The House on Winter Hill

THIS IS THE HOUSE!  Josh said if he had the money for the down payment TODAY and was able to sign a contract on it he would.   But ofcourse we don't at this very moment and there was a lot of ppl interested in this house.  It is priced at $136,900 and we are only approved for a loan of 131,900.  Josh seems to think he could negotiate on the price some and that it is still in our reach.

Ok on to the pluses and minuses.

 

Pluses

Large drive way and a very nice size Garage.  Newer garage automatic door.

In a Cu de Sac in a clean neighborhood.. and still in the same school district so the kids wouldn't have to change schools.

Nice sized back yard that has large privacy fence.

Newer carpets in the living room and hall and bedrooms

Large sliding glass door that leads from the kitchen to the back yard (although if you have seen Spanglish or recall Miss Peachy's accident last year with hers you know how that can be a minus also LOL)

Good basement!  No water damage or mold from what we could see.  A rough-in for us to add on a bathroom down there.  Plenty of space for storage and to add on other rooms down there.

A dishwasher in the kitchen

The master bedroom has it's own bathroom.

 

Minuses

The living room is not all that big and we would have to down size a lot.

Bedroom #1 & 2 are on the smaller side and not a lot of closet space.

I don't like the cabinets or the counters in the kitchen.. What was up with putting all those pictures on the cabinets? I wish I could of pulled some of them up to check for holes and open the cabinets to see their space.

We would have to add on to the basement right away to have room for his mother to live with us.. but really that is more of a plus to make sure it got done right and the way we wanted.  A weekend with some friends he knows recruited and a few hundred dollars.. no problemo.

The steps out into the yard from the kitchen and garage NEED to be redone.. but again that is a simple project.

The fence needs to be repaired in some spots.

Some how I missed the main bathroom so I didn't get a pic of it so I can't say my opinion about it.. Josh said it was a standard bathroom.

Don't like the entrance way and that tile.  And there is not a closet right off the entrance like in the other house. 

Also I am still in love with hardwood flooring.

It is listed a little extra then we are approved for.

I am really reaching for minuses.. It seems to be a nice starter home in the area we desire.

Thanks to some one's suggestion we are looking for a Forgivable Grant to help with a down payment.  Doing a net search I have found that our city does have one available of $5,000 with a requirement of you staying in that house for 5 years and we would by the skin of our teeth qualify for it.  We called and left a message and waiting to get that ball rolling.  The only thing is from further reading on a different city site, it shows there is only 8 of these grants available this year.  I am sure we would not qualify  next year.  We have a small window of time left before Josh turns Journeymen.  Josh also has a few side jobs lined up in the next week or so and that would give us $1,100 to go towards the down payment.  There is also a certain relative who had said in the past if we needed help we could go to them.. so we may be taking them up on that offer.  If we can not get this house then it was a good lesson learned about what we DO like and we will be more prepared for later.  But it is hard when you do find what you do like not to day dream and get ahead of yourself.  This is what I was trying to tell Josh before we started all this and how I don't like putting hope in stuff like this.

What I would do to this house based on the Sat Six #6 question from the weekend?

I would still rip up the carpets and add hardwood flooring.  Totally redo the kitchen cabinets and counters.  Add either a 3 season room to it or a large deck like on the other house.  Add a bathroom and two more bedrooms in the basement.  Replace the fencing.  Maybe if it was possible add on to the living room and make it larger and defiantly redo the living room window and make it larger.

Ugh and now instead of all those bike and car shows Josh likes to watch he has us watching the Home and Garden shows. LOL

I would like to do a separate post about some other stuff going on around here and also to maybe address some comments I have gotten about the abortion issue.  My life is not all about house hunting lol but  the last two weeks it sure does seem so huh. So look for another post tonight.