3/15 House Hunting: House #4

House 4: $498,000 3 bed / 1.5 bath / (unlisted) square feet / 6,570 square foot lot / garage

The Good:

Okay, talk about curb appeal. The house look beautiful on the outside and is on a corner lot, but one of those triangle shaped corners, giving it a unique look. Plus, it is in the Seward Park neighborhood, which is definitely upscale. The street it was on was quiet. And as a random bonus, the house across the street had to adorable big dogs.

The living room area with two sets of French doors that open to what was probably once a porch, but is now a fully finished sun room, created a dining space that was open to the rest of the public space.

The kitchen made good use of wall space with lots of cupboards.

The Bad:

While this was an extensive remodel of an older house, the bones were still that of an older house. The main floor and basement had a circular pattern. What had once likely been the dining room was now a small office with a very small half bath off of it. While the big public space was nice, the flow of the rest of the house was not good.

The stairs going both up and down were VERY steep. And while loose carpet had been laid over the floor in the basement, it was still unfinished with low ceiling space. I constantly felt like I was going to hit my head, and there were spots where C almost certainly would have hit his head. And with the washer and dryer in the basement, I would have to go up and down both flights of the stairs to do laundry.

Upstairs there were three bedrooms and one bathroom. While I really only NEED an extra toilet (for when someone is showering and someone else needs a bathroom), with two girls, I would really like my own bathroom. In addition, one of the secondary bedrooms had a tiny little play space off of it, while the other did not. I could easily see fights erupting as to who got what space.

And while the Seward Park neighborhood is very nice, it is also a long way from any freeway entrance, so any time savings gained on my commute by moving a little further north would be lost to time on surface streets just getting to a freeway.

The Verdict:

I knew going in this house was not a serious contender. We used to live very near the Seward Park neighborhood, so I know what the commute is like from there. Plus, at almost $500k, this house is more expensive that I want for still being south of downtown.

But even without those factors, the cramped feeling of most of the house and the stairs would have moved it to the “not for us” category.