We Look at the First House

Ok, so Missy and I are looking to purchase our first home. I have owned 4 homes in the past, she has not, and this is our first home together with the merged family. We are getting our credit and finances in order, hoping to be able to move in sometime during the summer. We really liked a house on the south side of Cross Plains, and contacted the realtor that has the home listed, Heidi Uhrig with Glass Slipper Homes, part of Keller-Williams. She informed me that the house was sold, something we expected.

I told her about what type of home we were looking for, a 3-4 bedroom ranch style, 2-3 bathrooms, a place for an office either in a finished basement, or unfinished one where I could build an office. We need a 2-3 car garage, good size living room and master bedroom, and do not want an old 60's or 70's style home, nothing ugly. There are a lot of ugly houses in Cross Plains, mixed with a lot of newer nice looking homes.


I told her about another house Missy and I had been looking at. It was built in 1978, but instead of looking old and outdated from the outside, has more of a rustic country look that we liked. It also has a small greenhouse added onto the front, a great place to put a hot tub. The seller is asking $219,000, a price point that is hard to find in Cross Plains, where most (decent) homes now sell in the upper $200's. We looked at the home last night, and due to circumstances out of our control, had to take all 3 girls with us. I will never do this again!

From the outside, we really liked the house. Good size 2-car garage and a nice deck on the back. The exterior is mostly wood, which I like, and the landscaping was very well done with multiple tiers of large rocks in the front and back. Of course it was all snow-covered, but you could tell it was tasteful and well done.

Inside we were impressed by the slate entry foyer, which was small but functional. You have to go up or down when you walk in, we went upstairs first. The first things I noticed were that the handle on storm door was damaged and needed replaced, a very large window above the foyer which was very nice, and a light hanging from the high ceiling (since 1978) that would have to be changed.

The kitchen has been recently remodeled and was very nice, with the exception of the wallpaper. I hate wallpaper. The appliances were newer and black, and all looked very nice, except the old white refrigerator looked out of place and would need to be replaced. The floor seemed somewhat warped, but only a little and only in one place. Another project probably. A large cutting board island thingy in the middle of the kitchen was nice, but the pot-holder hanging above it would have to go. I sort of liked it, Missy didn't. I liked it, other than a large shiny bolt holding it from the ceiling, it just didn't look quite finished.

Off the kitchen was a "sewing room", which also contained the washer and dryer. It was small, but nice, though I did notice the built in desks were just barely attached to the wall, another project for me.

The dining room was separate from the kitchen, and would require walking everything around a wall to set the table. I didn't mind this, but Missy did, and we started talking about knocking out a section of wall between the two and creating a bar area, with a pass-through between the kitchen and dining room. Same for the wall between the family and dining rooms. A fairly large project, but one that I could handle. The dining room itself was small, but fine for our family of 5. Entertaining more guests would be tight, and the only entrance to the deck was through the dining room, which means the dogs would have to walk through there to go outside.

The upstairs family room was long, but narrow. It has a nice wood-burning fireplace with a separate nook for storing wood. The bricks were more of a blond style, but looked nice. Woodwork above the brick was tasteful and nice. Our current couch, a large leather L-Shaped sectional would not fit in there, and finding a good place for a LCD TV would be a little tough, but there is room. As a major project down the road, I thought about extending that room out the back about 15'. I could not do this myself, this would have to be contracted, and from watching HGTV a little too much for a straight guy, I am guessing 20 grand for that.

The master bedroom is on the main level and is very large and nice, with a half-wall separating the sleeping area and reading area. Two small, cheap, old brass lights were mounted low on either side of the bed. Another project to nix those, but not a big deal, especially since I could use the existing wiring to add much needed electrical outlets. A day project. The master bathroom was small, but usable, and appeared to have new shower doors. This could be enlarged by losing the smaller of the two closets in the master, but would be quite a job. I could do it myself, but more than a weekend for sure. There is a very nice walk-in closet in the master bedroom, and the view out the back of the ridge through very large windows is terrific.

Going downstairs seems to be the killer. There are 3 bedrooms down there, and a small living room that leads to the glass-enclosed greenhouse. All 3 rooms are very small, and the wallpaper, paint and (green) carpet are hopelessly out of date. The girls did not like the idea of having their bedrooms downstairs while Missy and I slept upstairs. I would tell them to "grow a pair", but they are girls :-)

The greenhouse is a very nice addition, though we would likely put a hot tub in there, though that would be a job in itself. I would need a bunch of guys and beer to get that one done. On the plus side, because it was intended to be a greenhouse, it has water and electricity already there, and even has electric-hydraulic overhead window openers. Very nice.

The basement would be a major project, but one that I could do. It would be a complete "do-over". I would tear down all interior walls and rebuild using much of the existing hardware. All 3 bedrooms would be enlarged significantly, at the expense of the living room and wasted space at the bottom of the stairs. What is now the living room would be gone, and I would add a small home office for myself. The entrance to the hot tub room would be at the bottom of the stairs, as would the door to my small office. I think I could pull this off in about a month of weekends, and maybe a week of vacation. Then I would need a vacation :)

The garage is large, with lots of room. It is finished, but just barely. It would take some paint and TLC to make it look nice, but had no major cracks in the concrete or anything like that. After all, this is a garage! Off the garage is a storage room that contains the AC and heat unit, water softener and Aprilaire machine, which is nice. Off that room is another room for cold (emphasis on COLD) storage or wine, again, I like this.

The driveway needs work. Several holes and deep cracks would need repaired and the entire driveway resealed. A day project that I could easily handle.

The house's list price is $219,000. I could see, at most, $180,000 considering the amount of work we would have to do. On the plus side, once this work is complete, I believe the house would be worth much more. The lot is large and well landscaped, and backs up to one of the many ridges in Cross Plains that is full of old-growth tree's and abundant wildlife. I could shoot the damn deer from the comfort of my bed :-)

If it were up to me, I would probably make an offer on this house, saving the $100,000 difference between this and the newer home (most of which are smaller and not on such nice lots) and investing a little (ok, maybe more than a little) money and a lot of sweat-equity into making this house a lot nicer. It would take about a year, but this could be a real nice home.

But it's not up to me. I got married last July :-)