The Good the Bad and the.... What in the Heck?

Looked at a few houses today and decided to make an offer.

Before I tell you about the one we chose, I have to tell you about the ones we didn't.... because where's the fun in getting the good stuff first? 

So we saw the two homes in High Point. The first I already showed you, the second.... looked like this:

  

Check out that wallpaper. Circa 1950

Cute right?? It's a foreclosure. 70k downtown High Point... Cute neighborhood. Then we saw this:

That's right folks. It says DO NOT ENTER. Talk about a selling deterrent.  At 70k we felt that with the work that was going to be needed, it wasn't a good investment. If we had about 50k extra, it would have been great. 

Our realtor is from Winston. She is GREAT. Viola player for the Greensboro symphony. Totally eclectic. Totally cute. If you like suits... Maureen Michels is not for you. I like genuine people that are a little bit messy.. and she's perfect. A artsy dreamer with a realistic side. I think those make the best realtors. If you're moving to the Winston area shoot her an email at mmichels77@gmail.com or call her at 336-577-9245. 

Maureen knows the Winston area well and drove us around showing us home in some more "up and coming" neighborhoods. This usually means, semi ghetto with low crime. A few other homes in the area have usually been purchased by upper middle class families with vision. One home was in progress. A man was remodeling it with the intention of eventually selling. 70k with 3 bedrooms, adorable crown moulding.... but it's not finished yet. Sad face.

Finally Sink Street. A home we found on Realtor.com  4 bedrooms. 1 bath upstairs, one in the basement. The basement had a large workshop, a laundry room and bath with shower as well as what could be turned into a small loft-style apartment. 

  

(Left to right: "Apartment space" Bathroom and Laundry Room)

The bedrooms were huge and storage was everywhere. Complete with real wood paneling, the "den" had a build in desk and gas logs. Built in's everywhere. Andy.. was in love. 

Best part? The basement. Worst part? The neighborhood. Section 8 housing two homes down and across the street. The home directly across the street was currently housing approximately 10 people. Essentially? Sketchy-town. 

So? What did we decide? 

We saw 507 Derry St.  this morning at 9am. It was love at first analysis. 

Three bedrooms technically. There is a possibility for a fourth. Built in 1910. 

                        

(Left to Right: Upstairs bath with access to very large attic space, Upstairs BR, Massive Laundry Room)

(Left to Right: Fenced in backyard w/shed, Large kitchen--all that you see with that ugly floor is kitchen. It's much deeper than it looks, Staircase <3)

(Left to Right: Cary.. praying we buy the house... in the Living Room complete with built in and double sided fireplace, Dining room aka the other side of the double sided fireplace. Also with built-in. Can you say double sided gas logs?)

A bit of a story is tied to this house. We called John McCormick (Seller's Realtor- Great guy- See link for contact info if you'd like it) last week with the intention of seeing the home. He told the seller but there was a tenant inside and we couldn't get more images until Friday. John called me Thursday confirming an appointment for this morning and made mention that there had already been an offer. The seller is an investor with the desire for a family to purchase the home, not another investor. Because we had scheduled an appointment, the seller decided to hold off on accepting any offers until after we had seen it. That immediately gave me some serious respect for the man. 

It worked in his favor. We decided not to lowball him. The house is in great condition. HVAC is seven years old and the roof is two years old. Electrical work is up code. New plumbing. Bathrooms have been totally redone. 

Listing price is 49,900. We offered 49k and asked that he pay half of closing costs. 

His realtor believes that he will accept so essentially, we're waiting on the VA inspectors to tell us they will give us a loan for the house. We made a note that if the repairs required by the VA weren't too substantial, we would consider a counter offer that considered the cost of the repairs.

Ok. Now it's time for a nap.