What do you think of this house?
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I’m a little conflicted about it.
Here’s the house she really wanted. Cozy charmer, a lot more “cozy” than the pictures show. Her friends have cottage houses like this. Closer to work but far from Jack’s school. Established neighborhood but likely no kids. Renovations nicely done but mostly cosmetic. More than she wants to spend and likely to sell over listing price. I don’t want to be the guy who talked her out of her dream house but…
I’m her dad. I’m a house guy. I look at houses differently. This one is some 80 years old with original wiring. Furnace is every bit of 30 years old, maybe older. Supplemental electric heaters in the bedrooms tell me that it’s not up to the task. House is built of block - rock solid but NO insulation. Reno’s look ok but no permits available. Floors aren’t level. Washer dryer in unfinished basement with like 6’ ceilings. Plaster. Asbestos. Lead paint.
Sharon found the house she bought. 1992 construction, nearly twice the size with partially finished basement with 9’ ceilings and a room already roughed in for a bathroom. Solid middle class midwestern neighborhood a few blocks from Jack’s school. Big yard - which she wanted. Big kitchen, modern wiring, newish furnace and A/C. Modern insulation with dual pane windows. New-ish roof.
But it’s boring, I get that. It’s not a cottage - it’s a big ass builder-standard tract house. I’m afraid Sharon likes it more than Kim does, although Kim is warming to it and is looking forward to customizing it.
I hope I didn’t scare her off of her dream, but the cottage was over budget and was going to need some big repairs fairly soon. The house she bought is boringly competent.
I like competent but it’s not my house. Hope she starts liking it more.
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She certainly got the better setting. What a gorgeous grounds. That in itself would mean a lot to me.
She also gets a blank slate with the one she purchased. Tons of interior decorating potential.
Very nice!
The industrial revolution cheapened everything.
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She certainly got the better setting. What a gorgeous grounds. That in itself would mean a lot to me.
She also gets a blank slate with the one she purchased. Tons of interior decorating potential.
Very nice!
@Bernard said in What do you think of this house?:
She certainly got the better setting. What a gorgeous grounds. That in itself would mean a lot to me.
She also gets a blank slate with the one she purchased. Tons of interior decorating potential.
Very nice!
Agree on all these points. I’d be thrilled with that house on a zillion counts.
Congrats to Kim. Can’t wait to see her make it her own!
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I’m a little conflicted about it.
Here’s the house she really wanted. Cozy charmer, a lot more “cozy” than the pictures show. Her friends have cottage houses like this. Closer to work but far from Jack’s school. Established neighborhood but likely no kids. Renovations nicely done but mostly cosmetic. More than she wants to spend and likely to sell over listing price. I don’t want to be the guy who talked her out of her dream house but…
I’m her dad. I’m a house guy. I look at houses differently. This one is some 80 years old with original wiring. Furnace is every bit of 30 years old, maybe older. Supplemental electric heaters in the bedrooms tell me that it’s not up to the task. House is built of block - rock solid but NO insulation. Reno’s look ok but no permits available. Floors aren’t level. Washer dryer in unfinished basement with like 6’ ceilings. Plaster. Asbestos. Lead paint.
Sharon found the house she bought. 1992 construction, nearly twice the size with partially finished basement with 9’ ceilings and a room already roughed in for a bathroom. Solid middle class midwestern neighborhood a few blocks from Jack’s school. Big yard - which she wanted. Big kitchen, modern wiring, newish furnace and A/C. Modern insulation with dual pane windows. New-ish roof.
But it’s boring, I get that. It’s not a cottage - it’s a big ass builder-standard tract house. I’m afraid Sharon likes it more than Kim does, although Kim is warming to it and is looking forward to customizing it.
I hope I didn’t scare her off of her dream, but the cottage was over budget and was going to need some big repairs fairly soon. The house she bought is boringly competent.
I like competent but it’s not my house. Hope she starts liking it more.
The one she didn’t buy is very cute, I can totally get the attraction. But this:
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
This one is some 80 years old with original wiring. Furnace is every bit of 30 years old, maybe older. Supplemental electric heaters in the bedrooms tell me that it’s not up to the task. House is built of block - rock solid but NO insulation. Reno’s look ok but no permits available. Floors aren’t level. Washer dryer in unfinished basement with like 6’ ceilings. Plaster. Asbestos. Lead paint.
Would send me running, screaming, in the other direction! Especially with a little one! Yikes!
I think it sounds like she made the right choice!
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I see the charm of the little one, but she can make the one she bought awesome, and so much more room! That one has the same pickled oak cabinetry in the kitchen we had when we moved into our Washington state house, we completely redid it. I love that the house she bought has tall ceilings, and all the space in the basement is awesome. And that yard! And baseball fields behind, so much better for kids.
