Living the American dream

[JaySVX]

I made an offer on a house last night. Everything sort of fell into place at one time. I have been casually browsing for about 2 years, but then I saw this, and bam, perfect. My kids stay in the same school district, it's 100k below average house cost in the area, I'm looking at roughly 3.25% interest on a 30yr mortgage, and the house has the features that I want.

It's a 3 bedroom with 1 full bath and 2 partial bath house. There's a nice living room with fireplace, dining room, kitchen, and family room with a claw foot wood stove. It's a split level, with 4 steps between stories, and has a wide open feeling to it. There's new hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, stairs, and bedrooms/hallway. There is new tile flooring in the foyer and family room. A new roof was put on in 2007, and the heating system was new in 1995. It has a 1 car garage and 2 car carport. It has a nice back porch overlooking the yard, which is quite sizable. There's an in ground pool and shed as well. Plenty of mature tree's, and a line of pine trees along the back and sides of the property line giving plenty of privacy. It's on a low to no traffic road and taxes are pretty reasonable. I placed my offer at 245k, below their asking price, but in line with what other comparable homes in the area have gone for.

A couple pictures:








I should know today or tomorrow at the latest if they've accepted my offer. I'm really hoping they do, as houses in this area rarely, if ever, go up for sale, not to mention in this price range making it affordable. The average cost is around $350k, so it's a steal for me.

There are some things it needs. The in ground pool needs some pretty serious repairs, the back porch needs to be replaced, the fence needs to be re-routed and repaired to meet township standards for enclosing a pool, and the carport needs a new roof. Not major things in my book though.

Thanks for looking!

[Crazy_pilot]

Wow, looks great! I'd probably close in that carport though, a little more enclosed space for the less warm months. Good luck!

[benebob]

Congrats on the find Jay 3.25? sounds about 1.5 too low unless you have a gov't program. I'd suspect around 4.75. When we refinanced a month or so ago it was a 4.25 for a 15 year.

Forget about the pool, it is beyond repair since it wasn't cared for. Cost for filling in is about 5-7.5k. If a pool is a must you'll want to replace the entire thing! At least you already have a hole!

I'm guessing it is a mid 70s house right? If so check the electrics real good as aluminum wire was common and is at the end of its lifespan (definate fire hazzard) Expect about 8-15k to replace the wiring plus repairs to walls and ceilings as needed. Service should be 200amps (125 is barely addequate espec. with a pool)!

Get a home inspection even if it isn't required and be there for the walk through. Don't forget a radon test and pay for a chimney inspection as you'll want to know what they burned and how well they took care of their maint. Judging from the pool I'd already be suspect on their care! Go to the municiaplity and put a request for the property file in. It is public records so it should be available for the cost of copies but may take a week or two with the new open records law clogging up the system. Verify at the very least that there is a valid CO on file which is for the entire house and pool. If the downstairs was origially unfinished and it isn't finished according to the Cert. of Occupancy that can be a major issue! (PM me if you have questions about that)

That garage is just way too small btw!

[SilverSpear]

Wow, nice house!
Hope you get it Jay!

[Landshark]

$350k???

that's about a $175k-$200k house around here.

Collegeville must have some serious oontz going on.

[shelfy]

Originally Posted by Landshark

$350k???

that's about a $175k-$200k house around here.

Collegeville must have some serious oontz going on.

i think he's saying the average house is $350K, not this one.

what is oontz?

[JaySVX]

Thanks guys.

A year or two ago this house would have been 350k, other new homes that would have been 500k are 350k now. The housing market is crazy expensive here. There's new construction town homes in the area "starting in the mid 400's" as the signs say. And that's even right now. This home was built in 1963, and the woman prior to me bought it new.

The 3.25% I bought. The starting % was 6%, the seller is buying a point, which lowers to 5%, my father offered to buy a point, taking it to 4.125%, and I'm buying a point, taking it to 3.25%. It's a VA loan. My mortgage broker said he had never seen a point for a % before, and reccomended that I jump on that. I decided to extend it and max out at 3 points. This is a 30 year loan.

A pool is a big thing for me. I grew up with a pool and know all about how to maintain it, fix it, etc. Depending on the foundation condition, it may be repairable. It popped up about an inch. That could be fixed by removing the existing concrete around the pool, and re-concrete at the appropriate level. The pump and such are in good condition. Depending on the location, I may be able to patch the liner. Sadly, these are all things I've been through already with my parents pool growing up, but on a good side, I know plenty about them.

Plans down the road, is once I get the yard cleared up, I will take out that car port, extend the house to where it is, and make the garage a hot tub room, and add a bedroom upstairs and something else downstairs next to the garage, move the driveway out and around towards the back of the yard, and put a 2 car detatched garage there, something like this:


I'd move the shed which you see in that picture to the back corner of the yard, and will significantly reduce the size of the fenced in area for the pool to the pool + 15' back, which will get paved so I don't have to get a mower in there. The misc crappy shrubbery in the dead center of the yard I'm going to remove, a piddley task for the Excursion.

There's also a very large front yard of space that I'm not sure what to do with. Perhaps I will put the shed there. It's actually much more spacious than it appears in picture, but it gives a general idea.

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by shelfy

i think he's saying the average house is $350K, not this one.

does look like it comes with some land. i'm also looking again this year, must has two-car garage and smaller yard for less grass cuttings B.S.

what is oontz?

http://dcoontzorama.ytmnd.com/

oontz is the sound of techno music (oontz oontz oontz ....), and also describes trendy, upscale or high-end things