December 30th 2005

Oofah - after a bit of a lull over christmas I had a couple of vacation days and decided to go out with Ginny and blitz what was available. Bob is away so the plan was for me to rule out a few places and then go back to the better ones with him.

We started off in Bethel with the center colonial. $359,000. 1427 sq ft. Nice house on mains water and sewer. Clean lines but just small. The living room was 22 x 10 but the 10ft was between entering in the front door and a fireplace that jutted out about 18-24" so there wasn't really room for furniture around the fireplace. nice house though - wide floor boards but just too small for us.

Then we did one drive by also in Bethel over on Bethpage Drive - couldn't view inside but the outside was nice except for a strange garage door that was too narrow to actually get a car in!! It has nicer curb appeal than the photo shows but if you wanted a useable garage you'd have to tear off the siding and redo frame the garage door.

Then we drove through a nice part of Danbury. We didn't have a specific house but Ginny wanted to show me this small pocket neighbourhood with great access to the highway - consequently there's traffic noise (that reminds me of when I lived in S. Cal near the 405) - but it's a quaint little area of a mix of victorians, colonials and ranchs. We drove past one listing - the green colonial above with all the trees out front. We called the agent and went into view.

This was $389,900. Colonial built in 1951 with only one owner. 1941 sq. ft. 4 BR, 2/1 baths. Single garage. This turned out to be a good find. Big rooms and lots of potential and a feeling that the house was well kept. Enter into a small entryway and then a 19 x 12 living room with fireplace and wide board floors. Kitchen was a disaster - old sort of nonexistant cabinets and only in an 11 x 9 space but with potential to knock through into either some of the living room or the dining room or relocate it to the dining room and knock into the office and then have external windows. I really got a nice feel for this house for the first time. Some rooms would just need cosmetic help - paint. Others would be longer projects - the large 17 x 16 family room needs the sort of cheap plywood sheathing tearing out and new sheetrock hanging but then you could reframe the 1/2 bath in there. Then the kitchen would be a longer term/more expensive project. Upstairs the master bedroom could have a wider opening into an adjoing bedroom to make a suite and then remodel the master bath, still leaving 2 other bedrooms and another bath. I had a feeling that I was in a dead person's house or at least a house where someone had gone to a home. There was a scrapbook of photos of the projects they had done on the house since they bought it in 1951 so you could see how it had grown - they had added the large family room on one end and then later a single garage and dinind room office and then the master bedroom above with bath. Then they had screened in the back area between the two extensions to make a screened porch with an intriguing raise platform which got them over the door frame of the door from the basement. Anyhoo - great potential and I had a feel that it could work with some projects however at $389,900 I feel it's way overpriced however looking a few years down the road it would get us into a bigger house that we otherwise couldn't afford - it's great in some rooms - liveable and we could dictate how and when we spent the money to get things done over a couple of years. External needed some different color on garage door, shutters and front door as whole house is sort of a faded green color. Some of the plants/bushs etc are blocking light into the house but not much so a little landscaping would be needed and one corner of the lot showed recent excavation so would need to find out what that was. Mains water and sewer!! Being a Brit where you only hava septic if you live out in the frigging wilds I can't get my head around paying loads of money for a house with well water and a septic system. So mains water/sewer is a big plus for me.
Also Bob would hate the current kitchen - who wouldn't basically - but we could rebuild it how we wanted it so he actually seems quite game for that. So it is on our list for a revisit. This unplanned visit took a bit of time but then we headed off up to the Richter Park area.

Raised ranch. $384,900, 1317 sq ft. This was in the Richter Park/Aunt Hack area a part of Danbury that has good appreciation and a good elementary school and being in the far west has good access to 84 for both Bob and I. This first property with a nice crimson front door was in move-in condition. You enter into a carpeted (with HWF below) LR and then through to a nicely done kitchen with adjoining DR area. Then up the split ranch thing to 3 small BRs and one bath. Nice property just too small - no storage - there was a den room downstairs but if you thought about how much space there was a for awake time it was v. small.

