Well now I've gone and done it. I just signed the bottom line of a purchase agreement for a house! We close on Wednesday. The house is a big old colonial sitting on a big yard. It was owned by an older couple that couldn't keep up with maintenance in their twilight years, so it's fallen into some disrepair, but the BF and I both fell in love with all the original 1940s details, including the all-original bathrooms, so we both feel that this will be worth the time and energy to fix up and make it shine again. (!):eusa_danc
That's wonderful! Hope you got a good home inspection, but I'm with you... I owned a home that was over 100 years old and spent a bunch of time fixing it up and making it "homey" over the years before I sold it and moved to the west coast
Yep, inspection was last night actually. The foundation and structure are all in excellent shape, especially so given the era in which it was built. The hot water heater, plumbing, electrical, and windows are all going to be priority, as all are either nearing failure or have already failed. From there, we'll keep poking at stuff as time and money allow.
I'm green with envy. I would really like to buy a house, but it doesn't sense as I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in Austin. Of course the main reason I want a house is so I can do home improvement projects. So what are you going to do first. When I buy a house the first thing I intend to do is rip out the HVAC system and put in a custom hydronics system with cold batteries. Then I want to build a custom intelligent power system that leverages renewable energy.
Ohh, shiny! and you get the added bonus of being able to fix it up yourselves. The sense of achievement (and well-deserved smugness) you'll get from that will be well worth any time shouting at inanimate objects. xD And yes! Definitely pictures!
Thanks everybody! I'll post a couple pics after we close on Wednesday and it's actually ours. I think we're going to just hire done some of the big stuff that needs to be done up front, like the plumbing. Also, one of the big window companies is doing a big special right now, so we might get the windows done right away too. I probably *could* do the plumbing (I have done plumbing work before), but frankly, two full baths, a half bath, a kitchen, and a laundry room spread across two stories and a basement is entirely more than I care to do. Electrical, on the other hand, might be something I can tackle a bit at a time. The present electrical is old two-wire non-grounded, but still very servicable. That said, I want to eventually rewire the house to modern standards. I'm getting more and more excited now, and I can't wait for Wednesday!
That sounds great! Definitely post pictures And... for comic relief, find a copy of "the money pit" on Netflix or iTunes and watch it some evening. After you've got your own fixer-upper, you'll find yourself really relating to that movie, it's pretty funny.
Closing went off without issue. I got the paperwork filed with the city. I even got the front door fixed. I am a homeowner! And now, some pics...