2 more to see

[dancerjodi]

After work we're going to check out one house in West Newton (right over the Waltham line, about a 5 minute walk from my parent's house) and one in North Waltham near Hardy Pond. DEVELOPER, I'm not sure if K told you or not, but we're going to give you guys a call after said house looking tonight to see if you want to meet up for dinner - my guess is that it will be around 7:00ish.


The one in Newton is really cheap - so either there is something seriously wrong with it or its one of those rare and elusive houses that's priced under market value. Now if we love it, would I want to live in Newton? Its so cute , dammit! I know some would kill to live in Newton. I wonder though, given the large size of the city if one is able to get the same kind of sense of community that I'm looking for. Also, Newton isn't what one would call "working class" (heh) which is the kind of city that I'd like to live in (though relative to other parts of Newton, the Cherry Street area in West Newton compared to all the rest of Newton could be seen as working class, if you squint, maybe). Yep, I'm broken!

Similarly the one in North Waltham is cheap for the city and is sort of cute looking (though, its got a sump pump in the basement; that's never a good sign). I don't want to live in North Waltham though, dammit! Its a 10 minute drive down to Moody (kind of defeats the purpose of living somewhere where we can walk to 'stuff').

Brian and I keep going back and forth on whether once we got a buyer for our house we'd want to check out two we've seen before that are in an area we'd love to live in. Its a more city-like part of Waltham, and the houses are old and need some work, hence they've been on the market for a while. One is really cute and is cheap (actually, the 2nd cheapest house on the market), but is VERY small. The other is very large but has no yard, and we're not even sure if both of our vehicles would fit in the driveway (Brian's truck is so huge that it could be an issue).

We'll have to compromise somewhere, we just haven't figured out what we want to compromise with. I don't want to move like last time and end up seriously regretting it again, thus we're moving very carefully this time around.

Comments

[developer.livejournal.com]

re:Dinner

I think we were planning on having you guys in for dinner if that is cool. 7ish or whatever is cool though.

Dinner

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"I think we were planning on having you guys in for dinner if that is cool. 7ish or whatever is cool though."

You guys really do too much for us - I'd love to see you both, but please don't feel obligated to make us dinner :)

Either way, we'll call when we're heading over. Our appointment is at 5:30 in Waltham and then we'll be looking at 2 houses (so it could even be earlier than 7:00, you never know!).

Re: Dinner

[lachesis.livejournal.com]

J- I'm working later than usual, so I'll be in Waltham for a while; if you have the time post-house thing and pre-dinner thing, maybe we coudl get together for a bit. I have plans later as well, but I'd love to see you both anyway. :) Call my cell or email me.

If not - I know where you live!

for now, anyway.
heh.

Re: Dinner

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"J- I'm working later than usual, so I'll be in Waltham for a while; if you have the time post-house thing and pre-dinner thing, maybe we coudl get together for a bit. I have plans later as well, but I'd love to see you both anyway. :) Call my cell or email me."

Well, we won't be getting over to Belmont I'm guessing until 7:00 or 7:30, then need to eat dinner and chill with K and H, and then were planning heading to goffee. Perhaps some other time?

I totally want to come check out your new pad! I'm already counting down the weeks until school's - out - for - summer (though no worries, you won't see me running around in a red union suit or anything) :)

Re: Dinner

[lachesis.livejournal.com]

"I totally want to come check out your new pad!"

That would be awesome, maybe we can do dinner or something while Foe and I try to figure out when the next party will be!

"I'm already counting down the weeks until school's - out - for - summer (though no worries, you won't see me running around in a red union suit or anything) :)"

hehehehehheheh. I'm SO glad you dont have the *ahem*accoutrements*ahem* for that outfit - Brian would start giving you funny looks!

as would we all, I think. ;p!

[dionysios.livejournal.com]

though, its got a sump pump in the basement; that's never a good sign)

I don't know what the big fear is about sump pumps that you folks (New Englanders, not you and Bunicula specifically) have. Growing up, my house had one, as did all the other neighbor's. Of course, being less than 1/4 mile from lake ontario may have had something to do with that! ;)

Seriously though, the only time that we ever had problems was if we lost power for an extended period of time. After we left for college, my parents got a small generator for just such emergencies.

Our basement never had standing water or anything in it. We had to run a dehumidifer down there in the summertime, but that's more of a general basement thing - we have to do that in our house too. Also, we completely finished the basement with a large family room and my parents bedroom. So it's not like it was bare concrete and storing nothing more than boxes.

For my money, i'd prefer the house with the sump pump than the neighbor's place w/out. Of course, I could be completely missing some inherent evil in NE sump pumps. Please let me know if I am!

[bratling.livejournal.com]

nah, i think they're just required so rarely that when they are needed, it's assumed things must be horrific if one is. see also my comment on the topic.

[dionysios.livejournal.com]

nah, i think they're just required so rarely that when they are needed, it's assumed things must be horrific if one is

Could be. I'm not at all used to crawl spaces or slabs, so I tend to think of them as horrific, despite the fact that they're very common in parts of the country.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

nice usericon. did you take the photo? where is it? it reminds me of some bits of colorado i went through last year.

