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I suggest locating and insulating a house to solar heat standards and then leaving off the collectors and make due with large windows to the South and East.
There's a similar barn home available in Pittsfield, for $275,000. It's a 1790 barn, I think. It's pretty cool inside though lacking the big open end that the one posted here has.
I'm a big fan of those barn homes, actually, but I think it takes a certain kind of person/family to live in one.
but I think it takes a certain kind of person/family to live in one.
I resemble that remark.
We're currently finishing a barn home. I saved all the photos in that real estate ad. Thanks for posting that.
Creating privacy while maintaining the openness is challenging.
Reading what you have been writing, I can't help but think that you might want to take a look at the plans that Artform Home Plans (based out of Portsmouth, NH) has to offer. The fact is that New Hampshire is an aging population, and there are not enough homes that are suited to aging in place. Artform Home Plans can be accommodated for empty nesters or for multi-generations under one roof. I've been through several of these homes and they are an absolute joy to walk through (I sell new construction, and truly wish that the builders that I work with would embrace the reality that in the next few decades, consumers will be buying homes with 1st floor master suite instead of the 3000 s/f center-stairway colonial homes with formal dining room...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisaatric
Hi. Thank you for all your responses. You all make valid points - I know we have to zone in on an area but I'm having a hard time. Building is the most logical and I happen to work in construction so I am knowledgeable but I hesitate to do that for many reasons. I'm probably too cynical but like so few builders! Maybe they have a little more integrity in NH. : )
I would love a craftsman style home - open concept with a big kitchen/family room. No formal living or dining room and about 2000 SF. It appears that very few of these homes exist anywhere. If any builders are reading this, you need to build for empty nesters! All my friends are looking everywhere for these homes and they do not seem to exist.
I have always been impressed with the variety of homes in NH (or at least here in Southern NH). I really haven't seen any cookie-cutter neighborhoods (Except condos of course) and for $400,000 you certainly have a lot to choose from.
Even in the dense areas of Manchester or Nashua I would have trouble finding a block where all the homes are the same.
IIRC there is immense converted barn in Landaff. it may still be for sale. There is also a great big former tavern on Rt. 10 between Lisbon and Littleton that really needs some TLC.
Reading what you have been writing, I can't help but think that you might want to take a look at the plans that Artform Home Plans (based out of Portsmouth, NH) has to offer. The fact is that New Hampshire is an aging population, and there are not enough homes that are suited to aging in place. Artform Home Plans can be accommodated for empty nesters or for multi-generations under one roof. I've been through several of these homes and they are an absolute joy to walk through (I sell new construction, and truly wish that the builders that I work with would embrace the reality that in the next few decades, consumers will be buying homes with 1st floor master suite instead of the 3000 s/f center-stairway colonial homes with formal dining room...
Thank you Valerie - I will take a look. Please mention to your builders that there are a LOT of us who would love first floor master suites... There are plenty of building plans available but I can not figure out WHERE these homes are being built!
Reading what you have been writing, I can't help but think that you might want to take a look at the plans that Artform Home Plans (based out of Portsmouth, NH) has to offer. The fact is that New Hampshire is an aging population, and there are not enough homes that are suited to aging in place. Artform Home Plans can be accommodated for empty nesters or for multi-generations under one roof. I've been through several of these homes and they are an absolute joy to walk through (I sell new construction, and truly wish that the builders that I work with would embrace the reality that in the next few decades, consumers will be buying homes with 1st floor master suite instead of the 3000 s/f center-stairway colonial homes with formal dining room...
Amen to that, Val. I won't even look at buying a cookie-cutter colonial with a formal dining room. I'm not a formal kind of guy. I can't see why people like these kind of homes, but to each their own. Looks fancy, that's for sure.
I consider myself a pretty traditional person - but after living for the past 30 years in homes with formal living rooms and dining rooms, I've decided the rooms are basically a waste of space. Most people I discuss this with, feel the same way. We do use the dining room at Christmas and Thanksgiving, but that's it. A large open kitchen/dining area/family room is imminently more practical. There is a market for this home!
The craftsman style was much bigger in California than it was around here; NH architecture of that period skews traditional and Victorian holdovers. Still, I've seen craftsman homes in Keene, Lebanon and Concord. (I actually believe there's one listed on Princeton Street in Concord right now, for something in the $200K ballpark). I've seen some in Hanover too, although most everything in Hanover costs >$600K. Keep an eye on Keene in particular; a lot of houses in Keene were built in the early 20th century, and the 1940s/1950s houses have a lot of built-ins and other craftsman features. (Like the rest of NH, you won't have a problem finding Queen Anns and traditional-style early 20th century homes either).
Walpole was a great suggestion. Harrisville probably has the coolest architecture/layout of all the communities in NH, even though most of it comes courtesy of the 19th century. Peterborough, Francestown, Hancock, Fitzwilliam, Hopkinton/Contoocook, Warner, New London and Exeter are all small, charming towns in the southern part of NH with an impressive collection of old houses.
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