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Just finished up with the house inspector. As I predicted, it’s in great shape. There is some very minor settling at the front corner of the garage and one of fine old pine trees is too close to the house.
Other than that there isn’t a damned thing wrong with it.
In it gets better. There is a gas line already run to the stove so it doesn’t have to be electric, the windows are all Anderson dual pane and appear to be quite new, the attic insulation is R-38 and it looks like the day it was was installed. The washer and dryer are Whirlpool direct drive units - probably the best laundry equipment Whirlpool ever built and they’re simple to fix. They’re old but should get the job done. The sump pump is six months old and includes a matching battery backup pump.
Yahoo!
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Just finished up with the house inspector. As I predicted, it’s in great shape. There is some very minor settling at the front corner of the garage and one of fine old pine trees is too close to the house.
Other than that there isn’t a damned thing wrong with it.
In it gets better. There is a gas line already run to the stove so it doesn’t have to be electric, the windows are all Anderson dual pane and appear to be quite new, the attic insulation is R-38 and it looks like the day it was was installed. The washer and dryer are Whirlpool direct drive units - probably the best laundry equipment Whirlpool ever built and they’re simple to fix. They’re old but should get the job done. The sump pump is six months old and includes a matching battery backup pump.
Yahoo!
Yay and congratulations!!!
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
the windows are all Anderson dual pane and appear to be quite new,
There is a date (MM-YY) stamped in the lower right hand corner of the glass, as you look at it from the inside out. Gives you an idea of the age of the windows. We replaced the original 1960 vintage Andersens in this house with new Andersens in the late 80s. And we had Andersens installed when we built the vacation home in the early 90s. They're still going strong.
The only problem we had was this negative pressure problem, in both houses.
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2629481/andersen-glass-failure-due-to-negative-pressure
We discovered the problem because we had the oval condensation problem on the outside of the glass. We could also see a concave bow in the window glass when looking at the outside. Trying to squeegee the window dry was a hoot. Andersen repaired all the windows at no charge; the glass had a 20 year warranty.
edit: We've also had two sash balances fail on the double hung windows in the kitchen. One crapped out maybe four years ago, and another did last year. Our handyman replaced both balances on the bad window. If the sash is already out you may as well replace both sides.
I ordered a pair to replace the ones in the second window but haven't gotten around to installing them.
Link to video -
Great info.
Thanks!
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Houses closed today. I have contractors lined up for tomorrow to start the renovation. Previous owners came back and cleaned up the leaves/grass. It looks a lot better than I expected - Yahoo! I’ll get a picture when the rain lets up.
Meanwhile, the fun part! Picking paint colors, flooring, wallpaper, curtains. I like where she is going with it.
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Temps climbed to a sultry 51 degrees and I started cleaning up the yard at Kim’s house. A few highlights:
Hidden in some trees I found this yard art. Paint it? Let it rust?
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Cool beans! I could see painting it if you want a pop of color, but my gut reaction is to leave it as is.
A shade garden. I am in my element.
I don't think it necessarily needs to be removed, but best to keep an eye on the ivy and keep it in check with regular pruning so it doesn't overwhelm the trees.
She probably has everything she needs, but let me know if she wants any hostas next spring. I'm doing a major remodeling project in the yard and will be in digging mode. (aside: There is no shovel emoji that I could find....)
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Here’s the pond. It appears to include some sort of waterfall. Have yet to find a switch for it.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03fQ5PrylNgvscqT8cI7EMQlg
Ivy is climbing all of the trees. I can get up high enough to remove it from some of the trees but not these. If I cut it off at the base it will die but will look like hell for years. Might rent a boom loft over the summer to strip it off.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0983BHRZt9JlcSUXDdF8mL_AA
Doesn’t look like much in the picture but it’s the crown jewel of the landscape. A camellia! My favorite shrub. I’ve been informed many times that they will not grow here but that’s obviously not true. Apparently there are cold hardy hybrids and this is one of them.
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Here’s the pond. It appears to include some sort of waterfall. Have yet to find a switch for it.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03fQ5PrylNgvscqT8cI7EMQlg
Ivy is climbing all of the trees. I can get up high enough to remove it from some of the trees but not these. If I cut it off at the base it will die but will look like hell for years. Might rent a boom loft over the summer to strip it off.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0983BHRZt9JlcSUXDdF8mL_AA
Doesn’t look like much in the picture but it’s the crown jewel of the landscape. A camellia! My favorite shrub. I’ve been informed many times that they will not grow here but that’s obviously not true. Apparently there are cold hardy hybrids and this is one of them.
@Steve-Miller said in What do you think of this house?:
A camellia! My favorite shrub.
I'm not super familiar with camellias, but I looked them up and it appears there are cold hardy varieties. The leaves on that shrub look a bit like an azalea to me.
