The House Hunters Thread

[ts44]

Hi, mind if I jump in? We've been casually going to open houses and decided to get a little bit more serious about house-searching in the past two weeks.

I read through this entire thread over the course of the weekend, and wow there's a lot of information in here! I learned quite a bit about short sales. It was a lot of fun following NEL's house-hunting journey in particular - it sounded so incredibly stressful with all of the ups and downs and surprises, but the final house just sounds like a dream! And congrats to Harleigh as well for just closing! Unfortunately I'm not able to view the photos - maybe it's something about the new PS - but it sounds fabulous as well.

Welcome Blenheim! I wish you luck in your search. This part of your post made me giggle, because when I first started this house-hunting project, I thought a short sale was a GOOD thing! Shorter = better right? Then I read this thread and found it's exactly the opposite. It really is a great resource for first-time home buyers!

 

[dcgator]

Blenheim,

I am going to take a guess that you are in a place that is related to my name. If so, feel free to ask any questions about the area. DH and I already did the home shopping thing a couple of years ago, so we know some of the southern metro areas. However, if you are looking in the northern metro area, I can't help you much, sorry.

Anyway, I hope that I will be using this thread again in the next year as we are trying to move, so I would love to be able to help somebody out in the meantime.

Good luck!

 

[Blenheim]

TS - Haha. I actually knew going into it that our realtor doesn't like working with short sales as they're a PITA and so rarely go to closing, but I didn't really understand why they so rarely went to closing until reading through this thread. We have been under contract for two short sales in the past, when we bought our first home, and didn't end up buying either of them. The first seller failed to disclose that it was a short sale and our agent told us to keep looking while everything was getting all sorted out, and that we could use that as an out if we found something better. Well, we found another home that we did like better, also a short sale, so we backed out of house #1 and made an offer on house #2. The bank accepted, but then we reached an impasse when we had a plumbing inspection with a teensy tiny camera snaked through the pipes that showed that they would need to be replaced immediately, in addition to the roof issues that we already knew about. (Several houses in the neighborhood had plumbing problems due to a particular type of pipe that is no longer used, which is what prompted us to want that inspection.) The bank wouldn't give any extra closing concessions or come down on price, and so we backed out of that one as well. And then we found our house, which was great, until we decided that we wanted to relocate closer to family.

NEL, thanks for the welcome! I had wondered if we were jumping the gun somewhat as we would like to wait a little bit before buying, but it sounds like taking your time to find the right place really paid off.

DCGator - yes, you got it! We're looking to the west of town as DH works kind of close to that particular airport and my family and workplace are all roughly on the highway/metro line that goes in that direction - I don't know if you're familiar with areas out there? Some of the southern metro areas are so lovely. I went to a baby shower a couple of months ago that was held south of the city, on the water, and I really wished at the time that I didn't have to come back up here.

 

[february2003bride]

Blen- I don't know if it would be too far of a commute but look into eastern loudoun county. Great schools, neighborhoods, etc.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim, I'm so sorry to hear about the short sale that fell through due to plumbing issues. We actually met our realtor last summer when she was hosting an open house and it turned out to be a short sale (I didn't know that when we saw it). The bank accepted an offer in September, I believe, and the short sale finally closed two weeks before ours, so it would have been mid-June. Every time I saw our realtor I would ask her about it and there always seemed to be another issue. Both the listing agent and the buyers agent gave up most of their commission just to get it done. And my realtor said that at one point she thought it was completely dead and literally went to the bank president and begged him to let it go through, haha. Somehow it worked and they settled it, but it took 9 months and was a serious PITA the entire time. My agent said she hopes to never deal with another short sale again!

Ooo, now that I know where you are hunting I can't wait to hear about it! My husband and I lived in the northern suburbs (Chevy Chase) when I was in college. I still have friends in Vienna and if I were to ever move back, I would probably prefer the VA suburbs.

