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-finished basement (soil and terrain permitting)
-tile in the bathroom and kitchen
-wood floors on first level
-carpet in bedrooms
-high ceilings in great room
-two car garage, preferably attached
-second floor living room opened to lower level
-gas range and gas dryer
My Definite (Bakers) Dozen Must Haves, in order of importance from most to least:
1a. Public water
1b. Safe quiet residential neighborhood
1c. Not in an HOA. Ever.
2. Not on or backing onto a main/busy road
3. Flat topography
4. Sewers *
5. Lot size 1/2 acre (anything smaller is too small, anything larger is too much for me to maintain at my age)
6. Tile floor in kitchen* and bathrooms
7. Full size (3' x 5') shower
8. Baseboard heating (I hate forced air)
9. Oil heat
10. Minimum three bedrooms (for bedroom, closet room, and computer room)
11. Two car garage *
12. No skylights or fireplaces
13. More wall space than windows
I also would not want a house with any ceilings higher than 9 ft. Foundations are a problem no matter what, because basements here are invariably damp but I also can't walk regularly on a slab foundation because of foot, back, and knee problems. No carpets allowed, due to allergies.
The items with an asterisk indicate things that I do not or cannot have in my present house. (My previous house ticked all 13 boxes and more, and I miss it greatly.) For one thing, sewers are not common in my area, and I can't afford to live in the communities that have it ($600K+ homes and $20K+/yr taxes.) So I am stuck with a cesspool by default now. Knee and lower back problems made me put cushioned sheet vinyl in the kitchen instead of tile; I now regret that but can't afford to change. The 0.75-car garage is a sore subject with me; long story best left untold, LOL.
My current house is a money pit but when I add up the pros and cons (and rapidly dwindling money) I am better off sticking with the devil I know, at my age. I've already spent twice as much as the house will ever be worth, unless we are all magically transported back into the 1990s Housing Bubble, lol, so I'd lose a bundle if I were to sell. But it'll be free money to my son when I die and in the meantime I'll make the best of what's here, as far as the budget will allow.
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 09-23-2018 at 12:17 PM..
-4 bedrooms (or 2 bedrooms and 2 offices, whatever)
Got it.
-Dedicated entertainment room that isn’t a living room and is nowhere near the master bedroom, well soundproofed in other words from sleeping area.
Living room is also a home theater, with front projection screen and projector that recess into the ceiling when they are off. It turns back into a living room, with no big glass eye staring at you.
-Space for home gym, even if it’s an open loft area or in a large entertainment room (like present in our basement).
36' x 60' shop and office.
-Modern construction, modern style.
Completely updated 1971 home with tiled bath/showers, tiger wood floors in living room, tile in kitchen and family room. Persian rugs in living and dining rooms.
-Living room area with at least 15’ ceilings preferably taller.
Ya got me there.
-Energy efficient home with airtight sealing, 2x6 or better construction with quality insulation.
Electricity is our only utility bill, which runs less than $100/month. That includes well pump, water heating, lights, computers, etc. We have a generator and transfer switch for the times the power goes out.
-Pool and hot tub.
Had one. Took it out.
-Fire pit and general outdoor entertainment area.
Two patios, deck with gas fire pit, outdoor fireplace with pit barbecue and wood fired oven, gazebo overlooking the creek. Did I mention the quarter mile of creek frontage?
-Master planned community ideally and gated neighborhood.
90 acres in an area that they thought was pretty good planning in the 19th century. The nearest neighbors are half a mile away, which makes it easy to get along.
-Close access to many restaurants and retail, no more than 5 minutes from the nearest restaurants.
You gotta be kidding me. You can't find a parking space in under 5 minutes. My wife and I rate restaurants on a one star scale. If they can cook better than we can, they get a star. Mostly, they can't. You should see our kitchen.
-State of the art HVAC (I can do this myself after purchase).
I don't even know what that means. We replaced our 20 year old heat pump last year and had the ducts cleaned.
-Soundproof window additions (after purchase).
Maybe, if you find the sound of deer breathing and crickets distressing. The only sounds here are water, wind and wildlife. I also have a 15 year old mini dachshund who snores.
-Blackout drapes as good as a five star hotel, complete darkness in bedrooms.
We have a dark sky site. All those comet tails stretching across a third of the sky are gorgeous.
-Hard Wood floors throughout, no carpet anywhere.
