2 posts tagged “house buying”
'Cause I know you all have been dying to hear more about my house-hunting saga.
It turns out I'm a wheeler and dealer, because I stood by my low offer and didn't budge. I win at real estate chicken. Here is the house I am planning to buy, assuming all the inspections and stuff come out okay. This is the view from the south, at the attached garage and breezeway porch.
The good news: I like the house and the neighborhood (it's the same neighborhood I live in now)
The bad news: the house is being sold "as is," so whatever wrong with it, I'll have to fix. (Hence the low offer.)
All of this morning was taken up with inspections: the regular inspector, the termite inspector, the sewer inspector, and the structural engineer consultant. Among the things to be fixed: a steadily bowing foundation wall on the north side that'll have to be braced with I-beams and possibly a deadman anchor. Awaiting bids on that little project. Many thousand dollars, which is why I'm paying $25K less than the seller originally asked, which is also $25K less than he bought it for. (Maybe he didn't get a good inspection beforehand.)
Among the cheaper fixes: termite treatment for a small porch off the kitchen. Somehow, I feel like it's a bargain, because the termite inspector uses a doggy!!!! It's true! This is Crocket, the specially trained termite sniffing dog.
Sadly, this particular pose of Crocket's means there are termites under where she's sitting. I lof her. She has beautiful floppy ears and a curly tail and spotty toes. *kisskiss* Oh, right, and I'll have to have the termites treated. Look, people, if you have to have a termite inspection, hire an inspector with a sniffing dog. It totally takes away the sting of finding out you have termites, because after she told me about the termites, she kissed my hands and let me skritch her soft ears. Try that with a regular termite inspector.
The house had previously been a rental and one gets the sense that the owner got in over his head and just gave up. The house has been unrented most of this year and maybe here's why:
The bathroom also has about three inches of layer underlayment and linoleum, which is particularly interesting since the doorway to the bathroom is all of about 5'8" high. I can barely go through the door without ducking. Part of the problem is the layers of flooring, but the door is just short. Not even 6' tall. Thankfully, the bathroom is NOT built for gnomes and it's about twice the size of my current bathroom.
Let's see, there also a creepy basement, complete with creepy shower. Looks like a nice place to scrub up, right? Also, ancient phone wiring still in place.
Oh, right, you probably want to know what I like about the house. Well, it's got some lovely space, including a huge kitchen with a breezeway porch that connects to the garage and houses the laundry. Whew! Would not want to do laundry in that creeptastic basement.
Oh darn. I was also going to show you the 30+ year-old air conditioner, but that must be on the inspector's camera. At any rate, it works. It's huge and ancient and it fired right up and started cooling the house. Unexpected to say the least.
Last night, just as I was about to call my realtor and say, "Let's make an offer on the Filthy Hippie House," he called to say that it had been sold.
Crap.
Back to square one and there's nothing much on the market here in Lawrence. I've already looked at and ruled out the only five houses that were close to what I wanted.
Which leads me to this craigslist ad:
http://lawrence.craigslist.org/reo/1202335142.html
What do you think, Cranky? Buy an empty lot and set this baby up?
