We found out that the house was built back in 1959 - Everything about the main part of the house was 21 years older than we thought. I will say we were shocked that the information wasn't given to us sooner.
We are not happy. It's kind of like hiring someone to be a stripper at your party and it turns out to be a 55 year old geezer. He can probably dance, but how's his liver? Everything is that much older. Resale would be less after we poured all the necessary money into it. Insurance would be higher. Makes a person leery as to what else had not been disclosed - that the inspector couldn't see.
Our realtor said that Alabama was a "Buyer Beware" state. Humph!
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| No Sale |
We feel we have already put out too much cash. Never believe in 'Move in ready', no matter how much you like the place. For now - I give up.
I am sick today - not just because of what's going on, I have an intestinal bug of some sort.
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| The "Not New" House |
Not sure when we will be moving, haven't signed the papers at the bank yet. The roof needs to be replaced before the bank will give us the loan. It has some bad hail damage. From the looks of it, you wouldn't want to believe it could have much wrong... it does, about 20k worth of repairs to make it safe and working properly. If you looked at the pictures on facebook - the green (non-working) dishwasher is a clue as to how long it has been since an update.
I suppose you wonder why we (I) picked this house when it has problems. Well, it's like this... Even a brand new house has its problems. Going in, knowing what the problems are give a person some advantage. The house is in an excellent neighborhood, close to shopping, medical, and pizza delivery. I had quite a list of things that we wanted in a house, not many even came close.
Large fenced-in shaded yard for J n J
Double garage for DH
Work shop area for DH
Shed for overflow and mower
Space for my 'womb' (it's small, but sufficient)
Two full bathrooms
Split bedroom layout
Bright kitchen
Wood floors (the real kind)
It has doggy doors, a gas fireplace, a large closet for my silver and crafts, but most of all - it has character! The square footage on the ad was wrong, it is smaller than my old place, but bigger than the one I am in now.
I am very excited. It's like a mile to a Chinese restaurant! I hope we are in before Memorial Day.
I don't know how they took such good pictures for their listing. I decided not to go upstairs when I saw the treads were split and someone had broken through about half way up. The house was a real nightmare. I had been given the impression that the work inside was well underway. It wasn't. The inside killed any thought of a tea room or B&B... as soon as we walked into the foyer. Ah... a girl has to dream, but the reality of it was too much! She must have been beautiful at some point, it's just too bad they let her go too long.
This is the rambler - we did make an offer (10.5% higher than the selling price), and then we sat waiting to hear from the agent... until this morning. The way I understand it, they had a half dozen offers. The people who actually got the house offered less than we did, but they had cash in their hot little hands.
Of course, I am disappointed. Now, I am leery about trying to finance another house before we get this one sold. I have gone through the panic of selling and having to find something acceptable by the time we have to hand over the keys. Banks do not lend money on fixer-uppers without collateral (this house), so buying something cheap is out. The loan officer at our bank said the payments on a 'better' home were more than we want to shell out, especially if we find another money pit, like this one. Most of the flaws and problems were hidden ones.
I found a couple fixers, but, there is that higher % interest of an equity loan. I wish I had a crystal ball or something to predict how soon this one will sell. Maybe I could relax a little.
DH and I went on a house hunting mission this morning. I told our agent that we wanted to start as early as possible. We were up at the crack of dawn, heading south with our list.
The first house on the list was the highest priced one, in a growing area, not far from Wal Mart and all the shops and major stores. We arrived about 15 minutes before it was time to meet our realtor, and decided to have a look around.
At first glimpse, it looked untidy.
Looking closer, all I could think was WTF? They had a huge pile of furniture in the back-back yard. Junk and debris covered most of the landscape around the yard and house.
I had DH call the gal and tell her we would meet her at the second house on the list. It looked as if they gave a two year old the can of red paint. We figured that if the outside looked this bad, the inside could be no better. No way, did I want any part of cleaning up such a mess and paying for the privilege.
This was the beginning of a very long day. House hunting is the most grueling job, I will be glad when it finally ends! To be continued...
We have to try to get the dogs to the vet in the a.m. and look at more houses.
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| My favorite |
I guess you can tell which ones I like... ;-) We have only been inside the red brick and it does need some help... The "Womb with a view" is second floor on the right side of the picture front.
I'm worn out. I hope your first day of the year has gone well!
I would suppose this is the end of one of my best years and one of my worst years, all wrapped up in one. This year has been an eight ticket ride.
My new WiFi hot spot (called a Jetpack) is actually not an improvement. I don't know if it's the towers, or sunspots, or just plain lousy service. "They" told me that we would be getting another tower up here in January - not holding my breath.
My DIL has the flu, so it looks like I will not be having my fun day with Sky this vacation. Bleep!
House hunting... it really isn't going very well. I did fall in love with one house when I saw the listing. It cost too much, but Stan took me over to look at it anyway, to get it out of my system. I could just see Julia and Edward putting up their Christmas tree for Anna in the front window. After I looked it over closer, I realized it would not be workable at my age and the bedroom had an outside door... I didn't like that or the layout of the kitchen. I went up the stairs. The turn on them was too tight, it would not be safe. We continue looking. One house would have been perfect IF the basement hadn't recently been pumped out and was still soaked. The hole in the roof didn't turn me on either. It had a lot of roof. I suppose I need to look at newer homes... We'll be going out again tomorrow, there are several more on my list with that extra bathroom. I would have preferred a vintage home though. Oh, well.
My teeth are making sores on my gums. I can't even eat noodles without pain. Could kill for a steak and a nice crunchy salad! (Or some of that lovely fruitcake, cookies, or my baklava!)
The weather keeps bouncing around. I am already anxious for spring. I am not a winter person. I know there are many who enjoy the snow, it is so pretty and it does cover-up the bleakness out there and that awful brown yard. (But I am content with the brown yard)
My last post of 2013, hard to believe it! I will not be staying up tomorrow night to see the New Year in. My late nights are over.
Wishing you and yours a prosperous and healthy New Year!
