Looking at Our First FSBO

After work tonight we looked at our first FSBO (For Sale By Owner) home, just a couple of blocks from where we currently rent. We met a very nice younger couple with a young son and newborn daughter. They have lived in the home about a year, but are relocating back to their native Michigan. It was somewhat odd having the homeowner show the home instead of a realtor, but they were a real nice couple.

The house is a very nice 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath ranch with a huge unfinished basement. The builder did not cut corners here either, the woodwork and nickel fixtures are very nice, as are the cabinets in the kitchen. The home has new stainless steel appliances and a gas fireplace, and a family room that would be perfect for us, including a great place for a LCD TV. The 2 smaller bedrooms are small, but have a unique way of sharing a very nice bathroom between them. The master is medium size, but large enough, and has a great bathroom with a large jacuzzi, separate shower and double sink. A walk-in closet is accessed from the bathroom, which I like.

The basement is unfinished and huge, with rough-in plumbing for a bathroom and over sized hot water heater, to help support the jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom. I really like the quality of construction in this home, and this extended to the basement. A lot of thought was put into eventually finishing the basement, and it would be a great slate to work from.

Despite only having 3 bedrooms upstairs (the girls would really like 4), this was my favorite house so far. Ranch homes always appeal more to me than 2-stories, and this one was very nice. They are asking $278,000 and said the taxes are about $4500 per year, which means the appraised tax value must be around $225,000. I wish I knew how much they are really hoping to get for it. If this home could realistically be had for $250,000 it would be hard to turn down. Missy liked the home, but not as much as me, so this will likely be a battle not worth waging.

I'd love to know where our kids get their sense of entitlement, especially when it comes to everyone having their own room on the same floor as the master, and every room meeting some size criteria. Growing up, my room was about half the size of these and I never minded, hell, I never noticed. Don't worry, Missy doesn't read this blog anyway :)