The story of our home search continues
with this featured listing of a charming historic house
that didn’t get a fair chance
If you missed part 1 where I talk about what we were looking for in a house and the bad houses we toured, find it here. The story continues…
The One that got We Let Get Away
There was one more property we nixed before getting to tour inside – and I so wish we’d made it happen. It was a really a stunning old house (historic even!) with beautiful mature landscaping, a pool, and great schools and location for commuting. So what was the problem?
When we pulled up to check it out, we realized it was just feet from the road, as so many old houses are since the town roads were built right up to them. In fact, that made us rule out several really pretty old houses. Several were right on very busy marked two lane or even double lane roads with no privacy. That’s the driveway going along the bottom right corner of the first photo below, but the road wasn’t much further from the house.
This road was two lanes and unmarked. Quieter than other streets we avoided, but still with very regular traffic.
But, it was dug up when we arrived to tour it and we couldn’t go in. Bad realtor investigated (way after the fact, thanks!) and told us with a very dramatically wary voice that she had found out there was a sewage “problem” and it was “up to us” if we wanted to proceed with a tour in spite of this.
So we ruled it out.
It turned out it wasn’t connected to city sewer for some reason at that time. We never got the full story. Was it just a septic tank conversion to city water? I don’t know. I wish we would have pressed the realtor to find out if the fix that was clearly already in the works would be swift, but she really wasn’t very good and we were too burned out to deal with a sewer fix. Remember, we really needed turn key. This probably should have been our first big red flag about Bad Realtor. More on her later in the week.
We thought we were being prudent after a series of terrible showings, but I think it was the wrong call here. Lesson learned.
Take a look at this truly charming home with all its glorious historical character in tact:
The Cons
As lovely as it all looks, I probably would have been up at night worried about living that close to the road. And, it’s not in a walkable neighborhood like we ended up in. No way to get outside safely for a quick walk, or for the kids to walk on their own to visit friends when they’re older – not that neighborhood friends are a guarantee by any means. My husband was also terrified of the maintenance of the wooden surround on the soaking tub – which I, myself found very charming.
It went for 60k under their original asking price a couple months after we passed on it.
I really wish we’d given it a chance. But, then we might not have bothered to tour the house we ended up buying, which didn’t have any of the shortcomings of this one. This one definitely …
could have been a contender.
Speaking of! Next time: the top three contenders are revealed.
C’est tout!
Maura
