How to save $8,000 to $16,000…

Our house is a foreclosure which can be a good or a bad thing based on what I read. One issue with a foreclosure is that they are “as is” or at least that is what your told going in. So when we made our offer on the house we looked at what was wrong with the house and automatically came up with a list of things that were going to have to be fixed before we moved in. There were two items that stood out the termite damage in the basement and the roof. As I’ve mentioned contractors all come in with their estimates and in my opinion there is no rhyme or reason. The estimates we got for the roof were varied and high but understandable. We knew we had at least 1 broken rafter

This ended up being two. We also knew we had to address the tree that was touching the roof which had also damaged the gutters.

We also had to repair the dry wall from some water damage in the spare bedroom due to the roof/gutter issue.

The estimate for treating the termites we decided to go with was $899.00

The estimate for the termite damage we decided to go with was $595.00

The estimate for the tree was $895.00 (down from $1,200)

And then came the roof estimates the first was $9,600.00 which I completely expected, another was $7,300.00 but included completely replacing the gutters, drywall and a little balcony roof, another was $16,000.00 and was described to us as the Mercedes of roofs. Needless to say we did not go with the Mercedes, since neither of us drive a luxury vehicle we did not want to "invest" in one for the roof. So as I really began throwing my temper tantrums and cussing the previous home owners for their lack of upkeep on the house something great happened.

Through a mysterious turn of events the bank that owns the property covered it, yes you read that right, they shelled out almost $10,000.00 to cover all those repairs. So that’s how we got a new roof and repaired stairs, along with termite treatment all while saving us $10,000.00.

I know what your thinking that I'm a lucky girl... yes, yes I am.
 

 

 
What makes it even better was that it all took place while we vacationed in Aruba last week!