It's a start but we are not offering what they want. Damn. It was a nice view.
I am sticking to my guns about this one. I was taking their decline as a sign. If they said no, we don't push back. Our agent called to say that the minimum the bank would take was $269,000. Our offer was $270,000 and they pay closing costs. Turns out that would leave them with $249,000 after everything is said and done. Good gravy. That's a lot of fees being paid. We would have to offer $290,000 for this place. Worth it? I don't know. Killer view.
James has gone on the fence now also. Suddenly he isn't sure about being on the island. He says the realization of the commute just hit him. Huh. So whatever. I am content with looking for a place with land. I want a house with a chunk of land. That's it. Quit tempting me with cute houses and tiny yards. Quit tempting me with amazing views and terrible insides. Give me a cute house, with a nice lot. And make it reasonable would you please?
Monday, January 28, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
We Went For It
We came back today to look at the house in the daylight. It wasn't terrible. The most it needs is a carpet cleaning and a paint job.
It could use a ton more work but that's all stuff we would do in time. The view is still epic. I will say one thing. Winterized houses are not places you want to be if you skipped going to the bathroom because you thought you could hold it. A woman who has had two cesareans can not hold it.
Our offer was not what they were asking for. We are still going round and round about offering more. I think we have decided to take it as a sign. The house flat out needs things done to it. It has a yard but not our ideal yard. It has a front yard that would be perfect if it weren't for the hundred foot pines growing in it. A few weeks ago we went to San Diego. We visited my aunt who owns a house with a great beach view. She told us that for years she has been calling her neighbor and asking him if she can cut his tree down. She only calls once a year and offers to pay for it. This year he finally took her up on it. We secretly hope the people across from this place do the same. It would add tons of value to their place and save us tons of money. Biggest bonus, the perfect place for a sweet dream garden.
The house does have a downstairs with a kitchen. It needs carpeting ( the whole downstairs) though and a fridge. It's not completely private from the top so renting it to strangers would take a hot minute. We do have some friends though we would love to rent it to but after talking to them I realized this downstairs area was not that great of a space. It really needs work to make it worth it to people. For one, there is no place for kitchen gadgets, for preparing large meals, for eating in even. The rooms are decent but they really need decor help.
We talked about what room would be the master upstairs and realized its odd. The master bedroom has a bathroom attached but was painted this bright deep blue. There's another room that is huge, no bathroom but ultra sweet closet. It also has a normal white paint job. No view though. The third room was converted to a laundry room so we would have to fix that. The kitchen needs updating of cupboards and floor. The windows need curtain rods and possibly blinds. The chandeliers need changing out. The deck needs privacy shields installed so you can hot tub in privacy. Just little things that would make it so nice.
In the car later in the day I told James that if we don't get this place I am putting the brakes on. We started out wanting a house with a shop on acreage. What we have ended up with is a house with no acreage, no shop, and a lot of work ahead of us. Seeing all these places has steered is in a direction I am not sure we want to go in. Little by little we have conceded in accepting things we didn't want. I don't want a container garden and if we get this place it what I will have. Not completely but definitely not the garden I dreamed off. Not the yard I dreamed of. It's amazing how we shifted our values and dreams over the course of house hunting. If we don't get it we are going back to the beginning.
It could use a ton more work but that's all stuff we would do in time. The view is still epic. I will say one thing. Winterized houses are not places you want to be if you skipped going to the bathroom because you thought you could hold it. A woman who has had two cesareans can not hold it.
Our offer was not what they were asking for. We are still going round and round about offering more. I think we have decided to take it as a sign. The house flat out needs things done to it. It has a yard but not our ideal yard. It has a front yard that would be perfect if it weren't for the hundred foot pines growing in it. A few weeks ago we went to San Diego. We visited my aunt who owns a house with a great beach view. She told us that for years she has been calling her neighbor and asking him if she can cut his tree down. She only calls once a year and offers to pay for it. This year he finally took her up on it. We secretly hope the people across from this place do the same. It would add tons of value to their place and save us tons of money. Biggest bonus, the perfect place for a sweet dream garden.
The house does have a downstairs with a kitchen. It needs carpeting ( the whole downstairs) though and a fridge. It's not completely private from the top so renting it to strangers would take a hot minute. We do have some friends though we would love to rent it to but after talking to them I realized this downstairs area was not that great of a space. It really needs work to make it worth it to people. For one, there is no place for kitchen gadgets, for preparing large meals, for eating in even. The rooms are decent but they really need decor help.
