Another property I acquired at the Laporte County Tax Sale is the Kingsford Heights house. This one was a learning experience! First of all, it was my first auction acquired property with a house.
Just about every window in the house was broken.
And it needed a new roof right away, because a tree fell on it. It had a new roof built over the old roof. I'm talking a double layer of wood and shingles. It was a mess.
The more complicated part of this particular house was gaining possession of it. See, the way this works is after winning the bid at the auction, the redemption period begins. During that time, the current owner of the house can still pay the taxes and keep the house. In this case, the owner wasn't able to do that. The redemption period ended and a judge ordered that I have legal possession. So, Great! However, the owner and his dog was still living there.
I went up to the door of the house for the first time and heard the dog barking inside. I decided to get the assistance of the town Marshall. When we went to the house together, he knocked at the door and heard the dog barking too. Then it got real quiet as he turned the door knob to check to see if it was locked. It wasn't!!! All of the sudden, he opened the door and the dog lunged at him and BIT HIS CHEST right where his heart is! He instinctively reached for his gun, as he pulled the door shut on the dog! He turned to me and asked if I wanted him to shoot the dog. I did not. I don't feel a dog should be punished for being a good guard dog. We left the house. The Marshall was thankful he had on his bullet/dog bite proof vest.
At this point, I contacted my lawyer to see what he wanted me to do next. He strongly advised I obtain a writ of assist and let the authorities handle it from here on out. While that might sound okay, it's an expensive mess. First of all, the county police required I place a bond of $5000. This money is to cover the expense of having to move someone out, pack all of the belongings, and place all the stuff in a storage unit.
The next day, I returned with a plan of my own, involving meatballs laced with a very strong sedative and a cage. My thinking here was to have someone make a ruckus at the front door, while I sneaked up to the side door and tossed in the meatballs. When the tainted meatballs took affect, carefully drag the dog into the cage. Once the dog was contained, and removed from the house, chances were good he wouldn't be as aggressive since he would be awakening in unfamiliar territory. I know, I am a genius!
My plan never got to be put into action though, because when I arrived at the house the (former) owner was there. I approached him in a kind manner, introduced myself, and asked him to move out of my house. We had a good talk. He said he would move, if he had a place to go. We exchanged phone numbers and I told him I was going to help him move out. I had no idea how this was going to happen!
Being a gal who keeps her word, I returned the next day with a pastor from my church. Also, I found a temporary foster home that specializes in Pit bulls, which happened to be that type of dog. The pastor has experience working with the homeless as well as those that have recently been released from prison. The former owner fit into both of these categories. We had a productive meeting and the result was he agreed to allow us to help him move. He surrendered his dog to the authorities, as was his choice. Then we set a moving date!
Winter was approaching fast, and the former owner changed his mind at the last minute about moving into a homeless shelter. Instead, he wanted a train ticket to someplace south. I agreed to purchase his washer and dryer for the $50, which happened to be the amount he needed for a train ticket to his destination. The pastor and I loaded up the back of my pick-up truck with his belongings. He willing left the majority of his possessions behind. We said our goodbyes and he was on the next train headed south. That was that!
Quickly, I got busy fixing up the house. I found the bathroom plumbing to be one heck of a mess. I removed most of the floor to replace rotted wood caused by the roof damage. It was just as well, because I couldn't stand the goofed up plumbing, so I fixed it too--- very satisfying, btw!!!
It's too bad no one bothered to take care of protecting the house from further damage after the tree fell, prior to me getting the house. The rain caused damage to almost every ceiling, all which had to be replaced.
I removed the damaged parts and all of the acoustic tiles, but did not replace them.
Instead, I had a growing list of folk's that wanted to rent this three bedroom house as is! So, I figured, I could always add tiles later if I wanted to. Some of the wood had minor water damage. A few layers of Kilz paint took care of it being an eyesore.
I was satisfied with my work.
The inside of the house was ready for it's family!
The house now has all new windows, doors, insulation, roof, siding, and the inside has been freshly painted and cleaned!
Before I began on the outside work, families were begging me to rent out this house. So I did.
Replacing the front porch, was next on my list.
I often shop yard sales and second hand shops to get really great deals on housing items. The yard lights I purchased at a sale. The entire box of six lights costs me $2.00; lightbulbs included!!! Sometimes, I run into issues. In this case, it wasn't the light itself, but trying to secure it to the house. Little stuff like that makes me think how funny it is, that something that should be so easy, can be a real trick!
I thought taking out this porch was going to be easier than it was too!
The actual porch wasn't hard to remove with a sledge hammer, and let me tell you, it's a great workout/stress reliever!
The steps were the hard part because of the type of concrete they were made out of, and they were solid.
I rented a baby jack hammer, because I lifting the big mama hammer was really hard for me. My great nephew Dillon and sister Veronica (Roni) were my helpers that day.
We all took turns, and little by little, some concrete got chipped away.
Even with the big mama jack hammer, it was slow going and very hard work. When I need to tear out this type of concrete again, I will give a concrete chainsaw a try.
I hauled the rubble out to a house in Grovertown to use as fill.
Due to the old porch slopping slightly inward, towards the house, the wood was rotted from water running to it.
The hardest part about building a porch was digging the footers. Even though I was fortunate to use a hydraulic auger, it wasn't easy. The auger kept running into rocks and roots, plus the mix of clay that is natural in the soil doesn't help. When the auger would hit a rock, it forced it to drill at an angle, thus, a lot of repositioning had to be done.
The repositioning caused my placements to be a little off, but I can live with that. The important thing is to get the posts down below the frost line, to prevent heaving as the temperature changes.
Another obstacle I ran into was not having everything out of the way. I intentionally left a small amount of rubble to help keep any potential weed growth in check. It was a mistake to leave the bigger pieces, because they were in the way. I was able to remove them with the help of friends though.
Finishing up was easy. The posts all got trimmed and I secured a railing. My brother gave me some lattice to use, but I thought it looked fine without it.
A little landscaping, and this place is going to be a real head turner!!!
Looking back at all the work that went into this little house, I was concerned with how the numbers would total out. Doing the majority of the work myself, made the numbers indicate this was a good investment! Also, because of what I had experienced with gaining possession of this house, I feel confident in future endeavors that may lead down that path. Just a note though: my lawyer's advice was solid from a legal perspective. However, when a gal's in business for herself, she has to listen to herself first! Consider all the advice and follow your own heart. :-)
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