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The House Hunters Thread

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!! Enjoy your much-needed break!

We compromised this weekend--D wanted to take a break, I had a few homes I wanted to see. We''re going to spend two days hiking in the Adirondacks after T-giving, then come home Sunday and see seven houses. I''m happy with the plan. I''m eager to get out town, but am also very excited about one of the houses in particular. The house isn''t what I thought we''d want, but I''ve fallen in love with it on paper and think it will be even better in person. I''m keeping my fingers crossed!
 
How is everybody doing this weekend? Am I the only house hunter left? I''m starting to hear an echo on this thread :)

We saw seven homes today. We liked two.

One is a cute beach house that has been very, very nicely redone. It was built in the 1920''s and the homeowners painstakingly restored it keeping all of the original details. They did a fantastic job. The drawbacks are that the neighbors are close and it''s in the town we don''t love as much.

The second is our favorite! It''s not what I thought we''d love, but it just has so much character. It''s in our favorite seaside town, but it''s 2 miles from the water, so it doesn''t feel beachy in the least. All the homes are older and on huge, private lots, so it definitely feels more rural than anything. The house was a Captain''s house (I thought it was a shipbuilder''s house, but I was wrong) that was built in the mid 1800''s. The details are really lovely--all original windows, original floors, the banister is hand-carved wood and it still has the original stable (but it''s converted into storage now). The house needs a few updates in the kitchen and bathrooms, but not many. I think we might make an offer on this house, but I think I''d like to take one more look first. It was getting dark when we saw it today and I just want to see it once in the light.
 
No, you''re not alone NEL. DH and I had a surprise shower at my grandma''s yesterday (
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) and really haven''t been home this weekend... The house you saw seems fantastic! We don''t have this kind of old houses around here.

We saw four houses today. They were all pretty nice, which is a nice change from last time, but one of them was a smoker''s house (
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) and a bit too remote to our taste and another was a semi-detached house with a shared driveway (hello neighbour wars over snow shovelling...
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). The last two were very similar with the same price, but one was larger and had an air exchange system which is very handy for even heating in winter. We put an offer on it. We''ll have to change the roofing, but DH is a trained carpenter and has friends in the business, so we can do that for a modest fee and we used that to negociate the price. DH is thrilled to have a garage...
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Let''s hope this one works; I don''t think I''ll be able to do any more visiting before baby arrives. I''ll be 36 weeks on Wednesday and we have to make the final preparations for the big arrival!
 
Anchor! Congrats on putting in the offer, that is so exciting!! When does it expire??

How fabulous is it that your husband is so handy? My husband is an amazing man, but not handy in the slightest. There have been many times when we''ve looked at a house and said "if we were more handy, I bet we could fix this fairly easily". The fact that your hubby has equally handy friends is even better! :)

I saw a house today with a shared driveway and I said the EXACT same thing about shovelling to my husband. I wasn''t sure who was responsible for shoveling what and thought it would be a pain. That house didn''t make the short list!

I hope this one works out so you can put the hunting behind you and just focus on the baby! Let us know as soon as you know anything!
 
Our agent is presenting the offer this evening and it expires on Thursday at 10PM. I''m keeping my fingers crossed!

I have to tell you, I loooooove that my husband is so handy (and so does my dad, hahaha
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). He''s an industrial designer now, but he was a carpenter when we met. His brother is a cabinetmaker (he made us an awesome bookshelf as a wedding present) and he has two friends who are drywall finishers. So I''m really not sweating home improvement projects. Eventually (as in a few years down the road), we''d probably want to redesign the basement and that would be a walk in the park too. I''m sure you can imagine how sick DH is to be living in an apartment; he''s really dying to have space to work with his tools and make stuff and work on his house, ya know? I just want a backyard and a nice kitchen.
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Anchor - fingers crossed for you!

NEL - You''re not alone my friend.
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Our realtor has a bead on a house that might work for us. She''s doing some research with the listing agent before we go see. Cross your fingers!!
 
I''m still here, and frustrated at the moment...

Still no work being done on the lot. I''m starting to think that with Holiday''s, build time, and then appraisal and closing time, there is no way we are going to be in this house by April. We have been dealing with this since middle of September, and have completely wasted 2 months now. We''ll technically, probably 1 month that absolutely nothing has been done.

Also, when meeting with the builder, he informed me that the paint color I picked out will be put on ALL walls AND ceilings.

For now we are only having crown molding in the kitchen and breakfast nook. I am fine with the same color on wall and ceiling in those rooms. However, for the other 7 rooms, I do NOT want the color to go from wall to ceiling.
The designer that I worked with only indicated that I was picking wall color for the kitchen, so I have an email in to her inbox, and am waiting for a response. I don''t mind the wall color in each of the rooms, but I would prefer that they leave the ceilings white for the time being. I can change the colors later.

