house-hunting
Jul. 25th, 2005 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunrabSo, we went looking at houses for sale yesterday. Saw some very weird weirdness, and a few acceptable things.
One house was large square footage, decent address (Windsor Mill) - but the electricity wasn't on, AND it looked like far too much of the "many improvements" had been done by a home handyman who was handy but sloppy. So, the oriel window in the living room showed clear water stains on the unfinished plywood seat below it; the space for the new refrigerator had been made by cutting into the coat closet, and the fridge was pushed in there to the point where it partially blocked opening the circuit box; the shower stall in the basement bathroom had been installed smack in the middle of a wall instead of in a corner - leaving space on each side that wasn't large enough for anything else; and last but not least, the cinder block garage in the back yard had been built so that the front was facing sideways, not facing the driveway!! Too careless for me - with that much visible, who knows what sort of sloppiness was in the wiring or inside walls or in the deck or the above-ground pool? Wouldn't want to risk it. Suspect that the electric wiring would not meet code.
Another house, in Halethorpe, was flat-out strange. First it smelled like cat pee the minute we walked in - though there was no sign of cats (the family still lived there, though.) Then the washing machine was installed in the kitchen, under the counter near the dishwasher. The dryer, however, was installed in the very back of a deep closet off the dining room, about 25 feet away. The furnace and a/c unit was installed in the middle of the house, exposed. There was a very nice back sunroom, 7' wide by 25' long. The master bedroom had only one small window. The one and only bathroom was between the other 2 bedrooms; to get to it from the master, one has to walk through the living room. Those 2 bedrooms were very tiny. And then, outside the house right next to it was a foundation-grade pad, ready for a room to be added on - but no door anywhere near there; no indication of how anyone would get into this add-on room, and the only possible way would be to rip a second door in one of the teeny bedrooms, thereby turning it into nothing but a large hallway. This description doesn't begin to convey how odd having the heating/a/c right there in the middle of the house looked.
On the other hand, a couple of houses were quite nice, and we've made inquiries tentative to an offer on one of them - it's not the perfect address, Gwynn Oak being considered less desireable than Windsor Mill let alone Catonsville, but it's a good price and in good condition and has several extras we'd like and the bedrooms are all good size and there's a very small yard, not much to maintain.
We did look at one house in Catonsville, but it was far too small for us, and cost too much so we wouldn't be able to afford to add a room later. It didn't have a basement, and although the attic was fully floored and handy for storage, it wasn't tall enough to stand up in, so it would have been of limited use. Very conveniently laid out kitchen, good driveway, and of course catonsville is a good address. But - less than 1000 square feet for more than $225K? Nope.
The one in Gwynn Oak that we've made a preliminary not-quite-an-offer on is a ranch style house with a full, finished basement. It's brick siding all the way around, not just on the front. The basement is extremely dry and clean, no water damage whatsoever. The wiring is a high grade, with a good, expensive brand of circuit box (one of the ways an amateur can tell what quality things are). The only thing needing fixing is there's a bit of rot around the edges of several windows, and the main bathroom needs an exhaust vent installed. That's the sort of thing that could be done after we moved in; it would not require having an entire room of the house (or more) kept empty.
There are 4 more houses that we're going to go see tomorrow, Tuesday - 2 more in Windsor Mill, 2 more in Gwynn Oak.
One house was large square footage, decent address (Windsor Mill) - but the electricity wasn't on, AND it looked like far too much of the "many improvements" had been done by a home handyman who was handy but sloppy. So, the oriel window in the living room showed clear water stains on the unfinished plywood seat below it; the space for the new refrigerator had been made by cutting into the coat closet, and the fridge was pushed in there to the point where it partially blocked opening the circuit box; the shower stall in the basement bathroom had been installed smack in the middle of a wall instead of in a corner - leaving space on each side that wasn't large enough for anything else; and last but not least, the cinder block garage in the back yard had been built so that the front was facing sideways, not facing the driveway!! Too careless for me - with that much visible, who knows what sort of sloppiness was in the wiring or inside walls or in the deck or the above-ground pool? Wouldn't want to risk it. Suspect that the electric wiring would not meet code.
Another house, in Halethorpe, was flat-out strange. First it smelled like cat pee the minute we walked in - though there was no sign of cats (the family still lived there, though.) Then the washing machine was installed in the kitchen, under the counter near the dishwasher. The dryer, however, was installed in the very back of a deep closet off the dining room, about 25 feet away. The furnace and a/c unit was installed in the middle of the house, exposed. There was a very nice back sunroom, 7' wide by 25' long. The master bedroom had only one small window. The one and only bathroom was between the other 2 bedrooms; to get to it from the master, one has to walk through the living room. Those 2 bedrooms were very tiny. And then, outside the house right next to it was a foundation-grade pad, ready for a room to be added on - but no door anywhere near there; no indication of how anyone would get into this add-on room, and the only possible way would be to rip a second door in one of the teeny bedrooms, thereby turning it into nothing but a large hallway. This description doesn't begin to convey how odd having the heating/a/c right there in the middle of the house looked.
On the other hand, a couple of houses were quite nice, and we've made inquiries tentative to an offer on one of them - it's not the perfect address, Gwynn Oak being considered less desireable than Windsor Mill let alone Catonsville, but it's a good price and in good condition and has several extras we'd like and the bedrooms are all good size and there's a very small yard, not much to maintain.
We did look at one house in Catonsville, but it was far too small for us, and cost too much so we wouldn't be able to afford to add a room later. It didn't have a basement, and although the attic was fully floored and handy for storage, it wasn't tall enough to stand up in, so it would have been of limited use. Very conveniently laid out kitchen, good driveway, and of course catonsville is a good address. But - less than 1000 square feet for more than $225K? Nope.
The one in Gwynn Oak that we've made a preliminary not-quite-an-offer on is a ranch style house with a full, finished basement. It's brick siding all the way around, not just on the front. The basement is extremely dry and clean, no water damage whatsoever. The wiring is a high grade, with a good, expensive brand of circuit box (one of the ways an amateur can tell what quality things are). The only thing needing fixing is there's a bit of rot around the edges of several windows, and the main bathroom needs an exhaust vent installed. That's the sort of thing that could be done after we moved in; it would not require having an entire room of the house (or more) kept empty.
There are 4 more houses that we're going to go see tomorrow, Tuesday - 2 more in Windsor Mill, 2 more in Gwynn Oak.