Monotonous. Hardwood in the living room, wife's office and hallways, tile in the kitchen, family room, bathrooms and dining room. The big office in the shop has a sealed concrete floor.
-3 car garage / space for equipment.
2 car garage, with the huge shop. 10' coil doors so I can get big equipment inside to work on it.
Probably a few more things but that covers most of it.
- RV parking with full hookup.
- Barn
- Covered dog kennels
- Spectacular scenery
- Fireplace with insert and wood shed.
- No mortgage
- Property taxes are $1600/year.
The basics are available in any apartment. Past that, you swap money for lifestyle. Just last week my wife mentioned that she never imagined she would have a better lifestyle than her parents. Her dad was a successful attorney who was on Eisenhower's staff in WWII. He got the Legion of Merit for "organizing the invasion of Europe." I'm just a guy who spent 25 years in the construction industry, and have built all the nifty ideas I saw or read about. You know about tree houses? Well, I have a tree bridge that goes across the creek behind the house. The middle goes through the crotch of an old maple. Grace. Style. Whimsy. I just ordered a Korean dogwood, because I think they are pretty.
1. 2800 sq feet or larger. I like my space!
2. Basement
3. Very close to a body of water--within walking distance.
4. Garage (prefer 2 car but 1 car is OK)
5. Hardwood floors
6. 3 bedrooms (1 extra for an office/hobby room)
7. High efficiency furnace
8. Neighborhood w/ character. Absolutely no HOAs.
9. A lot of mature trees
10. Large yard for gardening
11. Low crime area
12. Easy access to highways/major roads
Nice to have:
1. Vaulted ceilings
2. Foyer in entrance
3. Front porch
4. Back porch/deck
5. Fenced in back yard
6. Island in kitchen
7. Kitchen pantry
8. Hot tub
9. Walkable city
10. Bay windows
11. Paid off
For a lot less she could have the existing windows refurbished with insulated frames and thermopane glass. Contractors are buried in work right now, but when the next crash rolls around have her talk to a cabinet shop for the frames and a glass shop for the panes. She can tell the historic board that she is not replacing the windows, she is just repairing the original windows. They will roll over like a six month old puppy. As long as they look the same from the outside, nobody will care.
We are going to restore her windows to working order, since my dh knows all about the mechanisms of old windows. I don’t know if they have looked into replacing the glass with thermopane though. I’ll ask her.
^ “Safe area” AND “low taxes?”
How do you expect the police force to be paid?
And “no close neighbors” means fewer eyes on the street, which hurts crime prevention.
There are many rural areas with low crime, low cost, and low taxes...and very small police force.
I find it interesting that master bedroom is always the biggest bedroom, where no one is really spending much time there after getting up. But kids, who tend to stay in their most of the day:
sleep, play, do homework, entertain their friends - usually get smallest room.
I call "closed floor plan" "a house that includes interior walls." We do not find it really "closed" unless the doors are closed. When the doors are open the floor plan is pretty open.
OTOH our master BR was the most used room when the kids were home, at least in later years. They would go in there for Mom - talk, scratch my back, watch tv with Mom, get homework help, etc. Mom likes to red in bed or computer in bed, so they always came in. There is a couch at the end of the bed and a TV, and that became the main TV/movie watching place despite a bigger nicer TV and better sound system downstairs.
Still full of crap...er...stuff. Still has a boat in front of it so we can't even have it painted nor having the driveway paved. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to have a yard sale this year to get rid of some of the crap...er...stuff. We do know someone who will buy everything in one swoop-but there are still boxes I need to go through to make sure we are not getting rid of anything that shouldn't be gotten rid of. I just have been procrastinating on it. Once the snow falls, I won't be able to get out there so all of this may have to wait until next year. But, I REALLY, REALLY want that boat out of there. It has been listed on Craigslist for the last FOUR YEARS! I have listed it on Facebook. Does anyone want to buy a 25 ft O'Day sailboat? It is in good shape-just needs a serious cleaning.
But we did have the downstairs bathroom done last year. I used to hate that room but now it is beautiful.
Cat
It might be the price is too high. Used Sailboats do not sell for much (although they are often listed for a lot). It the price is over $3,000 you may want to drop it below that mark and it will likely sell. Try listing it on boat websites as well as Facebook.
I think the above link is a prime example of reverse snobbism. And I personally would much rather live there than in a home selling for $10,000 in Flint, MI.
Last edited by katharsis; 09-24-2018 at 07:05 AM..
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