Table Of ContentACPL ITEM
discarded
HOUSES TO GO
How To Buy A Good Home Cheap
Robert L. Williams
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA 46802
You may return this book to any agency or branch
of the Allen County Public Library
643.12 W67h
Williams, Robert L.
Houses to go
Houses To Go
How To Buy A
Good Home Cheap
by Robert L. Williams
Loompanics Unlimited
Port Townsend, Washington
This book is sold for informational purposes only. Neither the author nor the publisher will
be held accountable for the use or misuse of the information contained in this book.
Funds to purchase
THIS BOOK WERE
PROVIDED BY A
40th Anniversary Grant
FROM THE
Foellinger Foundation.
ACPL
Houses To Go: How To Buy A Good Home Cheap
© 1997 by Robert L. Williams
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in any form
whatsoever without the prior written consent of the publisher. Reviews may quote brief
passages without the written consent of the publisher as long as proper credit is given.
Published by:
Loompanics Unlimited
PO Box 1197
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Loompanics Unlimited is a division of Loompanics Enterprises, Inc.
1-360-385-2230
Photographs by Robert L. Williams
ISBN 1-55950-166-9
Library of Congress Card Catalog 97-74039
Contents
Introduction.1
Chapter One
How To Locate Houses to Move.5
Chapter Two
How to Decide Which House to Buy.11
Chapter Three
How Much Should You Pay?.21
Chapter Four
Setting Up the Move.27
Chapter Five
The Paperwork in House Moving.35
Chapter Six
Turnkey and Point-to-Point Moves: Some Pointers.39
Chapter Seven
Preparing for the Point-to-Point Move.45
Chapter Eight
Basement Floors and Foundation Walls.51
Chapter Nine
Handling Outbuildings and Extensions.59
Chapter Ten
Making a Great Bargain Better.67
Chapter Eleven
Re-Hanging Kitchen Cabinets.75
Chapter Twelve
Converting a Closet to a Half-Bath.79
Chapter Thirteen
Basic Plumbing for a New Bathroom.85
Chapter Fourteen
Paneling Walls.95
Chapter Fifteen
Re-Flooring Rooms.101
Chapter Sixteen
Completing Ceiling Work.109
Chapter Seventeen
Installing Sheetrock Unassisted.115
Chapter Eighteen
Lowering Ceilings.121
Chapter Nineteen
Final Leveling Procedures.127
Chapter Twenty
Final Touches.135
Introduction
1
Introduction
When my wife and I bought property in the “Not much,” I said. “In addition to gas, I
country, our first need, we thought, was a house bought potato chips, tomatoes, mustard, ham¬
to grace the rolling hills. The major, and really burger buns, and pickles.”
the only, problem we faced was that we had no As I climbed into the car and we started to
money. We looked at house plans and we talked drive away, I stopped the car and pointed to a
to builders, and we found that the only house we beautiful old house across the highway.
could possibly afford was one that we would not “I almost forgot,” I said. “I also bought us that
have accepted even if it had been free. house.”
We wanted a large house, preferably a two- My wife was certain by then that I had totally
story farm-style house, and the lowest estimate lost my mind, but I assured her that, again, I was
we received was over a hundred thousand as serious as a coronary. She wanted to know
dollars. And we did not have even the amount how much money we’d have to borrow and how
needed to make a down payment on such a we could make the payments.
residence. “I paid cash for the house,” I told her. Then I
“Why don’t we shop around,” I asked my related how I had paid for the gas and groceries
wife, “and possibly find somebody who will give and then asked the owner of the store who
us a house?” owned the house in the huge grove of pecan
She thought I was joking, but I convinced her trees. The man replied that the house was his.
that not only was I in dead earnest but that I “Is it for sale?” I asked. He told me that it
thought we could have ourselves a house by was.
sundown that same day. “How much are you asking?”
So we went for a drive and a picnic, and when He thought for a moment or two, then said,
I stopped at a combination grocery store-service “That plot of land is in a prime business area,
station, I filled up the tank on our tiny foreign and it would be the perfect spot for a mini-mall.
car and then went inside to complete buying the The lot is worth, I’d say, at least two hundred
other items on my short shopping list. thousand dollars.”
“What did you buy?” my wife asked when I “I don’t want the land,” I said. “How much for
returned and put the bags in the car. the house only?”
Houses To Go
2
He looked at the change in his hand. My not necessary steps). And we had to do quite a
purchases came to a total of $19.27 and I had bit of work in order to make the house livable.
given him a twenty. He held my seventy-three In all, we spent about $15,000 on the house.
cents change toward me. So it was not free at all. Still, we had a
“Will you give this much for the house?” he completed house within a very short time — less
asked. time than it takes to build a house from the
I agreed immediately, and he dropped the ground up — and the house was actually in
change back into the drawer. better shape than it would have been if we had
And I had bought a house — for 730! simply moved into the house where it stood.
