Hi. We are Chris and Martin and we are attempting to save our friend’s family home.

Approx 18 years ago his parents passed leaving their home to him and his wife. They both fell into a deep depression. His job pays very little and his wife got hit by a car. After years of struggle she has finally gotten financial aid.

They are $30,000 in debt for property taxes. Her actual funds haven’t come in yet.

We lost our home due to an illegal eviction which is still being delayed in the courts due to an excess of people in the same situation. We crashed at their place while looking for a place to live but no one wants to rent to two roommates/partners on government assistance.

With them in debt in back property taxes we have agreed to split the home in half, we pay them a realistic rent, do the work we can and help maintain. BUT….

We have looked through so many listings to find left over tiles, wood floor, cabinets, et al…. to do as much as we can, ourselves, without going over the rent we are giving them but there are many things we would rather have a professional do.

As well, if we can raise enough money to just purchase what we need, we can just get things, done.

You may ask, why not just sell it and move on? He would still owe the $30,000 so that will come out of the sale, and the market sucks right now. They wouldn’t be able to buy a house in better shape or even the land its on, and the cost of rent he won’t be able to afford anything bigger then a small 2 bedroom apartment and he won’t be able to keep it past a year of rent. We had been looking for two years before the landlord found a way to evict us and I think he’s surprised that we are fighting back. We’ve already been working on our mental health. They’ve just begun. The devastation would finish him and we’d be homeless.

I promise every one of you that I will check things off the below list as they happen AND if we go past our goal, any extra goes to pay off the debt connected to the house only. I will also be putting this in his wife’s hands so any debt he has outside the house, he will be forced to deal with on his own.

Thank you for any and all help.

Below is the rough breakdown.

1. The windows and doors: They badly need to be replaced. Have gotten quotes ranging from $3000 (for just the basement windows) to $7000 (the other 3 windows that need replacing and the back damaged sliding door).

2. The porch: we can do but will have to reseal the cement and figure out a non slip texture. The old ‘outdoor carpet’ stuff is bleached and coming off in chunks. A postal employee slipped last year and insurance says they won’t cover it a second tims if they don’t do something about it. Budget: $700 if we do it. $1500 to $3000 if a company does it.

3. Replacing the mold ridden drywall and such in the basement. We can do it but it is moldy (from the window issues). We do it $1000 plus (drywall is cheap but we no longer own respirators that handle mold so we’d have to rent or buy. We also don’t know what damage is behind the walls) Professionals? No one will quote until an airquality check is done. $300 for the certified air quality check. Reimbursed if you go with the company that does the check.

4. The garage: its falling apart and there is a fear that it will fall down. We can do the work but would rather have pros. They are insured for this. Don’t have a quote yet as the homeowner friend had a meltdown when we asked. He’s done that a number of times. We encouraged him to sign up for some mental health programs and he has.

5. Yard, front and back: we are doing the best we can but he has a crappy gasoline mower and he refuses to learn how to work it. We read an article on how these cities are passing regulations to ban homeowner mowers unless they are larger properties. This is a good size house but they won’t be able to justify a ride mower for the lawns. I’d like to secretly replace it with a battery mower by buying him one and claiming it was gifted but I haven’t been able to get ahead on that. $400. I’d also like to buy some dummy proof plants to edge the house with. Nothing huge. Easy to maintain. I’d like to add a birdbath as well, as cat TV, for them. Basically things that can fill the spots I am pulling weeds from. Front and back. $500.

6. A modern smoke alarm system. Their old ones are done and you can see the shadows on the ceiling as to where they were. $400

7. Smart home Thermostat. He’s still too emotionally attached to this ancient thing that, when the furnace doesn’t get the signal he pops off the lid and blows into it. $200.

8. Room air purifiers for each section of the house as they get finished. ($1000)

9. Anything I may have missed. I will update. The expenses are more than the goal as I am very unsure about the costs of some things. We also have not included the property taxes.