Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
|
Post by Lizard Queen on Feb 3, 2015 20:54:19 GMT -5
Why don't you get on that property brothers show (send the contractor brother my way after). Then you could have it all! Good idea, but I doubt that Shanen is the right type for the show. I could be wrong, but I've been watching a lot of it at my mom's lately, and it seems like the couple has got to be annoying and unreasonable in some way. Maybe she can act annoying for the show's sake though... (It's probably just me, and these couples are really fine. Who puts their living room between their dining room and kitchen on purpose? Traipsing food through the living room, and dirty dishes back through to the kitchen? It drives me nuts.)
|
|
raeoflyte
Senior Associate
Joined: Feb 3, 2011 15:43:53 GMT -5
Posts: 15,015
|
Post by raeoflyte on Feb 3, 2015 21:57:59 GMT -5
So....how was the house?
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 12:21:30 GMT -5
We're still in dilemma mode. The house remains gorgeous. It is also HUGE. No way do we need 3600+ sqft, even with a 2nd kid. No way do we need a formal living room, a tv room sunken down from the eat in kitchen, and a family room upstairs. No way do we need a formal dining room with a mural-ed ceiling or a master bedroom that may well be the largest room in the house. We do not need this house. I still love this house. C agrees it's a pretty cool house.
The other factor that's playing in here is a very YM factor, which is OMG is it a good deal, price wise. It's listed for $425k. 2 blocks away is a house with 1 less bedroom, 1 less bathroom, 1000 fewer square feet and a yard half the size listed at $420 (which is actually pretty on par with the market). The family selling this home has been looking to sell it since 2007/2008. They had 4 kids (hence having built a 5 bedroom home), and all the kids have moved out. It's just the parents, and they want to downsize- like to townhouse downsize. They are motivated. I could probably get this house for under the $425k. We could get absolutely nothing like it for the price anywhere within my current commute time of 50 minutes. If I went to a 90+ minute commute, we might be able to get something close. We could move right in. The only thing I might want to do is replace some carpets. And we would have plenty of cash on hand, in this price range, to do that. The move would be easy, and we could take our time doing it.
In addition, being only half a mile away from our current house would make it really easy to keep the current house and rent it out. C would be close enough to manage the minor renovations that would be needed to rent it, and close enough to just generally property manage.
Those are among the many positives. But, it still doesn't meet our stated goals. We are not putting in an offer. We're going to keep looking in our preferred area for the next few weeks. If this house sells in that time, then it sells. If it doesn't, then it remains an option of we can't find anything we like close to as much in our preferred areas. In fact, knowing what we know now, if this house were to go off the market, if we decided it was for us, we could just contact the agent and let them know. So, still looking for now.
But here are some pics for you:Formal dining room eat in kitchen with step-down tv room formal living room master bedroom
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 12:23:57 GMT -5
And just so folks know - I am now off to a 2+ hour meeting that it will take me 30 minutes to get to and from, so I'm away from my computer for the next 3 hours.
|
|
Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
|
Post by Lizard Queen on Feb 4, 2015 12:28:53 GMT -5
I can certainly see the appeal, but it begs the question, why hasn't this house been snapped up already?
One thing to consider, giant house = larger utility bills.
It's gorgeous, and that master bedroom is humongous!
|
|
taz157
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 20:50:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,940
|
Post by taz157 on Feb 4, 2015 12:42:04 GMT -5
I can certainly see the appeal, but it begs the question, why hasn't this house been snapped up already? One thing to consider, giant house = larger utility bills. It's gorgeous, and that master bedroom is humongous! Yeah that.
|
|
bean29
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 22:26:57 GMT -5
Posts: 10,208
|
Post by bean29 on Feb 4, 2015 13:05:32 GMT -5
I agree, I can certainly see why you are in Dilemma mode.
I can't imagine why you need such a large Dining room, but it is cool!
I really liked the Living Room (the one with the fireplace) and the kitchen is gorgeous!