 

[dcgator]

Blenheim, based on my educated guess as to where you are , I would recommend you check out Vienna, Falls Church, and if you really like the area, Arlington. I think if you are shooting for top schools, Arlington and Fairfax counties have some of the best around here. We currently live in the NOVA area and my DH has previously made the reverse commute from this area to a couple miles from the aiport (off toll road) and it's not that bad at all. I am not sure where you work, but if it's in the general direction of the airport (vs. Downtown), its totally doable. Right now we commute into the city, and while its only like 3-4 miles, it take upwards of 30 minutes. If you are going from NOVA to the airport direction, you are looking at 20-30 miles, but it will still take about 30 minutes because it is reverse commute. Also, depending on the time of day you travel, it could be pretty mild traffic-wise.

As far as pricing is concerned, Arlington will generally be more expensive, but there are deals to be had. Falls Church and Vienna are less expensive, but can be a bit hit or miss depending on the area/neighborhood. If you need any further details or want to talk offline, I can see if the admin will be able to put us in touch.

 

[Blenheim]

Thanks for the recommendations! You ladies have managed to hit on the place we're currently living and where DH grew up, the place where I grew up, the place where my dad grew up, and the places where both my mom and my dad live. Unfortunately, I work far enough in (good view of the Washington Monument from my building) and have inflexible enough hours that require me to commute during the height of rush hour that Loudoun County's going to be too much of a hike for me. Falls Church inwards is mostly above our price range, at least for townhomes. I'm guessing that we're going to end up somewhere in Fairfax. The big question is where though; it's a large county.

DCGator, the traffic here can be insane! I don't like driving even in ideal driving conditions but love my current public transit commute as it allows me to read about 2-3 books a week and not go crazy trying to navigate traffic - hence our prioritizing public transportation.

 

[dcgator]

Blenheim - Yes, the traffic is absolutely horrible here. I firmly believe those reports that state that we have the number 2 worst traffic in the country. (We even beat out LA this past year ). I don't think DH and I can handle it anymore. I won't even get into the cost and waitlists for childcare...my head is spinning and I'm not even KU yet (or at least I don't know yet, as I am in the dreaded 2WW )

As far as finding the right home for the right price, I would definitely not give up on NOVA b/c of price. If you like this area, and want to be closer to the city (ie less commute for you), I would explore more. Just as an example, if you search on craigslist for townhomes in Arlington under 450K, you will come up with like 10-15 listings. I even found one that is located literally right accross from a gym and grocery store, and has all renovated interiors with 3 Bedrooms that is less than 400K (Please note I don't know anything about the actual listing, just using it as an example). Depending on what your budget is, that's pretty affordable. Also, depending which part of Arlington you are in, you can pick up at least one bus that will take you to a number of metro stops, with most metros being no more than 2-3 miles away (don't forget about the yellow and blue lines). Your DH can also pick up 395 pretty easily (going to the GW Pkwy) or go straight to 110 (to 66) within a couple miles.

That is just my 2 cents. I know that with me working in the city and DH not in the city and only one car, public transport is key, so I totally get your thinking. But I also know that its nice being closer to the city b/c you have access to everything here. So, my point is don't think you can't live here just b/c of price. It's totally doable. Oh, and if you need a good realtor who knows the area (a heck of a lot better than I do, even though I've been here for 5 years), I can give you his name. He helped me and DH out big time and is a SUPER nice guy. Either way, good luck with the whole process. I know there are so many places to look and it can be overwhelming! Just focus on what you want and where you want to be, versus what you think you can get, and I bet you can find something to fit your needs

PS Can I ask where you came from before this area?

 

[Blenheim]

DCGator- That's so thoughtful of you to look for townhouses! Unfortunately we've decided to our upper limit is $350k. I've been feeling a little bit conflicted as most calculators say that we can afford more than that, but we've done out a budget for that much house and we're not sure how we'd be able to afford more and still manage to pay for full-time childcare for 2 kids, retirement and college savings, car repairs, vet bills, etc. My in-laws made the decision to put savings on hold when they first purchased their house here and it worked for them as they were able to channel a lot of money away for those things as they got raises, but I'm just nervous about that idea. It's gotten a lot of people in trouble.