Do you all have any view on the subject? I have made so many decisions already, I''m starting to forget why I chose certain things in the first place...
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Now I''m starting to think that all one color is a good idea, sicne the extra bedrooms are only 10x10. We will obviously re-paint the nursery, and I''m thinking we can just paint over the ceiling color in the family room, in case we don''t like it.
 
Gecko, I''m keeping my fingers crossed for you--I hope your realtor found a great one!

Meresal, I was excited when I saw your post because I was really hoping they broke ground. Ugh, I can''t believe they haven''t started anything!!! I am sure you are beyond frustrated! And I find it very odd that they would assume you wanted the walls and ceilings painted in the same color in every room. It makes more sense to me that all the ceilings would be white unless otherwise noted, not the other way around, you know? I''m a white ceiling kind of girl, so I''d probably keep them all white, but I''m definitely not a design expert by any means.

I''m continuing to keep my fingers crossed for you. They NEED to break ground ASAP or it''s going to freeze!
 
Date: 11/29/2009 6:39:39 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
How is everybody doing this weekend? Am I the only house hunter left? I'm starting to hear an echo on this thread :)


We saw seven homes today. We liked two.


One is a cute beach house that has been very, very nicely redone. It was built in the 1920's and the homeowners painstakingly restored it keeping all of the original details. They did a fantastic job. The drawbacks are that the neighbors are close and it's in the town we don't love as much.


The second is our favorite! It's not what I thought we'd love, but it just has so much character. It's in our favorite seaside town, but it's 2 miles from the water, so it doesn't feel beachy in the least. All the homes are older and on huge, private lots, so it definitely feels more rural than anything. The house was a Captain's house (I thought it was a shipbuilder's house, but I was wrong) that was built in the mid 1800's. The details are really lovely--all original windows, original floors, the banister is hand-carved wood and it still has the original stable (but it's converted into storage now). The house needs a few updates in the kitchen and bathrooms, but not many. I think we might make an offer on this house, but I think I'd like to take one more look first. It was getting dark when we saw it today and I just want to see it once in the light.
Click to expand...

NEL-That's fantastic!! I'm so happy you guys found something you really like. My dad owns a 19th century house (dates pre-revolution) and I love it. Owning a historic home is a very special experience. One word of advice though. If it's got original windows and hasn't been reinsulated, ask to see their utility bills. You could be paying up the wazoo for heat every month.

ETA: Oh, and DH is very handy (and was a historic preservation minor) and I love to paint and do tile work. We're available to help if you need it!
 
Date: 11/30/2009 3:21:58 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk




Date: 11/29/2009 6:39:39 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
How is everybody doing this weekend? Am I the only house hunter left? I'm starting to hear an echo on this thread :)


We saw seven homes today. We liked two.


One is a cute beach house that has been very, very nicely redone. It was built in the 1920's and the homeowners painstakingly restored it keeping all of the original details. They did a fantastic job. The drawbacks are that the neighbors are close and it's in the town we don't love as much.


The second is our favorite! It's not what I thought we'd love, but it just has so much character. It's in our favorite seaside town, but it's 2 miles from the water, so it doesn't feel beachy in the least. All the homes are older and on huge, private lots, so it definitely feels more rural than anything. The house was a Captain's house (I thought it was a shipbuilder's house, but I was wrong) that was built in the mid 1800's. The details are really lovely--all original windows, original floors, the banister is hand-carved wood and it still has the original stable (but it's converted into storage now). The house needs a few updates in the kitchen and bathrooms, but not many. I think we might make an offer on this house, but I think I'd like to take one more look first. It was getting dark when we saw it today and I just want to see it once in the light.
Click to expand...

NEL-That's fantastic!! I'm so happy you guys found something you really like. My dad owns a 19th century house (dates pre-revolution) and I love it. Owning a historic home is a very special experience. One word of advice though. If it's got original windows and hasn't been reinsulated, ask to see their utility bills. You could be paying up the wazoo for heat every month.

ETA: Oh, and DH is very handy (and was a historic preservation minor) and I love to paint and do tile work. We're available to help if you need it!
Click to expand...
HH, you are the sweetest woman on the planet! And thank you so much for the advice--I'm sure that owning an antique home comes with many headaches, but it's hard to beat the character. This home has new storm windows outside of the antique windows, which protects the windows and keeps the house more energy efficient. I'd still want to ask the inspector many questions about everything else, though. All the systems are new, but I'm not sure about pipes, electricity, etc.

