House moving decisions and dilemmas

So initially, we'd spoken with a local house-mover who had quoted us a price of $1500/day to move the house. He also said he "didn't think it would take too long to move." At that point in time, he had already seen the house and had told us that it was definitely moveable. After getting the go ahead at the end of last week from the current owners of this house, we called him back, and agreed to meet Saturday morning to look at our land (and the "road" to our land) to make sure it was somewhere he would physically be able to move the house to. We also planned to then go with him to take a closer look at the house. He checked out the land and the road, and didn't think that there would be any problems there whatsoever. Then we drove out to Blackshear to take a look at the house. We got there, and the first thing he told us was that we would have to get a carpenter to remove the roof. (I don't mean a roofer taking the roofing off, I mean a carpenter/contractor/construction worker with a crane who could separate the attic space, rafters and all, from the rest of the house, and place it on the ground, and who could then reattach it to the house once it was moved.) Now, we had assumed that since the house mover had already seen the house when he gave us his quote of $1500/day, that would be all-inclusive. This having-to-hire-a-contractor thing came as rather a shock. It was also somewhat bizarre that the house mover could not (or would not) recommend anyone to do the roof removal. He told us to just go through the yellow pages and select whoever gave the best rate. Now, surely, as house moving is his business, he has encountered tall houses before, and therefore should (in theory) be able to recommend a contractor. Right? This just seemed a little odd to us. There is one other house-mover in the area, and we are going to call him and get an estimate and see whether or not he does the roof removal himself. Right now we are trying to get recommendations for decent contractor who has the necessary equipment (like a crane...) needed to hoist a roof off and then back on to a house. No idea how much that part of the whole experience will cost, although chances are, it will double the costs. BOOOOOO! Suddenly the entire project is looking a lot more expensive than it did just a few days ago, and looks very well like it might drain all of my mom's savings in one fell swoop. That being said, even if it ended up running $20,000 to move it, there is no way that we could get a house of that size and quality built out at the land for $20k, so it still seems like a good deal. Thoughts? Also, for those of you who wanted interior pictures, here they are. Keep in mind, the current owners are using the place for storage right now, so it's somewhat full of junk at the moment.

Front porch


Living room, looking straight back from the front door


Livingroom, full view from front door - the ceilings are something like 12ft high!


front bedroom (just back from the living room)


This is the only room in the entire house with water damage.
(Located in roof and wall and furniture underneath leak)


bathroom behind front bedroom


The diningroom (to the left of the front door when you walk in) also has incredibly high ceilings.



The ceiling in the kitchen, however, has been lowered.

first rear bedroom

second rear bedroom


rear bathroom


laundry room