Joys of Home Ownership

Even though we have placed an offer and it was accepted on House #5, after the home inspection last Thursday we are now having second thoughts. The front half of the roof needs replacing. The back half was done recently, but not correctly, they didn’t flash or put a boot over the electrical drop and other boots over the other 3 vents are torn. So new roof is in the near future. Because it is a hill side lot gutters should also be installed. The grade in the back needs to be re slopped away from the house to keep the water run off out from around the foundation. Both sides of the driveway retaining walls are leaning pretty good, not too urgent, but another couple grand to straighten out. The small rear deck on the back is kind of squishy in spots and there is a repair job on the back outside wall near ground level that needs attention. So this morning we combed the Sunday paper for Open Houses and plugged addresses into the GPS.

House #23 – This one is over in the area of town we would like to live in. It has recently been remodeled, along with the inside rooms, just about every major component has been freshened. The insides have character, but there is so much character that it bordered on quirky. There are 2 bedrooms up with a really nice bath between them and zero carpet. There were two bedrooms down as well. One bedroom down there with a random sink in it and its closet was around the corner. A shared bath, then a second bedroom that had a small extra room that could serve as a walk-in closet. All of the downstairs was freshly carpeted. The garage was intriguing in that it was a tandem, two cars could fit, but they had to be in a line.

House #24 – This too is right where we would really like to live. It is only 1,00 feet away from House #23 as the crow flies. It is 2 blocks up and two over, or 1/4 mile, for us land bound humans. This place is 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, which is nicer than House #23 in that on the main floor there was an actual master suite, then a second separate bath and a second separate bedroom. Downstairs was 2 beds and a bath with a separate laundry room. This was not as updated as #23, but as compensation there was an over-sized two car garage/shop a couple of steps up from the carport and back entrance to the house.

Both these places were similar to good old House #5 in that the upstairs areas were traditional sort of layouts and the downstairs levels were a warren of rambling rooms and hallways. And both were really more than we want to spend on a house. So we headed further west of town to go to two more open houses.

House #25 – This one was like Brian wanted in that it was all on one level. The kitchen needed updating, but it would be serviceable for a while. It did have a master suite, but the stand up shower was even smaller than the one we left behind in Aiken. There was carpet everywhere which we would have to pull up and replace with wood. No central air conditioning. It is not really too far out of town or too far from the YMCA, but to get to either place you had to drive through the area where all the shopping is, so it is not fun. The only real redeemable thing about the place was the back yard, it was a nice size with a small covered deck. There were a couple of small out buildings, including a greenhouse with four dug up holes in it¹.

House #26 – This Open House visit was one more bone for Brian’s desire for one level living. The photos looked promising. It had all the right ingredients, 3 bedrooms with two baths. A master bedroom with wood floors. Two car garage with a nice size backyard that had a small deck. But then things unraveled quickly. It was a mile or so further out from the already far out #25. The homes were so cookie-cutter that on a dark night you would be hard pressed not to pull into the wrong driveway. In the end this Open House suffered the same fate as Home #11, we didn’t even bother to go inside it.

House #5 took the bait and was snared by our trap late this afternoon. Now let’s see how long it takes to get to closing. We optimistically asked for December 6th, but the realtor said inspections are taking up to 3 to 5 weeks to be scheduled and with only 4-1/2 weeks between now and the closing that doesn’t look promising. And how long will it take for loan approval?

As everyone knows it is not a real home until they are filled with Mountain Bikes, so this afternoon we visited the local bike store, Zack’s Bikes, and bought a couple. Mine is a size large in Matte Trek Black with 29 in wheels. We walked the mile and a quarter to the store, packing our helmets and cycling shoes to change into there. Hers is a size small in Purple Flip with 27.5 in wheels. We then rode them back the 1.25 miles to our Airbnb. Gonna take awhile for both of us to get used to the gear shifting of them…

We are really making some progress, we have narrowed it down to four places, #3, #4, #5 and #16. So we asked our realtor for revisits today on 2 and a peek at one in the same neighborhood as one of the two.

House #3 – I still like this one, but Donna is still not liking it. She is right though, there is no real view. The outside of the house is inviting and now after a second look, I have to admit it should be better inside for the price they are asking. Cross it off the list.

House #21 – This is a split level and like one of the other 20 places we looked at, I can’t remember which, when you open the front door you have a 3′ deep landing and a staircase down (and up). At least the door was hinged correctly this time. Here was another one where the photographer was worth what they spent on him or her. It looked really nice in the photos online, but seeing it in person it was a big letdown and it wasn’t just because it was empty of furniture. There was no interest from either of us for this houses.

House #4 – This was a revisit of a place we both sort of picked apart the first time, but this was a Hail Mary on finding Brian a completely one story house. The pass was intercepted by the lack of A/C and the broken odd stove. It was an electric that was 40″ wide. Yikes, they are rare and expensive. Forget about it.

