Adventures in House Hunting part 1
The housing market is WEIRD.
We started poking at the idea of buying a house this past winter. We're currently month-to-month on our lease so the timing is not an issue. My credit score? That's an issue. So we're only able to finance based on Ulfr's income which leaves us somewhat limited in our options.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of bank-owned monstrosities for us to choose from. Our range is pretty much all of central Maryland at this point. West to Frederick, North to Aberdeen, South to Greenbelt-ish. Really not looking to the east of our current location, as East = Patapsco River and I don't think the government will sell us the island portion of Fort McHenry.
We started off poking around the post WWII-suburban expansion homes in the Hyattsville/Riverdale region. Small rooms, lots of bad Trading Spaces decor. *shudder*. Ulfr is pretty handy around the house and has done historical reconstruction, new home building and general handy-man work on and off for years before he got into his current field. Additionally, he currently works for Job Corps so we might be able to get trainee electricians, plumbers, landscapers and bricklayers for the cost of materials and 2 pounds of chicken nuggets* per worker. Anyway, we eliminated outright anything with foundation damage as that is just not a game we're willing to play. Last week our PG County real estate agent dumped us so we started fresh with our newly expanded region and the wonders of the Internet. This weekend brought us 4 appointments.
#1: 1850 farmhouse to the West. This is the oldest house we've looked at so far and the most rural. Like, 30 minutes to the nearest Starbucks kind of rural.
Positives: huge rooms, 2 fireplaces, lots of windows, awesome spiral staircases tucked into corners so no room space was lost to stairs. There was a full porch the length of the front of the house, with a full-length deck above it. Maybe a sleeping porch originally? There was a creek running along the side of the house, several outbuildings in good shape. There was a claw-foot tub in one of the bathrooms and a second tub in one of the outbuildings (partially restored).
Negatives: The entire house was leaning to the left and Ulfr was pretty sure there were damaged support beams. The electrical system was a mess, as 3 generations of wanna-be electricians had jury-rigged their way into powering up different parts of the house. There wasn't a level floor space on the entire 2nd floor. The kitchen was...odd. One corner had a modern counter-top sink and a few cabinets but there were no appliances except a refrigerator in the breakfast room. One of the doors had been blocked off by an old kitchen dresser. I couldn't figure out where the stove was supposed to go. I'm not sure where to place the owls nest we found in the eaves - on the plus side owls keep down the mice. On the negative side, they're messy, noisy and the larger ones might try to eat my little dog. We decided to pass.
#2: 1927 bungalow just North.
Positives: nice sized front yard and a long driveway.
Negatives: the next-door neighbors had put a fence down the middle of the shared driveway, with the lower section being clearly newer than the rest. This, combined with a newly-installed power pole left the driveway completely inaccessible. There was no alley-access to the back of the house and no parking permitted out front. We didn't even look at the inside. No way are we buying a house where we have to park around the corner and deal with neighbors who feel it's appropriate to block access like that. The neighborhood itself wasn't great either.
#3: 1923 Cape Cod further North. This house about broke my heart.
Positives: huge corner lot, beautiful front porch with storage underneath, large shed/garage for the bike, new windows in all but 2 places, massive granite fireplace, 5 bedrooms, lots of original woodwork including the floors.
Negatives: it had been "looted" as Sprog put it. Every scrap of recyclable material had been removed. All the pipes, most of the wiring, the appliances, the radiators, all gone. There was water damage in the upstairs that had seeped into the main living room and a couple of holes in the floor. Even with the Job Corps students doing a lot of the work we'd be looking at $30K+ just to make it habitable. It's far more likely that whomever buys it will tear it down and start over. That someone will not be us.
#4: 1922 Colonial, not far from #3. This is the only one we are even considering of the 4.
Positives: It's enormous. 2700 square feet on a decent sized piece of land. The neighborhood is semi-urban but decent. Judging by the cars, probably a lot of people in our income bracket. It's close to schools, shopping and public transportation but a lot less urban than where we are now. Structurally it's basically sound. It's got high ceilings and plenty of closets. It's been on the market over 9 months and it's insanely cheap.
Challenges**: It looks like someone was trying to run assisted living out of it. There are bathrooms everywhere, including some pretty odd spots like what looks like it used to be a portion of the front room. Ulfr wants to see the original blueprints because it's very clearly been chopped up to make more rooms than were there originally and many of the walls could come back down pretty easily. Currently there are 5 bedrooms upstairs, LR/DR/K plus 2 non-specific rooms on the main floor and the basement has been carved up into 3 or 4 more rooms. So, if we took it on we'd turn the upstairs into 4 bedrooms plus a sitting/craft space. Main floor would probably be living room, dining room, kitchen and library/computer room. The basement would become laundry, storage and Man Cave. We didn't see any kind of attic access but there are a couple of spots on the 2nd floor where it looks like a door has been covered over so maybe it's behind one of them. The backyard isn't huge but there is a garage-sized shed and some grass for the dogs. It's nice and flat so we could easily put a table and a grill back there.
I like it but I'm not sure I see us living there. We'll probably go back for another look, take some pictures and measurements and get another opinion before we make a decision. We also have more places to look at next week.
* Job Corps student eat chicken nuggets like they're facing an impending shortage. True fact.
