Help... Power Hasn't Been On In 3 Years....
Okay, this is the deal. Right now I'm under contract on a REO house. I have the ARV at 100k holding for 4 months. I got the purchase price down to 56k. I'm figuring it needs about 10k interior work. My problem is that since the power has been turned off since 2001, I need to go through the city to get a permit to turn it back on. This process will take 3-4 weeks. The seller is only giving me 7 days for inspection. I wanted to have an licensed electrician inspect to get an estimate of the costs to have everything back in working order. I have talked to a few electricians and the are saying they can not estimate this until the power is turned on. My question is, does anyone have a an idea of the what the worst case scenario would be in the cost of getting the power back in working order. The house is about 50 years old, single story, raised.
Anyhelp would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
neutral
I would call back the electricians and not only explain the situation with the city, but ask if they have a generator they could hook up to the house to test it. Some may not want to do this because they are afraid of some liability issue. But the bank is giving you permission to turn the power on so that shouldn't be a problem . My experience has been that anything out of the ordinary generates a no from most people unless you can explain and encourage.
Actually the bank is not letting me turn on the power until the loan funds. I talked to the agent and he says I can have an electrician inspect, but they will not turn the power on. I have some wiggle room with costs eating into my profit, but I have never done any electrical work before, so I really don't know if its going to cost 1k or 10k. Thanks.,..
neutral
a quote i got a few months ago here in philly for rewiring the outside of the house (pole to panel box), including a few dedicated 220 leads (frig, a/c, w/d) for $850. i know if a reputable company said 850, i have a buddy who can do it for half that. i don't know about the inside wiring. everyone always tells me it's not worth changing it all. just add more lines from the box up and everything will be fine.
also, my guy goes up on the roof and connects the service himself for a few minutes, so we see what is happening. i DO NOT suggest doing it, i don't know the legal ramifications but we've never had a problem nor time to investigate it. just open the front door and people just assume it's your place already and no one cares.
I can hadle 1k for the outside wiring. Anyone have any ideas about the inside wiring. What about things to look for to tell the condition of the wiring. ]
Thanks again,
neutral
When dealing with electrical problems its best to have it inspected by an electrician but in your scenario things will be a bit different. Since it was a REO you are buying as is. I dont know where you are located but here in Chicago we have removable meters that are taken out when service is disconnected. and you can easily stick one back in the box to test it, if you can find an electrician who has one. I try to keep one just in case...oh yeah it is ILLEGAL and DANGEROUS to do this so be careful.
Benny
[addsig]
Thanks for the information but I'm really trying to avoid anything illegal or dangerous. Lets say the house needs to be completely rewired. How much would this cost. I know the electricians usually charge about $40/hour around here. I doubt this needs to be done, but I'm trying to get #s for the worst possible scenario. Thanks.,
neutral
First, I am not an electrician and can only speak of my experiences.
How old is the house? Does the outside panel have circuit breakers? Do the inside plugs have three prong or two prongs? GFIs in the kitchen and bath? What type of wiring is in the attic or crawl space? Look in the attic and in the crawl space for any home job bundle of wiring mess.
I have had a cement block house, 3/2, 1400sf, rewired for $4500. This included upgraded service to the house, new outside panel, and all new interior wiring and outlets. It was all permitted and up to code. I got bids from $10k to 4.3k and everything in between. Rewiring is nasty and many electricians would not give me bids even after coming to the house. They just never returned my phone calls. new panel. One note, my house had almost no drywall and was down to the framing. This of course makes it much easier. I was getting the rewire because of a fire. If they need to rewire the interior and you have drywall they can either run it on the inside in conduit, cut into the wall (lots of drywall repair), or run around the outside if it is an exterior wall.
What I usually do when I buy a house where the electric is questionable is to have an electrician walk through and look for anything that is dangerous. I have whatever is dangerous fixed. But typically, the wiring in the wall is not dangerous, and they can not see it anyway. So it is unlikely you will need a complete rewire. Then I have all the two plug outlets converted into grounded three plug (by only grounding to the outlet box), GFIs in the kitchen and bathrooms, and sometimes if the outside panel is a mess I will get a new panel. This usually costs around $1100.
