Attic Issues at Auction

Today's auction was a cream puff. By "cream puff", I mean that the price will be driven higher by someone that really doesn't look too deep. It was a nice 2 bedroom, 1 bath home that had almost all of the cosmetics done. I keeper for a rental or a quick house turn. We looked at it as a potential for both; with different strike prices.

The lower strike price was for turning the house over; the higher strike price was for the rental. Either way, there were too many people on site for this one to be had smartly.

The bidding started out nice and low and surprisingly, creeped upwards at the same pace. That's when idiocy began to happen - driving the price to with $10,000 of it maximum value. The winning bidder did not go up into the attic space. Maybe this bidder didn't care. With HZG being in the energy efficiency business - I had to look. Vermiculite was the insulation of choice - and only 2 inches of it. 4 penetrations that were large enough to let money (via lost heat) go through. Finally, a drop down staircase within the thermal envelope. This attic needed a good $1,500 to $2,000 worth of work - which I'm confident that the high bidder did not take into account...or didn't care.

Moral?- look everywhere prior to purchasing. That "one missed spot" can be the difference from making money to breaking even.