from Hacker News

We Bought a Crack House

by nowherecat on 6/5/17, 8:36 AM with 114 comments

by nowherecat on 6/5/17, 10:03 AM
And more here: How One Story Pissed Off Just About Every Non-Rich Person in Toronto - https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/how-one-story-pissed-off-...
by oliwarner on 6/5/17, 11:49 AM
They didn't view the house before bidding. They didn't get somebody else to view/appraise it for them. Their bid went from $480k to $560k in one step. They hired a cowboy without checking credentials, who went on to almost destroy the house. They hired a cowboy mortgage broker who reneged on a deal (or they're lying about it).
I really don't care how much money they have. Whether or not it's "privilege" or not. It is but that's not the point.
They were idiots. They deserved everything they got and —frankly— got off lightly.

by alaskamiller on 6/5/17, 9:58 AM

  We weren’t particularly handy, but we’d seen all the home reno shows, and it seemed like everyone in the city was doing it. How hard could it be?

Hear this every day in IT projects

by sqldba on 6/5/17, 10:06 AM
"Cash-strapped", looking for a $560k house, and burning up to $1.1m over the next few years - which friends and relatives lent them.
The level of privilege fucking burns.
by jacknews on 6/5/17, 10:01 AM
OK I only skimmed to the bit where current house prices are in the $2 million range. Sounds like the whole city, perhaps the whole capitalist western world, is on crack.
by nowherecat on 6/5/17, 10:13 AM
Oh, it's getting even better: The story of how one young family found their dream cottage for $59,000 - http://cottagelife.com/realestate/the-story-of-how-one-young...
by staz on 6/5/17, 10:29 AM
https://www.gofundme.com/help-this-brave-gentrifier-family
Luckily they are still brave souls in this world, willing to help them
by jagermo on 6/5/17, 12:31 PM
Oh god, the story about their cottage is even better: http://cottagelife.com/realestate/the-story-of-how-one-young...
> We offered back at $59,000, and the deal was done. We were proud owners of a riverside recreational property, an impulse purchase courtesy of our line of credit. Never could we have imagined that a cottage weekend getaway would result in a cottage of our very own. “You guys are so badass,” our friends told us. Once we knew the cottage was ours, I felt a rush of adrenalin—“Did we just do what I think we did?” mixed with “We can’t believe our good luck!”
> A month later, we got possession, and reality started to sink in. Our little cabin (“cottage,” we decided, was too lofty for what it was) had no electricity or running water. It had been abandoned for the past three years and was filthy.
by michaelhoffman on 6/5/17, 11:35 AM
We bought a $3 million bungalow full of bats and were not happy with the result: https://www.thebeaverton.com/2017/05/bought-3-million-bungal...
by drewmol on 6/5/17, 11:00 AM
>We were the victims of a shoddy contractor and bad luck, but also of our own colossal ignorance and hubris.
I used to work as a residential remodeling contractor, I quickly learned to steer clear of this type of client/"victim"
by jnty on 6/5/17, 10:11 AM
A series of astonishingly poor decisions. Why are they so mystified that the people living there already are so hostile given that they've just strolled into their home?
by SmellTheGlove on 6/5/17, 1:50 PM
How do a guy just finishing a PhD and a lady editing Food Network's website float 3 mortgages? I should have stopped reading after the "Luckily we still owned the condo..." but I kept going like an idiot.
What's the lesson here? Fall into money, and when that isn't enough, fall into some more from a distant relative?
by gambiting on 6/5/17, 10:09 AM
"I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of the soon-to-be four of us sharing 900 square feet"
What planet do those people live on. Am I the only one who grew up in a place where 85 square meters is ample for a flat for 6 people, not 4, to live in?
by jonnathanson on 6/5/17, 1:51 PM
While this is an interesting read, it's pretty much a textbook case of what happens when you don't perform your diligence.
At every turn the couple seems to make monumentally reckless decisions -- from spending more than they can afford, to buying a nearly condemned halfway home and expecting modest repair work, to buying it pretty much sight unseen, to hiring a friendly stranger as a contractor, to commencing $300k+ in contract labor without funding secured, to bribing squatters with big wads of cash. Squatters who obviously know where the couple lives.
Yikes. I do feel sorry for these folks. But I read this entire article between the gaps in my fingers, my palm fixed to my face, my lips silently mouthing, "Nooooo!"
by kev009 on 6/5/17, 11:12 AM
I love how they pay people off that have fucked them over. Made the comment thread here about privilege that much more funny.
by bubblethink on 6/5/17, 10:31 AM
How does one go about due diligence before buying a house ? Do you hire a law firm ? What are their fees ? It is hard to imagine dropping half a million sight unseen, especially since it is not insignificant for the people in the article, but how much would it have cost them had they hired a lawyer/firm ?
by wsgeek on 6/5/17, 10:08 AM
I just skimmed the article, but if that was a crackhouse then wouldn't it be in a bad neighborhood? Then once their shiny new place becomes known to the local denizens, break-ins galore!
by vultour on 6/5/17, 11:12 AM
"We were cash-strapped" and "$1.1 million later" don't really seem to go together
by Fifer82 on 6/5/17, 10:05 AM
It hammers home how poor I am
by jheriko on 6/5/17, 10:59 AM
how do people end up with so much money when they have such a lack of common sense?
the story was a cringeworthy read.
glad it worked out well in the end... but life was gentle and kind here.
by jagermo on 6/5/17, 12:22 PM
I had hoped for a grizzly tale of DIY, but that takes the cake.
"Desperate, we pimped out our newborn daughter for some modelling gigs."
What?
by Thriptic on 6/5/17, 10:51 AM
Surprise! When you try to do things on the cheap, don't do adequate due diligence, and are impatient and hasty, things go wrong.
by therealmarv on 6/5/17, 11:02 AM
TL;DR: Stupid decisions everywhere (should have never bought that house), house looks good at the end.
by heisenbit on 6/5/17, 1:47 PM
Now what is the purpose of this story? Why is such a story published? Who is writing such a story and why is it published?
It is a heroic tale of paying 560.000 for a crack house and it worked out all well.
How healthy is the Toronto real estate market if they have to resort to pushing such stories?
by curuinor on 6/5/17, 10:24 AM
This had a go-around in the Reddit and Something Awful bad-with-money threads/forums
by kowdermeister on 6/5/17, 10:53 AM
So if you got steady walls and you have cash left to refurbish everything it's a good deal compared to buying something ready to move in? Who would have thought?
But at the end of the day it's a good way to test the stability of your marriage.
by Simulacra on 6/5/17, 2:10 PM
This reminds me of one of those HGTV programs: my wife collects butterflies on the weekends and I sharpen pencils four hours a day, our budget is $1.5 million
by chippy on 6/5/17, 1:26 PM
Is this a clever satire? Seems as if it could be a hoax.
by fredsted on 6/5/17, 9:57 AM
A whole bunch of bad decisions.
by rl3 on 6/5/17, 10:25 AM
>We Bought a Crack House
As you do.
by empath75 on 6/5/17, 11:08 AM
This would be the greatest episode of property brothers ever.
by foota on 6/5/17, 10:05 AM
Really enjoyable read. I'll think of this when it comes time to buy a home.
by cup on 6/5/17, 10:05 AM
This article would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. I don't know whats worse. The authors general ignorance about 'flipping' houses or their arrogance around the disadvantages drug users experience.
The fact that they expect the occupants to just leave when asked as if they have somewhere to go is bizarre. Who are these people?