Our realtor has found at least one townhouse in that range in the Bailey's Crossroad area (IIRC), but DH is concerned that the drive would be too far for him - even going against traffic. He does daycare drop-off/pick-up and the area where the daycare is can get pretty backed up with traffic (they really need to widen the dang road), and that adds more time to his commute than you'd expect. I'm going to take another look at how long it would really take him to get to work from there, though.

Thanks also for being willing to recommend your realtor. We're using an old family friend, which is something that I normally wouldn't be too sure about, but we've spoken with other friends who used her (including my mom) and she was great. Very very patient and wants to find the right home rather than just making the sale. And I agree that the waiting lists for centers are insane! We've been happy enough with our in-home provider so far, and my pseudo-step-sister has had good luck with a nanny share. I have my fingers crossed for you - the 2WW can be pretty nerve-racking!

We were living in Michigan prior to moving here, and so housing was obviously quite a bit cheaper. Our house was 4bed/2bath with a yard, for under $200k... and that was for being in an area that many people considered expensive! But I can't say that we didn't know what we were getting into.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim-you know what I'm going to say: I always think it's best to stick to a personal budget that you feel comfortable with. I'm definitely more like you: I would want to keep the emergency fund in tact, still be able to save for college educations, retirement, car replacements, vacations, etc. without having to rely on my income increasing.

Have you considered buying a condo instead of a townhouse? Just to increase your options? I know you mentioned you wanted a yard (even a small one) to let the dogs out, but I'm wondering if that might be one of the lower priorities? It does seem like 3+ bedrooms in a good school district with a yard without venturing into Loudoun County could be tough to achieve with the budget (at least based on what's on the market right now). I would normally recommend Reston because I think you could find a townhouse there in the budget, but the schools are below par and I figured that a good school district is probably a higher priority than a yard. With that being said, I've heard the schools in the southern part of Reston are improving...

You have plenty of time to keep looking and the good news is that people will be cutting prices in the fall. I think this fall should be especially interesting because I've heard that a lot of people listed their homes this year hoping to appeal to those who wanted the tax credit. Since the tax credit has expired, you still have a large inventory of homes and a smaller pool of potential buyers. Those who wanted to sell their homes are either going to have to get more competitive and cut prices or take their homes off the market. There seem to be several options in Fairfax/McLean/Fall's Church that are closer to $400K that may fall into your price range this fall. The good news is that time is on your side!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Blen, welcome! best of luck in your search!

The townhome we just bought was a short sale - almost brand new and 70K underpriced. It was a PITA, but it closed in less than 2 months.... so it CAN be done, so don't discount completely.

Glad to see everyone is doing so well, we've been very busy, but I wanted to drop in and say Hi! Congrats to all that have put in an offer, closed, and moved!!! yay!

 

[Blenheim]

RHB - Glad to hear that it can be done! It sounds like you got a great deal.

NEL - I was thinking that sellers might be a bit more flexible in the fall and winter, as the ones who can wait it out to the spring market likely will. I'd be fine with a ground-level condo - not too comfortable leaving kiddo(s) unattended in an upper level condo while taking the dogs out, if DH is traveling out of town and it's past kid bedtime or it's horrid weather - but DH has it in his head that "home" means a SFH and feels like he is compromising with a townhouse. He knew before we moved here that we may be only able to afford a condo, but since there are townhomes that meet what he's looking for, he's become set on that (if not a SFH). There are townhomes in some well-regarded Fairfax districts that are within our price range... but the neighborhoods feel so suburban to me. DH grew up around that and likes it. I don't as much. But because they're there, I don't think I can win DH with arguments about school districts being more important than yards - although I do agree with you! I've been really trying to sort out Reston schools (I don't mind the suburban-ness of Reston as much; I think it's all of the trees and lakes). Test scores don't seem to be great, but I've read the same thing about certain schools there improving. I have a feeling that school district is going to win out over me not liking suburbia, given the price range we're working with. Hopefully with time and patience we'll find a good compromise though.