We talked about what room would be the master upstairs and realized its odd. The master bedroom has a bathroom attached but was painted this bright deep blue. There's another room that is huge, no bathroom but ultra sweet closet. It also has a normal white paint job. No view though. The third room was converted to a laundry room so we would have to fix that. The kitchen needs updating of cupboards and floor. The windows need curtain rods and possibly blinds. The chandeliers need changing out. The deck needs privacy shields installed so you can hot tub in privacy. Just little things that would make it so nice.
In the car later in the day I told James that if we don't get this place I am putting the brakes on. We started out wanting a house with a shop on acreage. What we have ended up with is a house with no acreage, no shop, and a lot of work ahead of us. Seeing all these places has steered is in a direction I am not sure we want to go in. Little by little we have conceded in accepting things we didn't want. I don't want a container garden and if we get this place it what I will have. Not completely but definitely not the garden I dreamed off. Not the yard I dreamed of. It's amazing how we shifted our values and dreams over the course of house hunting. If we don't get it we are going back to the beginning.
Killer Sunset View
Okay, this house didn't sell me in pictures. For one, they are asking our max, max budget. It's not crazy nice, kinda a dump. We went and looked though because James wanted to see it. Wow. It's so nice. It's a dump but at the same time, it's so nice.
We looked at it in the dark. A bad, bad thing, I know. Our agents husband just bought her a headlamp, it came in quite handy. This house has an epic view of Double Bluff. It's a sunset view. It has a wall of windows. It has huge rooms. Huge! Some of the biggest I have ever been in. It has a hot tub. It has a sauna. The downstairs is so huge it's already set up for renting it out.
What a dump though. You walk in and you are hit with a closet. The carpet on your left hand side needs to be replaced. It looks like water damage but doesn't smell wet. Doesn't feel wet. The house has a new roof so it can't be from a leaky roof. Somehow though a lot of something seeped into the carpet. A lot. What it is is anyone's guess. The kitchen has vinyl flooring from the 60s. There's a lot of whacko paint jobs. The living room is epic huge. One of the upstairs bedrooms was converted into a laundry room. There used to be a very sick, dying man living there.
The downstairs has no carpeting. It's the real mess. I don't know too much detail about it because like I said, it was pitch black when we saw it and I was following a head lamp with Kiki in my arms. I did see what looked like rot on the floor when we were heading back upstairs. Shellie brushed it off with "Oh that. That's where they kept a huge aquarium with snakes". Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's a real problem.
We decided though to go for it. It's HUD and supposedly the offer we put in will be decided upon within a few days. James did some research on it and over the last year it has fluctuated in price greatly. Its been within our budget and its been severely out of our budget. We are going to offer less than the asking. We are also going to look at it in the light. Just to make sure. But we are pretty sure, even knowing what we know, that it would be stupid not to try and get it. That's the kind of place ballers live.
We looked at it in the dark. A bad, bad thing, I know. Our agents husband just bought her a headlamp, it came in quite handy. This house has an epic view of Double Bluff. It's a sunset view. It has a wall of windows. It has huge rooms. Huge! Some of the biggest I have ever been in. It has a hot tub. It has a sauna. The downstairs is so huge it's already set up for renting it out.
What a dump though. You walk in and you are hit with a closet. The carpet on your left hand side needs to be replaced. It looks like water damage but doesn't smell wet. Doesn't feel wet. The house has a new roof so it can't be from a leaky roof. Somehow though a lot of something seeped into the carpet. A lot. What it is is anyone's guess. The kitchen has vinyl flooring from the 60s. There's a lot of whacko paint jobs. The living room is epic huge. One of the upstairs bedrooms was converted into a laundry room. There used to be a very sick, dying man living there.
The downstairs has no carpeting. It's the real mess. I don't know too much detail about it because like I said, it was pitch black when we saw it and I was following a head lamp with Kiki in my arms. I did see what looked like rot on the floor when we were heading back upstairs. Shellie brushed it off with "Oh that. That's where they kept a huge aquarium with snakes". Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's a real problem.
We decided though to go for it. It's HUD and supposedly the offer we put in will be decided upon within a few days. James did some research on it and over the last year it has fluctuated in price greatly. Its been within our budget and its been severely out of our budget. We are going to offer less than the asking. We are also going to look at it in the light. Just to make sure. But we are pretty sure, even knowing what we know, that it would be stupid not to try and get it. That's the kind of place ballers live.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Oh My God It's Gorgeous!
