There is a house on a street where a lot of the girls' friends live, nearby to the center of our part of town, nearby to a park. In the house lived a man. He was very old. My friend, who lives directly across the street from the house, told me about 6 months ago that the old man's daughter was thinking of bringing her father to live with her, and of selling his house. Other houses on the street have been updated in the past 5 years ... kitchens redone, basements dug, etc. [we're talking about an old, old street with old, old houses on it --- not beautiful houses, for the most part, but at least one is on the national historic register -- there isn't much room for expansion with them, so they get built up, and DOWN, via basements]. This old man kept his house clean, but he didn't update it. At all.

The old man died last week. I was really sort of hoping he'd last another year or so (and even then, I just wanted him to go live with his daughter, not to die!), due to the whole not having a job thing. So when my friend initially told me the news, and of the possibility that I could just snatch the house up directly from the daughter without having to deal with it being offered to the public, I said, "WO!!! I don't have a job! No! Too bad the timing didn't work out, but I can't do this."

Then I thought about it.

I mean, there will be probate. There will be sorting of the man's assets and such. There will be things that have to be done. No one was telling me that I have to secure a mortgage and sign the deed next week. Right?

The reason why this house seems really good to me .... it's NOT updated, which means two things: 1) it should be pretty cheap; and 2) we can make it truly ours. So many houses are updated in order to put them on the market, and we don't usually like the decisions people make with their kitchen re-dos and such. With this one, we can do our OWN kitchen. It will likely even be an addition.

The house has its negatives. The back yard is little, and there's a fence along it ... guess what's on the other side of the fence? The train!! Boston's green line of the T. Not necessarily ideal. The house also doesn't look that big. It's likely 3 bedrooms, but one of the 3 may be itty-bitty. But there's also the whole possibility of an addition to expand the kitchen downstairs, and the bedrooms upstairs.

If it means that I can get a single family home (no condo fees!) for potentially 50% of what it would otherwise require, I'll live against the T tracks for a few years. Definitely. J would live across the street from her best friend, and E would have FOUR of her good friends (if not more!) on the street. Can you imagine?

Of course, I really have no clue. I'm hoping it goes on the market [well, is it considered "on the market" if it's done privately?] for under $500,000, but the daughter may have more in mind. I am not sure, with the market in the shape it's in, that she could get too much more ... although I can't be the only one to see potential in the place. I'm also assuming it has 3 bedrooms, and that it's not actually rotting to pieces. It is really a great unknown. But it's fun to imagine that it goes our way.

I think if it does go our way - the first thing I'll do is paint it. I'd hate to come home to a pile of mustard every day.

Labels: housing

posted by Zuska @ 1:52 PM

2 Comments:

At Friday, April 27, 2007 3:05:00 PM, LawSchoolMom said…

If you are at all concerned about resale you may want to reconsider because the next buyer will most likely want a deep discount because of the "incurable defect," otherwise known as the T.
At Friday, April 27, 2007 4:06:00 PM, Zuska said…

I did neglect to mention that despite the train - it's a hugely desirable street to live on. The neighborhood feel of it is rivaled by only one or two others, the population of kids is huge, the proximity to an actual T station is fantastic, and there's also a park at the other end, which is the "go to" park for all the kids in our area. Houses on both side of the street turn over quickly. Despite the "incurable defect."

I would want to resell eventually, though. This house could be a real "budget" move - and by the time the girls hit high school, and our geography is less limited (by the district their K-8 school is in), I would want to upgrade. Maybe even have a bit of grass.