We rented an antique a few years ago that had original windows (but no insulation) and definitely paid out the wazoo in the winter. I think I'll still ask about utility costs for this house, though, it can't hurt!

I promised DH that we'd hire professionals to come in and paint and give one of the bathrooms a little facelift before we moved in. The kitchen could use an update, too, but nothing immediate. If we ever need help in the future, I might need a little tutorial from you :)

I never posted a photo of the house we put an offer on because I didn't want to jinx it, but we were rejected, anyway, so that didn't work. I'll post a pic of this one because...well why not.

I still think this house is a long shot. It's priced really well, but at the top of our budget. I don't think we have much wiggle room. We'll see it again this weekend, then probably put in an offer next week (if it's still on the market).

ETA: This is the back of the house--the main entry is on the other side.

house7362.jpg
 
Yea I can occasionally be nice
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That house is amazing! Go for it!!!
 
NEL!! It's gorgeous!!

I think that we are secretly design twins. We seem to agree on most features and look for the same type of "feel". If we had it in the budget right now, I would be building a house with white siding on the corner of a lake and an 18th green somewhere
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Oh NEL - It''s lovely! Fingers crossed for you!!!

Meresal - ugh. I want to smack someone on your behalf!!!

Realtor finally got work back from the selling agent. They already accepted another offer that had previously been in as a backup offer. *sigh*
We''ve got one that looks nice, it''s in our price range, but it''s lakefront and it''s NOT an all sports lake. This doesn''t bother me, but DH isn''t thrilled. We''re going to go check it out anyway.
 
NEL - looks like a beautiful house! At least you''re close to the shore, without having to deal with flood insurance being prohibitively expensive. Hope you love it as much next time you see it!

Anchor - congrats on your offer - hope it''s accepted!
 
NEL - Wow!!! I haven''t followed this thread (which is odd because I LOVE houses), but just took a peak today and saw the pic you posted!!! It''s gorgeous! Love the little garden too. You are so patient!! I would have wanted to get right back in there for a second viewing asap! Has it been on the market for long?

Sounds like it''s perfect! I''d love to see more pics! It''s not bad luck!!
 
Thanks, all!

Gecko, so sorry to hear about the house--houses sure move quickly in your area!

drk, you are exactly right about the lack of flood insurance. I know an antique house has its own issues, so the maintenance costs may not be all that different from oceanfront, but the lack of flood insurance is money we can put towards the house (or a trip to the Caribbean every year, haha)

Lovesvintage, thanks for stopping in! It''s only been on the market for a couple of months, but I don''t think it''s going to be on much longer because the price just dropped last week and it''s already a couple of hundred thousand below assessment. I''m hoping the slow traffic around the holidays will help (and maybe generate another price drop!), but who knows. I never get that attached to houses, so we might wait a few weeks to see if the price drops before we make an offer. Not sure yet.

Here is a pic of the street-facing side of the house (definitely looks more New Englandish here)--you can see the huge chimney from this angle. The fireplace in the formal living room is massive and it''s made of stone from a local beach. It has the name of the house carved into it, which is neat.

house4563.jpg
 
Date: 11/30/2009 12:58:52 PM
Author: meresal
I''m still here, and frustrated at the moment...


Still no work being done on the lot. I''m starting to think that with Holiday''s, build time, and then appraisal and closing time, there is no way we are going to be in this house by April. We have been dealing with this since middle of September, and have completely wasted 2 months now. We''ll technically, probably 1 month that absolutely nothing has been done.


Also, when meeting with the builder, he informed me that the paint color I picked out will be put on ALL walls AND ceilings.


For now we are only having crown molding in the kitchen and breakfast nook. I am fine with the same color on wall and ceiling in those rooms. However, for the other 7 rooms, I do NOT want the color to go from wall to ceiling.

The designer that I worked with only indicated that I was picking wall color for the kitchen, so I have an email in to her inbox, and am waiting for a response. I don''t mind the wall color in each of the rooms, but I would prefer that they leave the ceilings white for the time being. I can change the colors later.


Do you all have any view on the subject? I have made so many decisions already, I''m starting to forget why I chose certain things in the first place...
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Now I''m starting to think that all one color is a good idea, sicne the extra bedrooms are only 10x10. We will obviously re-paint the nursery, and I''m thinking we can just paint over the ceiling color in the family room, in case we don''t like it.
Click to expand...

Been reading this thread for a while but haven''t posted for the same reasons; I have nothing to show yet as we''re building as well. You started your search/contract a month before me, and I''m also in the same boat and was given a 4-5 month time frame. They''re breaking ground in Jan. I totally feel your frustration!
 
