Bmeandering

Bmeandering

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

House Explanation

These first two photos show some of the best of this home.  I would love waking up and getting to pass by
this window on my way down to my morning coffee!

This window contributes so well to one of the warmest, most welcoming foyers I've seen in awhile.

But these show only the beauty---only what's so right about this home.
However, there is much wrong.

All the beautiful hanging light fixtures have pull strings attached.
Yes, even this lovely gem below.
You cannot flip a switch in any room to turn on a light.
The house needs all new electrical wiring.

They attempted to update the kitchen with a dishwasher but stuck it at the end of the long counter, adding another part of a counter (doesn't match well) and butting everything up too close to the door of a beautiful floor to ceiling wood pantry.  Getting into it is a physical acrobatic act.
You can't see the other side of this middle counter but it's open and is plywood.  The entire kitchen is a hodge podge of what seems to be "after thoughts" or half-hearted attempts to modernize which only result in making this room more of an eye sore, esp. compared to the rest of the house.  The entire kitchen needs to be redone---ENTIRE.
This is just a glimpse of some problems outside.  Most of the gutters are rotted or not connected to anything or both! Lots of shingles are missing on the roof.   Sooooo--new roof, major gutter repair. None of the windows upstairs have storms and some are in terrible shape: new windows.

One of the ornaments from the roof has been left to further deteriorate on the front porch.
The porch is rotted through not only on the floor but in the banisters and well---everywhere: whole new porch --- to fully restore  it to original beauty would be quite costly.

Other problems:
Needs insulation--there is none.
There are NO HEAT DUCTS upstairs---none---little electric heaters are used to
warm the huge rooms.
Installing air conditioning would not be nearly as problematic or costly as putting in heat upstairs--
we would have to do both.

Basement is ancient and damp and has some kind of beetle damage (supposedly as bad as termites).
New plumbing is needed.

Garage is caving in and would have to be torn down and a new one built.

A conservative estimate for repairing this dream Victorian home
with my husband doing most of the work
is
$100,000.00
on top of their deluded asking price of $150,000.00.
The yard is bigger than most Victorian settings in Barnesville,
but it is still small and we would have to build a privacy fence
 in order to have the dog I so want.

Across the street, hidden behind my car (in one of pics in a previous post)
is a house trailer.
There are no zoning laws in this town regarding house trailers.
So you could sink a half a million into a house only to have
a rental house trailer
end up next to you.
Nothing against house trailers---I just don't want one next door to a home
I've sunk a lot of money in.
Actually rentals are becoming a norm here in this town
and too many end up in disrepair.
We could end up with someone buying the house next to us
and turning it into a rental and the renters not taking care of it.

So these are the reasons why we won't be buying the dream house.
I'm now okay with it.
Mike said if he were 20 years younger, he might consider it,
but he's just not up to that kind of long term physical labor.
Since I see do not want to be a widow living in this home,
I choose my husband over the house.

So we continue to look.

For background on this house, scroll down to previous posts.

10 comments:

  1. I can see why you aren't buying it. It sure is beautiful, but sounds like too much money and too much work!

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  2. Hi Beth, We are glad to be back to blogging. Have missed you!!! Hope you got my email I wrote you while we were on our trip. You didn't respond so I'm not sure you go it....

    I understand your feelings about buying that home... Too much work--but wouldn't it be great to have one like that--which was in better shape!!!! It looks gorgeous from the outside--but as you said, would cost way too much to fix it up...

    When we bought out retirement home, we downsized ---and love it. At our ages, we just don't need a large home with lots of upkeep....

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  3. I hear you!
    Seven years ago we purchased a condo for our summers in Iowa. Now we are surrounded by rental units because of a breakdown in the selling of the rest of the condos. We keep crossing our fingers that the guy who owns most of these units keeps up the place and one day goes back to selling the units as condominiums...and not to some slum landlord.

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  4. My goodness, that's a lot of needed repairs... love that old swing, though =)

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  5. i'm sure you'll find the right place, in time. (and worth the wait to have your dog, right?)

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  6. It's sad to see this house in such need of attention, but you're right in knowing a project to get such a big place in order is not for you. As I've said before,from personal experience, I'm sure there's a place out there just right for you and Mike.

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  7. you can sink a lot of money, time and energies in a house like that, and it's probably not worth it, it is only a house.

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  8. even though you will not live in the house...
    it has been interesting to see it from all sides.
    i have had similar dreams of my grandparent's house that we lived next door to. And my great grandparents home that was kitty cornered to us. Seeing them both occupied by others over time. And we lived in a small house while the other two were large and wonderfully interesting. At least i knew my grandparents while they lived next door. My mother was not so hip on being so close to her in-laws though. Age of things and people are such a deciding factor, along with the old mean green. Time, energy, money...all those stupid road blocks.
    But! There are still ideas...and some of them work.

    I see houses and old school houses and think...oh that would make a fine art center, or a lunch place, or a coffee shop.... it's just nice to imagine all the different uses.

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  9. The sad thing is it would be cheaper to build than to remodel that beautiful old house. We built our house, a colonial, and saved a lot of money doing it. It takes a little longer doing it yourself but it is a rewarding adventure that I'm glad we did. Everything in our house is custom designed by my husband and myself and built by him.

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  10. I saw your other post and the house does look very beautiful. But when it needs so much work and so much money put into it before it's liveable, you do tend to question whether or not it's worth it.

    There's a house like that near me. I've had my eye on it for years, it's an old farmhouse, set back from the road and some of the trees have protection orders on them, so they can't cut them down. It's right in the middle of town but nicely secluded at the same time.

    But there's an ongoing dispute as to who actually owns it and while that's going on, the house is going to rack and ruin. I'd imagine it'll go on the market for a silly price but the money that you'd have to spend to make it safe, let alone liveable would be crazy. And it's a listed building, so there'd be all kinds of restrictions as to what you can and can't do with it.

    It'll be interesting to see what kind of house valuation goes on it when the dispute is sorted. I hope that someone does buy it and spends the time and money to restore it. It deserves to be restored, even if I'll never live in it.

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