Seriously, fell in love. Got shot down though. James hated it and only had 1 good, solid point. Too small. Damn.
This house was an excellent teacher in showing you all that goes into making a house nice. So. This guy bought a nasty shit hole. It had the warped dog pee floor. He fixed everything. EVERYTHING. It was beautiful. That's why I liked it. I liked it from the outside. It had a wide garage door, not one that was split into two doors. It was one big huge door. It looked nice. He put a trellis over it. It screamed potential grape vine. The house was completely fenced in. This meant no seeing cars and No Deer. Loved it! Open the door and was space! Ah! Fresh air!! No split level. Wide open space. To my right was the living room/ dining room. There was a huge closet ahead of me. To my left was a hallway with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. It was painted yellow. It was clean, fresh, cheery, cute, open, friendly, it was perfect. The bedrooms were decent sized. The closets were large. The master bedroom was nice. Everything was brand new. All the appliances, the hardware, the flooring, everything. I was deliriously happy. Our realtor told us he was selling it for under $200,000. My jaw just dropped. I had no idea how he would turn a profit. I told her I wanted it.
James however saw through the thick cloud of awesomeness. He knew it was all cheap stuff. He knew the guy doing the remodel would make bank. He hated that it was on a "busy" street. He knew it was too small for us. Damn our downstairs. We own too much. My dreams were crushed. He knew I liked it so much because it was so nice. I was being fooled. He told me any place we bought we could make look that nice.
After looking at all the guys tools I wondered about making any place that nice. This house was a dump. There was trash and plastic and buckets and tools everywhere. A lot goes into making a place nice. I had no realistic idea. I see why now the cost is so high. Balls. We get to keep looking.
This house was an excellent teacher in showing you all that goes into making a house nice. So. This guy bought a nasty shit hole. It had the warped dog pee floor. He fixed everything. EVERYTHING. It was beautiful. That's why I liked it. I liked it from the outside. It had a wide garage door, not one that was split into two doors. It was one big huge door. It looked nice. He put a trellis over it. It screamed potential grape vine. The house was completely fenced in. This meant no seeing cars and No Deer. Loved it! Open the door and was space! Ah! Fresh air!! No split level. Wide open space. To my right was the living room/ dining room. There was a huge closet ahead of me. To my left was a hallway with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. It was painted yellow. It was clean, fresh, cheery, cute, open, friendly, it was perfect. The bedrooms were decent sized. The closets were large. The master bedroom was nice. Everything was brand new. All the appliances, the hardware, the flooring, everything. I was deliriously happy. Our realtor told us he was selling it for under $200,000. My jaw just dropped. I had no idea how he would turn a profit. I told her I wanted it.
James however saw through the thick cloud of awesomeness. He knew it was all cheap stuff. He knew the guy doing the remodel would make bank. He hated that it was on a "busy" street. He knew it was too small for us. Damn our downstairs. We own too much. My dreams were crushed. He knew I liked it so much because it was so nice. I was being fooled. He told me any place we bought we could make look that nice.
After looking at all the guys tools I wondered about making any place that nice. This house was a dump. There was trash and plastic and buckets and tools everywhere. A lot goes into making a place nice. I had no realistic idea. I see why now the cost is so high. Balls. We get to keep looking.
Our Twin
We found a house that could work... Dunno though. Great price. Comes with pool access and beach access. It's the twin to the house we have now. Our big questions are do we like it because its what we know? And is it just too far away?
Tough questions to ask ourselves. The yard is eh. Apparently the lot next door is possibly for sale. We would have to find out who the owner is. Call them. Explain ourselves and hear her price. Could be worth it. The house isn't that expensive and with the lot we are golden. Right now it has a peek a boo view. Yeah, it's there but, you gotta scan for it. It doesn't exactly hit you. With the lot we could knock a few trees down and bam. Nice view.
The house itself is nothing spectacular. It's a split level. You have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the front door. Negative. Open the door and you have a choice. Go up stairs or go down stairs. If you choose to go up you walk into a rather open living space. It's quite nice, the space. It is currently spattered with dead moths and flies. We really aren't sure how they got there and there was nothing alive flying around. It has vaulted ceilings with track lighting. The kitchen is right there and it needs a refrigerator but that's it. Outside is a okay balcony. Again, lichen covered but inaccessible to deer. It may actually suck because it has no stairs into the yard. At the same time it doesn't suck because the deer cant get to the plants that inevitably would flourish on it. Down the hall is a bathroom and three bedrooms. One room has a mysterious spot. Could be a spilled drink, could be blood.