 

[february2003bride]

Blen- as a former Restonian, I would avoid it. We moved from Reston to Ashburn because the schools are such a mess. My BFF still lives in Reston and is a real estate agent, and as soon as her child is old enough for elementary school, they are moving to LoCo. Out of all of the Reston schools, the only one I have heard anything good about is Armstrong. The middle school and high school are bad as well. A lot of gangs, drugs, etc. I would avoid Herndon as well.

 

[Blenheim]

Feb - THANK YOU. We don't know anyone with school age kids in Reston, and so it's super helpful to have your perspective. Aldrin also has good test scores and the reviews on greatschools.com seem to like it, but both Aldrin and Armstrong feed into Herndon Middle and High, and I don't like what I see as far as the two of them go. Sigh...

I'm going to take another look at how far my commute would be from Eastern LoCo, but right now I think our options are:
1) Condo in a good school district further in. DH does not like this idea.
2) TH in one of the few good elem school districts in Reston, knowing that we'd probably need to move come middle school.
3) TH (or perhaps SFH) in approximately the area of Fairfax where my in-laws live. It feels a little too suburban for me, but the school system's great.
4) Stretch our budget to buy a TH further in. This makes me hyperventilate.

Between numbers 2 and 3, it just seems like 3 is the better idea. If we're doing well enough financially down the road that we can move into a good school district closer in, then we could do that when the time is right - instead of having to move when G hits middle school age, or even when he hits elementary school age if we realize that we don't like the elem school as much as we thought we would.

We're going to an open house this afternoon, in one of the good school districts near my in-laws.

We're also thinking of looking at a short sale that's almost too close to my in-laws (quarter of a mile) - but they're not terribly imposing or annoying, and we'd have ready access to free baby-sitting if we went that route. We know that there's only one mortage co, and we've asked our Realtor to figure out if they have any sort of mortgage insurance before even bothering to go look at it. But it's a SFH within walking distance of a great elementary school, park, pool, shopping center, my in-laws' wine cellar... And it's in a safe enough neighorhood that we could let George walk himself to my in-laws and just call us when he gets there, when he's old enough. My FIL's an accountant and says that he knows how to craft an offer to make it more appealing to the bank's books. Evidently expenses are calculated differently than the loan-to-selling-cost ratio, and they want to keep the latter as high as possible. So instead of asking for a lower price, FIL says to offer asking price, "as-is" but contingent on satisfactory inspection results (less than $x,000 in needed repairs) so that they know that we're not going to use the inspection as a negotiating tool, and with a given substantial amount back at closing towards closing costs and repairs. Money back at closing goes into their expense ratio (per FIL at least). So if we like the house and decide that we're okay living that close to them, we may make such an offer and just not expect anything at all as far as the bank actually accepting it goes. If it does have mortgage insurance, we could also just wait and see when it actually goes into foreclosure...

 

[february2003bride]

Blen- Ooooh, good luck at the open house! I lived in Reston as an adult but grew up in Herndon and my parents still live there. There is no way my kids would go to Herndon High or Herndon Middle School (or South Lakes/Langston Hughes). When we lived in Reston, the school in our neighborhood was Lake Anne and we sent DD to private Montissori school instead. We liked almost everything about Reston (minus the traffic) but from a kid perspective, it wasn't what we were looking for in terms of schools, more kids in a neighborhood than retired adults, new construction homes, etc.

Definitley look into short sales and foreclosures! Many of our friends have gotten great deals on them, and despite the length of waiting and other headaches, most of them said it was well worth it.

ETA: As for your option #3- my DH is a total city rat. He would prefer to live in DC/ Arlington area. But now having lived in LoCo for so long (6 years), he really likes and we do make a point to take the kids into DC at least once a month. So he gets his city fix but we have the house and neighborhood that we like. I have agreed that once the kids have graduated and probably not moving home, that we'd sell this house and buy something in the city!

