Next house

[dancerjodi]

Its on the same street the old Waltham Hospital is on. Its HUGE and has a neat wrap-around porch, large rooms, 1/2 finished basement and a fireplace. Its also apparently got recently updated kitchen, bathrooms, updated electrical and updated windows.

The catch? Its got no land. There is a teeny side yard (at present there is a Virgin Mary in a bathtub in it) and the back is paved. There is parking for 2 cars (I'd assume enough more room for a picnic table or jacuzzi, which we hope to get some day).

I poked our realtor about it. He sold the place 6 years ago and said that since then its sold twice. He also noted that "we have to start somewhere" and asked if we want to get in to look at it. Hrm.

Here is the listing - the chain link fence you see is actually the side of the house. The front faces a main street and as you can see, there is no front yard to speak of. The Virgin Mary is located on the side of the house opposite the chain-link fence.

City living, gotta love it! This place is 2 blocks from our old apartment (i.e. a neighborhood that would most likely not appeal to your average young professional trying to move in to one of the new condo complexes)

Comments

Well...

[billporn.livejournal.com]

It's not a -bad- place.

Then again, I'm living in a one bedroom apartment with someone who has more stuff then me, so anything would be good right about now ;)

But as your realtor said, "You have to start somewhere"

-b

[devina.livejournal.com]

I know you want to get out of tha Hood and back to Waltham, but I'd consider waiting it out a little longer. Housing prices are on a bubble, and they're going to fall. Nobody knows exactly when, but the rental market has been falling steadily, and house prices eventually have to follow. Yes, the price of your house will fall, too, if you wait, but your incomes will be the same. You could potentially get the same house for a lot less money.

Just something to think about. If you decide to keep going, good luck, let me know if you need any help. :)

The bubble

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"Housing prices are on a bubble, and they're going to fall. "

Historically housing prices rise and fall, rise and fall. When we move we're staying put - so I don't care what prices do after that :)

I don't want the fall to make our house in Framingham worth less than it is now - then we'd be stuck there. That (in addition to being very unhappy where we live) is the main reason for this. Also, we were planning before the whole job move to start looking in the spring . . . the possibility of some more money to do it with makes it more feasible. :)

Re: The bubble

[tygerwillow.livejournal.com]

if you're "staying put" then i suggest holding out for a house you're really happy with. you don't want to move to waltham only to discover that in a year or so you're enviously eyeing your neighbor's yard.

[spark99.livejournal.com]

it is a nice house. the drawback of no yard is, however, likely to drive you insane when spring comes and you want to have a yard and grow things.

i am confident that you and B* will do what's best for you.

:)

[absinthangel.livejournal.com]

..I LIKE the exterior of this one more than the previous. (heh, but I dont have to live in it and pay the mortgage)

[dirtyknees.livejournal.com]

You know, I saw the listing for this last week, and I immediately thought of you and B. It definitely has potential. Can you rip up the paved part of the yard?

--Andrea

[tiamatlady]

OK.
A virgin Mary. In a Bathtub?
I barely get the Mary. In a Bathtub????

I like the house, it's cute. I LOVE the porch. I almost think you could do without the land, you really haven't been able to do much in the winter. I see a swing on that porch, with a table and candles from April through November *grins*

I'm sure that the right one will come, and being in Waltham will make you happy. You might want to make a list, or a couple of lists, about what you can and cannot live without. How important is land (OK I know you have this in your head *grins* might make it easier for your realtor to have it on paper)

Any sign of your refund yet? I'm so thrilled at how fast the confirms came back!

Waltham house

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"You know, I saw the listing for this last week, and I immediately thought of you and B. It definitely has potential. Can you rip up the paved part of the yard?"

I doubt it - the house is 1560 square feet, the property is around 1700 square feet. That includes a 2 car driveway and the listing mentions a bulched from the basement . . . that doesn't leave a lot of room for yard :)

Truthfully, we want less yard than we have now. We thought all that green would be nice but it takes me 2 hours (a week) to mow it all. I like pants and the like but I'm more of a houseplant/windowbox kind of person. I have a difficult time keeping things green.

I think if Brian is game we'll go look at it - it couldn't hurt. I love the location - a 2 minute walk from Moody Street :)

Waltham house

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"A virgin Mary. In a Bathtub? I barely get the Mary. In a Bathtub????"

Its a very Italian house. Think this: http://not.contaxg.com/document.php?id=925

"I like the house, it's cute. I LOVE the porch."

