You can easily see why I loved it. Well. Thursday we finally got inside with the realtor, and it turns out the house has been tenanted by a really bad do-it-yourselfer who should have been shot. There's not a straight line or level surface in the place. There are holes in the walls. Doors are hung wrong so they won't shut or open or stay that way. The carpet in one room is laid horribly. Worst, they lied on the seller's statement; it's not a three-bedroom. It's a two-bedroom with a sort of wide hallway with a closet in it that they're calling a third bedroom. Plus, I'm not an expert, but either the floor in the front ground floor room was laid wrong (entirely possible with that idiot living there) or there's something wrong with the foundation (also entirely possible with the way the house is built into a hill). Bottom line? The fuckhead who lived there has destroyed at least fifty thousand dollars' worth of the value of his house. It was already WAY marked down from the appraised value (we thought due to the housing recession) and there's no way it'll sell without them knocking off at least another twenty grand. At least. It's that bad.
We're definitely not getting involved. Walking the house, I felt like I was channeling Mike Holmes. "Do it right the first time." "You have got to be kidding me." "This is unacceptable."
House I loved, scratched firmly off the list. I'm fairly pissed off about it. The one silver lining is that the realtor saw that not only do I know what I'm looking at/for, but I'm not going to get suckered in because I love a house. So, that's something. A small something, but something.
The same day we toured that house, we toured another that was okay. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. The kitchen is fairly awesome. There was an addition put on the back of the house, a HUGE family room with cathedral ceiling that I do like a whole lot. The back yard is beautifully landscaped. There's a room the hub and I could use as a workshop between us. And the whole thing could be converted to handicapped access easily, if we needed to. So if we don't find anything else we like better, we do have that as a fallback.
The reason this is such a big deal is, if we do not get our stuff out of storage by July, the Navy officially makes it Not Their Problem. Not only would we have to pay storage fees, we would have to pay to get it from South Carolina to Pennsylvania out of pocket. We'd have to take out a loan to pay for it; we could do that, but who in their right mind wants to go into debt right when they buy a house? Especially debt that you have nothing to show for. Buying furniture, okay, you get FURNITURE for your trouble. Moving? Ugh. Sucks. So we've got a deadline. Our realtor gets it and is positively saintly. I've sent her a series of e-mails using the same style I use around here - without the profanity. I'm so stressed I can't quite manage full business style. She thinks I'm hilarious.
Sunday we tour four more houses, including a repeat of what I'm thinking of as Fallback House so the husbeast can see it.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
16 comments:
More pictures, please.
Excellent that your realtor "gets it". Things sound as though they are moving right along. But too bad about that very pretty house...sounds as though it was built wrong to begin with, actually, and time did its ugly magic.
I know this isn't the ideal, but have you considered having the Navy move your stuff from storage in South Carolina to a new storage in Pennsylvania where you'd probably be able to swing a first-month-free deal, so that if it takes a little longer to find a house, you at least only have to deal with a local move for the stuff from storage?
DANG! I love the looks of that house. LOVE the windows. Maybe now the realtor will step up her game and come up with something that suits. Good luck this weekend!!!
What a shame about the house. I can see why you fell for it.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that something suitably lovely comes along quickly, failing that that the fallback house is good.
Oh no! Poor workmanship is something I truly can't stand.
(the capcha code is aptly "diess", because it dies just that much more!)
What rebkatz said. Was telling Husband about this, and he agreed. If you get close to your deadline, have the Navy move the stuff on their dime and put it into local storage. Then at least you're only paying for storage. Give them a couple-few weeks' lead time. Storage-to-storage should be pretty simple.
Ugh. We're living in a rental built with stuff the previous (contractor) tenant scavenged from previous jobs. The walls had drywall screws instead of nails for photos, and we've already done some work (put in a shower that the landlord bought and paid hubby for his time), so I totally understand passing on that 'love it' house.
That is a nice looking house. Too bad about the inside.
And rebkatz had a great idea! At least if the stuff is local, you can move it yourself.
I've gone to estate sales in more than one house that was gorgeous outside, and the inside was one room after another of "What the ...!"
One of my grandmother's friends told me once that the barn carpenter built her house.
Literally, when she was a little girl, they lived in a tent while the barn carpenter built a barn for the animals first, then built their house.
She blamed anything wonky, out of true, non-level, on the barn carpenter.
Loved the outside look of the house and I'm with you on channeling Mike Holmes! I love watching his shows! I also agree to getting your stuff from SC to Penn on the Military's dime and getting it into a local storage. You should also look into Pods because they are wonderful about keeping things nicely in your storage without damage. Good luck on your house hunting tomorrow.
Oh baby... I am SO rooting for you!!!! (Worst comes to worst, move the shit out there on the government's dime, and then put it in storage for a bit on your own.
Man, that looks SO good on the outside... sooooo sucks that it was like a rotten apple.
Fingers crossed that something decent is found today.
sharing my dwelling mojo with you: last year i found a condo that was perfect for me for a ridiculously low price. i've lived here almost a year now, and it's even better than i thought.
two suggestions based on experience with a house i had built in the '90s:
NO PLASTIC SIDING!!! (it rattles in high wind and is easily damaged by blows when cold makes it brittle.)
unless you just can't live without the house for other reasons, avoid a cathedral ceiling -- especially the ones that have a 16' or higher ceiling. they eat you alive on heating costs, even with a ceiling fan; they make all but ginormous furniture look really small and out of proportion, and unless the windows are sited to maximize winter sun and minimize summer sun (thanks to good tree cover), heating and cooling costs will be further magnified by the windows. (otoh, if you find a place sited like mine -- big windows facing almost due south, but shielded by a big oak in summer -- the solar gain can be great!)
hope yesterday's hunting was good!
I've looked at that pic 3 times, now, and I SWEAR that house is leaning!
When looking at houses to purchase always take a couple of marbles. Marbles don't lie...
If the Navy will ship via Smartmove or My Move Options, you get the option of a quality move and storage. Smartmove does the first 28 days free storage and then it is $2 or $3 per day per container. My Move Options uses environmentally friendly containers (i.e., they are biodegradable), use Federal Express Ground for shipping and you get I think the first 14 days free storage.
Okay, now that my relocation hat is off. You are so right about the house. Although I love my house now (although there are some doors that just will never stay closed when you want them to), we have been in it for 29 years and it has taken us years to get where we love it, including paying the stupid thing off and then getting a new mortgage to fix it.
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