weekend catch up - house and stuff.

[derien]

I should do a little catching up, here. I seem to avoid posting, lately, possibly because I feel as though all I do is talk about and think about houses. So I'll start by talking about the place we saw Friday, in Gray.

As I've already mentioned to littleredhead, it's on a long narrow strip of land that runs back to a couple of baseball fields. Neighbors are kind of close on each side, but not quite cheek by jowl. The barn and shed ARE sitting on the ground, and the sills DO need replacing - the barn is also set to fall down in a year or two if things continue as they are, because the sills on each side are going in different directions. Heating is currently with two monitor heaters, but I was incorrect when I said they were vented into an unlined chimney - it's the kerosene water heater which is vented into the unlined chimney. The bedrooms are ridiculously cold, especially the downstairs one on the... east side? I'm not exactly sure, but in the picture of the front of the house on the web page it's the bedroom in the corner closest to the camera, to the right of the front door. That room is completely isolated from the heat source because they blocked off the hall that used to run through the house and made it into a closet on the back end.

Oh, and Looks to Alaska - I can see what you mean about this house looking like the one we had in New Hampshire, even though the other was a New Englander and this is a Cape. Similar age, I guess, and the barn, just the general feel of the place.

I suspect this house was owned by generations of insane DIYers, because so much about it is messed up. That hall which originally ran from the front to the back of the house was blocked off; the bathrooms were added with a roof that's far too shallow for the weather conditions around here; the back part of the house leading back to the barn was added with no cellar (also vital for this climate or you get frozen pipes); there's no electricity in the cellar that does exist, under the front part of the house (it was wired but doesn't seem to work, now); insulation in places you can see it was done incorrectly - I hesitate to even picture what state the insulation you can't see is in. Unventilated insulation can cause rot. Someone put vinyl siding on some parts of the house - again, rot is quite common with incorrectly done vinyl siding, and do I expect that this would have been done correctly? Not for a moment. Oh, and the side door, the one with the red pillars in the picture, opens into a little area with cement floor and 70s wood paneling on the walls - dark, dank and depressing and not at all the first thing you'd want your guests to see. With an abandoned couch sitting in it.

So we put an offer in. Because considering it's current condition, no matter what we do to it in the name of renovation, we can't make it much worse. ;) I tell you what - if we get it I'll be in that back entry with a bucket of white paint, right away.

Anyway, that was Friday. Saturday was... what did we do? Oh, called our mortgage person and then waited around for our REA to come around with more papers for us to sign, and then went out to dinner and a mega ice cream sundae and two drinks at Norm's On Congress, chatted with the bartender, Jasper, then listened to music, then read for a while. Slept for like 10 hours.

This morning we got up wicked late, made a huge and wonderful breakfast with homefries, eggs and apple/chicken sausage, then went to meet Eor's friend, Doc, at the Little Dog in Brunswick. Walked around the park (not in the park because it's a mire right now) and went to Bull Moose for music. And found the CD of Hiss and Chambers, the band that Jasper the bartender is in. :) I haven't listened to it, yet.

OK, bed now.

Comments

[mollyrazor.livejournal.com]

I know one of the guys in Hiss and Chambers, too. But not Jasper. :)

[derien.livejournal.com]

Jasper's a cute boy, and quite pleasant. I guess any successful bartender is. And very coordinated - he's one of those bartenders who can juggle glasses idly while having a conversation.

[littleredhead.livejournal.com]

EEEEE! so exciting! were they able to tell you if there have been other offers? we'll keep keeping our fingers crossed.

(Google puts it at 1hr 10min from us so you may proceed.)

[derien.livejournal.com]

We heard that there were supposed to be five showings over the weekend and that 2 or possibly 3 of those were repeat showings. From the absence of statement that there was another offer I'll assume one had not been made as yet, but there could have been any number put in after ours. They're going to wait for several offers. Which makes me think that our agent's tactic of putting a quick deadline on ours might not have been the best plan, but she's supposed to be the professional.

And thank you for your blessing! ;)

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a fabulous looking house! Pity it had insane DIYers though. My parents' house is like that, although after so many years there they have nearly sorted out everything ridiculous the last deluded DIY guy did to the place.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Possibly your parents have the sense to pace themselves with their work, and not work on it all the time. One could get to hate a house if it took all your time for too long.

[dances-withcats.livejournal.com]

Old Cape-style farmhouses are great. Insane DIYers, not so much. Are you going to keep the second floor as a rental unit or are you going to turn it back into a single-family dwelling?

And electric heat? Eep!

It looks like it could be a fun project, though. And the yard is nothing short of awesome! But considering the condition, I hope they'll take less than $145K for it, 'cause I imagine you'll have at least $20K in renovations to do (sills, insulation, wiring, painting, etc.)--even if you do most of the labor yourselves.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was the other thing I meant to add to my post - The second floor unit tenant has asked to stay on, for now, but she's a month-to-month renter so might decide to go at any time. She's a single mom with a little girl and two cats, she probably wants leisure to choose another place. But she pays $650/mo, which would help quite a lot with what we'd be laying out for mortgage. When she does go we'd turn it back into a single family. But for the moment I'm hoping she stays for a while. :)

Even where it needs so much work, and even in this market, I think it's worth what they're asking, because they had 5 more showings this weekend and 2 or 3 of them were second showings. They just lowered the price from 185K. We offered full price for it but asked them to pay 2 points, but then found out on Sunday we're going to have to modify that, as it's a short sale and they want the buyer to pay all the closing costs. Our REA kind of dropped the ball on that, she should have found that out before we wrote out the offer. I told Eor they can lump it if they think we're paying more than 145K, but I'm sure the paperwork is going to be more difficult than that. ;)

The electric back-up heating system seems to be non-functional, according to the last building inspection which was done last August when they tried to sell it for 200K. They're entirely dependent on the kerosene Monitor heaters, which are working their little hearts out. Our first priority would be getting a real furnace in and piping heat at least to the front lower level bedrooms, and to the second floor bedrooms as soon as we could.

[cyberquail.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that house. I know it has "issues", but where's the fun if there's not a bit of a challenge along with it? When you recently posted that you were leaning towards the condo, my heart skipped a beat, and I thought, "wha-a-at??" I'm pretty sure you and Eor are not condo people (images of SUV-driving yuppie dinks invade my mind!), and I know you want to garden, or at least put stuff in the ground in June and hope for a tomato or two in August (kind of how I garden too)

The fact that there's a tenant is a super bonus; she'd pretty much pay your mortgage for you, wouldn't she? Then you can invest more into the paint and new furnace, and besides, spring is almost here, so you won't need TOO much heat for a while...

Anyway, love that house. Hugs!

[cygny.livejournal.com]

The house looks absolutely gorgeous! *crosses fingers*