Not So Much

After taking a second look this weekend at the neighborhood in which the Marshall house is located (in the daytime this time), we rescinded our offer this morning.  It's a terrific house, but by far the nicest on the block, and the rest of the block is going to tank the resale value, which means putting money into it (which it does need) is a non-starter.  We are saddened but wiser for the experience.

The Waiting Game

We found a house.  Maybe?

Last night after work N and I went out to see the Marshall foreclosure mentioned at the end of the last post.  It was a wet and drizzly evening, but warm.  We met up with our realtor at about 8:30 to take a look at the house.

The exterior was not easily appreciated by flashlight, but the pictures N had taken during a visit earlier in the day show off the very nice (and expensive) landscaping work that had been done.  There is some sort of leak in a water line at the very front end of the property that was shooting 2-foot jets of water into the air every 10 seconds or so.  So that needs fixing, but it's something that the bank could reasonably be expected to do as a condition of purchase.

Small porch that would be just big enough for a chair.  Large open living/dining room floorplan with cathedral ceilings and lots of windows in the living room.  Off to the other side of the house (at the front) is a master bedroom with another cathedral ceiling/windows.  It's a little small, with odd angles, but has nice hardwood floors and a lovely (if small-ish) master bath.  The main living space, it flows from the dining area to a nice big kitchen with tons of cabinets and pretty granite countertops.  Needs a fridge but the other appliances are relatively recent.  There is a breakfast bar, as well as eat-in kitchen that is a bit on the narrow side and might not actually work as eat-in.  The reason for that is that you wouldn't want to block access to the stairs to the gigantic deck in the backyard. 

But I digress.  Off of the living room is a cute little office that has sliding doors with panes.  They need to be rehung but it's a great idea - you can close that room off if you have important work to do, or open it up to the rest of the living space.  It connects (as does the living room) to a hallway with a small (kid's) bedroom (lime green trim, anyone?), a full hall bath, and a second master bed/bath.  The second master has more useful space (ie. it's square) but the closet needs some work and the bathroom does too.  Bathroom is teensy and needs paint and a new floor ASAP.  The hall bathroom could use a new floor too...as well as a way to hide the heater.

Backyard is not huge but is big enough, and has a nice tall fence.  Large nice-looking shed which must be intended for workspace since this house is all on one floor and has no basement.  Backs up to the local rec center's park/baseball fields, which are not lit and are not open at night.  The previously mentioned deck is gigantic and very nice.  Plenty of room for a large table with chairs and container gardening to boot.If we were to acquire this property N's not sure he could wait until his birthday to get an outdoor BBQ to put on the deck. 

This house has some really neat touches.  I love the fancy molding in the entryways between kitchen and living/dining space (and that there are two such entryways).  The open layout is neat and the office is adorable.  The kitchen needs to be painted but it's otherwise quite nice and has lots of space.  We love love love all the windows.  It also needs a lot of work.  Most of it is relatively stuff that we could do - paint, new tile flooring in bathrooms, replacing the little transitional bits that are supposed to separate the floors of two different rooms.  Who takes those out, I ask you?  Additionally, whoever did the painting did not appear to fully appreciate the wonder that is painters' tape so there's a lot of paint bleeding.  But that's OK because the colors in most of the rooms are so ugly that we would want to repaint them pronto.  Bright peach!  Yellow!  Our neutral, natural color-loving selves cringed just a little.  Some of the ceilings have that funky crow's feet texturing to them that is kind of dated (and glossy - a ceiling should not be glossy).

The price is right; it's not a stretch for us.  The location is pretty good; Marshall is a cute little town (and we do mean little).  In terms of resale, it's also a desirable location, although admittedly this is the nicest house on the street so there's probably a limit to resale value.  So we hemmed and hawed and then last night sometime after midnight emailed our realtor to say we'd like to put in an offer.  The offer went in earlier this evening, although it was nearly derailed because a certain bank who will remain unnamed (for now) failed at getting a letter of pre-approval to us in timely fashion.  We got it eventually, but not without some minor panic.  Which is not fun, I might add, on nearly zero sleep because we (mostly N) were up nearly all night thinking about this.