Over lunch Brian finally folded his last hand, House #16 as being to much money with the stuff we needed to do to it and then there was the $300 HOA fee on top of every thing. So we were discussing what we would offer on the winner, House #5, when a new house popped up on the market.

One last one story try for Brian, called Realtor and asked if we could see this place. It looked empty in the photos, so we thought we might be able to see it today. She called back and said could you meet me there at 2:00 PM. Why yes we could.

House #22 – The front view wasn’t dazzling, but not ugly by a long shot. It was the back view looking away that was the grabber, you were high enough up that you looked over town and some of the surrounding hills and mountains. Including Donna’s spirit mountain, Shasta. it was jam up with carpet though. I thought that the view would in fact trump the carpet, I was sure she would like it. Once again a quick look at twenty some odds photos, crash head first into reality. The house from the outside was good, the view was great, but the insides failed. The kitchen had a too large a refrigerator, the cabinets were ugly and the counter tops were outdated. The bathrooms were just as unappealing in person as the kitchen. The carpet was brand new. How did I know that they were new besides the smell. Well, when you first walk in the front door you are greeted by a handmade sign that said, “Please remove all shoes.” So to make this place workable we would have to spend, at least three grand on a new refrigerator and a new washer/dryer as there was none. Not to mention how much it would cost for those updates we would like. And for a while we considered offering on the house in spite of its issues, that’s how powerful that Shasta view was. But we came to our senses while traveling the best route to all the shopping and stores and businesses as it included several lights and was very busy.

Looks like House #5 is the winner. We’ll probably make an offer tomorrow.

On Monday we gave our Realtor a list of 6 more homes and a revisit to look at. So we met at the first house at 1:00 PM today.

House #15 – This was new construction and they are not even finished inside. There was one guy on a Bobcat leveling the front yard and there were two or three other sub-contractors inside doing plumbing and wiring and stuff. The house has a lot of high points, small lake view, all on one floor, 4 bedrooms and two baths in 1800 sq. ft., the finishes, the floor plan, the lighting and bath fixtures and the stainless steel appliances. But in our opinion the low points out weighed the high points. It is located on a short gravel road which may or may not ever get paved. They are putting carpet in the bedrooms which we will want to take right back out. There are open lots on either side of the house which probably means that once they get our money on this one, they will start building right next door.

House #16 – This one is right down the street from House #2 which, so far, is the only place we both can agree on. It is another one that is near our upper limit and is on the list at my request even though Donna isn’t too thrilled by it from the pictures (lots of carpet), but is my version of House #6 which she wanted to see even though it was destined to be a no. Another reason she thought it wouldn’t work is because it is in a long line of homes that look identical and it might be confusing as to which place was ours. The Realtor verified that concern when she stopped in front of the neighboring house first before moving up one house to the right one. It wasn’t as bad as Donna thought, but it wasn’t as great as I thought. But remains as one of 4 finalists for now, because it is technically a condo, we need a look at the covenants and decide whether it is worth an extra $300 a month in HOA fees.

House #5 – This was a revisit of Donna’s lead pick. Brian was not too thrilled the first visit and while he didn’t want anything to do with it before, after seeing nearly a dozen other places in town in between, he was ready to admit that maybe he could live there.

House #17 – This one was near one of our two preferred neighborhoods and had some potential in the photos, but crashed on our visit. It had an older kitchen that neither Donna and I had a problem with. There was wood flooring through out the first floor and even a nice screened porch in the back. But it was just a one car garage (which looked like in a pinch, we could squeeze both of our small cars in), the only way to get into the garage was by going outside and the killer was the carpeted master bedroom was in the basement.

House #18 – Loved the Craftsman style look of the front and the wood floored living and dining rooms. The kitchen was a little narrow, but plenty of counter space and stainless steel appliances with a bonus of a gas range. But just like the previous house, the master bedroom was downstairs, it had a one car garage and it had no air conditioning.

House #19 – Here was another house that looked good in photos, but crumbled on visiting. It did have it strong points, a nice view of Mount Shasta, large kitchen, beautiful windows, wood flooring on the first floor and a retro bathroom that is actually cool. The downsides were many, the two bedrooms upstairs were carpeted and felt like they were in the roof (kind of because they were), the downstairs had a bedroom and no bathroom and a large open space that used to be the basement and one car garage. The only parking was a two car long carport. It was on a steep street with a steep driveway up to the carport. Plus is was at 2800 sq ft, a bit too large.

House #20 – This house was an interesting option, it is literally next door to the previous one. It looks small but it is actually has 1,800 sq ft with 4 bedrooms and 1-1/2 baths. It has a hobbit-like one car garage out front (it is dug into the hill out front and has a door in the back that leads to the basement.) Either way we didn’t get into it today. The owner has some strict visiting times and needed more warning than one day. It has no A/C and we would have to build a two car garage on the adjoining empty lot.