But what had I bought? The man gave us the And when all was done, we had a house worth
keys and invited us to go look over our about $100,000. So we saved $85,000 on the
purchase. deal and in return obtained a super house.
Our new house was a two-story farm-style Our house became the subject of several
house with a tall front porch that extended magazine stories. We were featured in House
across the entire front of the house. Twenty-foot Beautiful, American Legion Magazine, and a
columns supported the porch roof. number of others. All told, more than three
Inside we found on the first floor a 20 x 20 dozen magazines, including Southern Living,
foot living room, a parlor or den about the same Money Magazine, Grit, Modem Maturity,
size across the hallway, a formal dining room, a Mother Earth News, Backwoods Home
library or study, a huge kitchen, and a breakfast Magazine, and many, many others featured our
nook. There was also one bathroom on that story in their pages.
floor. Our house cost us about $5.33 per square
We followed the wide stairs to the second foot, and this figure included a deep well, septic
floor where we saw two huge bedrooms, a tank, and our furniture, all of which came out of
second bath, and a closed-in deck that would the $15,000 total cost.
provide us with two additional bedrooms if we So you can conclude that we really hit it lucky
decided we needed them. All the floors on that day when I stopped at the service
throughout the house were top-grade oak, in station-grocery store, right? Wrong. It’s not just
excellent condition. There was a fireplace in the luck. What we did, you can do. All over this
den and another in the living room, and there country right now there are thousands upon
were fireplaces in each of the bedrooms. thousands of houses that the owners must sell or
Connected to the back of the house were the give away.
servants’ quarters and an upstairs apartment for In fact, shortly after we moved the house one
the live-in maid. All told, we had 12 rooms, four of my colleagues approached me and, only half-
fireplaces, and a total of 4,000 square feet of jokingly, told me that I was the luckiest SOB he
living space. had ever met in his life.
All for seventy-three cents! “I have dreamed for years of owning that
But there was a catch, of course. The house house,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much I
was free but the land was not included, which wanted it, but I knew I couldn’t afford it.”
meant that we had to move the house to our “Why didn’t you just ask for it?” I asked him.
property. And we had to pay the mover. “It has stood there, vacant, for at least three
When the house was delivered, we had to dig years.”
footings, pour the concrete, and build foundation “What kind of idiot would go up to a house
walls. We had to re-plumb the house and re-wire owner and just ask for the house?” he
it (although with most newer houses these are demanded. “I’d feel like a fool.”
Introduction
3
“I’ll tell you what kind of idiot would do that,” What sort of houses are available? How do
I said. “A very happy one who now owns the you go about buying one and arranging to have
house of his dreams. And I don’t feel like a fool. it moved? How do you know that the house is
I feel like a king. A very wise one.” road-worthy and fit to be moved? How do you
We like to feel that what we did benefited know what amount to bid on a house? Where do
everyone. There are houses like ours all over the you find houses that are going to be moved?
country, and if these houses aren’t moved, they What sort of financing, if needed, is available?
will be demolished and the debris hauled off to Will insurance companies cover houses that are
the landfill. Or the houses will stand vacant and moved?
become havens for hoodlums, magnets for What can you do to make the cost of moving
vandalism, or nests for rats and snakes and faster, easier, and less expensive? How do you
insects. They will become eyesores that detract select a mover? What are your options when it
from the value of surrounding houses. comes to moving the entire house? What if the
Can you still get houses as cheaply as we got house is too large to be moved? What are the tax
ours? The answer is an emphatic YES, YOU advantages or disadvantages?
CAN! In some cases you will pay more, but you Can the chimneys be moved with the house?
may well get more. What you spend and what What is the value of the house, relative to houses
you get will depend largely upon how well you that have never been moved, after the house is
do your research and how well-prepared you are on the new lot? What sort of damages should
before you begin the hunt. you expect during transit?
Houses To Go
4
These questions, and many, many more will be
answered in the pages of this book. You will see
photos of houses that will be moved, that are
being moved, and that have been moved. In
some cases you will be provided with the costs
of moving the houses that are pictured, but you
must keep in mind the fact that prices vary
across the country, and from year to year, even
day to day. You should also be aware of the
regulations that govern house-moving from state
to state or even city to city.
But, all variables notwithstanding, this book
will help you to locate, select, buy, move, and
set up houses that are cheaper than you could
have dreamed possible. You will be told how to
buy houses that are dirt cheap, how to secure
others that are totally free, and, perhaps best of
all, how you can make incredible sums of money
by moving, restoring, and selling houses.
And now, it’s time to start looking for houses
to go — for a song. Good luck, and good
fortune! Save the house, save tons of money,
save yourself the frustration of overseeing the
builder if you go the traditional route, save the
environment, and above all save the beauty and
excellence of these old houses that need
someone to care for them.
