Buying A House: C or D?

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!

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.

― If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Tuesday, May 17, 2016 2:40 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea that's what i'm wondering too

I can see myself hanging out in the sun-room in my robe on Sunday mornings. Another reason to buy this house marcos!

Love sun rooms.

BTW I would also have said mansard about the roof, but it seems very specific to that house form.

Re: small kitchens, I'm pretty sure there are people reading this who have closets larger than my own beloved 1940 house's kitchen. It's about 7x8; I can literally stand in one place and reach everything.

I have a sun room / enclosed front porch thingy and yeah, you can just sit out there and chill. It's especially nice because I have some tall bushes meaning I can see out just fine, but no one can really see in.

xps brownie, yea i keep going back and forth, we saw it in person a month ago but that was really before we were really looking. it's been sitting longer than a lot of other houses too. the rehabbed ones --which to be honest i don't always like, sometimes the updated kitchens look tacky and don't match the period details common in these homes -- sell in a matter of days.

If I were going to buy a house I would want everything redone except the kitchen so I could feel reasonable about doing the kitchen to my spec. Really that's the only reason I'd want to buy a house.

so I can come over on Sundays then? can I call the sun-room the vape room? do you have a hat tree for my fedoras?

j/k

good luck! is Lakewood the only city you're looking?

loooooool

yea lakewood is it, we were strongly considering cleveland heights and shaker heights for a while but most of my family is on the west side

what's up with all that crazy ornate interior decoration though? Is that standard for the neighborhood?

you mean like the wood trim and built-ins?

if so, that stuff is pretty common, though in many homes people have painted over the wood

leaded glass windows are common too, even in shitty remodels most people keep those

yeah, my house has built-in shelves and some nice details
pretty common for the style: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Craftsman

mh you have a craftsman home? sweet

yeah, cleve and shaker hts have some really nice homes for cheap. shaker taxes though are so outrageous though.

cleveland heights has some amazing deals

yeah, it's funny how widespread the style is. some friends in Regina, Saskatchewan posted pictures of their house from the same era and their living room is like mine from a different angle

if you can work around some of the limitations in the floor plans to make things more practical for modern life, you end up with a beautiful house that's built like a tank

this condo is 39K! but the HOA fee is 2k a month :(

it's been my goal to somehow squat in these condos

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/13805-Shaker-Blvd-Apt-3A_Cleveland_OH_44120_M36250-18982#photo0

holy shit at that fee

yeah, they had to put a new a roof on a historically significant building $$$

whoa

east side market seems more manageable for a buyer right now, way more options and things stick around longer

yep

Generally speaking, I would say that if you're going to spend $275K in Lakewood you need to be closer to the lake that those houses on Grace, but HOLY COW that's incredible woodwork at 1422 Grace. I support capital punishment for those who paint over woodwork in homes of that age. We've had to replace a good deal of painted-over wood, both window trim and baseboards, at our house. Luckily we know a good carpenter.

1485 Marlowe -- my friend lives just south of Detroit on Lincoln (one block over from Marlowe) and likes the neighborhood -- walkable to most everything on Detroit.

The other thing I forgot to mention which may be affecting the prop taxes in Lakewood now is the massive renovation/addition to Lakewood HS.

I don't get this, when a house is listed for sale but there's no open house listed, how are you supposed to look at it?