The Ballad of House Buying: Part 4 - A Closer Examination

On Sunday, January 10, I looked at the House with the Cute Backyard with Jason. I had seen the house with my Mom, Carla and Jay. Plus Teresa had seen it earlier. I wanted Jason's far more practical perspective.

Jesse also dropped by to look for a lead pipe. A simple lead pipe once cost that man 10,000 large. It has become a personal crusade of his to prevent any of his friends from going through such an ordeal again.

Jason felt that the house was solidly built and didn't see any major problems.

It was now my time to think about whether or not I wanted to buy this house and what my purchase price goal would be.

I spent Sunday night thinking on whether or not I wanted to buy this house.

Shannon had asked me about the house and so I sent her the following email to both inform her and as a way for me to work out the pros and cons of this house.

SUBJECT: RE: Post-Holiday

This Nostradamus end of the world thing is lamer than anticipated.


Some pictures of this potential house.



Pluses for the kitchen.
1. Tons of cupboard space.
2. Fridge is usable.
3. Kitchen vent.
4. Space for a small table for a place to eat in the kitchen.
5. No dishwasher, but space for a dishwasher.
6. I actually kind of like the antiquing on the cabinet doors, but the handles would have to be replaced.
7. In side of cupboards painted a sweet red color. Would consider painting rest of kitchen that sweet red color.

Minuses for the kitchen.
1. The stove is usable, but I would most likely want to replace it right away.
2. Not a ton of counter space, but probably more than enough for somebody like me.
3. The saloon doors would have to go. This would break Jay’s heart.




Dining Room Pluses

1. Chandelier is pretty. Only pretty ceiling light fixture in the house.
2. It is just nice to have a dining area since I would like to be able to entertain.
3. The Hoosier would most likely go in the dining room. It has always been used as storage. In the future it would most likely be used for serving and storage.
4. Nice open floor plan
5. Wall separates entry way from the dining room.

Dining Room Minuses

1. Stupid saloon doors.
2. Would need to install a digital thermometer. But that is a cheap and easy fix.
3. If I would decide to further distinguish the living room from the dining room by leaving one room with carpet and exposing the wood floor in the other room, the carpet seam is in a weird place.
   

Living Room Pluses

1. 2 decent sized walls, so a few possible layouts.
2. Big.
3. Great window.
4. Plenty of electrical outlets, but they need to be updated.

Living Room Negatives

1. Don't really have any except general electrical updating.

Other half of kitchen




Master Bedroom Pluses

1. Big.
2. Two window thing is cool.
3. Two closets.

Master Bedroom Minuses

1. Curtains are so ugly they will have to be doused with Holy Water and then burned.
2. Perhaps the ugliest ceiling light fixture ever.
3. Master bedroom is in the front of the house, so closest to the street.

Bathroom Pluses

1. Decent sized tub.
2. Cool original tile.
3. Closet behind the tub.
4. Medicine cabinet.

Bathroom Minuses

1. Kind of small.
2. No shower, but there is a closet behind the tub, so it would be an easy add.
3. Kind of wish the toilet was green to match the tile.

Bedroom Two Pluses

1. One decent sized closet.
2. The fact that there are 3 bedrooms.
3. Beautiful woodwork under ugly carpet.
4. Newish, Pella windows.

Bedroom Two Minuses

1. What, only one closet?
2. Ugly carpet, but who likes carpet? Especially when you have wood floors!

Bedroom Three/Office Pluses

1. Three bedrooms means: 1 master bedroom, 1 guest bedroom and an office!!
2. This would make a sweet office.
3. Two closets.
4. Sweet built in shelves.
5. Good sized office.

Bedroom Three/Office Minuses

1. By far the ugliest carpet in the house, but sweet wood floor underneath, so the carpet could go.
2. Weird ceiling light fixture.

Basement Bathroom Pluses

1. There is a bathroom in the basement.
2. Includes shower, toilet and vanity.
3. Good sized and walled in.

Basement Bathroom Minuses

1. Shower is a bit on the short side.

Basement Workspace Pluses

1. There is a basement workspace.
2. Could probably be turned into a dark room fairly easily.

Screened in Patio

1. There is a screened in patio.
2. It has lighting.
3. There are two doors.
4. It lead to an open air brick patio made with Boone Bricks.

The Cute Backyard

1. This is a good sized yard.
2. "Fenced" in by a hedge.
3. Lots of landscaping
4. 2 small trees. Potentially those pretty trees that flower in the spring.

Negatives

1. The white picket fence doesn't really serve any purpose.
2. Lots of landscaping could be lots of work to break up.
3. Not really sure what they were growing back there. I think both grapes and raspberries.

Other Positives

1. Garage.
2. Flagpole, where I could fly a Cyclone flag on game days and the US flag on special days or where I could make political statements that would make me unpopular in the neighborhood.
3. Built by Thorngren, the most widely respected builder in Boone during the 1950s.
4. Loaded with potential.
5. Furnace is only 15 years old.
6. Lamp post in the front yard.
7. Located in a phenomenal neighborhood. Pretty much a straight shot out of town to get to work.
8. Only one owner. Ever.

Negatives

1. Fuse box. That would have to be replaced.
2. Garage is narrow. Driveway is long. Lots of potential shoveling. No service door on the garage.
3. It doesn't have maintenance free siding. The outside will have to be painted every now and again.
4. Because of the hedge, I'm not sure what do about a fence.

I do like this window. A lot.

I actually looked at 5 other houses. There is another one that I kind of liked. It had a much bigger kitchen. It had 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but it doesn’t have much of a yard. But one of the bathrooms had a sweet pink tub and sink.

I have no doubt that you are sufficiently bored now.