House Hunting 103

And the saga continues.....

There are about 10 houses that we looked at that I didn't take pictures.  I only took pictures of places that were worthy of further consideration.  Now, in hind sight, I wish I had taken pictures everywhere to illustrate just what I meant by people decorating their homes with poor taste, or people actually thinking that their house is sellable in the current condition.

One property that we looked at is an example of the previous.  The yard was full of 4 junk cars/trucks on bricks.  There were piles of fill dirt in 3 or 4 different places just in the front yard. These piles had been there so long that weeds had begun to grow on them. Inside the front door - the stench of animals made me nauseaus.  There was clutter and junk EVERYWHERE....no kidding.  Did the owners of the property not know we were coming?  If the realtor wasn't embarrassed at this mess, I was grossed-out enough for both of us. The kitchen floor was tile, and I am not exagerating when I say that every single tile (12X12) was cracked.  The floor tile was white - so the cracks looked like someone had taken a black Sharpie and marked all over the floor.  The walls were a lemon yellow and had splashes and dirt all over them.  I kept thinking that I would have at LEAST washed the walls given the assumption that people would be coming in and out of my house.  There were dirty dishes all over the counter so it made the place look not only nasty - but small. As a realtor - I would not show a house in that condition until some cleaning and improvements were made.

The upstairs bedroom (with the angled ceilings) had a "black" wall and ceiling.  It was obvious that a gothic teenager was living in this space.  The carpet had been cut in several places and it looked like a dump.

The basement was no better.  Unfinished and full of rolls of carpet that were unfolded in places so the cement couldn't be exposed.  When the realtor wasn't looking - I lifted it and there were holes in the cement. I can't help but wonder if the carpet was done that way to hide the damage to the cement.

We walked back up the stairs into the kitchen and my husband just stood there aghast while the realtor looked at him and asked, "So, what do you think?" as if to communicate that she expected us to feel favorable about what we had just walked through.  By the time he finished with her, I suspect that she was sorry that she posed that question.  He was not nice and certainly not subtle with his condemnation of her wasting our time.

So we went to the next house, with another realtor.  We were about 10 minutes early for our appointment and both kids needed dry diapers.  (K) also needed to be fed so we parked in the driveway to the Ramblewood house and took care of meeting the needs of our children.

Across the street was a house with a HUGE playground in the backyard.  The owners either have several small children, run a daycare or have too much $$ to spend on their one child.  We saw a gitantic blue bow on their front door and made the assumption that they had a new baby boy.  There were about 4 cars in their driveway.  This house is in a subdivision but the lots are all varied sizes.  The houses looked like they were built in the middle to late 90's.

Both side neighbors had well manicured lawns and well maintained properties.  We noticed a sunroom on the back of one neighbor's house and 3 persian cats sleeping ontop of their spa cover.  There were children's toys in the sunroom.

The agent arrived and my visual first impression of this woman was positive.  She was dressed professionally and addressed both of us by name.  She had to have taken notes when I made the appointment with her.  She had a printout of the property description, the previous years taxes paid and she knew the inside an outside of the property very well. She stood in the driveway with us for about 2 minutes while she shared some preliminary information about the property. 

Apparently, the property is owned by a relocation company.  The house has been empty for 7 months and they have already reduced the listing price from $229K to $204K.  She made a point to mention to us several times during our tour that the price was 'very nogotiable' because they really wanted to move the property.  She said that an inspection had been done by an independant company and she would be glad to provide copies of the inspection and show us that almost everything had been corrected since the original inspection.

You will notice that the date on the camera is 1/2/2003.  Don't get confused.  I dropped the camera in the driveway and the battery compartment came open.  When I closed it back, I didn't realize that everything had reset itself. We saw this house on last Thursday, which was the 10th of March.

This is the view from where we were standing:

The driveway goes all the way up to the garage on the right end of the house but we walked down a bit before going inside of the house. The yard is landscaped so to move the water down and away from the house without erosion.  A new septic system was installed in the front yard and the grass has not grown over that upturned ground area yet.

She took us in the front door which is difficult to see in this picture. It is about between the tree that V's.  I didn't imagine that we would use the front door very much.  We don't ever use the front door to the house that we live in right now.

Here is the view standing in the front door:

This family room is about 25X18.  I didn't measure it but it is just a tad bit bigger than our den now.  I liked the layout and the fact that unlike some of the other properties that we looked at which had large rooms like this, there was "wall space" in this room.  I don't care for the 'grass wallpaper' on the walls but that could be changed.  That archway to the left of the fireplace goes into the kitchen.