Downstairs is a laundry room, an awkward play room and the garage. Just like the house we currently rent. We hardly use the downstairs space. The one we have now is bigger and it's full of toys and possessions we can't part with.
I would say go for it. It's so cheap. However, it's a long drive from the ferry. Lets be realistic. It's not that bad. It just feels like its a long drive. It's a long drive to a decent grocery store and that is realistic. It's so tough. Cheap house, pool access, beach access, long drive, barely a yard, surrounded by neighbors with no fences dividing up properties, needs prettifying, possibly spending $40,000+ to get the neighboring lot. Why not keep looking for a place that has property? Gah!
Tough questions to ask ourselves. The yard is eh. Apparently the lot next door is possibly for sale. We would have to find out who the owner is. Call them. Explain ourselves and hear her price. Could be worth it. The house isn't that expensive and with the lot we are golden. Right now it has a peek a boo view. Yeah, it's there but, you gotta scan for it. It doesn't exactly hit you. With the lot we could knock a few trees down and bam. Nice view.
The house itself is nothing spectacular. It's a split level. You have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the front door. Negative. Open the door and you have a choice. Go up stairs or go down stairs. If you choose to go up you walk into a rather open living space. It's quite nice, the space. It is currently spattered with dead moths and flies. We really aren't sure how they got there and there was nothing alive flying around. It has vaulted ceilings with track lighting. The kitchen is right there and it needs a refrigerator but that's it. Outside is a okay balcony. Again, lichen covered but inaccessible to deer. It may actually suck because it has no stairs into the yard. At the same time it doesn't suck because the deer cant get to the plants that inevitably would flourish on it. Down the hall is a bathroom and three bedrooms. One room has a mysterious spot. Could be a spilled drink, could be blood.
Downstairs is a laundry room, an awkward play room and the garage. Just like the house we currently rent. We hardly use the downstairs space. The one we have now is bigger and it's full of toys and possessions we can't part with.
I would say go for it. It's so cheap. However, it's a long drive from the ferry. Lets be realistic. It's not that bad. It just feels like its a long drive. It's a long drive to a decent grocery store and that is realistic. It's so tough. Cheap house, pool access, beach access, long drive, barely a yard, surrounded by neighbors with no fences dividing up properties, needs prettifying, possibly spending $40,000+ to get the neighboring lot. Why not keep looking for a place that has property? Gah!
Killer Sunrise View
I mean epic killer. But, you will never know. Totally forgot my camera. Oh well. It was occupied anyway and the tenant was there.
I found this house on the MLS website. It was the top of our price range. Not the uncomfortable top but the getting close to uncomfortable top. It look awesome. It looked empty. It looked like it had a decent yard. This was the house that sparked the comment "Pictures tell a thousand lies". James loved it, I sorta hated it. The view was totally epic.
It was a split level. It had an entry way though. Up the cheap staircase and you arrived in the kitchen. Tiny. With this crazy amazing view where did the kitchen window face? Oh that's right. The neighbors ugly house. What. A. Waste. The living room was extremely long and narrow. This tenant still had her Christmas decorations up including the tree. Honestly, she had rotting pumpkins hanging out too. She was sweet though. She had baked goods for us. Off the kitchen were 3 (?) bedrooms and a bathroom. Eh.
Downstairs was 2 bedrooms, a TV room, a storage room and yes, a gun closet. We don't know this for sure. I saw it, saw the lock on it and immediately thought guns. James had hope. He did inform me though that in the tenants bedroom there was a rifle hanging out. Awesome. It's where her sick kid was hanging out whole we explored. She also informed us her room had no closet.
The yard turned out to be small. It has well established fruit trees though and space to put some of my plants. Still, I just wasn't digging on the space. Such a huge house and the configuration made it small and awkward. I guess it was a short sale. The owners moved to Alaska. It was nice but not what I thought I was going to see. No poop though. Huge plus.
I found this house on the MLS website. It was the top of our price range. Not the uncomfortable top but the getting close to uncomfortable top. It look awesome. It looked empty. It looked like it had a decent yard. This was the house that sparked the comment "Pictures tell a thousand lies". James loved it, I sorta hated it. The view was totally epic.
