Things going on with the house search
It's been OVER a month since my last update and I figured I should at least say hello and that I'm still alive and kicking.
That said, the house hunt has ramped up something fierce as in the past few weeks I've seen three houses, declined on 2 and am working on getting one.
To whit, 2 weekends ago, I saw a small 714SqFt 2 bedroom with an oversized garage east of the Tacoma Mall in what is still considered S Tacoma, built in 1895, had some charm, but many issues, and one of the biggest ones was a foundation that's too shallow for a proper crawl space and the house was right on the back edge of the lot so no easy access to the back side of the house. It was just TOO small due to the dinky bedrooms and the garage was literally the best thing about that house.
Then the following weekend, we spotted a house built in 1908 in Central Tacoma, a nicer area with lots of great shopping and near the Proctor District, an area I'd love to live in that had a proper foundation and crawl space to boot, but had other issues, such as potential issues with the joists due to previous insect damage, older knob and tube wiring, a roof that was shot, a recalled Federal Pacific Electric service panel, though new enough to be 200 amp/240V service and they were asking $130K for it. We offered $145K, and asked them to pay for the roof, they felt it a risk of what if I back out and they've done the repairs? Silly question as if I even do back out, the house can then be more desirable to another buyer, either way... That house is 836SqFt 3 bedroom, though one is like a postage stamp of a room at the front of the house.
Anyway, we came back with asking price, they do the roof etc, still waffling with illogical logic and by that point, it was Friday and my Realtor was backing away from the property. Saturday, he finds a doll house of a place over on south J St, a 2 bed, 1 bath house of 1,112SqFt 2 story, though technically a 1.5 story bungalow and really a single bedroom house and stairs up to the bedroom and the bathroom was down 3 steps from the kitchen on the main floor, um, no. Anyway, it was all turnkey and nice and all that, also built in 1908, but with a 2 car garage of which the house in Central Tacoma lacked. Price was similar, 140K, we'd have to go to 157K to have any kind of a chance, and my max budget is 165K.
So as I ate dinner last evening, my Realtor called to say, the house on S 15th is back on and thus would I be interested in it since it'll be getting both the new roof AND the new service panel and mast, both big ticket items that were needed doing post haste anyway. It's all one story, and in a very deirable area, though not a fancy area by any means, but has good shopping, better, more solid housing stock and is one step up from the south end which tends to be predominately working class/blue collar/military. Yes, I'll need to remodel the kitchen eventually, it has a shower with a leaking drain, a loose toilet etc, but it has potential and was recently painted and has new, though I suspect cheap flooring in the living room and entry hall. So that is where things sit as Michael will write up the offer this morning and submit it, possibly with my signatures/initials via Docusign.
So now we're looking at offering $134/135K for the house, with the roof and service panel already done so I could have a house yet.
Other than that, nothing much else has been happening, though I've been buying and playing records thanks to the new phono preamp and have been trying to get the review done for that for my own blog. This review will entail audio samples to demonstrate how it sounds and compares to the Sherwood receiver's own phono preamp.
Work continues alright and now I must go fix my sandwich and get myself out the door to work.
That said, the house hunt has ramped up something fierce as in the past few weeks I've seen three houses, declined on 2 and am working on getting one.
To whit, 2 weekends ago, I saw a small 714SqFt 2 bedroom with an oversized garage east of the Tacoma Mall in what is still considered S Tacoma, built in 1895, had some charm, but many issues, and one of the biggest ones was a foundation that's too shallow for a proper crawl space and the house was right on the back edge of the lot so no easy access to the back side of the house. It was just TOO small due to the dinky bedrooms and the garage was literally the best thing about that house.
Then the following weekend, we spotted a house built in 1908 in Central Tacoma, a nicer area with lots of great shopping and near the Proctor District, an area I'd love to live in that had a proper foundation and crawl space to boot, but had other issues, such as potential issues with the joists due to previous insect damage, older knob and tube wiring, a roof that was shot, a recalled Federal Pacific Electric service panel, though new enough to be 200 amp/240V service and they were asking $130K for it. We offered $145K, and asked them to pay for the roof, they felt it a risk of what if I back out and they've done the repairs? Silly question as if I even do back out, the house can then be more desirable to another buyer, either way... That house is 836SqFt 3 bedroom, though one is like a postage stamp of a room at the front of the house.
Anyway, we came back with asking price, they do the roof etc, still waffling with illogical logic and by that point, it was Friday and my Realtor was backing away from the property. Saturday, he finds a doll house of a place over on south J St, a 2 bed, 1 bath house of 1,112SqFt 2 story, though technically a 1.5 story bungalow and really a single bedroom house and stairs up to the bedroom and the bathroom was down 3 steps from the kitchen on the main floor, um, no. Anyway, it was all turnkey and nice and all that, also built in 1908, but with a 2 car garage of which the house in Central Tacoma lacked. Price was similar, 140K, we'd have to go to 157K to have any kind of a chance, and my max budget is 165K.
So as I ate dinner last evening, my Realtor called to say, the house on S 15th is back on and thus would I be interested in it since it'll be getting both the new roof AND the new service panel and mast, both big ticket items that were needed doing post haste anyway. It's all one story, and in a very deirable area, though not a fancy area by any means, but has good shopping, better, more solid housing stock and is one step up from the south end which tends to be predominately working class/blue collar/military. Yes, I'll need to remodel the kitchen eventually, it has a shower with a leaking drain, a loose toilet etc, but it has potential and was recently painted and has new, though I suspect cheap flooring in the living room and entry hall. So that is where things sit as Michael will write up the offer this morning and submit it, possibly with my signatures/initials via Docusign.
So now we're looking at offering $134/135K for the house, with the roof and service panel already done so I could have a house yet.
Other than that, nothing much else has been happening, though I've been buying and playing records thanks to the new phono preamp and have been trying to get the review done for that for my own blog. This review will entail audio samples to demonstrate how it sounds and compares to the Sherwood receiver's own phono preamp.
Work continues alright and now I must go fix my sandwich and get myself out the door to work.