 

[Allison D.]

Re:

HH--a Homegoods outing sounds like a good idea to me, even if it''s just the two of us, haha. Maybe we could get AlisonD to join--she recently told me she took an interior decortating class. I had no idea!

You can absolutely get me to join in - I'm totally game. HG is one of my FAVE stores!

 

[Blenheim]

Feb - Again, it's really good to get your perspective as someone who's lived in both places. It's also encouraging to hear that it's working out well for your DH. In some ways I think I'd be fine living more out here if we just resolved to go down to DC on a semi-regular basis, but then again it just seems like such an ordeal doing that right now. The time we went to the zoo seriously messed up the nap schedule. As a result, we're just not going in that much.

I spent a couple hours yesterday looking into school districts, figuring that it might be easiest to just compile a list of schools where we felt comfortable with the whole elementary/middle/high school combo, figure out what's reasonable from a commute perspective, and then only look in those school districts. That left a handful of areas, some of which may be difficult as far as affordability goes. I'm starting to come to terms with buying close to my in-laws - that honestly looks like the best bet as far as house prices and school districts. We're going to keep an eye on the other districts that we decided were okay, and we'll see what we find.

The open house yesterday showed very well but I don't think it's it. I didn't like the neighborhood as much as the first townhouse that we saw. It's also about $25k more. More fixed up, but for $25k we could fix the other one up the way that we want and not the way that the prior owners want, you know? The main differences were the kitchen (nice but not what I would have chosen) and the landscaping had been maintained better, probably because it's still occupied.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Allison D.-- What I really need to do is find a nice jewelry store nearby so we can have a decorating and diamonds PS outing, haha. There is a Descenza down the street...

BTW, you would have laughed at me this weekend. As you know, I've had this image in my head of having a dove grey bedroom for months now. I was going to have some silk curtains custom made in the shade I wanted, then match the paint, but I couldn't get any quotes for less than $2k (we have too many windows in our bedroom). Anyway, I found some Pottery Barn silk curtains with a grey stripe and decided that was just fine. So I bought the curtains for a fraction of the price on Ebay (of course) and then went to the Benjamin Moore store to pick out a shade of grey that matched the curtains. All is well, right? I thought so, too! I spent the weekend taping and painting and you know what? It looks like we live in a cement bedroom!! I'm sure it will look fine when the curtains are up and it's all pulled together, but it's a classic case of me having this image in my head, then when the paint is on the walls I realize it's not at all what I thought!

Blenheim-- It really does sound like option #3 is becoming more and more appealing. I'm afraid option #2 is going to hang over head (knowing that you'll eventually need to move to a better school district). I can understand this option because DH and I almost did the same thing. At the time we were set on getting an oceanfront house, but the only towns where we could afford it had not-so-great schools. We made an offer thinking that we could move before our future kids got to be school-aged (we don't have any yet), but in the end I'm so glad we didn't. From the day we moved it we would have been thinking "how long until we sell?". Every time I painted a room I would have thought "will this be suitable for selling?" You get the idea. Option #1 would be appealing if your husband was more open to a condo, but I also sort of understand where he's coming from. I do think that having a bit more space and a yard with a TH would be more family-friendly, you know? Having a yard would be great. I wouldn't consider option #4 because I'm such a stickler for the budget and wouldn't want to stretch it (we actually did the opposite and decreased our budget). Option #3 would allow you to get all of the things you want and being close to the in-laws may end up being great! Maybe you can find something in the area that doesn't feel SO suburban?

This short sale sounds appealing! As rhb mentioned, sometimes short sales can go very smoothly, but it's not like you have to move right away, anyway, so I think it's definitely worth looking into. You're right though, finding out if there is mortgage insurance is the first step--if so, waiting until it goes into foreclosure is a great plan. And if you find something else you love in the meantime, then so be it!

