Saturday, April 4, 2009

Promising House Hunting

We went house hunting today, and looked at three houses. We were supposed to look at 3 more, but one was pending sale, one was tenant occupied and our realtor's contact never confirmed our appointment, and the third didn't have the lock box that holds the key to get in. Oh, and it was missing the door knob.

The first house we went to absolutely reeked of cigarettes and wasn't nice, plus it had railroad tracks in the backyard and was next door to a mostly abandoned strip mall. No.

The next house (1005 Jackson St, Middletown) was actually really nice. It's super cute from the outside (below) and seems to be in really good repair. New roof.
Kitchen: Pretty nice, utilities (older) included, looks like the fridge leaked all over the carpet.
Pantry door on the left, 3 steps down to front door on the right.
Two bedrooms, both look like this. We think we could easily add a third (and maybe fourth) bedroom in the basement if we wanted to.
Living room: More green carpet, pretty fireplace.
Bathroom: They obviously liked green. There is another full bath in the basement that looks new
Back yard and garage. Not a very big yard but not terrible.
Pros:
-Great shape for the price
-Room to add bedrooms
-Two bathrooms
-Central air
-New roof
-Nice exterior aesthetics
-Pretty nice neighborhood

Cons:
-In Middletown
-Neighbors neighbors everywhere
-Confusing/new location
-Only two existing bedrooms
-Very little land

______________________________________

The last house (6806 Dixie Hwy, Franklin) we saw we went to just for fun, expecting it to be a dump. Well, it's certainly not the prettiest place in the world, but it's really everything we're looking for, and although it definitely needs work it's much much better than we expected.

This is the picture from the website. I didn't think to take a full exterior picture. There's a magnolia tree on the left side of the house :)

Main house exterior. Looks like they replaced one row of windows with a yucky air conditioning unit. Roof looks good.
Living room. Hardwood floors in most of the house. Built in shelves, ceiling fan. Huge windows.
Kitchen: Looks updated. Pretty small. Eat-in. Utility room off kitchen with washer/dryer hookups, utility sink, furnace, and water heater.
Three bedrooms, all with wood floors.
Pink bathroom! Tub needs replaced.
Beauuuutiful back yard. House is on almost half an acre and backs up to woods (yard is a hill and slopes up to the woods). Plenty of room for a garden, etc.
Pros:
-Yard
-Location (rural feel, close to Franklin/Carlisle, nice neighboring houses)
-Three bedrooms
-Wood floors
-Two car garage that we could actually fit our cars in, plus additional parking along driveway
-Far off the road
-We could see ourselves living there for a long time, not just a couple years (that's big)

Cons:
-Needs all new windows
-Needs new bath tub
-Smell... cigarettes and ...mint??
-No basement
-Unattractive exterior

-(taxes unknown. realtor is checking)

Despite all its obvious "cons," we're both really drawn to this one. Our realtor is contacting our loan guy about a 203K loan to help finance repairs... if we can get that we'll have some serious thinking to do.

7 comments:

becca said...

Cigarettes and mint?! Strange.

Both look good. The first one is cute, but the second one sounds like more your kind of location.

(P.S. Did you see my quasi-Interrobang?!)

Amanda said...

Hey Rachel-
I heard that you had a "baby ticker" on your blog and got on to check it out :) Thats where I saw the house hunting... I KNOW you will make the right decision...but just a word of quick advice...you can always change the look of the house...but not the LOCATION! (Im sure you know that :) But, just telling you again...lol.... The land alone is awesome! And thats something you couldnt change...also, if you did get it... we have flipped a few houses and would know a few people that could maybe do some updates for you for cheaper!.. Good Luck!! Do you have any morning sickness yet? I havent had any yet... talk to you later! O yeah..this is Amanda Rust :)

Rachel said...

Interrobang!

Hey Amanda! That's what I was thinking too- you always hear "location, location, location!" Thanks for offering your contacts- that could be really helpful! Thankfully I haven't had any morning sickness. My stomach is a little sensitive but nothing bad at all. I'm glad you're feeling good too!

Katie said...

wow, both houses look like they have great potential! hopefully you'll hear good news about the loan for repairs. have you also looked into the first time homebuyer tax credit?

Amy V said...

The yellow one is super cute but the yard on the second one! WOW! And having a garage is awesome! ...we don't :P... :)

Sadie VK said...

Fun! I really like the second one. The wood floors and built in shelves are great! Plus that pink bathroom is totally awesome. ;-)

Jael Paris said...

Be prepared that repairs will cost twice what you expect. Also be prepared to house Ben and I for a weekend while we help paint.

If your realtor tells you to offer what they ask, get a new realtor. Remember, this market sucks.