See how a couple got an abandoned home for free then moved it, rodents and all. They're about to fix it up all by themselves.
Alcynna Lloyd
- A historic home in Lincoln, Kansas, was up for demolition until a group of locals intervened.
- In August 2022, Julie and Eddie Flores won the home from the local group and a corporate owner.
In 2022, Julie Flores, 32, a part-time accountant and stay-at-home mom from Kansas City, Missouri, received the call of a lifetime: She and her husband, Eddie, had won a 20th-century home in Lincoln, Kansas, a small Midwestern town of about 1,000 residents in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains.
While the couple didn't get a mortgage, they have spent $105,000 renovating the home so far, which includes a $45,000 fee for the physical relocation of the home to another Lincoln lot that cost them nearly $3,000. To control costs, they set a strict budget of $250,000 and plan on doing a majority of the work by themselves.
Flores, who is originally from Lincoln, initially heard about the historic home while visiting the town in January of last year. The over-100-year-old home gained notoriety after local residents created a special committee tasked with the salvation of the decaying house.
It was a community-wide effort to prevent its demolition by the owner, the Lincoln County Hospital & Health Care Foundation, which was planning a hospital expansion.
After applying and facing stiff competition for the home — partially due to a social-media campaign by a member of the city's economic committee — Flores and her husband were selected as its new owners in April 2022.
The family moved to Lincoln in January as they've continued their renovations, an experience they write about on the blog Nursing Back to Life. Until they can move into the house, they are renting one about ten miles away and still own their home in Kansas City, which they periodically rent out through Airbnb.
"We haven't looked back," Flores told Insider. "We're just fixing the house and getting involved in the community," adding that the family hopes to be fully moved in by the end of 2023.
Flores explained what the family has accomplished so far with the renovation.
The Flores family visiting their new house in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's the kind of small town that's often romanticized for its family-orientated nature and down-to-earth appeal.
"The fact that we have kids going through the school system and that I'm originally from here was pretty enticing," Flores told Insider. "We are a young family and hopefully we will benefit from the community as a whole, not just this house."
Flores knows that relocating to Lincoln comes with some disadvantages, but ultimately believes the move will improve her family's quality of life.
"It's a beautiful and very small community, but it has suffered," she said. "We have one grocery store in town and just lost the only restaurant. It's not all roses, but we're hoping this house will help bring life back into our home and the community."
While the home was free to Flores, she had to relocate it to a new lot.
In August 2022, Flores and her husband officially became landowners, purchasing a sprawling three-acre lot for $2,932.
However, it wasn't until January 2023 that the family officially relocated the home to its new plot of land in Lincoln.
Before the home could be relocated, Flores had to find a company willing to move the 2,000-square-foot structure to a new location.
The local company Unruh House Moving accepted the challenge, quoting the family around $45,000 for the job.
In January 2023, the family finally relocated the home to a nearby lot.
This was no easy task, because the moving company had to remove the home from its foundation and place it on a moving truck, turning the property into a mobile home.
"It took Unruh House Moving one full day to get the home jacked up, another full day to get it slid over and attached to the moving truck, and on day three, they drove it to our basement site," Flores said.
Lincoln police accompanied the home as it moved two miles to its new location, a process that took about two hours.
When the family arrived at their lot, they had to secure the home to its new foundation.
Unfortunately, the company Flores hired to build the home's new foundation and basement — which cost $45,000 — measured inaccurately. Luckily, the error only occurred on one side of the home and doesn't present any safety issues.
The family plans to cover the foundation error with a porch for about $20,000.
Flores is reframing the house and rebuilding exterior details.
Prior to relocating the home, the family replaced its original roof, removed two bay windows on opposite sides of the house, and demolished the porch and dining room.
The family discovered the home was infested with insects and rodents when they began demolition.
"We found what can only be described as the portal to h-e-double-hockey-sticks," Flores wrote in a blog post. "The insulation in the southwest wall was CRAWLING with cockroaches. Had we made that discovery on a 100 degree Kansas day, I can confidently say I may have burned the house to the ground."
Flores and her husband plan to gut the entire property.
Renovating the home's interior will be a months-long process because many of its rooms need complete remodeling. The family expects to spend $120,000 on the interior.
Despite the monumental work and considerable cash needed to revitalize the home, Flores said she knows she is making the right decision.
"It sounds really cliché, but we walked into the house, and immediately felt like this was our home," Flores said. "I told my husband I can see our kids playing here and going down the staircase. It just felt like home."
To keep renovations affordable, Flores and her husband are doing most of the demolition and restoration work by themselves.
However, they also count on their family and members of the community. They also purchase all of their materials locally.
"We are keeping our labor costs pretty low because my husband and I are doing most of the demolition," she said. "We're trying to make sure that we buy all of our supplies locally and use local people to help us do the stuff that we can't do."
Squirrels and cockroaches were not the only surprises Flores has found in the home.
They have come across antique playing cards, coins, and knickknacks.
The couple has been working on the home for 8 months, but they have a long way to go.
Nevertheless, the Flores' are determined to make the 118-year-old house their forever home.
"We are hoping by Thanksgiving, or by the end of the year, that we will be able to have the home move-in ready," Flores said.
For the Flores family, all the blood, sweat, and tears are more than worth it.
"Our decision to move to Lincoln has been one of the best things we have ever done," Flores said. "Our social, emotional, and economic situations have all improved."
"We love being close to family and living at a slower pace in our small town," she added. "Our renovation has lead to a lot of opportunities that would not have been afforded us had we not taken on this project."
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