It was a split level. It had an entry way though. Up the cheap staircase and you arrived in the kitchen. Tiny. With this crazy amazing view where did the kitchen window face? Oh that's right. The neighbors ugly house. What. A. Waste. The living room was extremely long and narrow. This tenant still had her Christmas decorations up including the tree. Honestly, she had rotting pumpkins hanging out too. She was sweet though. She had baked goods for us. Off the kitchen were 3 (?) bedrooms and a bathroom. Eh.
Downstairs was 2 bedrooms, a TV room, a storage room and yes, a gun closet. We don't know this for sure. I saw it, saw the lock on it and immediately thought guns. James had hope. He did inform me though that in the tenants bedroom there was a rifle hanging out. Awesome. It's where her sick kid was hanging out whole we explored. She also informed us her room had no closet.
The yard turned out to be small. It has well established fruit trees though and space to put some of my plants. Still, I just wasn't digging on the space. Such a huge house and the configuration made it small and awkward. I guess it was a short sale. The owners moved to Alaska. It was nice but not what I thought I was going to see. No poop though. Huge plus.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Mukilteo Madness
So we have gotten a little burnt out with Whidbey Island. It's very defeating to see pictures online and then haul our family across the Puget only to discover a less than ideal property. I sent James a slaughtering of houses in Lynnwood. He responded back with a Mukilteo house. From 1922. That has never been updated since 1960.
Since our agent is on the island we called the listing agent to show it to us. First we did a drive by. Cute. Small. Rattiest house on the block. There was a car parked in the garage, which had no door, but the house had no lights on. You could tell someone lived there. That turned out to be very wrong.
Our listing agent, Ed, told us the owners were selling it. HA. HA. HA. Technically they were. The real case is that the owner died. His ex wife was selling the place. Very sneaky Ed, very sneaky. It's important to us to know this info. People that inherit a house may be willing to negotiate price. Often times they live no where near let alone know anything about the worth of the location.
So we walk in. The living room ceiling is tiled and there are missing tiles. Lots of missing tiles and lots of discoloration. Ed proceeds to let us know the roof will probably also need replacing. How one must feel to lead potential customers to a dump. Honesty was the best policy and Ed had a very good attitude about it.
The kitchen was very similar but less cool than the awesome old place we saw on the island. The stove counter was extremely low. Anyone in a wheelchair would idealize it. The former owner had all these kitchen appliances from the 60s. They obviously made quality stuff back then. There was a wood stove also in the kitchen. Will insisted on opening it. I somehow knew it was going to be bad. I expected a dead rat but it was chock full of trash. Stuff that should never be burned but probably commonly was in that house. He had a chalkboard also that had old person handwriting with weather dates on it. Wills birthday was the first one, stating that it was the coldest at 4 degrees.
The rest of the house was tiny. There were three doors in the hallway one right after the other. Ed and I wondered why they weren't merged into 1 closet. He told us that back in the day, in New England, there was no property tax. You were taxed based off of how many doors you had in your place. Interesting. Our previous owner was a furniture maker and every drawer and shelf had wood or wood relations in it. He did have 2 pieces of art that were clearly from the 80s. His clothes were still hanging in his closet. That made me sad. His bed had a black velvet headboard. Hot. There were at least ten trash bags with full newspapers in them. He had tons of vinyl records. Dude loved him some music. I'm sure any DJ would have loved his old school collection. He had a lamp covered in the free stickers magazines send you. Obviously a ongoing work of art. It had its fair share of Playboy stickers on it.
Outside is where the poop showed up. It was the holy grail of poop. There was a large pile of dirt that had no business being where it was located. Which happened to be by a door. I went over to investigate. I thought for sure I would see a hole or some horribly expensive thing to mend. What I found was a ton of old cat turds and a super fresh one. A Ton. I thought about telling Ed but decided against it.
It was very loud at that place. Boeing is crazy close and the sound of airplanes taking off was quite prevalent. There was a view. You had to be outside to see it. You also had to stand facing your neighbors junk yard. No way am I paying $300,000 to live next to trash. The yard was pretty alright. I could garden, the kids could play. The trampoline and hammock could stay.
There was a shop full of tools. Now mind you, this was the garage. That had no door. Wide open. Full of wood working tools. Clearly a great neighborhood. I asked Ed what was going to happen to all this stuff. I wanted to know who was going to claim it all. He was honest, told me the whole thing was a mess. Lots of people were involved, nursing homes were involved as well as museums. Yikes. He seemed a little burdened by it all. The owner had 5 acres that sold for over 1 million dollars recently. Apparently there was a lot of property for sale with this mans passing and the house we were looking at was the last thing to sell.