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 11, 2024 21:23:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 13:27:30 GMT -5
what were the cons again? and the formal living room doesn't look very formal...love all the windows
|
|
Opti
Community Leader
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 10:45:38 GMT -5
Posts: 42,246
Location: New Jersey
Mini-Profile Name Color: c28523
Mini-Profile Text Color: 990033
Member is Online
|
Post by Opti on Feb 4, 2015 13:27:31 GMT -5
The kitchen worries me a little. What happens if the house settles and the hanging supports for those cabinets don't settle evenly?
I hope you find what you want at a price you can live with. All those windows also make me wonder how warm or cold you would be in the heart of winter or summer. I'm pretty cold near this one window here in colder NJ so I might be projecting.
|
|
bean29
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 22:26:57 GMT -5
Posts: 10,208
|
Post by bean29 on Feb 4, 2015 14:59:38 GMT -5
I have questions about the Kitchen too.
Is that refrigerator really as large as it looks? It is huge. Is it included in the sale?, if not you will be spending a lot of $$ to fill the space.
Look at the table they have sitting there. There are only two chairs at the table and two at the breakfast bar. If there were two on each side, would there be adequate room around the table?
I am living in a house (that we built) that has an issue with this, so I just want you to be aware...not that I might not be just as tempted as you to offer on it, but if you had a larger family this might bring the price you were willing to pay down.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 11, 2024 21:23:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 15:02:01 GMT -5
How do the taxes compare?
Were there any disclosures from previous inspections?
|
|
lexxy703
Senior Associate
Joined: Aug 26, 2011 13:52:17 GMT -5
Posts: 13,771
|
Post by lexxy703 on Feb 4, 2015 15:10:28 GMT -5
It is a gorgeous house but all those wonderful windows are wasted on views of the neighboring houses. You will have to cover them up or be living in a fishbowl. That would turn me off.
|
|
bean29
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 22:26:57 GMT -5
Posts: 10,208
|
Post by bean29 on Feb 4, 2015 15:37:17 GMT -5
It is a gorgeous house but all those wonderful windows are wasted on views of the neighboring houses. You will have to cover them up or be living in a fishbowl. That would turn me off. I thought of that too, and There are no window coverings on the windows, to cover them, would cost a fortune.
I have quite a few windows, and I am sensitive to light (sun glare). I often close the blinds in the kitchen dinette as the sun rises in the AM B/C the sun glare really bothers my eyes.
There are a lot of people here (and most of my own family) who have no concerns that people can see in their house at night.
|
|
lexxy703
Senior Associate
Joined: Aug 26, 2011 13:52:17 GMT -5
Posts: 13,771
|
Post by lexxy703 on Feb 4, 2015 15:51:36 GMT -5
It is a gorgeous house but all those wonderful windows are wasted on views of the neighboring houses. You will have to cover them up or be living in a fishbowl. That would turn me off. I thought of that too, and There are no window coverings on the windows, to cover them, would cost a fortune.
I have quite a few windows, and I am sensitive to light (sun glare). I often close the blinds in the kitchen dinette as the sun rises in the AM B/C the sun glare really bothers my eyes.
There are a lot of people here (and most of my own family) who have no concerns that people can see in their house at night.
I have a lot of windows on the back of my house & specifically chose a view of the woods in the back of the subdivision instead of looking at neighbors back yards & you are right window coverings for all those windows would cost a fortune.
|
|
muttleynfelix
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 15:32:52 GMT -5
Posts: 9,406
|
Post by muttleynfelix on Feb 4, 2015 16:19:55 GMT -5
Looking at it and the price just makes me glad we are house hunting in Iowa instead of Seattle.
|
|
Cookies Galore
Senior Associate
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 18:08:13 GMT -5
Posts: 10,892
|
Post by Cookies Galore on Feb 4, 2015 16:37:19 GMT -5
The house is... eh. But that dining room? I'd be planning world domination every night!
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 16:39:36 GMT -5
Let's see if I can get through the questions.
