Maybe It's Not Just Lust...
...I think the house and our little family could have a real relationship in the not-so-distant future.
I went over there last night with My Favorite Realtor to check it out and get her honest opinion on whether or not it was a worthwhile pursuit. She was impressed. Yes, it needs a LOT of work (as evidenced by the new pictures I took of the inside), but it's got good bones, and structurally, it's pretty solid. Aside from the front porch, there's nothing wobbly or wonky about the structure itself. There's only one room that has any obvious cracks in the wall plaster, but the house is 81 years old--one cracked wall is pretty impressive.
If you look at the pictures, the interior shots are toward the bottom. The first shots are of the basement, which consists of three studio apartments, one bathroom with a shower (evidently shared--ew ew ewwwww), the utility area (furnace, water heater and mess of electric/gas lines), and some storage cabinets. Next shots are of the kitchen, which really doesn't need a whole lot of work (but needs appliances). The ugly gray room is the room Ben wants to make our bedroom (though I'd prefer to keep all the bedrooms upstairs--we'll see). The hideous blue room is the dining room. The room with the fireplace and great built-ins is the living room. The room with nasty carpeting is a bedroom directly north of the living room, which we're considering knocking out the wall between them or just cutting an arch into it and creating a bigger living room. (Another option is getting rid of the built-ins between living and dining rooms and expanding the living room westward, since we don't use a formal dining room now and have really no need for one.) Upstairs, then the hallway (which former owner painted with chalkboard paint to encourage his children to write on walls), and the two upstairs bedrooms (and an attic storage area). Oh, and I forgot the bathroom on the main level, and the hole in the floor where the half bath used to be. And that's the house.
There are good hardwoods under the shitty carpet throughout the house. The drop ceilings in the main floor hallway and back bedroom are covering up what appears to be good plaster ceiling. It probably needs a new roof. But aside from the bathroom, most of the real work is going to involve demolition (basement, garage) and hauling the shit out.
Our realtor definitely thinks we can do it all within our budget. She also talked to the listing agent, who thinks the house is way overpriced and is going to try to talk the bank into dropping the price. We're hoping we can get it for $90-95k.
It's supposed to rain for the next two days. I really hope so. The thing about living in an area where it's cold nine months out of the year is that when it's summer, you feel compelled to spend your every waking moment enjoying that summer. We start around mid-May and don't come inside other than to shower and sleep until sometime in July, when the big heat waves usually hit. That's not good for my energy level, and it's not good for the inside of my house, either. Ben broke down and did some cleaning yesterday, and he's been doing laundry--but he only washes and dries, so our bedroom is becoming lost amid the piles of clean clothes and towels.
Speaking of wasting time, bossman's return approacheth--I better get back to work.
I went over there last night with My Favorite Realtor to check it out and get her honest opinion on whether or not it was a worthwhile pursuit. She was impressed. Yes, it needs a LOT of work (as evidenced by the new pictures I took of the inside), but it's got good bones, and structurally, it's pretty solid. Aside from the front porch, there's nothing wobbly or wonky about the structure itself. There's only one room that has any obvious cracks in the wall plaster, but the house is 81 years old--one cracked wall is pretty impressive.
If you look at the pictures, the interior shots are toward the bottom. The first shots are of the basement, which consists of three studio apartments, one bathroom with a shower (evidently shared--ew ew ewwwww), the utility area (furnace, water heater and mess of electric/gas lines), and some storage cabinets. Next shots are of the kitchen, which really doesn't need a whole lot of work (but needs appliances). The ugly gray room is the room Ben wants to make our bedroom (though I'd prefer to keep all the bedrooms upstairs--we'll see). The hideous blue room is the dining room. The room with the fireplace and great built-ins is the living room. The room with nasty carpeting is a bedroom directly north of the living room, which we're considering knocking out the wall between them or just cutting an arch into it and creating a bigger living room. (Another option is getting rid of the built-ins between living and dining rooms and expanding the living room westward, since we don't use a formal dining room now and have really no need for one.) Upstairs, then the hallway (which former owner painted with chalkboard paint to encourage his children to write on walls), and the two upstairs bedrooms (and an attic storage area). Oh, and I forgot the bathroom on the main level, and the hole in the floor where the half bath used to be. And that's the house.
There are good hardwoods under the shitty carpet throughout the house. The drop ceilings in the main floor hallway and back bedroom are covering up what appears to be good plaster ceiling. It probably needs a new roof. But aside from the bathroom, most of the real work is going to involve demolition (basement, garage) and hauling the shit out.
Our realtor definitely thinks we can do it all within our budget. She also talked to the listing agent, who thinks the house is way overpriced and is going to try to talk the bank into dropping the price. We're hoping we can get it for $90-95k.
It's supposed to rain for the next two days. I really hope so. The thing about living in an area where it's cold nine months out of the year is that when it's summer, you feel compelled to spend your every waking moment enjoying that summer. We start around mid-May and don't come inside other than to shower and sleep until sometime in July, when the big heat waves usually hit. That's not good for my energy level, and it's not good for the inside of my house, either. Ben broke down and did some cleaning yesterday, and he's been doing laundry--but he only washes and dries, so our bedroom is becoming lost amid the piles of clean clothes and towels.
Speaking of wasting time, bossman's return approacheth--I better get back to work.
posted by Mitzi Green at 6:40 AM
1 Comments:
I'll say it again - love that house! I can imagine that house will be totally awesome with some hard work! I hope everything works out for you guys!
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