** I don't like to say Negatives on a house we are actually considering
We started poking at the idea of buying a house this past winter. We're currently month-to-month on our lease so the timing is not an issue. My credit score? That's an issue. So we're only able to finance based on Ulfr's income which leaves us somewhat limited in our options.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of bank-owned monstrosities for us to choose from. Our range is pretty much all of central Maryland at this point. West to Frederick, North to Aberdeen, South to Greenbelt-ish. Really not looking to the east of our current location, as East = Patapsco River and I don't think the government will sell us the island portion of Fort McHenry.
We started off poking around the post WWII-suburban expansion homes in the Hyattsville/Riverdale region. Small rooms, lots of bad Trading Spaces decor. *shudder*. Ulfr is pretty handy around the house and has done historical reconstruction, new home building and general handy-man work on and off for years before he got into his current field. Additionally, he currently works for Job Corps so we might be able to get trainee electricians, plumbers, landscapers and bricklayers for the cost of materials and 2 pounds of chicken nuggets* per worker. Anyway, we eliminated outright anything with foundation damage as that is just not a game we're willing to play. Last week our PG County real estate agent dumped us so we started fresh with our newly expanded region and the wonders of the Internet. This weekend brought us 4 appointments.
#1: 1850 farmhouse to the West. This is the oldest house we've looked at so far and the most rural. Like, 30 minutes to the nearest Starbucks kind of rural.
Positives: huge rooms, 2 fireplaces, lots of windows, awesome spiral staircases tucked into corners so no room space was lost to stairs. There was a full porch the length of the front of the house, with a full-length deck above it. Maybe a sleeping porch originally? There was a creek running along the side of the house, several outbuildings in good shape. There was a claw-foot tub in one of the bathrooms and a second tub in one of the outbuildings (partially restored).
Negatives: The entire house was leaning to the left and Ulfr was pretty sure there were damaged support beams. The electrical system was a mess, as 3 generations of wanna-be electricians had jury-rigged their way into powering up different parts of the house. There wasn't a level floor space on the entire 2nd floor. The kitchen was...odd. One corner had a modern counter-top sink and a few cabinets but there were no appliances except a refrigerator in the breakfast room. One of the doors had been blocked off by an old kitchen dresser. I couldn't figure out where the stove was supposed to go. I'm not sure where to place the owls nest we found in the eaves - on the plus side owls keep down the mice. On the negative side, they're messy, noisy and the larger ones might try to eat my little dog. We decided to pass.
#2: 1927 bungalow just North.
Positives: nice sized front yard and a long driveway.
Negatives: the next-door neighbors had put a fence down the middle of the shared driveway, with the lower section being clearly newer than the rest. This, combined with a newly-installed power pole left the driveway completely inaccessible. There was no alley-access to the back of the house and no parking permitted out front. We didn't even look at the inside. No way are we buying a house where we have to park around the corner and deal with neighbors who feel it's appropriate to block access like that. The neighborhood itself wasn't great either.
#3: 1923 Cape Cod further North. This house about broke my heart.
Positives: huge corner lot, beautiful front porch with storage underneath, large shed/garage for the bike, new windows in all but 2 places, massive granite fireplace, 5 bedrooms, lots of original woodwork including the floors.
Negatives: it had been "looted" as Sprog put it. Every scrap of recyclable material had been removed. All the pipes, most of the wiring, the appliances, the radiators, all gone. There was water damage in the upstairs that had seeped into the main living room and a couple of holes in the floor. Even with the Job Corps students doing a lot of the work we'd be looking at $30K+ just to make it habitable. It's far more likely that whomever buys it will tear it down and start over. That someone will not be us.
#4: 1922 Colonial, not far from #3. This is the only one we are even considering of the 4.
Positives: It's enormous. 2700 square feet on a decent sized piece of land. The neighborhood is semi-urban but decent. Judging by the cars, probably a lot of people in our income bracket. It's close to schools, shopping and public transportation but a lot less urban than where we are now. Structurally it's basically sound. It's got high ceilings and plenty of closets. It's been on the market over 9 months and it's insanely cheap.
Challenges**: It looks like someone was trying to run assisted living out of it. There are bathrooms everywhere, including some pretty odd spots like what looks like it used to be a portion of the front room. Ulfr wants to see the original blueprints because it's very clearly been chopped up to make more rooms than were there originally and many of the walls could come back down pretty easily. Currently there are 5 bedrooms upstairs, LR/DR/K plus 2 non-specific rooms on the main floor and the basement has been carved up into 3 or 4 more rooms. So, if we took it on we'd turn the upstairs into 4 bedrooms plus a sitting/craft space. Main floor would probably be living room, dining room, kitchen and library/computer room. The basement would become laundry, storage and Man Cave. We didn't see any kind of attic access but there are a couple of spots on the 2nd floor where it looks like a door has been covered over so maybe it's behind one of them. The backyard isn't huge but there is a garage-sized shed and some grass for the dogs. It's nice and flat so we could easily put a table and a grill back there.
I like it but I'm not sure I see us living there. We'll probably go back for another look, take some pictures and measurements and get another opinion before we make a decision. We also have more places to look at next week.
* Job Corps student eat chicken nuggets like they're facing an impending shortage. True fact.
** I don't like to say Negatives on a house we are actually considering