Why hasn't it been bought yet? First off, it just came back on the market this last weekend, so it's for now, it's only been listed (this time around) for about 5 days. And while houses in the areas around the University are selling in under 2 weeks, that's not the case in my neighborhood, where we're still taking a few months, on average. As to why it hasn't been bought any of the previous times it was listed since 2007/2008, there have been two previous offers. In the first one, the inspection did find some issues (gutters, a break in the siding) and the buyer decided to back out. The owners have fixed those issues. The second offer, the buyer got cold feet at the last minute. Otherwise, the price point on this house did NOT used to be this low. It was at least $100k higher, and possible $150k higher. The market in our neighborhood has taken longer than in Seattle proper to start recovering from the bursting of the bubble, but we are now at a point where older houses are once more being torn down to build newer, bigger homes. It is very possible that by deciding we are going to sit on this decision for a couple weeks, we are taking ourselves out of the running for the house.
Taxes are about double what the taxes on my current home are, which makes sense as both the house and lot are double the size of my current house/lot.
It's not quite as fishbowl-y as it seems. That living room with all the sliding glass doors is surrounded by quite a bit of open space, and looks at the side (no windows) of the nearest house, and the fences of the houses behind it. Given how much space is around the house, there's actually less of a view into it (or out of it) than in most new construction neighborhoods. (That, and I'll be honest, we'd use what I call the formal living room only when we had people over. With C, I refer to that space as the Christmas Tree room. Of the downstairs space, we'd do most of our living in the kitchen area, and otherwise be on the upper floor.)
One of our long term goals would be to build a fenced area in the back for the dogs, cutting down even more on the fish bowl nature.
Window coverings will be expensive. At the same time, I'm probably replacing most of the downstairs window coverings regardless. I'm not a big fan of blinds to begin with, and my dogs destroy them quite quickly. One bonus of the house is that even though it has lots of windows, it is set back on a private street across from a green belt. Only two houses are past this one on the street, so not a lot of traffic, not a lot of things for my dogs to bark at.
I don't know what utilities run. The house does have natural gas heat, compared to my house's electric (with heat pump) heat. However, there are 3 fireplaces- one in what I'm calling the formal living room, one in the step-down tv room off the kitchen, and one in the upstairs family room (which is actually exactly the same as the formal living room, just one floor above it), which could probably help keep heating costs down. We don't get that cold in the Seattle area, so it's not as much a concern as it would be elsewhere in the country.
All appliances come with the house, including the fridge. It is probably as big as it seems. We actually have a pretty big fridge in our current house, so it didn't seem outsized to me.
This house was built over 20 years ago, so I think most of the settling has been done, and the cabinets have multiple supports (including plexiglass, which can't be seen in the picture), so I'm not super worried about their even-ness.
Last time we were there, there was a bigger table in the kitchen eating space, and things worked fine. Currently, in addition to that table, they have a buffet in the back corner, something I don't have. My current pub height dining room table should fit in that space just fine, especially if we take the leaves out.
As for the negatives of the house, well, that goes back to what C and I originally stated as our goals for moving. In addition to a bigger/better house, we were looking for a better school district and a shorter commute for me. Given that this house is only about 1/2 mile from our current house, there would be no change in commute or school district.
The house is absolutely huge. One of the drawbacks is that we could easily see wanting to downsize ourselves one day. (Though, given where we are in life, that's probably 15-20 years away.)
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 16:41:42 GMT -5
Cookies Galore - for the most part, we have no need of a formal dining room. If we were to buy that house, what is currently the formal dining room would become the library. The two times a year we have people over for a big meal (Thanksgiving and Christmas), we'd put a folding table up in the room.
