Houses
Today we got confirmation from SunTrust that we could probably be approved for up to 100k. So we went ahead and scheduled appointments to see two houses that were in that upper range. One of them Rob is REALLY excited about. So excited that he plans to go talk with the mortgage person tomorrow because there is some activity but not so much that we will definitely be out of the running.
http://www.american-way.com/detailsres.cfm?mlsnum=139370&CFID=45525968&CFTOKEN=86164520
That's the one he's really excited about. Mostly he likes it because there is a full partially finished basement that can really be fixed up to what he's wanting. And it's pretty "move in ready." Including the basement it ends up being a tri-level house which is kinda cool. It's one of those older houses that has the bathrooms connected by doors. So there's a door facing the hallway, then a door in the room to the tub, then a door from the tub room into the other toilet room and then a door from there into the master bedroom. That totally didn't come out well in the description, but maybe you can follow.
The kitchen is decent and has kind of a cool little serving bar. It has fridge, stove, dishwasher, and sprayer on sink. The fridge is the traditional kind, which Rob wants a side by side. And the stove is kind of older looking I think. It's got decent cabinate space and isn't completely cramped up.
There's a lot of carpet, but they think that there's hardwood underneath, so maybe eventually we could take the carpet up and have hardwood.
The basement already has framing made out which looks like a place for a bathroom, a bedroom (or office) and a family/game room, as well as the utility room. So by finishing that up we could really significantly up the value. Make it a 4 br, 2.5 bath!
Which, the laundry facilities being in the "basement" is something I'm not 100% sure how I feel about. All the bedrooms are on the upper level. And admittedly the upper level isn't that far up, but still going down two flights of stairs to do laundry... I dunno.
Also it's on a busy road. Well not like a highway or anything, but one of those roads that have the lights above it to make a lane sometimes go one way and sometimes a different one? It doesn't look like a BAD neighborhood. Just busier roads than I had originally wanted. And it's also really close to a highschool, which I think is why those lights were installed, for school morning traffic. I don't know what the implications of getting OUT in the morning will be but when we were there today it didn't look too bad. It's also really close to the Algood Wal-Mart and a CVS and there's a lot of expansion and new businesses going in really close. But it just was a busier and more 'in town' area. Not really a good area to go walking but only because it's a busier street and no side walks.
The other house we visited I liked a lot. There aren't any pictures of the inside, just one of the outside and there's not really any information, but here's the listing: http://www.american-way.com/detailsres.cfm?mlsnum=139452&CFID=45525968&CFTOKEN=86164520
It had hardwood throughout, it was a really nice neighborhood and built on a road that circles around nicely so it would make a great walking track. And the back yard was completely fenced and there were houses around that had kids near by. And while we don't have kids yet, we're hoping to. The front yard looked nicely landscaped. And it was so pretty inside. The only problems with that house is that there used to be a pool in the back yard which had been removed so it was kind of messed up, and the deck needed to be redone. Also Rob didn't feel like the bathrooms were big enough. And the kitchen was tiny and didn't have any appliances, which on the one hand is good because that means that Rob can get the appliances he wants, but bad because that means we would HAVE to buy them right away.
Both of them have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. Both of them have standard (aka small) tubs so Rob naturally started making plans on how he would take existing tubs out to put in a larger tub.
Anyway... I'd be OK with either of them, but I like the 2nd one slightly more. Mostly just because of the neighborhood and external things. And really, the inside was SO pretty. I thought about taking pictures but I didn't. The 1st could be improved (for me) by pulling up the carpet, and maybe changing some paint colors or something. Of course there isn't much you can do about walkability. But Rob doesn't like to walk anyway because it hurts his back. I just might have to 'require' that there be an exercise bike or something bought soon for that house where as the other one I could just start walking.
http://www.american-way.com/detailsres.cfm?mlsnum=139370&CFID=45525968&CFTOKEN=86164520
That's the one he's really excited about. Mostly he likes it because there is a full partially finished basement that can really be fixed up to what he's wanting. And it's pretty "move in ready." Including the basement it ends up being a tri-level house which is kinda cool. It's one of those older houses that has the bathrooms connected by doors. So there's a door facing the hallway, then a door in the room to the tub, then a door from the tub room into the other toilet room and then a door from there into the master bedroom. That totally didn't come out well in the description, but maybe you can follow.
The kitchen is decent and has kind of a cool little serving bar. It has fridge, stove, dishwasher, and sprayer on sink. The fridge is the traditional kind, which Rob wants a side by side. And the stove is kind of older looking I think. It's got decent cabinate space and isn't completely cramped up.
There's a lot of carpet, but they think that there's hardwood underneath, so maybe eventually we could take the carpet up and have hardwood.
The basement already has framing made out which looks like a place for a bathroom, a bedroom (or office) and a family/game room, as well as the utility room. So by finishing that up we could really significantly up the value. Make it a 4 br, 2.5 bath!
Which, the laundry facilities being in the "basement" is something I'm not 100% sure how I feel about. All the bedrooms are on the upper level. And admittedly the upper level isn't that far up, but still going down two flights of stairs to do laundry... I dunno.
Also it's on a busy road. Well not like a highway or anything, but one of those roads that have the lights above it to make a lane sometimes go one way and sometimes a different one? It doesn't look like a BAD neighborhood. Just busier roads than I had originally wanted. And it's also really close to a highschool, which I think is why those lights were installed, for school morning traffic. I don't know what the implications of getting OUT in the morning will be but when we were there today it didn't look too bad. It's also really close to the Algood Wal-Mart and a CVS and there's a lot of expansion and new businesses going in really close. But it just was a busier and more 'in town' area. Not really a good area to go walking but only because it's a busier street and no side walks.
The other house we visited I liked a lot. There aren't any pictures of the inside, just one of the outside and there's not really any information, but here's the listing: http://www.american-way.com/detailsres.cfm?mlsnum=139452&CFID=45525968&CFTOKEN=86164520
It had hardwood throughout, it was a really nice neighborhood and built on a road that circles around nicely so it would make a great walking track. And the back yard was completely fenced and there were houses around that had kids near by. And while we don't have kids yet, we're hoping to. The front yard looked nicely landscaped. And it was so pretty inside. The only problems with that house is that there used to be a pool in the back yard which had been removed so it was kind of messed up, and the deck needed to be redone. Also Rob didn't feel like the bathrooms were big enough. And the kitchen was tiny and didn't have any appliances, which on the one hand is good because that means that Rob can get the appliances he wants, but bad because that means we would HAVE to buy them right away.
Both of them have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. Both of them have standard (aka small) tubs so Rob naturally started making plans on how he would take existing tubs out to put in a larger tub.
Anyway... I'd be OK with either of them, but I like the 2nd one slightly more. Mostly just because of the neighborhood and external things. And really, the inside was SO pretty. I thought about taking pictures but I didn't. The 1st could be improved (for me) by pulling up the carpet, and maybe changing some paint colors or something. Of course there isn't much you can do about walkability. But Rob doesn't like to walk anyway because it hurts his back. I just might have to 'require' that there be an exercise bike or something bought soon for that house where as the other one I could just start walking.