 

[Miscka]

hi ladies!!

Blenheim, no real "advice" on your situation, but I will be following your story! I think I would go for 3 if I were in your shoes. Balancing all the factors is so hard!

Thanks for the comments on my last super-rambling post here. This process has been a total b*tch in terms of emotions, I love it and hate it all at once!

We just put an offer in on a house today and are waiting to hear back. We made it full price, so we will see. They have another offer on the table (been on the market a grand total of FOUR days). Its a killer house with TONS of character. Its a little older brick home with awesome updates. The area is not the absolute best, but safe and full of similar homes with well-maintained lawns, etc. Just not ritzy at all but thats ok! The mortgage would be less than our current rent, and I am head over heels in love with the actual house, so I can forgo ritzy!! I am SO glad I did not compromise and go for something generic but further out, even though we obv. arent in the home stretch, I just know I would have felt like I gave up too much.

NEL I want to see pics of the grey and curtains!! I love grey paint.

 

[Blenheim]

Miscka - Fingers crossed on the offer! I love houses with a lot of character.

NEL - Ooh, that sounds tricky. I love the idea of dove grey in the bedroom and it's something that I've been considering once we have rooms to paint again, and I hadn't even thought of it possibly looking too institutional. I hope that it all comes together once you get everything in.

I guess I forgot option #5? Which would be hoping that prices soften further come winter, and that we can afford something slightly closer in. I don't think #4's a real option for us, don't worry.

Between #2 and #3, I'd much rather decide that we want to move further down the road so that we can move up to a SFH further in, rather than feel like we have to move because the schools aren't adequate. I have a feeling that we're going to go with #3 in the end. My DH's grandmother lived close to my in-laws for a while before she passed, and DH would skate over to her house and skate back. It's a really safe neighborhood, lots of kids out doing that kind of thing. It's not my ideal, but I think I could come to like it. We're going to go to a couple more houses on Wednesday evening, including the short sale that's like a quarter of a mile from here.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim, I have no doubt that you guys will decide what's right for you. You also make a good point about how option #2 will allow you to save for the ultimate goal, which I hadn't thought about previously. The good news is that these are all decent options and I really think that you could make any of them work for you. In the beginning I think it can be a little overwhelming, so maybe after seeing more homes one option will start to surface as the best option. If you find something you love, then great, but if not then option #5 is right around the corner! I'm excited to hear how it goes tomorrow.

Miscka, congrats on putting in the offer!! It's a bummer that there is another offer, but the fact that you guys offered full asking is keeping me hopeful! Let us know when you do!

I am planning to do a before and after photo shoot in the bedroom as soon as I finish painting the walls and get the curtains up (hoping for this weekend!). The walls are looking much better now that the paint has completely dried--the color is softer and much less like cement. I'm so glad! I'm also going to try to include a few pics of the kitchen/dining area as soon as I get the curtains up in there. They should be arriving in the next couple of days. After I finish the bedroom and get the curtains up in the kitching/dining area, I'm going to take a little house break. I am really enjoying it, but the past few weekends have been focused only on the house and I'm eager to get back up to NH and do some hiking next weekend.

 

[dcgator]

Blen - It sounds like you've got a good plan. I think option 3 (or potentially option 5) would work well. And there is nothing wrong with waiting it out for the fall cool down on pricing.

Good luck with the places on Wed and let us know how it goes.

PS We should have a ladies who lunch for all the downtown PS'ers sometime

 

[ts44]

NEL I can't wait to see the pictures of your renovations, although the "cement bedroom" mental image did make me laugh. I'm glad the dry paint is more appealing.

Blenheim I think you said this earlier on but what is your current situation like? Can you wait it out where you are until you find something you don't have to compromise on, maybe even into next year? I doubt the housing market is rebounding anytime soon!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

ts44, how are you doing? Did you guys put an offer on the house you liked?

 

[Blenheim]

DCGator - we should meet! That would be a lot of fun.

