Monday, January 24, 2011

House Hunting: Rancher

The second house we looked at was a complete 180 from the duplex  This house was about 85% remodeled and ready to move in.

The Stats:
Built: 1955
Style: One Story Rancher
Beds/Baths: 3  1/0
Sq Ft: 1,120
Garage: No (Carport)

There wasn't anyone living in the home, but you could tell they took the time to have the home staged.  When you first walked in, you were in a generously sized living room with a lot of natural light.



some of the pictures I had to steal from Trend's website because I forgot to take pictures like this.  FAIL.
 The kitchen was in good shape and came with stainless steel appliances.  It could have used updating, but it was totally workable the way it was now.  I really loved the bead boarding.



There were three bedrooms, each one of them a good size to fit at least a daybed or twin bed.


Oh... and the original hardwood floors?  Love them.  Completely refinished, and apparently they do run throughout the entire house (aka, in the living room too).

The master bedroom was really big, and could have easily accommodated all of our furniture



It appears the updating of the home stopped midway through the bathroom.  We have a new sink and toilet, but the original grey and pink tiles were still intact.



Pink soap holder, toilet paper holder and towel bar-- now that's dedication to a color.

 And because I know you are all suckers for a diagram (like me), here is the general floor plan of the house:


Pros:
 Basically this house was exactly what I wanted.  I love the idea of a rancher, and this is in much better shape then I thought we could afford.

The neighborhood is very quaint and quiet, with sidewalks.   I know it sounds weird, but I love neighborhoods with sidewalks-- probably because the area I grew up in didn't have them.

A nice yard with a covered patio that is already fenced in. ( I didn't take pictures because it was like 23 degrees the day we looked at this house and I just wanted to get inside).

No garage, but there was a carport that JEGs could possibly close in.

Cons:
I absolutely, positively hate the layout of the kitchen, and I'm not even sure of how to fix it without loosing a window in the kitchen.

If we do close in the carport, the windows in the kitchen will look out into the garage. 

Although our backyard and front yard are a good size, we are very close to our neighbors on the sides.

No half bath for guest, and not really any place to put one.

The issues on our cons list are definitely not deal breakers.  We really liked this house and, as JEGs says,  we "are putting a pin in it".

Stick around, we've got more houses to look at!

Always & Forever,
  ME

7 comments:

Victoria said...

This place is SO CUTE!

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

I really like this one. Lots of character and I love the floors. Even the bathroom is kinda cute to me. Pull in some white and I'll bet its cute as a button.

Oona Johnson said...

I agree with Kim, the bathroom is adorable!

For us though, an unhappy kitchen and garage situation would be dealbreakers... I got lucky with my tiny kitchen and realized I actually like it better than my old huge kitchen (as long as the Mr. stays the hell out when I'm cooking, grr.) But our garage is narrow and he's miserable. We thought it would be no problem to just throw up a fancy garage, we've got four acres and spend $100,000 less than originally planned, but now all the architects are saying the land is too steep and it's gonna costs $10,000 just to pour the foundation and footing for it...

You may think you can live with something or fix it, but that's not always the case.

Lynett said...

Looks promising! I likey!

Shannon said...

This one's a cutie! Although I'd be turned off by a window into the garage. Not that you asked, but at our first house, we had no windows in our kitchen and it was horrible. So clearly I made that happen in the new house. But bead board! I love it...and it's a nice size kitchen.

Hmmm, I wonder if you guys have already made a decision and are going to bring us up to date on the process. Or is this in real-time and you're still looking...hmm..I'm so nosy, I wanna knowwwwwww.

Anonymous said...

The house looks nice. Like you mentioned, not sure what to do about the kitchen setup. Did the house have central air (thought I saw a window unit in the kitchen)? Would be a deal breaker for us. Could be me, but it feels like a flip. Maybe it's the staging or maybe it seems like there was alot of cosmetic work done, but not major projects (like bathroom tile). May want to see how long the current owner has owned it for and what was paid for it. Wouldn't want to see you overpay for minor improvements.

John

LizzieBeth said...

@ John- I don't think this house is a flip for a couple reason:

1. The bathroom wasn't finished. I can't imagine someone "flipping" a house and leaving a pink tub from 1956.

2. the cabinets in the kitchen also seemed original to the home and they had wallpaper on them. If someone was flipping for a profit, they would have taken the wallpaper off the cabinets and replaced them-- or at least put new hardware on them.

3.The floors in the kitchen were pretty horrible as well. I think a flipper would have put in new laminate or slate flooring.

I think this was a home someone legitamly lived in, but they took the extra time to have it staged after they moved out. Smart choice, I think.

LB