Slow day on the house hunt today, all we had new was yesterday’s late addition. And we had high hopes for this house. It was located in a section of town that we have searched before and it was located about halfway between our number one and two picks from the past dozen houses. It had plenty of parking because of a nice front deck that stuck out and created a two-car carport that lead right into a two-car garage. But we also had low expectations too, it had been on the market for over six months.

House #14 – We arrived about 15 minutes early, as usual, and used the time walking around the outside peeking in windows. After circumnavigating the place we almost called the realtor to tell her forget it. The windows were probably as old as the house itself, around 40-years old! But we did wait, figuring she probably already on the way. And she was right on time. Upon opening the front door the first thing you notice is the flight of stairs right there on the left. Kind of surprising. Probably would have been better if the door had been hinged on the left side so that the potential for sudden death by falling down a flight stairs was reduced. There was then one step up into an awkwardly shaped area that served no noticeable purpose and the only ones I could come with was a foosball table or perhaps a half-size ping pong table. To the left, around the stairs was a step down into the living room, which was probably the nicest room in the house. It led into the front deck which was sunny and had a mediocre view towards the south.

The pictures of the kitchen made it seem nice and at first glance it was just that, but if you look closely to the microwave/stove set you notice they are a period correct for the late 70’s… And from the looks of the bathroom fixtures they were of the same vintage. By this time we were ready to call it quits, but when the realtor and I checked out the garage, even was the first to say out loud what we both noticed, a distinct damp smell. Nothing looked wet, but who wants to take the chance. To add to the whole miserable experience there didn’t seem to be any direct sun entering the home, it was oriented all wrong. Oh, did I mention that the backyard was mostly just dirt and the hot tub (more than likely from the 70’s as well) was full of dirty water because someone had left the top off.

I could go on, but by now you can guess where this house ranks on the list, that’s right, not on it.

Today we agreed to meet at 2:00 PM in front of House #5, but of course we can’t stand still that long, so after breakfast we made a shredder run to Staples, took a short walk along the OC & E Trail and drove by House #8 to see if we would be able to get later in the day. The roofers were working but no big forklift blocking the entrance.

After lunch back in the AirBnB we left early so we could drive by a couple other of our prospective homes. We first cruised by House #3, first in one direction and then in another, looking for the “view” mentioned in the write-up. This was Donna’s biggest complaint about the house and I couldn’t remember anything about a view, I liked the inside well enough so any view would be a bonus. The only view this house has is if you walk to the end of the driveway and look left you see part of the hills surrounding the town.

After a quick return to the AirBnB to retrieve a forgotten object, this left us just enough time to head over to our 2 PM meeting place. Were were about 15 minutes early, but it was perfect as our realtor was just pulling into the driveway.

House #5 – This place quickly jumped to the top of both our lists. Two-car garage, a nice front porch with a view, it is in a nice neighborhood with tree lined streets and it has a good looking recent re-model of the kitchen. The main floor was also very nice with 2 bedrooms, one a master, and a second bath along with access to a nice little deck and pretty back yard. It started to fall apart on the lower level. It was an interconnected warren of a hallway, another bedroom, another bathroom which also served as the laundry room and another random separate small room. If you beamed down someone from the Starship Enterprise to the lower level it might take them 20 minutes to find their way to the main level. After the visit it ended up down some, but still in the top half.

House #8 – We both love the curb appeal of this house, with its look of the green color against the dark stone filled front yard. The insides left us as unimpressed as did House #9 two doors down the street. The third bedroom had a shelf with a monitor showing eight or so views from inside and outside the home, very creepy. The backyard was as low maintenance of the front, but instead of stone, they went with bare dirt! The straw that broke this house’s back was in the back there is a bike/walking trail that runs along a canal, the back gate in the fence which leads to the trail was open and near there was an empty shopping cart on laid on its side.

House #13 – When our realtor called the selling realtor about not getting in the front door, her response was, “I’ve been having the same problem, I go go in the backdoor.” The backyard faces the east boundary hill of town and will always have that nature view. The no carpet, even in the bedrooms, was nice, but it couldn’t overcome the fact that the kitchen and both bathrooms were very dated and needing updating. Plus the exterior would be needing painting within the next couple of years. Crossing this one off the list.

Long after the days House Hunting was over, while we were watching Thursday Afternoon Football on Fox an alert popped up with a nice looking contender for the next House of Bogardi. So we emailed the realtor to see if we can get in to see House #14 tomorrow. It is kind if at the top of the budget range, but we are becoming a little less concerned with that at this point. If means burning a little more of our IRA nest egg to buy a nice nest to live in, let’s do it.