For many first-time home buyers, your only realistic financial option when house-hunting is to find a place that needs some serious work. In other words, a fixer upper — like this “medieval”-style home in the town of Abbot that sparked lots of conversation among BDN readers.
Sometimes it’s as simple as a fresh coat of paint or some refinished floors. Sometimes it needs bigger fixes, like a new roof or wiring.
And sometimes, you’re faced with a surprise problem that turns into a nightmare, like unexpected black mold in the walls or a hairline crack in the foundation that has suddenly gotten much, much bigger.
We want to hear your stories — good, bad and ugly — about buying a fixer-upper in Maine. Did you come up with an ingenious way to fix something? Did you devote long, back-breaking hours to one particular project that never seemed to end? Did you struggle to find a contractor, only to have that person bail, or do a terrible job? Or did something turn out better than you possibly could have hoped?
Fill out the form below, or leave a comment on this story. Or, email the BDN’s housing reporter, Zara Norman, at [email protected]. Please make sure to include your first and last names, town of residence and email address, so we can follow up with you.
Anybody that has ever owned a home almost assuredly has at least one story about something going very wrong, and having to solve the problem. If we get enough interesting anecdotes, we’ll write at least one story about it.