NEL - That house is gorgeous!
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gecko - Did you see the house? How was it?

meresal and snooper - Sorry about the builder frustrations!
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Seriously, our agent kicks major butt. She went to present our offer before dinner yesterday, they signed a counter-offer, and she came to present it to us after dinner. We countered their counter-offer (gotta love negociating) and she''s presenting it to them today, so chances are we''ll have our answer tonight!
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Our first offer was 5% below asking, they countered at 3,2%, and we met them half-way at 4,1%. We would have taken their counter-offer if it wasn''t for the roofing that needs to be re-done... But we need to consider that it''ll be an extra on the mortgage.

So... kepp the dust coming!
 
Anchor - at least they''re counteroffering, so there''s a good chance that this could be it! Ours got signed back at full asking price, take it or leave it. Cause he didn''t need to sell and could afford to wait however long for someone to pay full asking.

Just got our first of two quotes on the basement changes: nearly $29000. We''d been told rough ballpark of $20000 by our designer, so a little sad. We''ll see what the other guy quotes. Must call him today to light a fire under his a$$ - haven''t heard back since I emailed him the details on what needs to be done last week.
 
NEL: love the house
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, how many rooms, it looks huge!
 
Hi, guys!
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Hope everyone had a good holiday... I can''t believe it''s December already!

NEL - Wow. That house looks amazing!!! I
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all the outdoor living spaces & balconies!!! Good luck, if you decide to put in an offer!

Anchor - dussst!! Yay for a kick-butt agent, too! We went through the whole offer/counter offer/counter-counter offer thing, too, so I hear ya on that! My hubs is pretty handy, too. He''s excited to finally have space for his tools - he had been storing them at my mom''s while we lived at the apartment. He is so excited to be working on this house... I''m pretty sure all his Christmas presents will be coming form Home Depot this year
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Meresal & Snooper... Boo on waiting! What a bummer!


Got a lot done this past week... LR, DR & MBR are done!! I got down with the miter saw this weekend and we banged out the baseboards. We bought LR furniture on Friday, and it was delivered yesterday. My new camera was delivered yesterday, too
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. But it seems I bought the wrong kind of memory card for it
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The dang internal memory only holds 3 pictures!! I gotta install the software, then I''ll post before & after pics.
 
Anchor, I''m super excited for you!!! This is great news, I can''t imagine that this isn''t going to work out for you guys!! WOOHOO!!! Let us know when you know!

drk, ugh, I''m so sorry to hear about the high quote. Both of the quotes were right at $29K? Even if you got a few more quotes, it seems like they''re going to keep coming back closer to $30K than $20K. So frustrating!

Janine, it''s 9 rooms and around 2,500 square feet, so not huge and not small. 4 nicely-sized bedrooms (I think the smallest is 13x12), 2.5 baths, an eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, formal living room and a family room. I wish there were one extra room that we could make an office or a playroom, but there is definitely enough space to figure it out. I keep planning for 2 kids, but I''m not even pregnant with one yet, so I might be over-planning. I think I remember your house is a similar size...does it ever feel small?
 
NEL, just popping in to say that I LOVE that house. An (updated) historic New England house in a beach town in Massachusetts? Yup, that''s my dream too! Good luck with the offer. What town is it in (you can just tell me the first letter if you want)?
 
Here are some before and after pics... there are a lot of little things we still need (curtains, lamps, rug, tv stand, etc). I think the walls look a bit greener IRL... I opened all the blinds for the pics, and I think they got washed out some.
Living room:

lrbanda1.jpg
 
LR from another angle...

lrbanda2.jpg
 
The accent wall up the steps (I don''t have a before pic of this)

lra1.jpg
 
Dining Room...
I took all the crystals off the chandelier. I think I''m going to refinish the gold to a nickel color, and keep it for now.

drbanda2.jpg
 
Bedroom...

Unfortunately, I made an impulse buy last week with the bedding. I''m not sure I like it. Macy''s was having an amazing sale last Wed - the whole set was only $57.99, plus I had a $10 off coupon. I still think I may go yellow.

mbrbana1.jpg
 
Weird... it''s not letting me upload the last pic. Oh, well, it was just another angle of the bedroom.

Here''s the kittehs.

Sometimes friends... sometimes, not so much.
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kittehs4545.jpg
 
Oh my goodness, Lynnie! I am completely FLABBERGASTED!!! This looks like a completely different house, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL now!!! Who knew those gorgeous hardwoods were hiding under that carpet. I am just in awe of how fabulous hyou made this house look. And in a MONTH! Job well done, Lynnie, you should be very proud!!

And those kitty pictures are adorable! I''m sure they love the new house!
 
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