Here is the view standing in that archway:

NOW we're talking kitchens!!!

Beyond the kitchen is a breakfast area with the bay window and just beyond that is the laundry room.

The gas cooktop/oven is to the left.  Almost endless counter space (something that we do NOT have now)  There's a dishwasher and a trash compactor (those two black things under counter to sides of the sink) and that floor to ceiling cabinet is a pantry with pull out shelving (so nothing gets lost in the rear of the shelf). The 18 inches of counter space right under the date on the picture is beside the frig and there is a doorway right there that goes into the formal dining room.

This next picture is taken standing in the doorway of the dining room:

There is a brand new microwave/convection oven above the stove.  All of the corner cabinets (both above and below the counters) are lazy suzanne'd so maximum use of the space is easy.

The work triangle of this kitchen is less than 20 feet (which is perfect for us).

This is the laundry room (kitchen and breakfast/eating area are behind me). We'd replace the flooring (tear in the flooring in the left corner) and give the walls a fresh coat of paint.  In the right wall is one of those ironing boards that folds out of the wall and in the left corner is a rack for hanging laundry that has been put on hangers.

I turned around from the laundry room door, took about 10 steps forward and took this picture.

The entry from the garage door is to my immediate left.  There is an intercom system wired to every room of the entire house, upstairs and down.

This picture was taken standing in the corner of the kitchen between the stove and the sink.  The counter space is a real attraction to me.  The frig and all appliances stay with the house.  We just purchased a brand new side by side about a month after (J) was born and we will be taking all the appliances with us from this house.  The frig in this picture will go into the garage as a supplement to the one that we would put in its place.  Or we could sell it.

This is the den from the hallway beside the kitchen. Another thing that I like about this room is the different options for furniture placement.  I like to change my furniture around every few months and this room would accomodate me doing that. To my left is the archway that goes into the kitchen.  Around the corner to the right is the master suite with a huge walkin closet and very nice bath area.  I only remember that it was nice and thinking that it would work for us, but I don't remember what it looked like and if there was more than one sink or how much counter space/dressing area.  There is a doorway underneath the stairs that leads into a basement area (not the full lenght of the house) and I think it had an exterior door.

The hallway behind me leads to the sunroom and out onto the back deck.  Right beside that light switch (by the date) is a half bath that is large enough for a piece of furniture to be put in there. Not that I would do it but I mention that to say that it certainly isn't a hole in the wall. Now that I think about it - a stand up shower stall might be able to be put in that corner of the bathroom if and when there became a need for a mud room type setup on the main floor.

This is the sunroom.  There are 4 sets of sliding glass doors in this room.  This room is climate controlled and on the back of the house.  I see this room as a playroom for the kids with my treadmill and perhaps my desk out here.

None of the tiles on the floor are broken. Beyond the vertical blinds is this:

I felt my heart in my throat when I saw this.  Yes - it is a greenhouse.  My husband had promised one of these to me in the new house that we were to build across the street so that I could have my plants and flowers year round.

The night after we viewed this property - I dreamnt about growing herbs and my african violets in this greenhouse.

You may be able to tell on the decking in the picture above that there is some sun discoloration - that is where the previous owners had their spa sitting.  That is exactly where we would put ours as well.  The flowergardens around this deck (which is right outside of the sunroom) are lovely.  The beds are marked with what is planted there and I dug my hand down into the soil - it is black and rich.  A gardener's paradise.

There are a few ornamental trees and plenty of space for more to be added.

There is a retaining wall (well installed) right where my son is standing in the picture. The back yard goes up and looks like this:

We were not able to tell how well the back yard holds up to a lot of rain and water.  The week previous to viewing this property, there was about 7 inches of rain and the property was in great shape.  The back yard is already fenced in so that is something that we would not have to come in and do.  The landscape is sloped so as to channel the water on a certain path and then to the edge of the property where it goes into a 4 inch pipe and drains to the front part of the property and into the ditch beside the road.  Someone who knew what they were doing planned that water system like it is.  Oh, and there is a sprinkler system all thru the front yard, back yard and inside the greenhouse.

The deck has a treated trellis overhead.  They have some kind of vine trained on it - but I would have to consider taking it down since I am not a vine person.  This picture shows the retaining wall in a better view.

