Buying A House: C or D?

I tried looking for this on Realtor and Zillow, but no luck. Apparently it's in Lincoln, IL for $145k. (?!)

http://thehousehuntingblog.com/post/170166691375/1450002-br2100-sq-ft-lincoln-il-ah-yes-ive

http://78.media.tumblr.com/173250bca21f86a93c49a73a65b36fb7/tumblr_p36sc2esAT1tdcgqjo1_1280.jpg

http://78.media.tumblr.com/46de10a75a43bc451234446495bea845/tumblr_p36sc2esAT1tdcgqjo8_1280.jpg

http://78.media.tumblr.com/9aa92c60671ec18a313cc5f85b0426af/tumblr_p36sc2esAT1tdcgqjo6_1280.jpg

http://78.media.tumblr.com/0ee8b6a9566d419405b37b5b5f6bc3e5/tumblr_p36sc2esAT1tdcgqjo9_1280.jpg

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/314-Pulaski-St-Lincoln-IL-62656/125012316_zpid/

Oh dern, it sold. :(

Kind of a different perspective in this one:

https://i.imgur.com/nWQMhFo.jpg

I'd happily live in the middle of a small midwestern "downtown."

Why does a 2-bedroom house have 3 bathrooms?

"First settled in the 1830s, Lincoln is home to three colleges and two prisons. The three colleges are Lincoln College, Lincoln Christian University, and Heartland Community College. It is also the home of the world's largest covered wagon."

Langston Hughes is from there.

I bet those transformers right behind the house are loud as hell if they blow.

Apparently Henry Darger was institutionalized there in the early 20th century for excessive masturbation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

Where by "there" I mean the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, not that house that just sold

lol

He was a Mid-Century Masturbator.

"First settled in the 1830s, Lincoln is home to three colleges and two prisons.

Did a big waaaiiiiit a minute here, but as it turns out, Lincoln, Illinois, was not only named after Abraham Lincoln, but it was also named by Abraham Lincoln.

The town was officially named on August 29, 1853, in an unusual ceremony. Abraham Lincoln, having assisted with the platting of the town and working as counsel for the newly laid railroad which led to its founding, was asked to participate in a naming ceremony for the town... At noon he purchased two watermelons and carried one under each arm to public square. There he invited Latham, Hickox, and Gillette, proprietors, to join him, saying, "Now we'll christen the new town.", squeezing watermelon juice out on the ground.

I love this city now.

Are there no... zoning laws? In Lincoln, Illinois....

https://i.imgur.com/MQMKGHE.jpg

Mane Attraction

many xps I live in a 2 bedroom/3 bathroom home because both bedrooms are upstairs and there is a downstairs bathroom.

I thought it was Lincoln, Nebraska in the first mention which has some merit (the only reasonable side of Illinois, college town, some stuff) but... the Illinois Lincoln? Well, it was named by the good president man

lincoln, il looks good

I recently lived not too far from Lincoln IL & I do not recommend it tbh

Only a 3 hour train ride to Chicago.

nice to meet you, i'm the guy who just found out how much it would cost to add a new bathroom to this house, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

inside the boundaries of the home, or as an addition?

inside the boundaries. one possible configuration would involve pushing out the roof, so i guess kind of an addition? but even doing it inside the current home is .... more than I thought

yea bathrooms are hella expensive

makes me wish I was more motivated when it came to putting in walls, figuring out who to call to make sure I'm doing things up to code, and just started farting around doing projects in the evening

how my dad ever did so when I was a little kid after working all day.. I guess he just loved doing that stuff

Me, I favor little quality-of-life improvements that I can accomplish myself: a shelf here, a little home office under the stairs, a rack for pots and pans, a fire pit outside, fresh paint here and there.

I'm told that the only renovations worth doing (in a resale value sense) are those that increase square footage. Even then, the return on investment might be negligible or nonexistent. Not coincidentally, those are very high-dollar projects. And they can entail a year or more of project management, as well as life disruption.

Some people can live in a house that's being remodeled, putting up with (for example) having to cook on a hot plate and use a mini-fridge for a couple months. Others rent a house for a while during the time their normal house is undergoing renovations - an additional spate of costs and headaches that needs to be factored in.

to some extent "renovations" is also a code word for upkeep, and those things... are essential

I will never, ever again live in a house that we are renovating. If you think purchasing a home is stressful, wait until you do renovations. And yeah, I agree that renovating for resale is not worth it really. People have vastly different tastes. The worst thing ever is when I see a place I like and it's evident that they newly remodeled but you know you will have to remodel again due to different styles. Like, I hate granite anything.

yea we had our attic finished before we moved in and im so glad we did it that way

btw we thought about adding a bathroom up there but it was gonna had another $10k-25k to the cost. fuck that

I'm told that the only renovations worth doing (in a resale value sense)

I'm not even thinking about resale, I'm thinking about whether I want to move two adults and two kids into a house with one shower. So I think of the money as spent on something to improve our lives, not money I expect to get back.

And we would have it done before we moved in.

But I am gonna see how expensive it would be to put a bathroom in the basement instead, that seems to disrupt the house and my kids can walk down a flight of stairs if I'm in the shower if it's gonna save a ton of money, I'll just pay them $100 every time they shower down there

dang how long a shower do you take

FWIW, eephus, I sleep on the second floor but only ever shower in the basement. I leave the upstairs bathroom to wife + kids, and that's worked out well for us.

sorry, i meant a shower in basement "seems to disrupt the house LESS" and i really really hope it would be cheaper

So YMP you have this "1 shower upstairs 1 shower in basement" configuration? And it's workable? The basement in this house is mostly unfinished so I feel like you're not giving up already-finished space to do this, if it's functional and less expensive the idea is growing on me

Yes, we have a full bath on the second floor (shared by three bedrooms).

We also have a bathroom with a stall shower in the (mostly finished) basement.

When I was a child, I was heavily influenced by my grandparents' house, where my grandmother used the master bathroom, which was coded and decorated very much as "hers." My grandfather used a second smaller bathroom that was decorated very much as "his." It seemed very civilized to me, and very different from what I was used to (everyone sharing one bathroom). So when we moved in here I ceded the upstairs bath to wife + kids and started thinking of the basement bath as in some sense "mine." It is a very civilized arrangement. Also I prefer the womblike stall shower to showering in a bathtub. But that's just me.

anybody have any thoughts on RTA kitchen cabinets? I'm trying to avoid putting yet more ikea products into my house but the numbers ain't crunching any other way.

put in an offer on a house and feeling lots of anxiety about it. i love the house and i think it's worth what we're offering but the idea of going through another home purchase, selling our current home, doing the move, etc over the next few months fills me w/ dread.

it will suck but then it will be awesome :)

yea, it will definitely suck but at least you've done it before

My parents are selling their house and are buying a condo in the town where my sister lives.

I’ve lived in 13 places including four 2000+ mile cross country moves in the last 20 years and have bought three and sold two houses since 2007, so it’s both endearing and exasperating to hear my mom totally FREAK THE FUCK OUT. They’ve lived in the same place since 1976 and have no idea how the whole process works and the logistics of closing dates and moving and all. Like now do you understand why I was so stressed out when doing this? It’s a terrible thing to deal with.

and good luck btw hope the offer works out! was it accepted?

is there a home remodel/renovation/diy projects thread? I'm on a multiple front diy reno project and would love some advice/commiseration

xp it's going in tnite so probably won't know anything until tmmrw

nothing signed yet but looks like it's a yes

Grats man that's big

now i've gotta sell my house but i think it'll sell there's already interest

congrats!