I found the perfect house
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I love it!
Virtually everything in this market is multistory with basements that raise the entry six or eight steps above grade, which makes me wonder what the Victorians did when they got old or broke a leg.
On the plus side, all these stairs may keep us fit longer, but we're pragmatic enough to think about the problem they present. A ramp or wheelchair lift will get us in the house, if need be. Once in, there's a full bath and bedroom on the first floor, so if one of us were disabled on the short term, we could manage pretty easily. If it were both of us, we'd have to farm out the laundry.
If it were long-term, we'd want to be able to access the second floor. There's a spot where one of those new small-footprint elevators will fit if we decide to go maximal. The less maximal approach would be a chair lift on the stairs, which we know will work because we're told that a previous owner had one. That would get us to the laundry and our bedroom. If the time comes when none of these things work, it will be our cue to find some kind of independent or assisted living situation.
The positive aspect of this house in terms of aging is its location. If we can still get around but aren't able to drive, we can walk to the necessities of life and to public transportation. That has the potential to keep us independent longer, and perhaps as importantly, keep us from being too isolated in our old age.
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Under contract. Not surprised.
Oh well, I didn't really want to move anyway....
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Looks so spacious and lots of storage. Also I love its having a potential live-in's apartment in the basement for home help if needed.
If it's near walkable amenities that's very important too! Makes up for the reduced exercise one gets (without really realizing it) from having stairs. (I'm convinced that makes an important difference, though, yes, the day is apt to come when they would be too dangerous.)
I looked for the ratings on various risks it's susceptible to and that was pretty much perfect! Only flaw is they anticipate worsening air quality.
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Addendum:
Unless I missed it, there's no HOA with fees (excellent), and the only things I'd really wonder about is quality of insulation. (Also history of utility costs - precisely because of the space and number of egresses and windows. )Wonder too, come to think of it, how they are so sure of worsening air quality. Is something industrial in the works?
Would have been super to only have to move half a mile!
(Oh, no! My fears have come true - confusion of using this site. How can I post this?)
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It's somewhat walkable. Grocery store, the downtown area, and the library are a 15 minute walk from this house. No HOAs in these neighborhoods.
I have no idea why it would be labeled as worsening air quality. This isn't an industrial area. The only problem we've had of late is haze from fires that are thousands of miles away from us.
The windows all seem to be new and the house underwent extensive remodeling, so I wouldn't have been concerned about insulation.
If you want to edit a post, just hover your cursor around the lower right hand corner of your post. You should see a smiley face, a curved left arrow (that's Reply), a quote, and three vertical dots. Click on the three vertical dots and you should see Edit and Delete.
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@Bernard said in I found the perfect house:
enfilade
This was not a word I’m familiar with, so I googled.
noun
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a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.
"they were mown down by an enfilade of artillery" -
a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other.
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@Bernard said in I found the perfect house:
enfilade
This was not a word I’m familiar with, so I googled.
noun
-
a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.
"they were mown down by an enfilade of artillery" -
a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other.
@ShiroKuro I'm familiar with it due to being a lover of châteaux. If you've ever been in an old château, you'll have experienced the long rows of rooms that all have a doorway--usually without doors--along one wall of the building, allowing one to see from one end to the other.
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@ShiroKuro I'm familiar with it due to being a lover of châteaux. If you've ever been in an old château, you'll have experienced the long rows of rooms that all have a doorway--usually without doors--along one wall of the building, allowing one to see from one end to the other.
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@ShiroKuro I was in Versailles once. That's the only time I've been in one.
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@Bernard said in I found the perfect house:
enfilade
This was not a word I’m familiar with, so I googled.
noun
-
a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.
"they were mown down by an enfilade of artillery" -
a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other.
@ShiroKuro new word to me too. In Brooklyn we called that a railroad flat.
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@ShiroKuro new word to me too. In Brooklyn we called that a railroad flat.
@rustyfingers I shared more than one railroad apartment in my early years in NY. Not ideal for those who value privacy.
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Same
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@wtg said in I found the perfect house:
Under contract. Not surprised.
Oh well, I didn't really want to move anyway....
Lovely house. Sorry you missed your shot.
Last July I saw a new listing and called the agent. She said I could come see it that moment. It was Saturday. Monday I put in an offer, one of four they got that weekend. There was a ‘best and final’ round, we rebid and won, not on price but on terms (no mortgage contingency).
All this happened before the planned open house the following Sunday.
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@wtg said in I found the perfect house:
Under contract. Not surprised.
Oh well, I didn't really want to move anyway....
Lovely house. Sorry you missed your shot.
Last July I saw a new listing and called the agent. She said I could come see it that moment. It was Saturday. Monday I put in an offer, one of four they got that weekend. There was a ‘best and final’ round, we rebid and won, not on price but on terms (no mortgage contingency).
All this happened before the planned open house the following Sunday.
@jon-nyc said in I found the perfect house:
Last July I saw a new listing and called the agent. She said I could come see it that moment. It was Saturday. Monday I put in an offer, one of four they got that weekend. There was a ‘best and final’ round, we rebid and won, not on price but on terms (no mortgage contingency).
All this happened before the planned open house the following Sunday.
Yep, that’s how to do it. And that’s how the nice ones go, very fast!
Well, not even super nice ones, just the normal ones too sometimes. When we sold our house in 2023, it went pretty fast and to the buyer who offer the all-cash purchase.
We got very lucky with our purchase last year that we didn’t have to compete with a cash buyer.
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Nice. Nice enough to check it on Google maps.
I have to ask, what's with the house numbering?
419 is next to 501? And where is 417?
The other side of the road is equally baffling. Seems you have houses backing on to each other ascending in number but on different roads if they are odd or even. And some numbers simply missing.
But looking there is only one 815 no other odd 800's.
@AndyD said in I found the perfect house:
Nice. Nice enough to check it on Google maps.
I have to ask, what's with the house numbering?
419 is next to 501? And where is 417?
The other side of the road is equally baffling. Seems you have houses backing on to each other ascending in number but on different roads if they are odd or even. And some numbers simply missing.
But looking there is only one 815 no other odd 800's.A man with an eye for detail.
The 515 and the 603 addresses are on Beverly, the N/S street. So that's why there's an odd numbered address for that corner house on the north side of Euclid.
Oh, and I highly recommend In Town Electric. Tom and his crew do excellent work.
The skipped numbers are a mystery to me, too. Here's another example of novel numbering even closer to (my) home:
The numbers on Miner, the E/W street at the bottom: 2004, 2016, 2022, 2106??, 2112, 2118, 2122. Delivery drivers and substitute mailmen are forever and a day delivering packages to 2106 that belong to 2016. And vice versa. I know this with certainty.
The numbers on Prindle, the N/S street on the left: no number (it's actually 211), then the house on the corner which has two numbers, 215 and 225. Its real address is 215; there is no 225. I think that's just a Google glitch.
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Can you imagine writing a few hundred years ago to your Aunt at
7th house north of
The Swan Inn
Great Snoring
NorfolkHowever probably worked well as everyone knew their neighbours.
Sorry you missed out on the house. It did seem to have a lot of spotlights in rooms away from those expansive windows, which suggested low ceilings and darker areas.
And Bernard makes a good point about window/wall ratios.