Ours is not the only offer.  However, we hope that our willingness to offer a 20% down payment will tip the scales our way in the bank's eyes.  They will probably get more offers over the weekend (wince) but there is nothing we can do now but wait.

And try not to think about it.

Yeah, like that's going to work.

Rethinking Things

Things have been pretty quiet on the real estate front these past couple of weeks, which has allowed us some extra time to pause and reflect.  Are we nuts to be house-hunting when N doesn't know where he'll be working yet?  Perhaps.  Would we be smarter to wait, or to shift our approach towards the purchase of a townhouse as a short-term (ie. 5 year) plan?  Perhaps, but the market is really good right now with regards to mortgage rates.  How long is too long to wait?

I wish the right answer was a simple one.  Or obvious.  I'd settle for obvious.

But in the meantime, we'll keep our eyes open.  There's a neat-looking foreclosure in Marshall that just hit the market...

Less is....Less?

This week seems to have been slow for the real estate market.  Our realtor thinks it might be all of the college graduations stalling things out.  But we trudged out in the rain nonetheless this afternoon (don't feel too bad for us, it was still 70 degrees in that rain).

• House #18, Warrenton: N found this house yesterday and got all excited about the pool in the backyard.  I just laughed at him until he pointed out that I have not yet experienced a true DC summer, the kind that melts your face and everything else.  Then I stopped laughing because that's not funny.  This house is in a more suburban, subdivision neighborhood, so not walkable to anywhere useful, but it had a huge, lovely front yard and a lawn filled with tiny wild strawberry plants!  N rained on my parade by informing me that they are not, in fact, edible.  What's the point then, I ask you?!  The exterior was nice except for the vinyl siding that was done in a fake woodgrain pattern.  N thinks it hides dirt and wear better; that may be true but I think it just looks tacky.  Very nice backyard....that backs right up to a noisy road.  Silly cars.  Everyone should own a Prius so there's no road noise.  We are so confused as to why they did not build the house at the front of the lot where it's quieter.  Anyway...realtor was running late and the noise killed it for us, so we just headed for the next place.
• House #19, Warrenton: Foreclosure in another subdivision.  Wooded backyard that was kind of nice...except for the large number of trees right up near the house.  Also had too much road noise.  Bah.
• House #20, Warrenton: Cute little place on a dead-end road within walking distance of Old Town.  Bonus!  A little bit of road noise, but barely audible through the birdsong.  Backs up onto a cemetery.  Giant front porch with a swing.  I want a giant front porch with a swing.  This house is old and has the quirks and character of an older house.  Some of these manifest in good ways, such as the built-in bookcase in the small, cute dining room, or the hardwood floors in the first floor bedrooms.  Others are not-so-desirable, like the really low ceilings, and the step from dining room up to kitchen and down to living room.  That wasn't really too bad.  The master bed/bath is in the basement, which we were aware of.  I speculated that it would either look lovely with tons of recessed lighting, or would be a cave.  Cave it was.  Too bad.  The master bathroom had a giant soaking tub and a teensy-tiny shower.  In a perfect world, I would love a giant soaking tub.  In the real world, I need a reasonably-sized shower so that I don't have to contort myself to shave my legs.   Having the master bed/bath on a different floor from the rest of the house is kind of awkward, and with all the levels and stairs this is not a child-friendly home.  Not that we have one of those, but we are looking at houses with an eye towards that possibility.  The living room clearly used to be an outdoor patio and was walled in, which actually looks kind of neat.  First floor bathroom recently redone.  Stairway up to the second floor (accessed from the dining room/kitchen area) is really, really narrow.  So are the doorways to the two rooms on the second floor.  Ceilings up there are very low too - N almost bumped the ceiling.  Backyard is cute but not level.  Would need a little retaining wall put in and a new patio.  This house is really cute, but it's worth about $100K less than the current owner is asking for it and needs tons of professional (ie. not our) TLC.  Next!
• House #2, Warrenton: This is the Cape Cod we saw on our first day out, the one with massive curb appeal and a great backyard.  It is still on the market, so we went back to refresh our memories.  We confirmed for ourselves that if we could completely redesign the first-level floorplan, it'd rock.  As is...it's expensive, 15 minutes from the rest of Warrenton, and has an awkward first-level layout.  We think that's why it hasn't sold yet.  Still love the backyard, though.
• House #21, Marshall: Short sale.  Nearly all of the rest of the houses in this neighborhood are ugly ramblers and ranchers, but this is a colonial.  This is not the pretty part of Marshall with the mountain view.  I don't know why I imagined all of Marshall has a mountain view.  First floor is a pretty nice layout.  Kitchen needs updating but it's good space and opens into a large living room.  Very nice dining room and a sitting room.  Parlor?  One of those.  I have no idea what the upstairs looks like because the current occupants were home at the time and would not let us up there.  In their defense, one of their little dogs had major surgery yesterday and they were trying to keep him calm and quiet, so that's fine.  But if we can't see half of your house, nice older British couple, we're not going to buy it.

