You may know that we buy houses in the Orlando area, but did you know we buy houses in Marion County as well? Today I’m going to walk you through a house that we just purchased in Altoona, Florida. This house sits on five acres just south of the Ocala National Forest. Oddly enough, this house is actually located in Marion County, but you have to leave Marion County and circle back through Lake County in order to get to it. There is just a little dirt road that runs back to the house. We buy houses in Marion County and the rest of Central Florida!
We closed on this house yesterday, and I just got the keys this morning. I came out to put a lockbox on the house and see what the sellers left behind when they moved out. You never know what people are going to leave! I’m also putting together a plan for the renovation so we can get started as soon as possible. I’ll take you through the house and around the five acre property and show you what’s going on here and show you what the sellers left behind. I’ll also talk a little about the situation that the sellers were in that we were able to help them out with by purchasing the house.
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The house is not in bad condition for its age. It has a metal roof, block construction, newer windows, and central air conditioning. The house does need some work and repairs, but it also has a lot going for it. Not to mention the five acres it sits on!
There’s also a lot of trash and personal property to clean up and some minor landscaping and tree work that needs to be done. We’ve got a bush that is growing up into the soffit of the house! But, overall, the house is in decent condition for a house that was built in the 1960s.
The Exterior
You wouldn’t know it from standing on the front porch, but this house sits fairly close to the road. In fact, most of the five-acre property is located behind the house. The good news is that the road is not much more than a dirt trail, so there’s really no traffic noise to bother you. Actually, there’s not much of any noise out this way other than the sounds of nature.
As you walk around the house, you’ll notice a small trap door on the east side of the house. This is actually a door for firewood. It allows you to pass firewood from outside the house directly to the fireplace without having to drag the firewood through the house. It seems like a pointless feature to have in Marion County, FL, but this house has it.
Now, when you first look at this house, it looks like all of the windows are newer. They all appear to be white, double pane, aluminum windows. However, on the east side of the house, you’ll notice a group of windows that look different. These are the living room windows, and for whatever reason, they were not replaced like all of the other windows in the house. These are the original, single-pane, aluminum windows from the 1960s. Your guess is as good as mine as to why these windows were not replaced with the rest.
The Interior
As you walk into the house, you’ll notice that the sellers left quite a bit of personal property, but it’s really not that much considering how much was here. They actually did take quite a bit with them. Overall, the inside of the house is in decent shape, but it does need some repairs and a deep cleaning.
One of the strangest things in the kitchen is the situation with the drain line under the kitchen sink. The sink has been disconnected from the actual drain line and has been rerouted to a pipe that drains out the side of the house. The seller told me that this was so she could water her plants on the side of the house with the greywater from the sink instead of wasting fresh water. It’s not a terrible idea but it’s something we don’t see very often and in this case, it wasn’t executed as well as it could have been.
Moving into the living room, you’ll notice there are real hardwood floors throughout most of the house. They’re not in the best condition, but they could be resurfaced to bring them back to life.
The porch on the front of the house was enclosed with windows and made into a Florida room of sorts. They actually added A/C ducts as well so that the entire room is under central heat and air with the rest of the house. It increases the living square footage of the house quite a bit and it’s a nice thing to have.
Moving on to the bedrooms and bathrooms, you’ll notice that there are two bedrooms and one bathroom in this house. The bedrooms are fairly normal and uninteresting, but they do have the same hardwood floor as the rest of the house. The bathroom appears to be original from the 1960s with its yellow tiles that were all the rage back then. Other than that, it’s just a standard bathroom with the exception of the broken window that needs to be repaired.
In the hallway, you’ll notice a pretty sizable water stain on the ceiling. I thought it was from a roof leak, but the stain is actually directly below the A/C unit in the attic, so that leads me to believe it was a leaky A/C drain line. The A/C unit is located in the attic of this home because the house was originally built without central A/C and the system had to be retrofitted at a later date.
Where are the washer and dryer hookups?
Immediately to the rear of the house is a small outbuilding and carport. You can see the sellers left a lot of personal items under the carport, which we will either donate or trash depending on condition.
The enclosed portion of the building is where the washer and dryer hookups are located. There appears to be a leak somewhere in the wall so we’ll have to take a look and see what’s going on.
There’s also a shower in this room that is sitting on concrete blocks for some reason. I’m not sure why it was installed that way but it was.
And then there’s an ice cream freezer that looks like it’s straight out of a convenience store. We buy houses in Marion County all of the time, and I can’t say that I’ve ever found a commercial ice cream freezer in any of them.
There’s a pole barn!
Walking into the pole barn at the rear of the property, you’ll notice that there is stuff everywhere! I’m sure you could spend a lot of time digging through everything and finding treasures. There’s also a couch out here, as well as a gas-powered radio control airplane that I doubt still works.
The pole barn itself has seen better days. There are multiple gaping holes in the metal roof and lots of wood rot. The floor is not a slab either, just dirt, so it’s not something that you’d want to put a ton of money into renovating.
Just outside the pole barn, you’ll find an old picnic table and an overturned hot tub. More stuff for us to haul to the dump!
Why The Seller Sold To My Florida Home Buyers
People sell their houses to My Florida Home Buyers for many different reasons. In this case, the seller inherited the property from her late husband who tragically passed away. It got to the point where the five-acre property was too much for her to take care of and she really didn’t want to live this far out in the woods. She wanted to be closer to town and live somewhere more low maintenance.
Before the seller sold to us, she spoke with several Realtors about listing the house, but with the repairs and updating that are needed, she would have needed to find a cash buyer anyways. Instead, she found out that we buy houses in Marion County and gave us a call. After looking at the property, we made her a cash offer and she sold directly to the cash buyer (My Florida Home Buyers), saving her the real estate commission and closing costs that she would have paid with the Realtor.
Because she sold the house to us, everything was simple and easy for her. We paid all of her closing costs, saved her the real estate commission, bought the house as-is, and closed exactly on the day she wanted to close. This all made the transition to her next home as seamless and stress-free as possible. And because we buy houses in Marion County as-is, she didn’t have to worry about making repairs or even cleaning out the house and outbuildings. We took care of all of that for her. She got cash in her hands right when she wanted it, and we got another project!
We Buy Houses In Marion County, FL
We buy houses in Marion County, Lake County, Altoona, and anywhere else in Central Florida. We’d love to come take a look at your house and make you a cash offer! We can pay cash, close fast, and there are no real estate commissions or closing costs to pay. We take care of all of that for you.
We’ll even pay your delinquent property taxes if that is an issue. The seller of this house in Marion County owed thousands of dollars in property taxes and we took care of it all for her. We closed fast and she got a check. It was fast and easy, just the way we like it!
If you’d like to get a cash offer on your property, the best way to get started is to submit your information here on our website or give us a call. We’ll take a look and see if it’s something we can help you out with (it probably is!). We buy houses in Marion County, as well as multifamily properties, mobile homes, and vacant land. No matter what type of property you have, we can make you a cash offer, buy it as-is, and close fast. You’ll have cash in your hand in a week or two and be on to the next chapter of your life!