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My wife and I are thinking about buying a small two family house in carroll gardens that will need almost an absolute gut renovation. Apparently the water was left on in the unattended house and it sat for many years without repair. There looks to be tons of water damage to everything on the interior (walls, floors, electrical is shot, plumbling is shot, boiler is shot).

I have not had a contractor come in and price out a renovation yet. I’ve also been looking at mortgage rates and construction loans (in the research phase) but this seems a little unclear and/or difficult in the current mortgage market.

What I’m wondering is whether this is the type of project to walk away from in this market or whether this is something to pursue.

A little about the situation:
1. Property is being sold as is and in under 800K in carroll gardens. There is some buildable rights and the building is zoned two family. Building is about 1500 square feet on three floors (about 500 sq /ft a floor)
2. We are stable employed with good financials and no debt.
3. We have never bought or renovated before.

So the real question is how many people here would run for the hills with this one? Is it better to just suck it up and buy a condo or coop?

I do love brownstones too but we’re basically buying a shell and rebuilding everything (almost) on the interior.