Could you ever buy a cheap old house without touring it? This couple did.
“…we’re both people that are willing to dig in and get our hands dirty for lack of better words. So, with this house, we saw it as an opportunity to really start from the ground up and make it our dream home.”
Could you ever buy a cheap old house without touring it? This couple did.
We know how an unpredictable and impenetrable real estate market makes it impossible for first time homebuyers to get a foot in the door. For Haley Gori and her husband Ethan, a 1920s bungalow hit the market in their preferred area of upstate New York for just $60,000. The price and location were right, and the three bedroom house was ready for new owners to give it new life.
But there was a catch.
They had to buy without touring it, and they were responsible for cleaning out years of detritus left behind by the previous owner.
Think YOU could do it? Homeownership to Haley and Ethan was so important that they took the leap. “My husband and I desperately wanted to be able to buy a home but we just could not afford it. And both of us work full-time, we make a decent living, but it just wasn’t possible. But we’re both people that are willing to dig in and get our hands dirty for lack of better words. So, with this house, we saw it as an opportunity to really start from the ground up and make it our dream home.”
Haley says they weren’t fully prepared for what awaited them. “The house was listed as is, including 20+ years worth of garbage inside and out! We knew it was going to be a doozy of a project, but once we were able to go inside, it was pretty shocking.” With the help of family and friends, they tackled rooms stacked floor to ceiling with clothes, furniture, food containers and heaps of trash.
Within the first 3 weeks, over 25,000 pounds of garbage was hauled out of the house. When I asked Haley what that looked like, she explained that it is the equivalent of eight of the largest dumpsters that you can find. With friends and family pitching in, they went room by room. “We did all of the cleanout ourselves and we literally just started at the front of the house and we were just shoveling trash out. We had an assembly line and we would just take things from the house, put them in the dumpster.”
Difficult? Yes. Gross? Absolutely. But Haley and Ethan knew that underneath all the piles, the bungalow’s walls and floors were steady. “We removed old carpeting downstairs and upstairs to expose the original wood floors, as well as multiple layers of flooring in the kitchen. Luckily, all of the original trim and woodwork throughout the house were untouched.” First repairs included updating the electricity, reworking the kitchen and laundry-mud room and a lot of landscaping.
The to-do list to get it in livable shape is long, and Haley and Ethan are still chipping away at the work. The heating system was updated, and they’ll focus next on plumbing, sheetrocking, painting, and building out the kitchen, downstairs bathroom, and utility spaces. And those original wood floors? They’re being lovingly refinished as well.
And when the weather is warm, they will enjoy an unexpected surprise. An inground pool that they’ve refurbished for sunny days ahead.
If you’ve ever dreamed of saving a house, here’s your sign: old homes hold magic—and sometimes they give you a new purpose. For more inspiration, check out our Cheap Old Houses bookk to see more incredible transformations like this and start dreaming big.
Thank you Haley and Ethan for sharing your story and being brave enough to save this house!! To catch more of their journey, give them a follow at @goris.on.gray.
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