Diary Entry No. 1: We buy our first HUD Home

My wife's friend, Becky Candler. lived in the white house at the end of the street in the 1950's and 1960's but the neighborhood was far older than that; the John Olden subdivision, laid out in the 1880's; one of the first planned suburbs in the country.

I didn't know much about Cincinnati, Ohio when I moved here in 1999 from New Jersey, 'cept that people there tended to be provincial and perennially resistant to change... but I was an admirer of old houses...and especially of the white house at the end of the street.

Alas, Becky told us that the house had been yellow and had arched windows until Mrs. Candler hired a cheap vinyl siding contractor in the seventies who messed up everything. There goes the neighborhood...but those windows will return someday, I secretly vow.

About two years ago, the previous homeowner walked out on their very expensive mortgage, and eventually, HUD, the good old Secretary of Housing and Urban Development acquired the property. It took over a year for a "for sale" sign to appear.

I've never purchased a HUD property before...and probably would not again. The listing and the contract was a bureaucratic nightmare...somebody lost a LOT of money on this house and I suspect that it was the taxpayers...you and me.

For instance, HUD had hired a contractor to go through the house and document every spot of missing or chipped paint. I didn't bother reading his voluminous report; old houses have lead paint; we know this, everyone knows this and they didn't have to waste taxpayer's money reminding us when a simple disclaimer would suffice!

"HOUSE MAY HAVE LEAD PAINT." There, now was that so difficult?

Anyway...at $55,000 the house, sitting on a double lot, was a steal (It had been sold for $105,000 previously) and I signed an offer for $48,000.

Just after we signed the contract...someone kicked the back door in and removed copper pipe from the house...and HUD's local service company didn't bother to show up for three days to secure the property. HUD...through (yet another) company representing them refused to repair the damage. $800 of damage for about $20 worth of copper...hmmmm. We backed out of the contract...and HUD graciously kept our $500 deposit.

We then spent the next three months...count 'em, three months...making a new offer of $35,000 every week until enough time had passed for HUD's software to finally figure out that no one was going to purchase the house but little old me.

So, that's the HUD story. We purchased the house officially in December and have a list of things to do that's about three miles long....

The REST of this blog will describe our experiences restoring the old house...to it's original glory and for our modern convenience....(and I promise, more photos and hopefully funny dialog).

Deano (New Jersey Boy sojourning in Cincinnati)

And I invite comments....dherbert53@aol.com