I am beginning to think I’m a bit crazy when it comes to buying this house. I have had to do some real thinking on why I want THIS house. (as a reminder I’m buying a HUD home near by kids school – by myself). While the house needs a ton of work, it is in a great location and I don’t think that I would get into a house and not need ANY work – so I figured it was par for the course on this one. However, I’ve hit another snag on it.
The yard is pretty much dead. The house has sat vacant for the past four years – so it absolutely makes sense to me that it would be dead. There is no water and no one caring for it at all. I knew this would be a project for me. But now it seems that the HOA has a lien on the house until HUD can get it back up to code (it is under a covenant violation). As we are faced with October in Colorado and colder weather, I’m not certain how this issue will be fixed. Even if HUD tried to put sod down to make the lawn get up to code. I’m not certain that it will stick as there is no water to the property and no way to turn on water until it is owned.
There was some talk about HUD trying to push the cost to me. I can’t afford a 7K escrow. I’m not certain how they arrived at the $7000 price tag either. When I looked at HomeAdvisor’s cost guide it said $1500 (maybe they were wrong too – but if we could find something in between). But in either case, HUD can’t sell the home until the lien is released. HOA won’t release the lien until covenant violation is fixed. If I was going to do a little happy dance – I would hope that HUD fixes the yard to covenant standards and still sell me the home but it could be MONTHS before it is fixed as we are upon winter. Either that or I make it onto one of those fix-it shows on DIY Network or HGTV. (Hello YardCrashers?!?!?) So…I’m back in standstill with my ability to do anything about the situation at literally NOTHING.