In the car we nixed it. We thought we could make it what we wanted but after seeing the inside we knew it wasn't so. Too expensive to fix and update. How can something so pricey be so nasty?
Since our agent is on the island we called the listing agent to show it to us. First we did a drive by. Cute. Small. Rattiest house on the block. There was a car parked in the garage, which had no door, but the house had no lights on. You could tell someone lived there. That turned out to be very wrong.
Our listing agent, Ed, told us the owners were selling it. HA. HA. HA. Technically they were. The real case is that the owner died. His ex wife was selling the place. Very sneaky Ed, very sneaky. It's important to us to know this info. People that inherit a house may be willing to negotiate price. Often times they live no where near let alone know anything about the worth of the location.
So we walk in. The living room ceiling is tiled and there are missing tiles. Lots of missing tiles and lots of discoloration. Ed proceeds to let us know the roof will probably also need replacing. How one must feel to lead potential customers to a dump. Honesty was the best policy and Ed had a very good attitude about it.
The kitchen was very similar but less cool than the awesome old place we saw on the island. The stove counter was extremely low. Anyone in a wheelchair would idealize it. The former owner had all these kitchen appliances from the 60s. They obviously made quality stuff back then. There was a wood stove also in the kitchen. Will insisted on opening it. I somehow knew it was going to be bad. I expected a dead rat but it was chock full of trash. Stuff that should never be burned but probably commonly was in that house. He had a chalkboard also that had old person handwriting with weather dates on it. Wills birthday was the first one, stating that it was the coldest at 4 degrees.
The rest of the house was tiny. There were three doors in the hallway one right after the other. Ed and I wondered why they weren't merged into 1 closet. He told us that back in the day, in New England, there was no property tax. You were taxed based off of how many doors you had in your place. Interesting. Our previous owner was a furniture maker and every drawer and shelf had wood or wood relations in it. He did have 2 pieces of art that were clearly from the 80s. His clothes were still hanging in his closet. That made me sad. His bed had a black velvet headboard. Hot. There were at least ten trash bags with full newspapers in them. He had tons of vinyl records. Dude loved him some music. I'm sure any DJ would have loved his old school collection. He had a lamp covered in the free stickers magazines send you. Obviously a ongoing work of art. It had its fair share of Playboy stickers on it.
Outside is where the poop showed up. It was the holy grail of poop. There was a large pile of dirt that had no business being where it was located. Which happened to be by a door. I went over to investigate. I thought for sure I would see a hole or some horribly expensive thing to mend. What I found was a ton of old cat turds and a super fresh one. A Ton. I thought about telling Ed but decided against it.
It was very loud at that place. Boeing is crazy close and the sound of airplanes taking off was quite prevalent. There was a view. You had to be outside to see it. You also had to stand facing your neighbors junk yard. No way am I paying $300,000 to live next to trash. The yard was pretty alright. I could garden, the kids could play. The trampoline and hammock could stay.
There was a shop full of tools. Now mind you, this was the garage. That had no door. Wide open. Full of wood working tools. Clearly a great neighborhood. I asked Ed what was going to happen to all this stuff. I wanted to know who was going to claim it all. He was honest, told me the whole thing was a mess. Lots of people were involved, nursing homes were involved as well as museums. Yikes. He seemed a little burdened by it all. The owner had 5 acres that sold for over 1 million dollars recently. Apparently there was a lot of property for sale with this mans passing and the house we were looking at was the last thing to sell.
In the car we nixed it. We thought we could make it what we wanted but after seeing the inside we knew it wasn't so. Too expensive to fix and update. How can something so pricey be so nasty?
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Of Course We Lost It
I was worried though. I thought that because we really didn't want it, we would of course get it. Luckily, not the case. Whew!
I mean it does suck. All those awesome amenities, gone. However, we are not stuck with a tiny house with a stupid small yard that needed a complete overhaul. However, we no longer have a house we could have made a ton of money off of. Where is the plus side?
Back to the drawing board. James is bummed, I am ecstatic. He has no faith will ever find a house, I can't wait to find the perfect house. One thing I did learn is I really need to lower my expectations. My dream home does not exist. I need to realize that kids play in tiny spaces (and are quite happy) all the time. I need to understand that if I bought the perfect house it would cost way too much and it would be done. My creative side would have nothing to do. I need a coloring book that hasn't been colored in. I have things that I want to do to a house and if we bought one that has everything my stuff that I love and cherish way too much would have nowhere to go. Worse, it would ruin the space by condensing it with my loved things.
