3/15 House Hunting: House #2
House 2: $475,000 3 bed / 1.25 bath / 2,140 square feet / 5,432 square foot lot / garage
The Good:
The house has great curb appeal, and is in a nice Beacon Hill neighborhood. The streets are narrow, but quiet, a place I would have no issues with the girls playing outside.
It has a large back and side yard, but without a lot of fancy landscaping the dogs would mess up.
I really liked the flow of the public spaces of the house, with the fireplace kind of set between the dining/living areas, and then the French doors from the dining area into the kitchen.
The basement area isn’t finished, but it’s neat and clean, no real safety concerns for playing down there, even with the concrete floor and bare walls.
The Bad:
1.25 baths means one half bath on the main floor, and one three quarter bath on the 2nd floor. There is no tub in the house. And no matter how nice the shower is, I need a tub. Kids need a tub.
And of that 2,140 square feet, almost 800 of that is the unfinished basement. That makes the finished areas of the house actually a little smaller than main floor of our current house. And sadly, despite the nice flow, it simply felt small.
We would also have the problem of one kid bedroom on the main floor and one kid bedroom on the top floor next to the master bedroom. That’s sure to cause some fights.
And finally, the Kinnect test. While it would be possible to set up the tv somewhere in the public space where there was room to really use the Kinnect, our best bet would be to finish the basement and create a family entertainment space down there. And if I am paying $475k, I don’t want to have to go in and immediately finish a space.
The Verdict:
I actually knew going in that this house would not be for us. 1.25 baths is just not an option, as far as I am concerned. However, it was very near one of the other houses we were looking at today, and I wanted to see the place. I think the curb appeal on this house was the best of all we saw today, so I think it might go soon, just not to us.
