Buying A House: C or D?

so is it just sitting empty or are you still renting it? extra income as an absentee sabbatical landlord doesn't seem so bad.

sitting bc it's evidently easier to sell when vacant

I could see that, unless you're selling to someone else who's going to rent it out

I saw some water and am afraid my cleanout of the sewage line, which was full of tree roots, wasn't a full solution. I am not in the position to deal with this right now and hope I can avoid addressing it until after I get back from vacation next month

I don't even know what part of NY that Binghamton is in, but this place is dope.

https://hotpads.com/63-howard-ave-binghamton-ny-13904-v9ma6h/pad-for-sale

I've been to Binghamton and found it pretty bleak

Nice. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3215-Cleveland-Ave-Michigan-City-IN-46360/118695882_zpid/

I'll take it!

wow that place is amazing

Street View backs it up, though I have no idea what life in Michigan City, Indiana, is like on a daily basis.

there's a nuclear plant next door & you can go to the outlet mall.

well, and the lake! actually the dunes are about the coolest thing in Indiana (not that the competition is tough...)

Would live in Michigan, given the right locale and property. Would not live in Indiana.

Does it make a difference when you're so close to the border?

(I know, here I go.)

I'm sure there's a border region that people in each state refer to as "basically the other state"

much like anything more than ten miles south of Des Moines is "basically Missouri" to me

Would live in Michigan, given the right locale and property. Would not live in Indiana.

Could make a case for Valparaiso up in the NW corner. May as well be a bedroom community of Chicago at this point.

Feel like I need a "Selling A House: C or D" thread.

Selling A House - Classic

Having a House For Sale - Dud

Watching the place you sold increase 33% in value over the last four years: Dud.

The Michigan-Indiana border area is not one of the locales I would move for tbh.

The MCM house is great but in my mind it would get old super fast - it's not like a modern loft/condo or even white box where you can adjust it with decoration - you're just always going to live on a Mad Men set.

Having a House For Sale - Dud

About a week into escrow on my mom's place. 60 day run. This is the third go round. Deep unrelenting psychosis at the moment.

we drove 10 hours to Cleveland this weekend anticipating that a mid-May weekend would bring a lot of new listings to see, and there are........... none

(in the town we're looking in obv)

Oh man, that's rough. Have you lined up anything to look at?

it's called Michiana

unfortunately

remember: there's no Barnaby's without Michiana. also no brother and sister news teams.

beef bar pizza kitchen

walk to Barnaby's every day:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/2100777900_zpid/any_days/globalrelevanceex_sort/41.680581,-86.232301,41.672888,-86.250733_rect/15_zm/

the Bend

confession: I never went to Barnaby's, lived there for six years, have been back many times since.
but I'm a Bruno's stan

another bonus for Michigan City is proximity to this

which has slugfest pinball in the back

been there but OINK'S is where it's at

OINK'S just another gem that could be a staple of your new michigan city lifestlye!

Oh man, that's rough. Have you lined up anything to look at?

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, May 14, 2016 9:51 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha, we saw one house that looked okay online but was pretty dumpy. the other three we had lined up to see received offers before our drive was done

Marcos, hang in there, I know it can be frustrating. We were looking for almost three months around the Cle west suburbs and were in daily contact with our realtor (this was pre-internet) who was sending us to look at several houses a week -- I think she was ready to kill us -- but we eventually found the right house, been here 26 years now.

We're in Fairview Park, which from what I've read is probably a little more suburban than you're looking for, but my son goes to school in Lakewood and we're there frequently for shopping/restaurants. Lakewood taxes are going to be a bit higher because of the school renovations you noted, also because relatively speaking, there's little industry in Lakewood; you've got the two retail strips on Detroit and Madison but besides that it's almost all residential. Lots of great older homes though. . .and hey, only 30 inches of snow last winter! Maybe everyone who left because of the weather will come back.

Anyway, good luck, and keep us posted on your search.

thanks jeff! yea and i shouldn't forget that our search really just began. we've been considering this move for months, but it took a long time for my job offer to come in and then we had to get all our shit together to find a lender and get preapproved, so really it's been only about a week that we've actually been in a position to make an offer on a house.

Gotta say this thread's been one of the best advertisements for Cleveland I've seen in forever.

is the drew carey show still in syndication?

ha not sure

this house is a little out of our price range but it is located on one of the most beautiful streets in lakewood, it was sold in 2014 for $73k, rehabbed, and now going for $273k http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1536-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502609_zpid/

some of the other houses on this street are nuts, this one sold for $277k this year http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1422-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502467_zpid/

this one sold in november for $198k http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1486-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502456_zpid/

here are some of the neighboring houses

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1456-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502461_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1446-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502463_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1491-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502599_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1516-Grace-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502605_zpid/

lakewood is so fucking cool

one block away, this one sold in november for $250k, it is ridiculous http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1440-Cohassett-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33502488_zpid/

ok i'll stop now

Holy shit, all of those would be at least $500k here, it not significantly more just due to the novelty of that style house which simply does not exist. And I don't even live anywhere interesting.

this house on marlowe ave is still available - http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1485-Marlowe-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33499487_zpid/ - we are thinking about it a lot but not sure if we want to wait for something better. it is a cool house, location is great (apart from being in view of an ER driveway.... the hospital is potentially closing though, otherwise the house is on a very cool street within walking distance to the major commercial/retail area of lakewood), but a few things are making us hesitant:

1) the cooking area in the kitchen blows. the eat-in area is great, eat-in kitchens are also somewhat rare in a lot of these older houses and we are realizing that an eat-in is a necessity for us. but the cooking area is so bad that we'd definitely want to do a remodel. it would have to be a fairly substantial remodel, not just cosmetic shit like getting new cabinets. we'd really need a more workable space in the kitchen. my sister just did a kitchen remodel and it took forever and i don't really want to go through that myself. it could be worth it though, i don't know.
2) it has no bath, and w/ two very little kids we want to have a bath, something we'd have to do immediately
3) front porch is nice, but i have kind of an attachment to those huge front porches that span the width of a house, and those are very common in lakewood. this is not really that big of a deal though since you get that cool first floor sun room and you could also make the second floor front porch more usable by putting in a doorway from the master bedroom (currently it's just a window, what is up w/ inaccessible second floor porches?

i'm wondering if in the long term these are all just very minor things though and it would be silly to pass up a nice house bc of these somewhat easily changeable factors. kitchen is obviously the biggest thing to change, the others are extremely minor

That's a nice house!

You are within walking distance of one the best Indian restaurants in Clevo.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4853677,-81.7952118,3a,75y,356.67h,82.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAso8D8m6rXW5sJithc6X6Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

cool, i've never been to that one! i grew up going to cafe tandoor in westlake & south euclid

• Didn't even notice there wasn't a tub the first time I looked at it.

• What plans are there for the property if they close the hospital? Would it become a clinic or remain vacant or ...?

I once lived behind a health facility for addiction, and it wasn't always a pretty sight.

But affordable house in nice neighborhood...

hospital is now a family health clinic & ER

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160107/NEWS/160109899/lakewood-hospital-inpatient-services-to-end-in-early-february

I am not enjoying house hunting. I'm trying to remember if I liked it last time and I'm pretty sure I didn't then either.