Also hit up this other ranch ($369,000, 1800 sq. ft) on the same street. Bit of a nightmare - v. small again despite being 1800sq. ft - alot of it was downstairs and you really want some of that on teh main level. Needs the kitchen and the den room redoing in a major way. Again too small upstairs - bedrooms small.

Then we swung by a true ranch that was out of our budget but I was intrigued to see it as it had a nice living room form photos on the web. Elm Crest $399,000. 1576 sq. ft. This had a hubbard on it (offer is in but offer maker needs to sell own property). The L-shaped living room/fireplace/dining area was as nice as in the photos - great sunlight and plenty of space. The kitchen which was stripped off appliances needed redoing totally. Bedrooms were very small - 12 x 12 was the biggest I think. The basement was finished and huge which gave gobs of space but you might get slammed atthe next reassessment. It also showed some damp and the yard showed eveidence of recent excavation and the driveway had subsidence so I think there night have been a drainage issue across the lot. Double garage was a bonus. Again great LR/DR area but v. little storage and small BRs and only 1 bathroom.

Then (take a breath) we headed to the last house - a cape up in Brookfield ($385,000, 1352 sq. ft). This definitely was a dead person's house. Small 220 sq ft joining apartment and wow! this place hadn't been painted in maybe 30 years - enter into small kitchen - through past base of stairs into a small but long LR with fireplace. 2 v. small BRs and then a crazy unfinshed/slightly finished upstairs that they may have used as a sitting ara - I'm not sure. If you shed-windowed out the roof you'd get great space. The kitchen had the original (1957) metal cabinets and countertops. With paint in the kitchen it would look great but v. small. Plus Brookfield is a little too far for us maybe? but better schools than Danbury.

In summary - definitely want to take Bob back to the green colonial which after viewing the other houses - is still overpriced but stands out as the best find of the day - big rooms, potential, character etc etc.

Center colonial, Bethel, $359,000. 1427 sq. ft. Mains water/sewer.
Driveby cape, Bethel,$379,000. 1759 sq. ft. Sewer/city water.
Green colonial, Danbury, $389,900. 1941 sq. ft. maons water/sewer.
Split level ranch, Danbury, $384,900. 1317 sq. ft. Septic/city water. No a/c.
Raised ranch, Danbury, $369,000. 1800 sq. ft. Septic/city water. No a/c.
Ranch, Danbury, $399,000. 1576 sq. ft. Septic/well. No a/c.
Cape, Brookfield, $385,000. 1352 sq. ft. Septic/well. This made the green colonial look like a bargain!

December 18h 2005

Last night Bob and I did an exercise that we got from ctrealtor.com. it's a property wish list that helps you narrow down what is important in a house for you. There were many things listed and then 2 columns - one was "Must have", the other was "Would Prefer".

Bob blazed through his while I,of course, wrote qualifying comments opn almost everything. Then bob read my lista nd I read his. The result? After the 2 BR minimum, prefer 3 and 2-car garage, the only thing on his list that was in his "Must have" column was "Laundry room". So we laughed over that. mine of course - being the world's greatest procrastinator - was full of hemming and hawing - EIK not necessary if there's a DR, fierplace is not a dealbreaker, family or living room, don't need both etc.
Anyway it was quite a good thing to do and we also made notes on access to highways and neighbourhhod and house styel and age etc.

So our list is this:
Near a highway so bob can get to Manhattan and I can get to Stamford.
Bob needs airport access.
Area: realistically specific areas of Danbury, most of Bethel is more affordable but schools aren't as good as elsewhere. Ridgefield, where I live now, we love but it's out of our price range unless we want to settle for a condo.
Best schools we can afford as can't afford houses in best school areas as ..
we want a single family rather than a condo.
Colonial or cape - ranch would have to be exceptional as we noth like 2-storey.
New construction to old - no preference.
I'm willing i think to do more renovation than Bob but he's game for a little. I'm happy to move the odd wall and paint etc and in time re-do bath and kitchen if necessary but I think less is better for a first home. I guess it depends on the bargain.