[dionysia.livejournal.com]

it's uluru (aka ayers rock) and yes, he did take the pic. :)

Sump Pumps

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"I don't know what the big fear is about sump pumps that you folks"

Well, we lived in a room that flooded all of the time in my parent's basement. It was an awful experience when that sump pump failed (and getting a generator wasn't really a financial option).

Basically, if we saw a house that we loved and had a working sump pump we'd definitely want it. But it definitely is a strike against it (imo). If its there, that means that at one point there was a problem. I'd prefer a house that just didn't have that problem :)

Its also in North Waltham, which is a large strike against it. I know I'm crazy and all, but I want to make absolutely clear that we'll be happy with the location this time around.

[bratling.livejournal.com]

though, its got a sump pump in the basement; that's never a good sign

i'd say the severity depends on why it has a sump. we used to live in a house that had an underground stream surface about ten feet from the foundation and run above ground for the rest of the property, before going to a neighbor's. the water table was just unusually high in that area. the house didn't have a proper basement, just a crawl space. there was a section that was lowered so there could be height enough for a boiler for heating, but this was prone to flooding in most weather. a sump pump handled it. we never had a problem.

anyway, this is to say that a sump pump should be a red flag, but not neccessarily a show stopper.

[devina.livejournal.com]

On the sump pump, make sure you directly ask the broker about the reasons for it, and if they don't know the answer, direct them to ask the sellers. Brokers are legal "buffers" for sellers, and if the seller hasn't told them something, it's hard to hold anybody liable for an omission somewhere along the line.

Sump Pump

[dancer.livejournal.com]

I don't think we'll be blown away by this house or anything - its missing a lot of the things that we want (plus, has the sump pump). If we were interested I'd definitely ask our broker to get us more info.

"Brokers are legal "buffers" for sellers, and if the seller hasn't told them something, it's hard to hold anybody liable for an omission somewhere along the line."

I've seen the sump pump noted in a few listings - I wonder if its one of those things that legally has to be disclosed when listing a house (kind of like, if your house was tested for lead and you know it has it, you have to disclose that there is lead there).

[noire.livejournal.com]

You know I'm a real estate addict, and have been following your decision and search with great interest.

The one thing you really can't change about a house is the location. If you do not like the location, the ONLY thing you can do is move, as in your current unfortunate experience.

Is there room to add on to the small house? It does look rather little, but the lot seems to be a good size. If the location is wonderful and everything else about it is good, then that may be a thought down the line.

Additions

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"Is there room to add on to the small house? It does look rather little, but the lot seems to be a good size. If the location is wonderful and everything else about it is good, then that may be a thought down the line."

Nope (we've thought of that one, I wish it would work). The style of the house wouldn't allow going up, and the property isn't that big - the driveway is next to the house (side by side) and the yard is pretty small, probably 10x15 feet, next to the driveway. There is also a shed next to the driveway. There's no property on the other sides of the house either.

Basically in the area we want to live, space is at a prime (since its the downtown/industrial area). I'd be cool with a good sized house if we could finish a basement, or add up, or not need to worry about size. Those kinds of houses seem to be either really rare in South Waltham, or cost a lot more money than we can pay. They *do* come up in our price range every once in a while . . . we just have either had offers rejected, or weren't in a position to make an offer yet. I know this will get a lot easier once we find a buyer for our place :)

I really want to measure our cars (to see how long of a driveway we'd need) and go back and look at that 4 bedroom, 2 bath green house. A yard is pretty nonexistant and the house is a decorative nightmare but its a large, cute house. A couple of other iffy things - there was a visible crack in the foundation outside (!) and it looked like the upated wiring was a home job - not a bad thing if done right but unless walls are opened, there really isn't a way to tell if it was done right. I'd be bummed to not have a nice yard to lounge on our hammock in . . . but to have an affordable, big house with character in a place where we can walk to everything seems worth it to me. I'm wondering if we could close off that front wrap-around porch to give some more privacy (and have that make up for the lack of yard, the hammock among other things would fit on it).

My guess is that we'll LOVE this Victorian/Colonial in West Newton tonight. And it will be a decent house. It *is* walking distance to a lot of stuff (and its literally, spitting distance over the Waltham line). Its not Waltham though. I'd still have easy access to Waltham but wouldn't be a complete part of it . . . so again its a question of "what do we compromise on". Truthfully, I just don't think I'd fit in in Newton (from having gone to high school there for a bit, and from having friends that lived there). I know Brian has similar concerns. It doesn't hurt to look, though.

We shall see! Now we just need someone to fall in love with our house and make an offer :)

Re: Additions

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

My friend lives near that area

Re: Additions

[cowboy45-70.livejournal.com]

Hi, Dancer. I'm the friend that Mizdarkgirl is talking about. Please feel free to email me and I'll fill you in on the details of the neighborhood including the schools in case that's a consideration.