Sally's GF3 thread

[Sally PB]

I asked one of the fire fighters what all the gear weighed. As much as 80 pounds. He said he weighed 200 lbs. Suited up, pushing 300. Then there might be an ax to carry, or a hose to haul around.

Not a job for 98 lb weaklings, huh? I said. He set me straight on that. No, there were so many jobs to do, and some of them did not require muscles. All help was appreciated.

This is a small department. Look up Belding, MI on map. Yeah. Small town. That guy works 2 jobs and is a fire fighter to "do his part and help his neighbors." He said he got paid about $100 last month as a fire fighter.

 

[Sally PB]

My husband did not watch the fire with me. He saw a little bit when he walked by with the dog. He is feeling sad and a bit guilty that we did not do more to keep the old house and restore it.

When we first got it, we had ideas of fixing it up and renting it out, as an income property. Not enough time, not enough money. When you buy a property that is in foreclosure, you can't do anything with it for a year. The previous owner took what he wanted when he left, and didn't shut the door. Raccoons had been living in it for probably a year before we bought it, and we couldn't do anything for another year. Raccoons can do a lot of damage in that time. And they aren't particular where they poop.

We had at least 3 people come back to our house (which is about 1/4 mile away) and offer to buy it. We had notes left on the gate. We got letters from real estate companies offering us cash to buy it. With the latter, I'm betting they'd raze it and put up 5 houses on the 5 acres. Nope, not for sale.

We live out here with very few neighbors. We like it that way.

 

[fuzzi]

My husband did not watch the fire with me. He saw a little bit when he walked by with the dog. He is feeling sad and a bit guilty that we did not do more to keep the old house and restore it.

When we first got it, we had ideas of fixing it up and renting it out, as an income property. Not enough time, not enough money. When you buy a property that is in foreclosure, you can't do anything with it for a year. The previous owner took what he wanted when he left, and didn't shut the door. Raccoons had been living in it for probably a year before we bought it, and we couldn't do anything for another year. Raccoons can do a lot of damage in that time. And they aren't particular where they poop.

We had at least 3 people come back to our house (which is about 1/4 mile away) and offer to buy it. We had notes left on the gate. We got letters from real estate companies offering us cash to buy it. With the latter, I'm betting they'd raze it and put up 5 houses on the 5 acres. Nope, not for sale.

We live out here with very few neighbors. We like it that way.

I'm sad that you weren't able to save the house, but am glad something good came from it.

Not able to do anything for a year after a foreclosure? That sounds crazy, a house can deteriorate a lot when it is empty!

 

[Sally PB]

Not able to do anything for a year after a foreclosure? That sounds crazy, a house can deteriorate a lot when it is empty!

Yes. That is called the "redemption period." The previous owner can "redeem" the property by paying us whatever we have into it. Interest on the loan we took out to buy it, etc.

I worked with someone who had been in the banking industry and told me how it goes. (He said he had never heard of residential property being redeemed. Commercial property was a different ballgame.)

There's a notice of foreclosure (usually on the front door of the property, as in this case), and it will list all the info: The bank that holds the loan and is foreclosing, what it owed, when/where the foreclosure sale is. You call the bank, talk to them. The person I talked to said that they didn't want to own this property, they want to get their money out of it. I pay them $1 more than Frank -- the owner who was losing the house -- owes, and it's mine.

Here's the rub. You literally buy it on the courthouse steps. A sheriff reads a list of the properties for sale. There's usually a real estate agent there taking notes. And every now and then, there is someone like me says, "Oh, yes, yes, I want to buy that one!" And jumps up and down, all excited. Fine. BUT you have to have the full amount, CASH in hand (cashier's check) to buy it. We had to line up a loan in about 4 weeks (not nearly enough time to do a second mortgage, or anything traditional) for the entire amount.

Fortunately, because the amount was low -- under $22K, we could get a HELOC (Home Equity Line Of Credit) using my husband's IRA as collateral. They could verify that with a phone call. No house inspection, etc. etc., like they'd do for a second mortgage.

 

[Ponypoor]

WARNING! this post contains pictures of a fully involved house fire. Some people may find this disturbing, if they've lost a home to fire.

NO ONE was injured. This was a training fire for the local Fire Department (and 3 others took part).

