Houses!! Update

[spryng]

Nixed the one next to the railroad tracks. Thanks for your input, guys. After sleeping on it and driving around the area again, we realized we wanted that one more for our younger selves.

Also nixed the one that needed a lot of work. It was next to a busy street and even at 2pm it was loud. Really nice house, but needs someone who will have the time to get it there.

We're offering on the just okay, old-lady feeling house today after looking at a few more yesterday. We realized our priorities are: a) being able to resell the house with little work in two years; and b) being able to move in with no work. The kitchen needs some updates, but it's mostly cosmetic easily fixed, i.e. wtf is up with those pink countertops and wow those cabinets are ooooold.

We drove around the neighborhood and researched it a bit more and it has a very low crime rate, is right next to the river trail and a big park, and our house was actually the cheapest one by far. Houses in that area appear to be selling pretty quickly, versus the other areas we looked, where houses were on the market for 100+ days, easily.

We even looked at a few more houses and there was one that had a really cool kitchen - corrugated metal ceiling and swank lighting and a multi-hued tile backsplash - but the neighborhood had multiple empty, foreclosed homes and was just far. Alas.

So we got our bank info and our monies together and in a few hours we're going to meet with the agent and draw up an offer letter. IDK how fast these things go, but hopefully we'll know more soon.

Comments

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope you get it!

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

What about it feels like a grandma house? Grandma houses are great because you inherit them and they have magical candy dishes. right?

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

And good luck!!!

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
It's more that a lot of cosmetic stuff is outdated - light fixtures, cabinets, interior doors etc - which are at least easy things to fix. I will look for magical candy dishes next time, though.

[ladibug21.livejournal.com]

I hope you get it! I'm glad you skipped the train house. With a new baby and toddler you REALLY want to maximize sleep and reduce stress and that sounded not calm at all.

I think there are easy ways to transform "your grandma's house" to something more modern. Paint, curtains, rugs, etc.. can go a long way. Old school cabinets can be painted and new knobs put on. Those are the kind of things Nic and I have been able to do with a baby and toddler in-house without much struggle.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it took me a while to realize that quirky/charm was not even remotely worth living next to a train track, no matter how infrequent the trains might be. Plus trying to sell the house again in a few years would probably be very difficult.

I'm all up on pinterest right now trying to get ideas for easy fixes. They're definitely all cosmetic issues and super easy to fix, just sometimes hard to see past that. Like that pink countertop in the kitchen. Gaaah.

[spreadsothin.livejournal.com]

My cousin did the rustoleum countertop treatment, fwiw. Do you have a public board? We've been in our house for 3 years and I still need decorating ideas!

[kerrickadrian.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope yours goes much smoother than our saga!

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Me too - I've read a 1000 horror stories and can't stop thinking of all the things that could go wrong. o.o But I also know for every 1 horror story, there are 50 humdrum, everything went just fine untold stories, so.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Good luck!!!

We live right next to train tracks, and they don't really bother me...I don't notice the train noise too much even though they blow their horns all the time right there. But it definitely is going to affect our price when we sell.

[sarahfish.livejournal.com]

The cabinets look old but are in really good shape though!