Not the most successful day, but not a waste.  Plus, we made kale Caesar salad and black bean/corn veggie burgers for dinner, so it could be worse.  Then I poked around on Redfin and discovered that if we magically came up with an extra $100K we could get a colonial with a wrap-around porch in Hume that has 5 acres and that mountain view.  Heh.  Some day, I will have a porch, and it will be amazing.

Looks like we'll have to slow the hunt for now, as next weekend will be taken up with N's graduation and the resultant festivities.  June could be dicey too, as we will be spending a weekend in the Berkshires and half a weekend in Philly.  We'll see what the spring brings.

Moving On

After much discussion and number-crunching, we've decided to pass on the Warrenton home mentioned in the last post; it's just too expensive.  We could make it work but we're not really comfortable squeezing quite that tight.  So back to the drawing board!

A Little of Everything

Checked out a few more places today.  Am typing this with one hand because my cat thinks I have been spending too much time out looking at homes and not enough time petting him, and insists that this be corrected right now.  He's probably right.

• House #15, Catlett:  Recently-flipped home that looked really nice online.  I was all excited about the kitchen's butcher block countertops and pendant lighting.  Big backyard.  In person, the exterior of the house revealed a quickly and poorly-done renovation.  Crooked windows and sills.  What looked like neat wooden pillars supporting the roof over the porch turned out to be tacky aluminum.  Not that you'd want to sit on the porch because the house is too close to the road, and the property across the street is overgrown and in disrepair.  We got there before the realtor did, and called to tell her not to bother as we didn't even want to waste our time on the inside.  If I can tell you skimped on time and effort, it must be really bad.
• House #16, Haymarket: Viewed on suggestion of the realtor because the neighborhood is really nice.  Just came on the market yesterday; a rambler on a large lot (over 3.5 acres) at the end of a quiet dead-end residential street.  Nice neighborhood, certainly a desirable location.  The grounds need a lot of clearing of both foliage and rundown sheds and such.  Deck needs to be torn down and rebuilt.  This was OK with us, but the inside is really rundown too.  The whole place stinks of cigarettes and who knows what else; the kitchen is tiny, and the overall space is not of an appealing layout.  Too much of a project for us, but I think that someone with enough funds could make it a lovely home in line with all the others on what is a pleasant little street.
• House #17, Warrenton: Also a last-minute realtor suggestion, this property just hit the market yesterday as well.  It is a foreclosure located in a small residential development.  We are not development people, but this development is actually quite nice; all of the houses are pretty, and it actually has a neighborhood feel to it (ie. neighbors' kids running around outside).  Off of a busy road so a smidge of noise, but not the end of the world. Huge house.  5 br 3.5 ba, so more house than we need, but we would never outgrow it.  Giant gourmet kitchen (double oven! pantry! central island!) that is not in sync with the modern country style I've been obsessing over viewing online, but is very pretty nonetheless, with dark cherry cabinets and tons of recessed lighting.  Lots of windows to let in light all throughout the house.  The master bed/bath suite that ate Cincinnati.  No really, it's gigantic.  Really interesting open first floor layout plan that far surpasses what either of us expected from a subdivision (the realtor was pleasantly surprised too).  Finished basement with a large open rec room space, a closet, a full bath, and two bedrooms that could be actual bedrooms, or exercise, or storage because we would never have enough kids to fill that place.  The backyard is a bit small and would be a challenge, but a doable one.  Most of it is fairly steeply sloped upwards to a sizeable flat area at the back that is currently overgrown.  We're thinking terraced gardening in raised beds with a play area (some day) at the back, fenced in to keep a kiddo from rolling down the hill and breaking their neck.  A lot of work, but doable.  The landscaping around the house is very pretty, with lovely flowers including a rosebush in this brilliant orange-to-mauve color that I've never seen before but like very much.  Did I mention it's a one mile walk to Old Town Warrenton, which is cute as a button?

