Buying A House: C or D?

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.

What a beautiful foursquare, marcos!!! I like the exposed eaves and the very Craftsman touches inside. The current owners have NOT done it justice.

That sun porch on the front may originally have been part of the front porch, and later boxed in? I can't tell, but the symmetrical front would be traditional for a 4sq. The bathroom is an iniquity, slate tile or no slate tile. See what you mean about the kitchen....nice breakfast nook though.

yes you are right about the front porch! there is a very similar house up the road and the porch spans the width of the house

and i agree about the bathroom

My parents 4sq from 1903 had such a small bathroom that it wasn't possible to do much with it. The update from the 1950s used a three-quarters sized tub, which was all that would fit. You can't do a master bath-style renovation in these footprints, so they put in a double-wide shower instead, misjudging what will read "luxury" to buyers. Gross.

Eventually my fam bumped out a whole wall to extend over a 1st floor porch on the back of the house, and added the extra room for a luxury bathroom reno, but it took architects and everything.

Unless you have a bedroom to spare and you can get plumbing to it.

one thing we could do is add a bathroom to part of that third floor attic room, it's huge up there and you would still have a substantial space left

what is the name for this thing and the shape that it has

http://i.imgur.com/kL1Vc6C.jpg

Not sure, but the thought of ever having to get up there and navigate that roofline is giving me the willies.

Maybe it's a bodycatcher.

that is a slightly pagoda-shaped patio cover that's doubling as a second floor balcony.

"pagoda patio cover" is a thing, apparently

"widow's walk?

nah those are on top of houses right

i mean i guess it's a railing for the second floor porch (that has no door to it) but i'm more wondering about that shape that curves out like that, there are a lot of houses in cleveland w/ that especially two-family homes with second story porches

i know you've covered it already but the ppl who built these lovely lakewood homes really hated kitchens huh

haha yea i don't get it

It's kind of a faux mansard roof imo? Which is a standard feature of Italianate houses from around the same era but might be an unusual regional variation if it's used on a lot of foursquares in those parts?

xp their servants did the cooking.

It's also possible that's not the original porch roof, because I would have expected it to have exposed eaves, like those on the 3rd storey.

ppl used to have the smallest kitchens and then a full dining room, wtf people

it's so you can pretend the food magically appears and someone wasn't slaving over a hot stove, I guess

i know you've covered it already but the ppl who built these lovely lakewood homes really hated kitchens huh

Another reason why I'm loving these properties!