TS44 - We're living with my in-laws right now. They're nice people and are fine with us staying here as long as we need to, but DH, G and I are sharing a 10x11 room, which is... cozy. We're fine taking about 6 months, but I think much longer than that and we'd start to go crazy.

We went looking at houses again this evening.

House #1 had a great layout and natural light but reeked of cigarette smoke, and it was obvious that they had recently repainted and put new carpet in. So, no.

House #2... I'll get to it in a minute.

House #3, oh, House #3. This one was a short sale. It apparently already has two offers on it. But it's a SFH, so we decided to go look at it anyway. And either the owners were very angry about the whole situation, or some bored teenagers broke in one night, or something, but OMG. Gallons of paint dumped on the floors, both carpet and the wood - and it was the type of wood that's really just a wood layer and not solid wood, so we weren't sure if it could be sanded out and refinished, or if it would have to be completely ripped up. Graphic drawings all over the walls, which can just be painted over, but there were also a lot of holes punched in the walls as well as weird red marks with penned notations of what types of bodily fluid it was... Broken glass everywhere; I held George the whole time we were there as there was no way was he walking on that floor. The basement smelled dank and weird. Lots of deferred maintenance that needed to be addressed. Here's the dining room floor (pictures of the walls would violate terms of use, so unfortunately you do not get to see those).

 

[Blenheim]

Back to house #2. We're thinking of making an offer on it. It has a lot of potential, and DH really loves it.

It's close to my in-laws, in a small sub that's surrounded by lots of trees. I like trees. It's in a very safe, walkable neighborhood, and within easy walking distance are a grocery store, hardware store, ice cream, pool, park, and elementary school. The library's also within walking distance but a bit of a hike. It's in a great elementary school district, as well as middle and high schools. Public transportation isn't completely ideal, but it's accessible enough.

I spent yesterday morning in the town where I grew up, and it made me realize that a lot of what feels like "home" to me is lots of trees and greenery, walkable streets, and a sense of community. While this TH is further out, I think it strikes a good balance of those things as well as affordability and space.

As for the TH itself, it's an end unit with a big backyard (for a townhouse, at any rate!). It has a big deck and backs to woods, which I really like. It's technically a 3 bedroom, but has an extra room with egress window and a nook that's just asking to be made into a closet, which is much better than we were expecting. We'd like to have 3 kids, and this would allow them each to have their own room if we're there long term. It has a den with a fireplace. The living room has a big window with a nook that George climbed right into; if we just added some big pillows, it would be a perfect little reading nook for him.

It's a foreclosure and there are some areas that need a little TLC. Most of it's cosmetic (everything's very white and beige, and one of the rooms is missing baseboards), but there are a couple things that stood out to us as maybe needing work a bit sooner than later. I dug around in obscure drawers (ETA - house was vacant; I'm talking about things like hidden kitchen drawers!) and managed to find a copy of the inspection report from when they purchased it 8 years ago, and so we wandered around the house trying to figure out if they followed up on some of the areas pointed out in the report. The inspection gave their furnace about another 5 years, and we think (after much inspection on our part) that it was replaced about 4 years ago, so that's hopefully ok. The seal around the downstairs door was broken when they bought the house, and the door generally looked like it could stand to be replaced, but I didn't see any evidence of water etc getting into the house. The dishwasher and refrigerator are a bit dated, and we're not sure how much life they have left. Our realtor mentioned that she thought she saw some areas of the roof that would need to be repaired, but I forgot to look - it's close enough to my in-laws that I'll probably just go on by after work tomorrow. A/C looked a bit on the older, so again, not sure how much life it has left. We flushed all of the toilets in the house and the water pressure seemed a little bit low. Not all of the light switches did something, but we think that some of them were tied to outlets and so it would make sense that they wouldn't. No washer or dryer (although there are hookups), so we'd need to get those. We do have flexibility in our budget pre-kid #2, as we're budgeting for 2 in full-time daycare, so could address this kind of stuff.