Obviously there's things that you'd die for but they tend not to be deal breakers to me - fireplace, vaulted ceiling etc. They kind of fall into the category of "sure I'd like to drive an Infinity FX35 or a Honda S2000, but in reality I drive a Honda Civic so get real" so we need to read between the lines of what we like in other people's house and what we can afford now that it's our money that's paying for it!

I did find another area of Danbury that I liked and would work - the Aunt Hack Road area - that is just off I-84 but up towards Richter Park GC. There was an awesome ranch up there that was too much $$$ for us, with that price (399k) we could only put 10% down and still have a mortgage payment that was near our monthly nut limit before we've even figured in property taxes and home insurance.
Then I also saw a ranch with a 2-storey end section up by Candlewood lake that looks like it has an awesome view from the master BR and we both kayak - with the lake below the house. Wouldn't change Bob's commute but would make mine a bit longer but once you were home we wouldn't be driving anywhere to go kayaking. The price is right ($319,900) so i think i'll drop Ginny a line with our wish list and see if we can see this one. She is away this next week so it'll have to wait 'til after Xmas I think.

December 18th 2005

So Friday we viewed the little yellow Colonial in Danbury and we also viewed the other house further down the street for reference and just coz it was handy.
The Colonial
Over-priced at $335,000, 3BR, 1.5BA, 1340sq. ft. Built 1878.
Initial thoughts - a nice quite small roomed house - clean floor plan except for 4 doors leading off a 10 x 12 kitchen. Small rooms upstairs and long thin bathroom. But otherwise nice. No wood floors under the carpets. The half bath was directly off the dining room so there would be some highly entertaining moments if you had guests over! The floors on the main level sloped alot into the middle of all the rooms - very noticeable - you walked uphill to lok out of the window. Odd street parking for one car - nice quiet neighbourhood.
We went up the attic. The flue from the furnace was looking a bit dodgy - crumbling cement outer layer and dripping on to the floor after the morning's rain. Closer inspection showed that water was coming in under the roof - probably at the apex and running down into the flue and also down the A-frames so they were all wet. Otherwise the attic was clean.
The basement told another story - new furnace - which looked like it had been put in with a knife and fork (DIY ?) and dripping water onto the floor. Basement was finished but bad floor plan. Basement gave out onto walk out screened in deck that was new and probably the property's best feature. There were also holes cut in the sheetrock and tubular supports had been put in to shore up the cross beam that was causing the floor to sag upstairs.
Overall thoughts: over-priced. Would probably offer $275,000. Nice house layoutwise, a bit small for us and too many red flags structurally that we could see to want to take it on.

The Blue Colonial
$349,000. 4BR, 2BA, 1922 sq. ft. Built 1898.
Definitely bigger than the other house but had a really bad floor plan that wasted probably 300 if not more sq ft with walls and bad layout (e.g. one bedroom upstairs was off another bedroom). There was a square addition at the back that had a large 21 x 13 family room on the main level and a similar space above but above it had been clipped into a master bedroom with half a vaulted ceiling at only 13 x 12 and a smaller office type space/small bedroom/large walk-in closet at 10 x 9. if they'd had the whole space as a vaulted ceiling master bed with a small walk-in and a bigger bathroom it would've been a fab space.
The other bedrooms were small with a strange room/space where the landing would be at the top of the stairs. Attic was full of junk so hard to comment except it seemed dry. Made me think that maybe it had been a rental and this was accumulated left over junk from renters moving out over the years.
Basement was a nightmare - structurally it looked sound - but when I walked down there I thought that there might be some homeless person sleeping down there as there was a side/coal access door that was not secured. The basement was a mess of full and empty wine, spirits and beer bottles and general mess and 2 extremely moldy fridges. Nice!
Double garage had crack in breeze block walls - nothing, all-in-all, that a good $100,000 wouldn't cure but it would be a big space if you did it over. Unfortunately we don't have the extra 100k.