Brenda
I'm not sure what you mean by the bank not turning on the power until the loan funds. I've never asked them to turn on the power. From my experience, when they say as is, that means they aren't going to do anything other than the paperwork to get rid of the property. On the other hand, I have purchased REOs and they were fine with ME turning on the utilities to check things out. I really don't think they would care if the electricity came from the city or a generator but you could always ask. I doubt you will find anything significant though. Unless this house is 80 years old or more, it is probably just going to involve replacing a couple of switches or outlets. Of course, you may need to upgrade to circuit breakers which will cost more but you don't need the power on to check that out.
I totally rehabbed an old Victorian and had all the wires redone as well as a whole new circuit board. Total cost was 6K
Thanks everyone for the input. I think I'll be alright as the house is only about 50 years old. I am going to have an electrician come see the property and just see what they say.
Thanks again!
neutral
On vacant houses. If the meter is still on premises and connected, I merely remove it and remove the blockers and stick it on and check the electrical outlets with a little checker, a small light with two wires. If you still have fuse box and no breakers add $300 top to replace with a breaker box and run a proper ground. If I get a hot spot or a small shower of sparks and it is not the fourth of July. I turn the electricity off and send for an electrician to complete the inspection. My failure rate is almost nothing. Of course the permanent red in my ears is in no way the result of these examinations.
If the meter is missing, I use a small generator. The only house I ever bought that had to be totaly rewired was an old Victorian with a rounded tower, a ghost and knob and tube wiring. I think I saw Noah's signature on it. When we turned the electricity on, the wires generated heat and the insulation was flaking off.
But oh god you should have seen it when we finished. A true painted lady with accent strips and restored woodwork. I even left the old toidy with the box overhead in a hall bathroom which was used for guests. You pulled the chain and this rush of water desended into the weir. I polished the wood so carefully that I thought I would become a transferee to the Royal Navy.
It was a fun house. I hated to sell it. The guy that bought it ripped out the toilet. He also painted the banister over which a small refugee from Albania had labored night and day for over a week. I drank with him every night to give him variety.
Ah the sins you do two by two, you pay for one by one. Kipling
I agree. Lucius
Was this with drywall already up or did you have to replace the drywall afterwards?
I would say on a 50 year old house nothing could be that bad. I'd be sure and check pipes for cracks if the water is shut off. Make sure it didn't freeze at one time if the power went off before the water. I don't see why you'd have to replace the line to the pole, either. I could really see nothing being wrong with the electric. Electric is one of those things that rarely goes bad without some "help" from a person either digging, wiring themself, etc. If you can get it for 56k and only have 10k of work aside from the electric and the ARV is 100k, I wouldn't think twice about it. Even if something huge needs to be done, it will still be a good deal. I am not an electrician but worked in the electrical dept in a hardware store for a couple years and have wired many things since.. was going to become an electrician but the pay wasn't quite what i wanted.
Quote:
On 2004-02-06 15:52, maw wrote:
I totally rehabbed an old Victorian and had all the wires redone as well as a whole new circuit board. Total cost was 6K
The highest estimate I've seen was for a 2000 sq ft, 4 bedroom 3 story house with old active knob and tube riddled througout. Estimate was for $13K. the estimate was surely high.. the owner only got a single estimate. An electrician now has it under agreement it without blinking an eyelash.
House in just outside of Boston and labor & housing costs are really high .. the House is under for $465,000 and needs everything.[ Edited by mikedefran on Date 02/06/2004 ]
Locally I have an electrician (liscenced) who can temporarily hook up the power before pulling permits. I bet you have one in your area who can as well. Give that a shot.
BTW a 50 year hold house, while on fuses, will normally have pretty good wiring.
[addsig]
I would look for the old Knob and tube wireing in the age group your talking about that very well may be what your going to have. In my experience its nasty stuff to work www.with.It will probely have a fuse box, look at the wiring coming out of it is it flaking, insulation peeling off of www.it.Or if your lucky it will have romex witch is white plastic coated wire or????? The list can go on and on best thing to do is get a handyman in for an estimate to at least give you more info to go on.
For me electrical wireing is pretty scarry stuff I always look at it very well. Read in the paper what starts most house fires usually electrical.
Hope this helps some mostly looks will tell you alot.
ED