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 16:45:52 GMT -5
muttleynfelix - I often wish I could be househunting elsewhere. While housing prices in the Seattle area are not what they are in the Bay area, they are expensive. This is the first house we looked at in our desired neighborhood. It's now pending sale at over $100k more than the house I'm talking about in this thread.
|
|
Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
|
Post by Lizard Queen on Feb 4, 2015 16:53:23 GMT -5
Ah, I see. It didn't sell because the asking price was way higher before! Makes sense. I wonder if they're trying to get a bit of a bidding war?
|
|
CarolinaKat
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 21, 2010 16:10:37 GMT -5
Posts: 6,364
|
Post by CarolinaKat on Feb 4, 2015 17:06:37 GMT -5
It is a gorgeous house but all those wonderful windows are wasted on views of the neighboring houses. You will have to cover them up or be living in a fishbowl. That would turn me off. I thought of that too, and There are no window coverings on the windows, to cover them, would cost a fortune.
I have quite a few windows, and I am sensitive to light (sun glare). I often close the blinds in the kitchen dinette as the sun rises in the AM B/C the sun glare really bothers my eyes.
There are a lot of people here (and most of my own family) who have no concerns that people can see in their house at night.
I'm the only person where I live who's bothered with curtains. Now I have curtains so I can turn 'off' the sun. Meh about the people, if you're out where I live, you deserve to see naked people for staring into houses
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 11, 2024 21:23:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 17:18:12 GMT -5
For 18 years I had a 45m-1h commute each way which is not bad here (Paris suburbs). Then my company moved and I had a 1h45m commute each way. That was horrible. They were doing badly financially, so about 6 months later they offered a generous payout to people who had been negatively impacted by the move, and I grabbed it.
I took nine months off (by choice) and reincarnated myself as an English teacher. I worked here, there and everywhere for a year. Then 3.5 years ago I got my dream teaching job. I now have a 25-30 min commute each way. I found that having a 25-30m commute each way is truly life-changing!
I think the commute and the school district (which also reflects the neighborhood as a whole) are more important than the house itself, especially since that one is bigger than you'd like. Like you said, it's the last item on your list of priorities. It's way too early to "settle", and I think you might regret it further down the road.
I would also be concerned that the house would be difficult to sell later on, since visibly it has been. I do realize there were reasons for that, but still. For whatever reasons, it's been on and off the market, unsold, for many years.
I would definitely keep looking. You need more space, but from what I have read, you don't need "orders of magnitude" more space, you mainly need a more functional layout and a bigger kitchen (and I'm guessing an extra bedroom / bathroom). That shouldn't be too difficult to find.
Good luck!
ETA: Another thought. I know you want to keep your current house as a rental. But you might consider selling it to help fund your main home, and buying a smaller / less expensive rental, or even a rental apartment. Just a thought.
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 17:29:20 GMT -5
So, update on the school front. The house referenced in this thread is about 2 blocks away from a neighboring school district. The high school in that district is rated a 7 (out of 10). I called that school district. Current policy is that they don't accept out of district students, however, there is an appeals process one could go through. There's also the fact that Pop Tart is currently in 5th grade, so zoning or policies could change over the next 3.5 school years before she's in high school.
My current 50 minute commute is not bad. I have had an 8 minute commute (though at the time, I also got to work a 7am-3:30pm schedule, which I don't now) and I have had a 1 hour morning commute/2+hour evening commute, so I have a really good idea of how different commutes affect life. I am not willing to go back to a commute that's over 1 hour, but sticking at around 50 minutes won't bother me.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 11, 2024 21:23:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 17:37:33 GMT -5
I agree that a 50m commute is doable.
However, I would not buy a house hoping that the zoning might change.
You could also find out more about the appeals process and the demographics.
The appeals process happens here too. One of the "tricks" is to sign your child up for a foreign language that is offered at the school you want them to go to, but not at your local school. But it's usually a language with a different alphabet, which is harder to learn, typically Russian or Chinese. Not the ideal solution for a child who is not very academic. Of course that's here, I don't know how it works there.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 11, 2024 21:23:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 17:57:46 GMT -5
As always, Anne said what I meant, in just one sentence LOL.
