. The previous owner was a local contractor who lived there for quite a few years and invested heavily in the house.
Harvey
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Biniszkiewicz
One quick note about plumbing: There is a relatively new material which is legal in NYS for any structures up to 10 stories tall. It's called PEX. It's plastic piping that fits via crimped bands onto brass connectors. The material is ridiculously easy to work with. There's no soldering, no threading, no bonding. It's the most fantastically easy material to work with it's an absolute revelation for anyone who's ever worked with galvanized or copper. And it is a world cheaper than copper (and will connect easily to copper). The plumbing bill for this house is a lot less than it would have been a few years ago. Just don't replace copper with copper.
(among other neat features, PEX can freeze time after time without breaking; it can expand up to four times its size without failure).
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sbrof
bini true and such technologies might help reduce the costs but I still don't like the idea of mailable plastic and my water in constant contact. Call me a purist but we already consume more plastic chemicals that we should without any knowledge of what it actually will do to us.
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benfranklin
sbrof, with all due respect, the buildup in a seventy year old supply line will make it look like a waste line. The flaking (within the pipe), etc. makes me never want to drink water again. If you've worked with both (copper and pex), you understand the epiphany that Bini describes. After working with pex this weekend, I said to more than one person, this makes some projects feasible, that weren't previously. I don't believe the benefits of this product can be overstated.
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magnum
What are the guarantees the person who gets the house will actually live in it for sometime and not flip it???!
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RisingDamp666
All thisSturm und Drang about flipping. If the house finds a caring, responsible owner, who cares if it was the result of a flip? At the end of the day, another nice house gets rehabbed and checked off the list. More!
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r129
Regarding the lack of light on one side of the house, I'm sure it wouldn't be any worse than some of the Vinyl Victorians being constructed these days. Has anyone ever noticed that in many cases they don't put any windows on the sides of those houses?
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MJWorthington
true.....but those are the "short" sides. All the rooms are still lit from the windows on the longs sides (though it does look super cheap)
that side of this house may contain the only windows for a number of rooms. But nothing that could not be creatively worked around
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Dakovich
used to pass this house every day when we lived on West Ave. also saw it on the TV News story entitled "hooker alley"...used to be a bunch of nasties who frequented that corner. her dad actually still lives around there, one of the few remaining people holding down the old neighborhood. we personally can't wait for that area to make a come-back. great location in terms of accesibility to the transit systems (peace bridge, thruway, 33, etc...). diblles hardware is right around the corner, and if...when...Grant comes back you'd be right in the mix of things.
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Dakovich
also, hook a left on Breckenridge, right on West and about 3/4 of the way down the block on the right there is a house for sale by a really nice family. has a cottage house in the back (where the owners lived), and the main front house has apartments. in nice shape also, think its only going for in the 70's.
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Metropolis
I love this house and this corner / area. So much potential.
I'm sorry, but can someone explain the meaning of the "free house" title? Are they giving it away?
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sbrof
if you prove that you can afford to maintain and upkeep the property plus plan on living there yourself. Then yes you get the house for free. I am sure Harvey will follow up with the nitty gritty details.
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thinkBIG
How many other city properties could be reclaimed if they were offered at these same terms? If we rebuild instead of wrecking - such positive changes. Is there anyone out there offering an exchange of information about doing rehabilitation projects? Does that group of smart, resourceful people already exist?
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HarveyAGarrett
Think,
We've saved dozens of houses this way on the West Side. Our vacancies are now declining rather than increasing.
Harvey
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thinkBIG
You're beautiful Harvey. Just gorgeous.
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georgethomasapfel
Ideally, I would match the other door - or get another matched pair from Buffalo ReUse's new ReSource Store at 298 Northhampton--one of the many benefits from salvaging aging housing stock. They have old slow-growth timber doors which are just not available anywhere else.
I have worked with both copper tubing and PEX, the latter is indeed much easier to work with (higher initial cost is tempered with less cost of labor to install) And if you're concerned about chemicals leaching into the water, remember the solder used for copper pipe fittings has ingredients far more harmful than PEX.
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