Adventures in House Hunting part 6: The Curse of the Plumber!

May 02, 2011 14:01

Saturday brought us a cancellation.  Sunday was better, if rather quick.

Our real estate agent was in a wedding on Sunday and was not able to meet us until 4:30.  What we didn't know what that he cut his timing a little close so he showed up in his tux, boutonniere still attached.  Very spiffy!  In fact, he is now Mr Spiffy for purposes of this journal.

Since N was with us, we instinctively divided the looking and commenting.  N, being a plumber and pipe welder went straight for the bathrooms, kitchen and basement.  Ulfr made notes on needed repairs and I looked at the bones of the house - room size, layout, evidence of remodeling, that sort of thing.

Cracker Box: 1920's Cape Cod.  The outside was pretty.  Yeah, that's about it.  The rooms were small, there was evidence that a cat had been making itself at home in the upstairs, the main floor had been redone with deplorably cheap drop-ceilings, the kitchen was practically non-existent and once again, no freaking pipes!  Is it too much to ask that a house have actual plumbing in it?

Jungle Love Bathroom House: another Cape Code-ish place, larger than the first one.  The online pictures showed that it was an incomplete remodel but given that we have a renovation loan that didn't seem to be a concern.  The room that looked the best online was the kitchen...until we got there.  The floor sloped downwards towards the back of the house.  Nice cabinets but in order to fix the floor they will need to come out.  The windows were huge!  They were also industrial office-style windows that did not open.  I didn't go into the basement but Ulfr reported the decor as "early 70's pimp".  The plumbing horrified N; not only was it badly done but the toilets had been ripped out and neither replaced nor the holes covered, which meant a high likelyhood of sewer gasses in the house.  The Jungle Love bathroom was all I thought it to be.  Wide black enamel tub with 2 shower heads and tiger-print detailing.  Also, no toilet in there either.  A check of the driveway showed uneven settling and the structural integrity of the whole thing was called into question.  But what really settled us against it was the feel of the place.  It was Not Good.  Not haunted, that we could handle.  This place just held a lot of bad memories; evil things were done to innocent people in that house and the house remembered.  We won't move our family into that.

Somewhat disheartened we got in the car to see the 3rd and final house for the day.  We drove down a few quiet streets until we reached...

Mini-Winchester: a 1930's barn-shaped Colonial house with 6 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a fully fenced yard and a 3-car detached garage.  This house was actually occupied with furniture and everything!  Ulfr was especially eager to see the garage but sadly it was nailed shut.  I think the residents might have been renters, so they may have been keeping their personal things out there to leave the house showable.  So why call it Mini-Winchester?  I'll explain.  For starters, there is a room on the main floor that clearly used to be a kitchen. Except now?  Not so much.  We finally found the kitchen, on the 2nd floor in what used to be a bedroom.  *blink blink*  Ok...  There was a full bathroom off the once-and-future-kitchen with an awesome claw-foot tub.  No shower and that's an odd place for a bathroom but it's workable.  The plumbing gets weirder though.  As you enter the basement, the stairs break into a landing about 4 steps off the floor.  To the left, 4 steps down into the storage area.  To the right, 4 stairs down into a framed-out room with a toilet.  No sink, not even pipes for a sink.  Just a random toilet in the middle of the floor.  The main stairs do the same thing; they come down from the 2nd floor to a landing.  4 stairs to the left is the living room.  4 stairs to the right is a door, that leads to the hallway in front of the kitchen, which can also be reached through the living room. The 2nd floor has 3 good-sized bedrooms, a full bath and the current kitchen (which has a laundry chute!).  The 3rd floor has 3 smallish bedrooms and a large storage closet, with an internal window overlooking the stairwell.

In addition to the inside there is a large front porch, a back deck and a fenced yard.  All this, well inside our price range!  It's a genuinely nice house with a lot of potential and plenty of space.  There is room for all the books and my sewing things and for our friends to visit.

Faced with these 3 options, we did what anyone in our position would do.  We put in a bid on Mini-Winchester.  Mr Spiffy is writing it up and working with the Finance company.  We are making sure to put in a clause stating the the house must be empty at signing and there will be pictures taken soon, just in case the current tenants get a little vengeful, as the house is going up on short-sale.  Fingers crossed for us!

mysterious n, house hunt

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