So there's that. Someone else, who probably has tons of cash, gets to rip out carpet that has piss and shit on it. They get to repaint the entire place and fix all the bruises the house has from the previous wheelchair owner. They get to make a marginal profit and we get to keep hunting.
I mean it does suck. All those awesome amenities, gone. However, we are not stuck with a tiny house with a stupid small yard that needed a complete overhaul. However, we no longer have a house we could have made a ton of money off of. Where is the plus side?
Back to the drawing board. James is bummed, I am ecstatic. He has no faith will ever find a house, I can't wait to find the perfect house. One thing I did learn is I really need to lower my expectations. My dream home does not exist. I need to realize that kids play in tiny spaces (and are quite happy) all the time. I need to understand that if I bought the perfect house it would cost way too much and it would be done. My creative side would have nothing to do. I need a coloring book that hasn't been colored in. I have things that I want to do to a house and if we bought one that has everything my stuff that I love and cherish way too much would have nowhere to go. Worse, it would ruin the space by condensing it with my loved things.
So there's that. Someone else, who probably has tons of cash, gets to rip out carpet that has piss and shit on it. They get to repaint the entire place and fix all the bruises the house has from the previous wheelchair owner. They get to make a marginal profit and we get to keep hunting.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Oh It's Nasty Alright
Did you wonder? I found the poop or something equivalent in a bedroom of course. This one was the dirtiest, banged up house we have ever seen. But, the process to buy is kinda neat.
So, the buying day expires in 48 hours. It's an electronic bid. Only 8 people have looked at it, if that. Its sold as is. So thankfully there will be no BS later about fixing this or that. You have to offer the price or less. If you offer more, that's out of pocket. Your loan will only be for $180,000. If we want to offer $186,000 that extra $6,000 comes from our own savings. We should know very quickly if they accept. Honestly, I don't care. It was stupid not to try. It's not a dream home, it's a money maker.
The place needs new carpet ASAP. It is so gross. Stains everywhere. The entire house HAS TO BE RE CARPETED. No carpet cleaning magic is gonna fix that. The walls are filthy. They are severely banged up also. The house clearly had a disabled person residing in it. A wheelchair person we assume since the bottom of the walls are the most beat up. There are support bars everywhere. There's also lots of holes where things were nailed in. It must be re painted.
It's a split level. The top has a tiny living room with pretty killer view, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and 2 exits onto the lichen infested deck. The downstairs has a large dark room which has a very peculiar design, an attached bathroom, a dedicated laundry room and a garage. The deck is pretty sweet but needs to be deer proofed. The yard sucks. Sucks hard. However, directly behind the house is an empty lot. The neighborhood is awesome, the amenities are awesome.
We fully expect to either be out bid or lose to a cash buyer. Fully expect this. We know it has a bid already in. We could get lucky though and that's what we are riding on. I am good with losing it, James is already groaning about how he hates looking. So we will see! Enjoy these nasty, nasty pictures.
So, the buying day expires in 48 hours. It's an electronic bid. Only 8 people have looked at it, if that. Its sold as is. So thankfully there will be no BS later about fixing this or that. You have to offer the price or less. If you offer more, that's out of pocket. Your loan will only be for $180,000. If we want to offer $186,000 that extra $6,000 comes from our own savings. We should know very quickly if they accept. Honestly, I don't care. It was stupid not to try. It's not a dream home, it's a money maker.
The place needs new carpet ASAP. It is so gross. Stains everywhere. The entire house HAS TO BE RE CARPETED. No carpet cleaning magic is gonna fix that. The walls are filthy. They are severely banged up also. The house clearly had a disabled person residing in it. A wheelchair person we assume since the bottom of the walls are the most beat up. There are support bars everywhere. There's also lots of holes where things were nailed in. It must be re painted.
It's a split level. The top has a tiny living room with pretty killer view, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and 2 exits onto the lichen infested deck. The downstairs has a large dark room which has a very peculiar design, an attached bathroom, a dedicated laundry room and a garage. The deck is pretty sweet but needs to be deer proofed. The yard sucks. Sucks hard. However, directly behind the house is an empty lot. The neighborhood is awesome, the amenities are awesome.