My son loved this yard immediately.  He was climbing and running and screaming happy things within a few seconds of being outside. It needs a good pressure washing but I've done that plenty of times and don't even see it a big deal.

This is the end of the house where the garage is.  Through the gate where my hubby is standing is the backyard, deck and entrance to the sunroom.

This is the front yard from the front door.  From the picture (because I didn't pay that much attention to it when we were there) it appears that all the area under the trees is mulched and only around the perimeter of the yard is there grass.

For those of you who know me - and how much I absolutely DETEST english ivy - look on the edge of the driveway in the neighbor's yard.  Yes - I felt my skin begin to crawl when I saw this. 

Right now - this house is at the top of the list for us.  There are a few things that we don't really like.  It is south of Rome - we prefer to be north of Rome in the Armuchee area.  There is no property with the house, so no grass to mow for my hubby (so he can compose in his head). Without going for a second look - that's all that we can come up with right now in the negative department.

I suspect that we will go back for a second look sometime next week.

My husband has gone out of town for business to judge concert festival in extreme south Georgia.  My 13 year old is with her dad for her entire spring break and right now - my 17 year old is piled up on the couch with her boyfriend watching The Notebook.  (K) is asleep and (J) is at his grandparent's house.

I've got work to do, products to ship out to some clients and I need to get dressed.  Yikes!

So, whatcha think?

Comments

[Kirsty]

Very nice!
What have you got against ivy? I love ivy - the freakier the better. I have one with very unusual leaves as a potplant in my classroom, and another that grows vertical stems.
Haven't you got any little creatures in your neck of the woods that would love nothing better than to much on some delicious ivy? ;-)

[Wash Lady]

Oh, if only some animals would eat it.
I love english- but I hate ivy. I just hate it. I like you even tho you like ivy. I really think it has something to do with my personality and liking closure and well manicured things that can and should be contained. I like to admire topiaries but as far as having ivy on any of my property, no thanks.

[FFH]

I think the house is gorgeous! I really love that kitchen (except the wall paper, that pattern looks bad from this view). I wish you had pictures of that nasty house. What were they thinking? That you just call it a fixer upper and throw you money down?

[Dale]

It's beautiful. I love that family room. The floors look pristine! And a stone fireplace. Yup. Real nice, that one. South of Rome. North. No matter. It's still a nice house.

[Mel]

I'd buy it for the trash compactor alone. Lovely, lovely house.

[Diane]

We saw a house like your junk house too. WHAT are people thinking??? We had hired our own realator that had put our home on the market and we used him to buy our current house. When we got to the trashy house and looked around the front yard and noticed that ALL the screens on the windows were sandwiched between crappy unprotected 1-bys and were almost falling apart...well I should have just turned around. But the house was in THE neighborhood I wanted to live in and met our minimum lot requirement for size. When we opened the door...UGH! Animal stink and stale smoke. Why I bothered to go any further was beyond me! I don't even think the realator followed me around.

This house you've looked at is BEAUTIFUL! I looks like there is land, but that very little needs actual mowing. Like most of it is wooded. For us, that's a HUGE plus.

I'm with you! I HATE HATE HATE English ivy! Our current house, when we bought it, had like 13 gardens and English ivy that went around the full perimiter (minus where the front porch is). The previous owners had done about zero work to maintain any of the gardens and had let the ivy completely take over. The nasty stuff was crawling up the chiminy and INTO it! It had forced its way in-between the storm windows - yes if I opened up the windows inside, I could touch the actual plant; it was growing in-between the windows!!! And so, we've spend many many many MANY hours pulling and spraying exposed roots (to kill it dead).There's only one small portion that's still got ivy all over and around. It's the largest area and will take, well, way more time than I'll have while Mel is still this young. And the not so lovely thing I found when pulling the stuff? No not the most colorful and varied sized spiders...but the different growing sizes of shedded snake skins! That would explain why in our first 12 months here, we had 3 snakes in the house!!! Since ivy removal, Zero snakes. [shudder]

[Rory]

I personally think that the house has a lot of potential. I fell in love with the sun room (though I'd add more windows to it if I had the choice), the green house and the huge kitchen. Love it, love it, love it!

By the way, here are your 5 interview questions (sorry, no time to email!):
1. When did you first discover that you have turned into an adult?
2. How did you feel when you got your first period?
3. If you could travel to any part of the world right now, where would it be and why?
4. What's your favorite boardgame?
5. What are you most passionate about?