House for Sale (Auction) in Carmi, Illinois
On February 15, 2012, my mom’s house at 705 Burrell St. in Carmi, Illinois will be auctioned. It’s a two-bedroom home with a large enclosed front porch and a large utility room in the back, plus a large garage, on two lots.
My mom died in September after a long battle with cancer. In October, I sold all her personal property, except for some items that I expected would be useful during the auction or for the buyer. Thus, there’s a folding kitchen table, a couple of chairs, a desk, and a lamp for each room, a variety of window coverings (blinds, shades, drapes), and many tools.
Apparently the main house is 864 square feet (not including the enclosed front porch or the utility room).
Click here to view a series of 131 photographs of the house (on Google Plus).
The house will be sold “as is,” and requires some immediate work. The house needs some plumbing work to fix a couple of leaks, and carpentry work to repair those areas. (We turned the water off in October to avoid any risk of further water damage.) If you look at the photos, you can also see some issues with the exterior siding. The garage is the worst part: the rear portion, which seems to be an “add-on” to the original garage, is settling (listing, leaning) significantly, as you can see in the pictures.
There are actually two lots (the house and garage are on one lot, while the other is vacant).
My mom bought the house 15 years ago for $26,000, but we expect that the auction price will be much lower. We’re conducting an “absolute auction,” which means there is no minimum bid or reserve amount.
The mortgage was paid off in December, and the property taxes are paid in full.
The auction will be conducted at the property, by William Wilson Auction Realty Inc., on Wednesday, February 15 at noon. There will be a preview (inspection opportunity) one week earlier, on Wednesday, February 8 at noon.
FYI: the winning auction bid was $9,000. After expenses, $7,700 was paid to the estate.