House Hunting for Fun

So even though we are happily in our house, I still love looking at houses. And this weekend, a house literally just down the street from us had an open house, so we popped in.

Neighborhood House: $405,000, 3 bedrooms, 2.25 bathrooms (1 full, 1 half, 1 three-quarter), 1,860sqft, 8,063 sqft lot, 2 car garage

The Good:

The house has a nice large, one level, fully fenced back yard. There are some holes in the fence here and there, but those are easily fixed.

It has a true two car garage with some extra storage space.

The downstairs is finished, but not so finished that you could not do something with it yourself. It could even serve as a fourth bedroom (presumably the master) if you wanted. It has a fireplace, three quarter bath, and laundry room down there. You would need to bring in a wardrobe to really call it a bedroom, but it could easily work as such.

Or, it could be family/child space that is not also one of the main public spaces of the house.

The upstairs master is an okay size and has a half bath. The other two rooms upstairs are a little on the small size but still decent.

The upstairs public space has nice flow from the living room to the dining room, and seems like it would be good entertaining space.

The Bad:

The windows are old, aluminum frame things. From the outside, they look like they will need to be replaced soon.

The hardwood floors were likely polished but not refinished. They are not in terrible shape, but they look older and used.

The finishes throughout the house are “original”. The cupboards in the kitchen, the bathrooms, everywhere. None of it is in bad shape, but it is worn, and very much looks a product of the era the house was built.

The kitchen is a pass through kitchen, that does not feel very open, but is still more open than the one at our old house.

The Verdict:

We are very glad we got the house we got. Our house just seems so much “newer” though it really is not. The updated kitchen and slightly more open kitchen makes a difference, as do the actually refinished hardwood floors. And it is so nice not having to replace all the windows right away.

However, if we were still looking, given the neighborhood, the schools, the size of the house and the back yard, we probably would put in an offer on this house, especially since it is $50k less than we paid for ours.