We fully expect to either be out bid or lose to a cash buyer. Fully expect this. We know it has a bid already in. We could get lucky though and that's what we are riding on. I am good with losing it, James is already groaning about how he hates looking. So we will see! Enjoy these nasty, nasty pictures.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The No Brainer
We can't stop looking! No matter how many times we talk about how we aren't ready, we really don't have the money, James finds houses. He can't control himself. So today we lumped off to Whidbey to look at 3 houses.
They were all drive by's. One we already looked at. It's $270,000 and on 5 acres. It has a downstairs all set up to rent out. It calls itself a "nursery mans dream". It actually says that on its flyer. It sucks. But it's "cheap" and has a money maker built into it.
The next property was nice, except for the horribly ugly garden art everywhere. Hippies. I could have made it awesome but the house, well, it was pathetic. It was dinky and just looked cheap. They were asking way too much, $320,000, it was awesome yard for a shitty house.
Then we were off to our old neighborhood Possession Shores. I was so excited to buy a house here and then become a pain in the ass to the homeowners association. They wouldn't let James and I get married on the beach there because it was the first day of crabbing season. We looked at the house though and drove right on. Too small. No acreage. Wah. Wah.
We decided to go to the neighboring community, Sandy Hook, and look for places that were for sale. We really like it there because when you live there you have a public pool, 2 playgrounds and some tennis courts. It's a sweet place for kids, you get a killer view of the sunset and beach access. We saw one house for oh, $500,000. Then we left. We told ourselves we just aren't there yet. There's no awesome houses out there for dirt cheap.
Then we took a spontaneous turn. Then we saw a for sale sign. Then the man with the corgi dog caught up to us and made me roll my window down. In 30 degree weather. With two sleeping kids in the back. Where he proceeded to talk to us about his life for 20+ minutes. We did hear the neighbor lady was a bitch.
James the whole time worked his phone while sweet talking the guy. He didn't know much. Knew it had been up for a month, wasn't sure why it was HUD, and thought the previous owners had family problems. We left. It was a cute home. No yard.
Turns out its $180,000 and potential buyers have 4 days to put in an offer. SCREECH. What? $180,000???? There's a house literally up the street selling for $500,000. We got on the phone immediately and called our agent. She knows it. She thought of us when she saw it but nixed it because it has no land. Smart woman. Meanwhile we are going crazy over its price. Do we need a yard for a house that cheap? Lets remember deer will eat all my hard work. No Brainer. Looking at it on Tuesday.
They were all drive by's. One we already looked at. It's $270,000 and on 5 acres. It has a downstairs all set up to rent out. It calls itself a "nursery mans dream". It actually says that on its flyer. It sucks. But it's "cheap" and has a money maker built into it.
The next property was nice, except for the horribly ugly garden art everywhere. Hippies. I could have made it awesome but the house, well, it was pathetic. It was dinky and just looked cheap. They were asking way too much, $320,000, it was awesome yard for a shitty house.
Then we were off to our old neighborhood Possession Shores. I was so excited to buy a house here and then become a pain in the ass to the homeowners association. They wouldn't let James and I get married on the beach there because it was the first day of crabbing season. We looked at the house though and drove right on. Too small. No acreage. Wah. Wah.
We decided to go to the neighboring community, Sandy Hook, and look for places that were for sale. We really like it there because when you live there you have a public pool, 2 playgrounds and some tennis courts. It's a sweet place for kids, you get a killer view of the sunset and beach access. We saw one house for oh, $500,000. Then we left. We told ourselves we just aren't there yet. There's no awesome houses out there for dirt cheap.
Then we took a spontaneous turn. Then we saw a for sale sign. Then the man with the corgi dog caught up to us and made me roll my window down. In 30 degree weather. With two sleeping kids in the back. Where he proceeded to talk to us about his life for 20+ minutes. We did hear the neighbor lady was a bitch.
James the whole time worked his phone while sweet talking the guy. He didn't know much. Knew it had been up for a month, wasn't sure why it was HUD, and thought the previous owners had family problems. We left. It was a cute home. No yard.
Turns out its $180,000 and potential buyers have 4 days to put in an offer. SCREECH. What? $180,000???? There's a house literally up the street selling for $500,000. We got on the phone immediately and called our agent. She knows it. She thought of us when she saw it but nixed it because it has no land. Smart woman. Meanwhile we are going crazy over its price. Do we need a yard for a house that cheap? Lets remember deer will eat all my hard work. No Brainer. Looking at it on Tuesday.
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