Update 2/3/2025:

At the Monday 2/3/2025 City of New England Council Meeting, it was stated that the sale of this House is now Pending.

In the Summer of 2023, I was trying to find a garage/shop to buy in New England, North Dakota. I was willing to buy a small house if it had a garage or shop.

Someone in New England alerted me to the fact that there was an old house in New England that was a few months away from being foreclosed on by Hettinger County for non-payment of property taxes. Its address was 745 1st Avenue East.

I went and looked at this house on the outside, and through the windows, to try to get an idea of its condition. I looked this house up on the Hetttinger County Tax Assessors website to find out who the owner was, and other details: https://hettinger.northdakotaassessors.com/parcel.php?gid=68916

Prior to the actual foreclosure, I tried to contact the daughter of the Deed Holder, who had died a few years earlier. I was going to offer to buy this house for about $5,000. The daughter of the deceased owner never got back to me, and I lost interest because of the amount of work that would be required. This house was foreclosed on by Hettinger County at the end of 2023, and a short time later it became owned by the City of New England.

In my opinion, from what I could see from the outside, the most immediate problem was the condition of the roof, there was at least one hole in it that had rotted through. This roof-leak appeared to have allowed water to land on the kitchen ceiling, and cause a 3-foot diameter area of plaster to collapse.

From what a few people in New England told me about this house, it appeared that the electric power, natural gas, and water had been shut-off for maybe as long as 10 years.

In my opinion, a Buyer could make a little bit of profit, or create equity in this house, by fixing it up performing at least 40% of the work themselves. In my opinion, if a Buyer tried to rely completely on a hired Contractor, there would be no end to the costs, the costs would go on forever, far beyond what this house would ever be worth.

Here are the break-down of costs, in My Opinion, with the Buyer performing 40% of the work where possible, to get this house into liveable/rentable condition:

• Roof Repair, mostly done by Roofer…..$7,000
• Ceiling & Wall Repair, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor….$6,000
• Siding Repair, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor…..$3,000
• Window & Door Repair, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor….$3,000
• Electrical, mostly done by Electrician……$4,000
• Plumbing, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor……$4,000
• Possibly New Furnace, mostly Contractor…..$4,000
• New Appliances, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor……$3,000
• Flooring, 50/50 Buyer/Contractor……$3,000
• Interior Painting, 100% Buyer……$1,500
• Yard Cleanup, 100% Buyer……$1,500

Estimated Total From Above List: $40,000

In my opinion, if this house was purchased for $5,000 and the work listed above was completed for $40,000, this house would be worth about $55,000. Or rentable for about $600/month in New England.

The City of New England did receive a written offer to purchase this house for $6,000 in approximately November of 2024, but this offer was rejected because the City Commissioners were not convinced that this Buyer would complete the repairs in a timely manner.

The Sale of this house, is conditioned on the Buyer’s agreement to begin the necessary repairs immediately, and steadily complete these repairs to bring the house to liveable condition in a reasonable amount of time. The City of New England DOES NOT WANT THIS HOUSE TO SIT IN THIS CONDITION ANY LONGER.

Interested Buyers can contact Mayor Lyle Kovar at 701-290-6665 or City Manager Jason Jung at 701-579-4422.