moving a house

salty87

Commander
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
2,327
a bit of dreaming here...

my house is pier and beam, about 1300 sq ft. it's old and not so special. it had been a rental since the day it was built until we bought it a few years ago. in order to really update it, it needs to be gutted. another issue with the house is it's in a terrible spot on our property. we have almost 1.5 acres but another house was built next door about 20' away from the prop line. seems crazy to have space and still be jammed up next to another house.

anyway, any guesses as to how much it costs to move a house? i'm dreaming of buying a small lot in the same neighborhood and moving the house to sell it. then take the proceeds and build a decent house in a better spot on our land.

how crazy of an idea is this?
 

jeeperman

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
1,513
Re: moving a house

Have you considered the can of worms your going to run into with the local building codes department?

If'in you move it, you will likely be required to bring everything in it and on it up to current code.
 

JRJ

Commander
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Sep 11, 2001
Messages
2,992
Re: moving a house

Not crazy at all, especially a short move. I don't know how cost effective it would be, but certainly doable. Good luck.
 

Beefer

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Aug 4, 2008
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1,737
Re: moving a house

I haven't personally been involved in a house move, but in my former life, I was involved in real estate transactions (home inspector), and had a couple of customers who had looked into it. This is only hearsay, but I've heard the cost of the typical move is equal to the value of the structure. Sounds ridiculous, but it's not something the average Joe can do, so whoever can do it, pretty much gets to name their price. You may want to look into cost to build a new home on the site.
 

mudslinging79

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
374
Re: moving a house

bear in mind dealing with road closures, overhead lines, and the road conditions just to name a few off the top of my head. then there is the cost of moving the thing itself. even a double wide isnt cheap to move, let alone a house built in place.
 

marlboro180

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Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
Re: moving a house

Not a crazy idea at all, as long as you make out okay on it. That's up to you to determine in your market.

As far as cost of doing it, I have lifted a few and put new foundations under them. Cost to lift each one , single story residential , was about 10K, the new basement walls were about 10K, plus an additional 5K( ish) in unforeseen related necessities. The footings were not replaced in any of them, as they were found to be good.

The 25K cost had no bearing on any other improvements to the homes after they had been lifted and then set back down on new walls. As far as moving one to another site, I cannot speak to that directly.
 

trendsetter240

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Jun 22, 2009
Messages
1,458
Re: moving a house

There are companies that do this, a few local to me in vancouver. Do a search on the net for companies local to you.

Yes there are some issue but a short move for that house is likely under 10k. We are considering it. The local house moving companies here will come and do a free estimate.

P.S. You can always set the house on a concrete slab with no basement to save a lot of dollars on the foundation.

Here is a website from one of our local movers http://www.nickelbros.com/.
 

dolluper

Captain
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
3,900
Re: moving a house

Around here lots of companys doing it at good rates....just to lift is about 10g's after hydro is disconnected....then the cost for slab or founation ...5-10 g's ...distance of move and equipment varies on your land makes it alot cheaper....I'm guessing only here I would say 20 gs for slab 30 g's foundation
 

rbh

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Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
7,939
Re: moving a house

I know this is a house and not a skid shack, BUT, if you could jack it up and build a set of skid ski's (total frame) under it???

1300 sq is not that big, and as you said the interier needs to be redone so crackin the drywall ain't a big concern.

Would this be a straight pull with no obstructions to the new building site???
 

avenger79

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
1,791
Re: moving a house

so you want to buy a lot and move your current house to the new lot, only to sell it? then build a new house on your current lot?

my thoughts would be that it would be much more economical for you to live in your current house while building a new house on your current lot then bulldoze the old place.

in order to sell it you would have to move it then rebuild it, then find a buyer in a bad housing market to buy it at a large profit to help you build again.

I would guess you would have 50G into moving and renovating the house just to sell it. 50 plus the price of the lot plus time and how much would it sell for?

doesn't seem worth the time or money to me.

as far as the skids, I think the township may frown on skidding a house along public roads.
 

rbh

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
7,939
Re: moving a house

Some how I missed the "buy new lot thingy"
I guessed you were going to move somewhere on the 1.5 acres. :redface:

Although big rubber casters. ;) :D
 

salty87

Commander
Joined
Aug 12, 2003
Messages
2,327
Re: moving a house

thanks for the replies.

permits...yikes, especially septic. i'd need 2 new septic systems. one for the new lot and another for the new house on the 1.5 acres. ouch.

the move...neighborhood is a little hilly. might be a problem.

new lot....hopefully wouldn't cost more than $15k for a no frills lot.

mortgage....whomever is holding my note probably has an opinion on all of this.

building first and then moving the old house....great idea. financing issues here too though.

my hope is that a $20k move plus $15k lot and i can sell the house for $115k or so. add in the 2 septic systems and it looks like i'd be lucky to have $70k leftover for new house. lots of wishing but the financing is probably a dream killer.
 

bkwapisz

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
441
Re: moving a house

Fix up small one, save so you can build bigger one and convert old one into a guest house. Then you're living like a Rockstar. ;)
 

jeeperman

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
1,513
Re: moving a house

a bit of dreaming here...

my house is pier and beam, about 1300 sq ft. it's old and not so special. it had been a rental since the day it was built until we bought it a few years ago. in order to really update it, it needs to be gutted. another issue with the house is it's in a terrible spot on our property. we have almost 1.5 acres but another house was built next door about 20' away from the prop line. seems crazy to have space and still be jammed up next to another house.

anyway, any guesses as to how much it costs to move a house? i'm dreaming of buying a small lot in the same neighborhood and moving the house to sell it. then take the proceeds and build a decent house in a better spot on our land.

how crazy of an idea is this?

You might be able to avoid nearly all of the gooberment "obstacles" associated with building a new house on the current lot........

Get a building permit to build an "addititon" to the old house.
One with a hallway long enough to get you to where you want your new house, from the old house.
Build the new "addition".
Then after a couple of years after your in the "addition" tear down the old portion of the house.
 
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