So we are seriously considering House #3.  It is a little above the price range we had been considering, but we think it would still be doable and the bank might be willing to cover closing costs.  We're going to think it over today and talk some people tomorrow about what we could qualify for.  Assuming someone else doesn't snatch it first!

Of course, N found a new listing the minute we got back home for a house in Jeffersonton (middle of nowheresville) that looks gorgeous and would be some seriously neat country living.  My commute would be not as good as Warrenton but still manageable.  Our realtor is busy at an open house but we're trying to get in touch with her to see what she thinks about this Jeffersonton house and if we could perhaps check it out today?  If it turns out to be a bust (and it might because we found two listings with thoroughly conflicting information), perhaps we'll make a go at the place in Warrenton?

I am not getting my hopes up this time.  Pragmatism, yes?  Yes.

Update
Jeffersonton house was a lesson in how depressing foreclosures can be.  Lovely, expensive neighborhood (nicer than what we're used to), nice big house that was gorgeous once upon a time.  The family that lived there appears to have been on the sloppy side, but I think that when they realized they were losing the home they actively encouraged their young children to wreck the place.  All of the walls had been drawn on with markers and the upstairs carpet smelled like urine.  And no, not animal urine - I am familiar with that.  It was very sad.  Someone with an extra $50K to rip out and replace all the carpets, clean and repaint the walls and floors, and redo the disgusting bathrooms could make that house lovely again.  Not us.

Buyer's Market, Right?

Yesterday we went took a ride out to some towns near Leesburg, VA. 

• House #10, Purcellville: First stop was a property with a horse paddock and barn.  Wasn't really in Purcellville, though; Google Maps put us in Neersville.  Nice place.  Road was a trifle noisy for my tastes.  Very nice barn that they were apparently using for storage.  Interesting kitchen/dining space.  Two living rooms with stoves; one carpeted and one all hardwoods.  3 bedrooms all tucked into one corner of the house, so a little crowded.  Interesting, but not amazing.
• House #11, Purcellville: Stone Cape Cod 3 br/2 ba.  Similar layout to that of the home we had in Massachusetts.  Older kitchen with hideous countertops, but good kitchen space.  New carpet, which made me laugh since they laid it down in the dining and living rooms over hardwood floors.  Two large and one small bedroom.  Bathrooms are small but would be workable, especially if I had a vanity table in the bedroom.  Giant sunny flat backyard with room for a garden and more.  Big unfinished basement.  Would need some electrical work, and eventually central A/C and some heating work, but still, very interesting.
• House #12, Lovettsville: Colonial on a corner lot.  Noisy corner, and the exterior of the house was in such poor condition we didn't even bother going inside.
• House #13, Lovettsville: Colonial on another, smaller lot.  No backyard at all, so we didn't bother.
• House #14, Purcellville: New construction in a development.  We weren't really interested in that particular house, but N wanted me to see the sort of house that could potentially be built if we end up going that route.  Decent indoor space, minimal outdoors.  The orange tabby that followed us all around the house mooching head skritches was awesome, though.

Someone else beat us to the punch on the Cape Cod; it's off the market as of this morning.  Am trying not to get frustrated and feel pressured, but it's hard.  We're unwilling to jump the gun on a house we have just seen (unless it's perfect, which isn't going to happen), despite the fact that we could lose it.  We don't want to rush to a decision.

So tomorrow we're off to look at a house in Catlett that's a bit pricey but could turn out to be great.  Maybe a home or two in Warrenton?  Monday will be a trip to Linden on my day off.  Details to follow.