Found a house, in contract, delirious!!!

[shortbun]

We had been conducting a lackluster house search. Lackluster because, as my girlfriend describes my predicament, they didn't make a house with the right bones for me. Well....this week another house came up for sale - on the street I've always wanted to live and about 65K under market value. Our real estate agent called us saying, 'we should just go look, it's probably trashed at this price.' We went in Wednesday night and fell in love. The home is vintage -built in 1958 and nearly everything is original. The kitchen is a stunner and could be a movie set, it's in such good shape right down to the green linoleum tile, lol! The original hardwood floors in the rest of the house had been protected by carpeting and are perfect. The original tile in the bathrooms has no chips or cracks - amazing. It has 3 full baths, 4 bedrooms(all large) and a yard that could host a high school football game. We offered asking plus 1K and the owner stop all renovation/painting work as we want to lovingly restore anything that's possible. They accepted. One of my best friends does restoration for a living and she's chomping at the bit to get in there and see this place. There's really ugly wallpaper and crazy hysterically funny light fixtures - the kitchen chandelier in the eatin space has a horseshoe and spurs on it!!! Anyway, I'm ecstatic and I'm up in the middle of the night planning!!! We've been looking for almost a year and had pretty much given up.

YAY!!!!

 

[karebear1]

Well CONGRATULATIONS then!! Isn't it so exciting to find a house that you love? And now you'll get to put some of you into your NEW sweet home! Make sure to update us with before and afetr pics. I'd love to see what you do!!

 

[shortbun]

Well CONGRATULATIONS then!! Isn't it so exciting to find a house that you love? And now you'll get to put some of you into your NEW sweet home! Make sure to update us with before and afetr pics. I'd love to see what you do!!

Thanks! We go in with the inspector on Wednesday and we're taking our camera so everyone who can't go with us(lol!) can see. I'll really have to put some effort into leaning how to post pics here so you guys can see!

 

[Avalon_toon]

Congratulations, it sounds wonderful!

 

[lewdyan1]

Congrats! Here's a little that everything goes smooth and easy!

 

[SDFgirl]

Sounds like a fun house to restore! I love houses that have character!

Congrats on finding your dream home!

 

[golfgal]

I love that you consider 1958 as "vintage" . I grew up in a house that is a 180 years old

Congrats on finding your dream house.

 

[shortbun]

I love that you consider 1958 as "vintage" . I grew up in a house that is a 180 years old

Congrats on finding your dream house.

Well, the house I'm in now is 100 years old. I used 'vintage' to refer to the condition and decor of the house not the age. I thought 'vintage' was about an era, year or period. This home has been lovingly preserved to reflect the best of the style and period of mid=century homes. It's 'vintage mid-century.' Anyhoo, enough of the vocabulary lesson.....I LOVE my new house!!!!!!

 

[KerriSue]

How very exciting this must be! I could almost hear your excitement while I read your post

Congratulations

 

[Disney Doll]

I remember that feeling when I found my house, which is "vintage" too, I guess, having been built in the mid-40's.

Congratulations!!!!!

 

[JerseyJanice]

Congratulations and best of luck with it!

I hope you live there a long, long time in the best of health.

 

[AlleyKat]

Is the "new" house in the town you presently reside in?

 

[BelleWDW]

So glad you found something without those pergo floors!

 

[DeluxePrincess]

No laminates. Yay!

 

[rie'smom]

Congrats! Finding a new home is always so amazing.

BTW, I'm vintage because I was born in 1958. Most of my parts are original. I do get a paint job on my shingles every 10 days as the dark brown turns gray. Parts of me- soffits?- were sagging but a little work and I was good as new.

Have fun in your new home!

 

[Silent1CB]

Congrats!

I'm guessing for such a low price, that the plumbing, electrical, heating, windows & roof are all original too?

That's the stuff I think about.

Hardwood floors a nice plus.

 

[Tinijocaro]

YAY!!!!

Just starting our house search and think it will be near impossible to find what we both want

About your sig: My mom used to say "Make do, make over, or do without" same idea.

 

[ilovejack02]

Cant wait to see pictures! Congratulations!

 

[shortbun]

Congrats!

I'm guessing for such a low price, that the plumbing, electrical, heating, windows & roof are all original too?

That's the stuff I think about.

Hardwood floors a nice plus.

Actually, this house has been so well cared for that the mechanicals are all pretty current. The roof was new in 2008, the eletric was updated and a lot was redone 10 years ago to code, we're planning a plumbing inspection specifically because we'll be expanding the master bath and moving the laundry from the basement but with a ranch you don't have to worry because most of the plumbing is visible. Furnances -yes there are two, are both between 10 and 20 years old and most of the windows are new but done with the style of the house in mind. We're doing an official inspection this week but my husband is pretty savvy and we spent over an hour looking things over the day we bid on it.

Yes you guys-no laminate!!! LOL!!! The kitchen/laundry/entrance are all need to have new flooring. We're thinking about bamboo right now but my girlfriend who does vintage restoration is walking though during the inspection so I'm sure she'll have an opinion.

I was on line looking for mid-century lighting/lamps last night. I found some very cool stuff as well as a head's up to some of the things my mom had saved that I had overlooked. Methinks a trip through her basement is definitely in order.

 

[shortbun]

Just starting our house search and think it will be near impossible to find what we both want

About your sig: My mom used to say "Make do, make over, or do without" same idea.

Listen, good luck. I was really getting discouraged because we ran into so many bad remodels and just vanilla homes. We wanted something oozing with good character and some real good bones. All that and a good price did not seem to be in the cards. I'm amazed and thrilled. You know that Obama signed to extend and expand the home buyers credit right? If you've been in your current home for 5 years, you now qualify for $6500 by being in contract by 4/30/10 and closing in 60 days. We went into contract on the day he signed so we made it!!! The real estate market is going to hum for a few months.