There were a couple of things about the layout that I wasn't thrilled about. The front door opened into an entrance area that consisted of a hallway, coat closet, and powder room, and then you had to go upstairs to the living/dining/kitchen or downstairs to the family room. It wasn't quite a split level arrangement, but I guess kind of similar. And because of the way that the stairs were arranged, one of the bedrooms had a closet with a floor raised about 18" above the floor of the room. As a result, the clothes rod was awfully high. It could be lowered, but then there wouldn't be enough space between the rod and the floor for dresses or long coats. Granted, George doesn't need such things, and if we put him in there it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal.

So, we're thinking about it right now. I don't think that any of the negatives are deal-breakers, and it has a lot of great things going for it.

This is the back deck:

 

[ts44]

Holy vandalism, batman! That would be a total deal breaker for me; at the risk of sounding flakey I don't think I could deal with knowing all that negative energy was there, even if it had been painted over or sanded off.

Reminds me of a house I remember seeing when I was young and my mom was house shopping, the house itself was fine and dandy until mom said "what's behind that door there" and the realtor showing the house said "oh that's the teenager's room, but that will be entirely fixed before the family moves out." My mom was like, uh yeah ok let me see it. And the whole room was covered in hideous, graphic graffiti and black paint and ripped up flooring with barely any furniture and there was garbage all over it - we literally gasped and took a step back when the door was opened. NO WAY, even if it is cosmetic!

House #1: Cigarette smoke is im-poss-ible to get out. You would have to take out the insulation, flooring, everything to truly get rid of it. Gack.

House #2 sounds like a good option! That's a nice little deck back there and it doesn't seem to look right into another house's backyard? Those trees seem to be a good year-round screen (pine? juniper?).

ETA:

NEL I just saw your message and actually we bid on the house, went back and forth just a few times and now we appear to have agreed on a price! If all goes according to plan, we will close in the second week of September after FI and I get back from our honeymoon.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I only have a minute, but wanted to say that the TH looks amazing, Blenheim!! I love that you could walk to so many places and what I love even more is all of the trees. I know it's a TH, but it looks so private and peaceful there. Not like a lot of the TH complexes in the DC suburbs, you know? To have all of those mature trees would be a major benefit.

And how great it is that you found the inspection report? It does sound like most of the updates would be cosmetic (new appliances, new baseboard, etc.) with the exception of the A/C and the roof. And the fact that you could turn the bonus room into a 4th bedroom somewhat easily is even better. That would probably help with resale (even if that isn't for many more years!). And again, since you weren't planning on buying for awhile yet, a foreclosure could work out just fine, even if it takes a little longer. Take your time deciding, it's still early for you guys, but this one sounds very promising!

ts44, congrats on what sounds like an accepted offer!!! That's fantastic! If you could close right after your honeymoon that would be amazing. You have a couple of months to get everything together, which helps to keep it as stress free as possible The issue is that the lender always ends up leaving everything until the last minute! Keep us updated!

 

[ts44]

Well I got a phone call from the realtor this afternoon and it's a done deal, we are in the process of becoming homeowners.

It's a 4 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bath house in a wooded, mature subdivision. Just over 2,500 sq. feet and has a finished basement! The house is completely turn-key, there's nothing that we will have to do to it to make it habitable. The people who lived there even had reasonably good taste so we don't even have to paint if we don't want to. It's a relatively recent build so there's an actual master suite with a vaulted ceiling and a bathroom with a walk in closet and two sinks, which was really important to me. I love giant bathrooms. The laundry room is upstairs, as well. The yard is very private and the right size for FI and I to take care of without any major headaches. There's just enough garden for me to be happy mucking about with plants and things, but not enough for me to get into big, expensive trouble.

I do have some pictures of my favorite bits if anybody's interested!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

ts44, CONGRATS!!!!! The house looks amazing! I literally laughed out loud when you said the nursery made your ovaries sparkle. Hahaha. Everything looks fantastic and I'm really excited for you!