View attachment 3665139The old farm house. We *should have* redone the roof as soon as we bought it (it was in foreclosure), but we didn't have the money. We did this half of the roof with metal roofing, (which we reclaimed) and patched a hole on the other side. This spring we were going to roof the other side with metal, but the hole patch had eroded, and the 5" of rain we got in one day in April had trashed the (already trash panda trashed) interior.

A neighbor suggested we see if the local FD would like it to practice on. Yes, yes they would, thank you very much. The got 10 (!) practice fires out of it. They brought in a bunch of hay bales and pallets to burn inside to make a lot of smoke. The firefighter I spoke with said that they would go in on their hands and knees, search it blind (due to the smoke), and then put out the fire. Repeat, with other guys (and 3 women, yay!) to give as many people real fire experience. Some of them had not yet been on a call like this, so this was EXCELLENT training for the real thing.

Part of the challenge is a garage that is just out of view in that picture, to the right. It's about 15-18 feet from the house, and we really wanted to save it. We got everything thing out of it, of course.
View attachment 3665141
After that, it was time to burn it down. It started small.
View attachment 3665142And spread. This is the front of the house. The plan was to burn that side first, and the back (where the garage was) last, and have it all fall into the basement.
View attachment 3665143
There was a slight north wind (the best direction I could have hoped for), blowing the smoke out over a farmer's field. We also had some rain, off and on, not too heavy. It wetted down the grass, which was helpful.
View attachment 3665144
View attachment 3665145
View attachment 3665146
One of the fire fighters told me that the black smoke (which doesn't show well in the picture, unfortunately) was actually fuel for the fire. When the roof was breached, man, it got hot.
View attachment 3665147
The wall behind the fire with the peeling beige paint? Yeah, that's the garage we want to save. See how close it is? They kept hosing it down, and steam would roll off it.
View attachment 3665148
Pushing in walls with a pike. Ideally, it would all fall into the basement, which was very deep, about 9'.
View attachment 3665151
Total success. There is almost nothing left of the house, and the garage is wet, but unharmed. It lost some paint from the water pressure, but the paint was peeling before the burn.

Many of the firefighters came up to thank me personally for this opportunity.

Wow! That’s amazing! What an opportunity for firefighters, thanks you for your contribution to the training of those who protect us (my uncle and my mums cousin where firefighters).

And so glad your shed was saved also.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm sad that you weren't able to save the house, but am glad something good came from it.

A friend told my husband, "Think of it like donating your body to science. You donated your house to training."

I like that.

 

[cavemanrich]

Sally,,,

You outdid me again,,,

 

[Sally PB]

You outdid me again

Well, I had some help...

All in all, the burn was an interesting experience.

One of the firefighters came up to me and gave me a very heartfelt, sincere thank you. He told me that he had to thank me personally, that this opportunity for training was that valuable to all these people.

 

[cavemanrich]

Sally,,,,,,, I just got a brainstorm
Now that the house is no longer there,,,,,, but the foundation is,,, , You could just build a deck on top of that foundation.. Then you have a deep walk in cellar for your root produce.
Well,,,, yes,, you would need a trap door as well.
Oh,,, did I also mention,, can double up as a TORNADO SHELTER,,
I know, you are not exactly in the tornado alley,, but those devlz can occur everywhere on occasion.

 

[Sally PB]

Sally,,,,,,, I just got a brainstorm
Now that the house is no longer there,,,,,, but the foundation is,,, , You could just build a deck on top of that foundation.. Then you have a deep walk in cellar for your root produce.
Well,,,, yes,, you would need a trap door as well.
Oh,,, did I also mention,, can double up as a TORNADO SHELTER,,
I know, you are not exactly in the tornado alley,, but those devlz can occur everywhere on occasion.

Those are great ideas! One problem, though... it's about 1/4 mile away from our house. As a root cellar, that wouldn't be a problem, OTHER than needing to plan ahead. Want some potatoes for dinner, dear? Oh dang, I gotta go to the corner store.

For a storm shelter, we'd just go to the basement of our house, unless we had enough warning.

I need to post the pictures I have of the basement, of what's left. NOT very much! It is still smoldering, as of this afternoon. It's a deep basement; the Fire Chief said when he was down in it, he could not touch the beams of the ground floor. He estimated it was 9 feet deep. Not sure why they would have dug such a deep basement back then. We think the house was built in the 1920s or 30s.

Hmmm... maybe because it originally burned coal...? There is what we think was a coal chute in one corner.