Me too. Its on a main street so we wouldn't want to put too much out there. Still, I think it would be neat :)

"I'm sure that the right one will come, and being in Waltham will make you happy. You might want to make a list, or a couple of lists, about what you can and cannot live without."

We know we'll be giving up a lot of what we have in Framingham for the location and we definitely have the mental "must have" list - but we're flexible.

"How important is land (OK I know you have this in your head *grins* might make it easier for your realtor to have it on paper)"

We want less yard actually - maintaining the thing in Framingham is a pain. It takes me 2 hours a week to mow our lawn, not really a lot of fun. I am not a landscaper, the most I can handle are some window boxes, house plants and (maybe) a tomato plant. Coincidentally I think the side yard at this house has a Mary and a tomato plant :)

"Any sign of your refund yet? I'm so thrilled at how fast the confirms came back!"

Nope - not yet.

Re: The bubble

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"you don't want to move to waltham only to discover that in a year or so you're enviously eyeing your neighbor's yard."

We actually want a smaller yard than what we have now - its too much work. No yard though - its not something we were actively looking at. If the house was good, price was good we'd be flexible . . . its near a lot of parks, the river and moody street so there's definitely some appeal to it.

planting

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"likely to drive you insane when spring comes and you want to have a yard and grow things."

Well there's that small issue of I can't really grow things - I have the unique talent of even killing spider and aloe plants :)

Re: Waltham house

[dirtyknees.livejournal.com]

LJ ate my last comment, but I'll reproduce its content here. That porch looks ideal for window boxes, maybe some hanging geraniums. I can also picture some nice painted shutters on the upper windows, and a bit o' gingerbread on that fabulous porch.

"Any sign of your refund yet? I'm so thrilled at how fast the confirms came back!"

I think you should be able to check its status on www.irs.gov. There's a "Where's my refund?" secure web page that takes your SSN, filing status, and the exact amount of the refund. I checked on mine last night. I filed on 2 Feb, and my check is scheduled to be mailed out this Friday.

--Andrea

[algorhythmic.livejournal.com]

Our place doesn't have a yard either, but I look at it the same way you do. Less yard work!

Yards

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"Our place doesn't have a yard either, but I look at it the same way you do. Less yard work!"

Its funny, we were so excited about having a huge yard. All its been has been a headache. The last thing I want to do after work while in the hot, dripping, sweaty sun is mow the lawn for 2 hours. :)

Is the place in Natick? I saw you found a place but wasn't sure where.

Re: Waltham house

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"LJ ate my last comment, but I'll reproduce its content here. That porch looks ideal for window boxes, maybe some hanging geraniums. I can also picture some nice painted shutters on the upper windows, and a bit o' gingerbread on that fabulous porch."

The porch made me drool (figuratively). Brian commented that if it was big enough to put his hammock on, that's all he needed (i.e. the loss of yard would be OK). He's got this super hammock for two that we've sat in 3x total (we've been too busy working on our house each summer to enjoy the outside world).

The hanging plants and window box ideas are all really nice ones. The house is a light minty green color, I think those bright pink hanging flowers (they may even be geraniums) would be perfect at a place like that.

I'm not worried about yard space - having a park, the charles river (and Riverwalk/Bicycle path) and a pretty cemetary about 2 blocks away helps that a bit.

The place could be a total dump too, but I think its worth looking at at least.

"I think you should be able to check its status on www.irs.gov."

We submitted ours through this software last Tuesday night that claims refunds go through in around 2 weeks - its been almost 1 week so I'm not shocked that its not there yet. Either way, its less time than when we mailed them last year (it took a couple of months to get to us).

[myscarredwrists.livejournal.com]

I think it's cute!

Re: Waltham house

[julishka.livejournal.com]

you could grow viney stuff on the chainlink fence. and it's got a driveway? that's awesome! i'd be so happy w/a driveway. :)

don't forget the square footage is counting both the 2nd floor and first floor. so there might be a bit of a somverville-styled back yard. enough to cut w/a weed wacker. & keep a grill.

Re: Yards

[algorhythmic.livejournal.com]

The place is in Newton. It was the house that we almost gave up on because of the realtor from hell and undisclosed surprises. But we decided to give it one last try, and I guess third time was the charm. We're doing inspections this week. :)

Re: Yards

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"The place is in Newton. It was the house that we almost gave up on because of the realtor from hell and undisclosed surprises. But we decided to give it one last try, and I guess third time was the charm. We're doing inspections this week. :)"

Yay, good luck!

Newton is really nice :)