|
|
muttleynfelix
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 15:32:52 GMT -5
Posts: 9,406
|
Post by muttleynfelix on Feb 4, 2015 18:03:03 GMT -5
muttleynfelix - I often wish I could be househunting elsewhere. While housing prices in the Seattle area are not what they are in the Bay area, they are expensive. This is the first house we looked at in our desired neighborhood. It's now pending sale at over $100k more than the house I'm talking about in this thread. That is cute but -faint-on the price. These are 2 of my top homes that I want to look at.We won't get to go house hunting for another 2 or 3 weeks, so we'll see what is available then. Some places have stayed on the market a long time. Others are gone pretty quick. I don't have my heart set on anything. Just stay under $200k - 3 beds, 2 bathrooms, and a basement (which is standard up there). Beyond that, a larger lot, close to a park or schools, commute less than 20 min, an extra garage, quiet street, and a fenced in yard, are all things I'm looking at. The schools - the rankings don't bother me so much as checking out the test scores, the demographics (yes having 60% on free lunch is a concern to me), but there are a lot of good schools up there.
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 18:21:41 GMT -5
muttleynfelix - I really like the 2nd one. No way are either of those houses under $200k here.
I feel I should respond to the Property Brothers thing - I've never seen it. I've heard of it before, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you it had anything to do with selling a house. I have heard of Love It or List It, and I used to watch some other shows where they would go in and help people get their homes staged to sell. In some cases, they would make enough improvements that people would decide to stay. Though my favorite was always Sell This House on A&E, and they rarely did anything besides clean, declutter, and stage.
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on Feb 4, 2015 18:57:00 GMT -5
@anne81 - We actually walked through the house last night. We had been in it before. I'd remembered the downstairs pretty clearly, though not the upstairs.
And it looks like we may be holding off longer than we thought. Our mortgage guy thinks it would be best to wait on giving us the pre-approval letter until the Reno property is under contract, since our purchasing power is contingent on selling that condo. Condo can't go on the market for at least one month (tenant out on 2/28, we'll need to get someone in to paint and then someone to clean the carpets).
In the meantime, it does look like they would do a street appraisal for our current house and appraise it basically on neighborhood comps. The market in the neighborhood has been improving, so if we want to increase our buying power by $100k, we would need to get an appraisal ($250) and then pay down our current mortgage to get us to 30% equity ($10-15k depending on the appraisal). We're holding off on the appraisal for now and keeping focused in our preferred price range, but it is something to think about as we move forward.
So, I went to the HGTV site and clicked on their "Be on HGTV", Property Brothers is casting in NY, NJ, and CT, but not in WA. The only two shows that we might be able to get on are House Hunters and Kitchen Makeover. C would love to have our kitchen redone, but we'd still have the problem of only one bathroom.
|
|
taz157
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 20:50:06 GMT -5
Posts: 12,940
|
Post by taz157 on Feb 4, 2015 21:27:59 GMT -5
muttley - Of the 2 you posted, I like the 2nd better. Good luck house hunting! Property Brothers - DH and I love that show. Actually, it's on now! DH and I would also love to be on that show (and only that show), but I don't think they go to FL very often.
|
|
muttleynfelix
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 15:32:52 GMT -5
Posts: 9,406
|
Post by muttleynfelix on Feb 5, 2015 9:57:56 GMT -5
muttley - Of the 2 you posted, I like the 2nd better. Good luck house hunting! Property Brothers - DH and I love that show. Actually, it's on now! DH and I would also love to be on that show (and only that show), but I don't think they go to FL very often. Yeah, I think I like house #2 better, but house #1 is like 3 houses down from a park, has the detached garage in the back, fenced in yard, and has a larger lot. House #2 is about 0.7 of a mile from a park, but closer to schools. They are actually in different school districts, but both excellent schools. The commute is almost exactly the same. I can't wait to go house hunting. We never really house hunted when we built our current place. We looked at 2 places and DH said lets build. So, this is my first time really looking and evaluating existing homes. Plus now I am thinking about schools. This one also caught my attention. A little bit higher than my budget and the kitchen makes me go huh. But beautiful house, slightly shorter commute, great schools, a little farther from a park.
|
|