The White House and The Cross House

So, we went to look at the 1950's house (The "White House") today. It's a 2 bed, 1 bath home with an office that I'd probably rip out to expand the kitchen. There were some things I liked--that the house is sitting on over an acre, and there is tons of room for expansion and up dates--but there were also lots of things I'm a little leery about. For example, the people who own the house were smokers and the walls are definitely yellowed and gross. Also, the heat is oil, which is iffy. Right away, we'd have to rip out all the carpet and re-paint the walls. There's also no dishwasher and no room for one. Honestly, I could tell that the house had a lot of potential, but it was hard to see through all the clutter and JUNK that was everywhere (it actually looks much better in pictures than it does in real life). Additionally, it's on a well. We'd have to get the well tested, which is probably 400 plus dollars just to have it tested.

Our plan is to go out again over the weekend with my dad, who is a contractor. We plan to have him look at things logistically and see about how much he thinks we would need to put into it to be livable. Here's the deal--it's listed at 160,000 but our REA thinks we could easily offer $140,000. Some of the other houses listed are at about $170,000 and would require NO work upon move-in (but they don't have near the amount of property). So, we have to weigh whether or not putting an additional $30,000 into the house would be feasible and worth it to us.

The second house we looked at today (the "Cross House" since there were crosses everywhere) would need NO work upon move in. All appliances are included, and they are all very nice. You can tell that this house was meticulously taken care of. It's 2 bed, 1 bath, and in a great neighborhood. There isn't much of a yard at all though. The only updates I'd do would be to repaint, and possibly adding a backsplash on the opposite side of the kitchen. This is one of the houses in the 170,000 range.

Over the weekend, we're also hoping to go look at a short sale that's on the same street as the house-house. It's in a little better shape, and there's a nice big yard. Oy vey. This is a heck of a lot of work.

P.S.--Sorry about the originally ridiculously small text! I did that entry on a computer other than my own, and it appeared HUGE on that computer!