All-in-all it was a good exercise and the start of figuring out what we want and how to go about viewing. Ginny was great. Bob and I need to make a list of what we want to help Ginny.

December 11th 2005

So I was perusing Ginny's listings and came across this place - 1848 Colonial. 3BR, 1.5BA, 1,340 sq. ft. $335,000. As an idea to property prices this was only the 2nd listing on her site - the only thing cheaper was a condo for $165,000. The top of her listing was land in Redding, CT for $9,950,000. This Colonial is in a n older post-industrial town that doesn't do much for me but it's in one area of the town that I like - has a neigbourhood feel, one of our fave restaurants and is very close to some amazing hiking and mountain biking trails - sort of an older part of the town with quite a few colonials on streets that actually have sidewalks (shock horror!)

Been on the market 2 mths. So we're going to view it next Friday Dec 16th. Bob hasn't met Ginny before so she'll show it to us as our buying agent just for that day until Bob can decide if he wants to have her as our realtor. She's going to sit down with us and explain a little about the buying process and the viewing process. We were going to do this right before we went to view it but Bob suggested that we do it on a seperate occasion so that we can think of questions and not go to view a house with our heads spinning! So we have a pre- meeting with Ginny Wednesday evening which I think will be good and then the viewing on Friday as I have a vacation day and Bob is not on the road.

It's quite exciting as well as a little daunting but know that I know what we can afford and what we'll have to pay when (i.e. how much of my savings will be getting sucked away) it seems a little simpler.

December 11th 2005

So we had 8" of snow Friday a.m. which meant that there was no one else in the bank and I was in there for 2 hrs chatting with a Financial Specialist and also had a long phone call with a Wachovia guy in North Carolina who specialises in first time mortgages. He clarified some of the mystery for me - explaining the monthly payment side of house buying and the generally one-time payments to do with closing and how much they might run (in short, a lot!)
So I feel a little less in the dark and also got my savings account into a higher level of interest. So it looks like being conservative - i.e. being able to buy somewhere with one salalry and use the second salary to make extra mortgage payments to pay it off quicker - we are looking around $300,000. Around here it barely gets you a condo which I do not want. But there's a few pockets where we might get a little more for our money. So now I get to look and get depressed that we can't afford anything. We could go a lot higher but then we'd both have to keep working.

December 8th, 2005

At least I got the date right this time. Set up an appointment with my bank's (Wachovia) Financial Specialist to go over money and mortgage basics. Plus i think I get some kind of a deal with GMAC Mortgage through my employer (Comcast).
So I meet at the bank tomorrow - I guess that is D-Day as to whether I/we can even afford anywhere around here.

Dec 7, 2005

So it's been a goal of mine to own my own place but i) I'm a huge procrastinator and ii) the mystery of everything involved in buying a house - all the other costs beyond the mortgage payment - plus living in a town where average house price is $900,000+ have just had me frozen like a deer in the headlights.
I set a goal of owning by the time I was 40 and here I am 41 and 3/4 and still renting. I can blame Bob the boyfriend for delaying the last year and a half as he asked me to wait so we could buy somewhere together.
A year ago I moved out of an apartment in a house as the owner wanted to put that on the market. No trouble, found another nice little apartment and have a lease that runs through March '06 with the plan to buy after that. Last night my current landlady, Jean, told me that she's putting her house (in which my new apartment resides) on the market. So I think that this finally is the boot in the pants that I needed. I will take it as such.
Her realtor for when I rented the apartment, turned out to be Ginny, who I rented a room from when I first moved to the U.S. who I hadn't seen in 10 years - so that was an apartment found and an old friend reconnected with.

Ginny called this morning to say that she heard from Jean that she had told me about selling and we chatted about my and Bob's desire to buy and that I'd like to meet with her to discuss the process and that I'm off to the bank to meet with a Financial/Mortgage specialist to finally shed some light on the mysteries of closing costs, legal costs, mortgage rates and payments, PMI etc.

I figured I'd blog the whole thing so here you go.