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Jun. 6th, 2005 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annissamazingJustin and I met with our realtor Roberta this weekend to take a look at houses in the area. The goal was to get an idea of how much house our money will buy in different parts of the Greater Akron area. Another goal was to help Justin and I decide and agree on the things we did and did not want in a house. We started in Cuyahoga Falls, not far from where we live now. The first house we saw was a bank-owned Cape Cod. Roberta warned us that bank-owned houses are always in bad shape, but even she was surprised at what we drove up to. The house itself didn’t look too bad, but just a glance beyond the house revealed a garage that was missing an entire side and part of the roof. Just gone… I can’t imagine what happened to that garage to cause that much damage. Inside the house were terrible carpets, ruined blinds, holes in the wall (a very large one where a heater used to be), torn up linoleum, unfinished painting in the bedrooms, mold on one wall in a bedroom and every surface was coated with a thick layer of grime. Sill Middle School, who just had its last day of school ever and may be slated to be torn down, is just two blocks away.
The second house we saw was also a cape, but wasn’t in nearly as bad condition. The first thing I didn’t like about it was that the step into the front door was about a foot and a half high. Far too high for my liking. It had what used to be a one-car garage with an adjoining car port, but the previous owners had put up particle board to close in the car port. The yard was on a grade going down away from the house. The driveway was crumbling and falling down into the yard. The previous owners had also torn down the wall that separated the downstairs bedrooms’ closets to make one large closet that is accessible from both bedrooms. Then they put mirrored sliding doors on the closet, but they didn’t fit, so they wouldn’t close.
I was beginning to feel disenchanted. I like capes and I love Cuyahoga Falls, but it is impossible to find a nice home in my price range here. Roberta then took us over to North Hill. North Hill has a terrible reputation and is considered the worst neighborhood in Akron. She explained that for the past 4 – 5 years, North Hill property values have been steadily increasing. Furthermore, Akron is putting a lot of money into the North Hill area (well, the part of North Hill that neighbors downtown Akron and earned North Hill its reputation). We drove far north of the bad part of the neighborhood and pulled into the driveway of another cape cod. I fell in love. It had a small, well-kept yard, a nice one-car garage, the kitchen area had been expanded into the front yard to make a large eat-in kitchen, the downstairs bedrooms had polished hardwood floors, the upstairs had been converted into one large bedroom and the basement had been partially finished to make a sweet playroom for the kids who had lived there. Roberta told us that this house would not be on the market when we were ready to buy which is too bad because I was ready to move in right then. This house cost less than either house in the Falls.
Our next stop was in the Firestone Park area of Akron. Firestone Park borders downtown on the south side. The actual park sits in the middle of the neighborhood and the nicest house surround it. The neighborhood steadily declines in value as the houses radiate out toward the city. We looked at two homes halfway between the park and I-77 (instead of the “wrong side of the tracks,” Firestone Park has the “wrong side of the freeway”). The first was a tudor-style home. I loved the outside, but the inside felt…wrong. The kitchen was about the size of my cubicle and had countertops with rainbows on them. Also, the previous owners had put down linoleum tiles to mimic hardwood. It was a strange transition to the formal dining room which had all original hardwood floors and woodwork. It had one of the most beautiful living rooms I’ve seen. Every wall was windows. But the old homeowners decided they needed more room and built a tiny add-on to the side. It wasn’t finished and just seemed weird. The upstairs had three bedrooms and an outdated bathroom. The vents were basically holes in the walls between the bedrooms, but it did have a neat laundry chute. Not as neat as the laundry chute in the house I grew up in that we could fit into and slide down, but I still love the laundry chute feature. I couldn’t really put my finger on why I didn’t like this house. Don’t think I’m weird or stupid, but I think something bad happened there and something still lingers.
The second home in Firestone Park was a Colonial on a nicer street than the Tudor. It also had a one-car garage and a fenced in yard. The inside of this house was enormous! There was a huge kitchen with breakfast nook. The counters were bright red and the cabinets below instead of going straight down to the floor were slanted in towards the wall (they must’ve been state-of-the-art when they were installed at least 30 years ago). The kitchen led into a large formal dining room with built in china cabinets. The living room was huge and there was an addition that I couldn’t find a use for. The upstairs had three fairly large bedrooms and a reasonably updated bathroom. I couldn’t believe this house was on the market for only $80,000. I loved the house, but the size of it was intimidating. It looked like it would be expensive to heat or cool.
Next we headed over to Ellet. Justin’s parents live there, so I’m picky about Ellet. It’s a nice area, with its own school district, but it’s kind of expensive. Not as expensive as the Falls, but probably a close second. We tried to look at a ranch-style home, but the selling agent had the wrong combination for the lock box and also had closed a deadbolt that we had no way of opening. The back door opened, but had two chains on it. We gave up after 10 minutes or so. I wasn’t too keen on the house anyway since the entire street was composed of identical homes and the entire back yard had been paved. No thanks.
The last home we saw was a HUD home in Ellet. In this case, the house was built in 2000. This was everything I don’t want in a house. The first problem was that it didn’t have a driveway. The second problem was that the neighbors had already taken all of the parking in front of the house. The second story of the house hung over the first story by about a foot. That’s terrible feng shui, and even though there’s a fix, it’s expensive. We get inside and the previous owners were obviously upset when they were kicked out. I could tell the carpets were new, but they’d spilled brown gunk all over them. I don’t want to think about what it was. The downstairs was one enormous room with an island in the center for a closet and a bathroom. The upper level was three bedrooms and another bathroom. The rooms were of decent size and had good closets, but the previous owners had taken the switch plates, outlet covers, and smoke alarms. The drywall tape was peeling away from the walls. The carpets were not only stained beyond repair, but were in desperate need of being stretched. They were buckled everywhere. None of the woodwork in the house was real wood and everything felt flimsy. Two sides of the house had no windows whatsoever. It was basically a poorly-built cube that had every good thing about it destroyed by its previous owners because they had been unable to pay their mortgage. I’m used to seeing people buy poorly made, cheap crap that they’ll have to replace in a year or two, but I was shocked to see that same philosophy in a house.
We stopped at McDonald’s to get some water. While we were waiting in the drive-through Justin noticed that part of the white picket fence had been burned and wondered out loud what had caused it. Roberta thought that maybe someone had thrown a cigarette out the window and caught the mulch on fire. It was a plausible scenario. Yesterday, Justin, Tena, and I went to Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed flames in the mulch of the parking lot island. I took my hot diet pepsi and did what I could to put it out, but when I ran out of liquid, I could still see flames. I noticed several people looking at me from the Sprint Store. I walked over and asked if they could see the fire. They told me that they could see it and they’d tried three times already to put it out. Then one of the employees said, “Maybe we should call someone.” “Good idea,” I replied. Then Justin busts out with, “If only someone had access to a phone.”
The Banana Split Decision from Cold Stone Creamery is bliss.
The second house we saw was also a cape, but wasn’t in nearly as bad condition. The first thing I didn’t like about it was that the step into the front door was about a foot and a half high. Far too high for my liking. It had what used to be a one-car garage with an adjoining car port, but the previous owners had put up particle board to close in the car port. The yard was on a grade going down away from the house. The driveway was crumbling and falling down into the yard. The previous owners had also torn down the wall that separated the downstairs bedrooms’ closets to make one large closet that is accessible from both bedrooms. Then they put mirrored sliding doors on the closet, but they didn’t fit, so they wouldn’t close.
I was beginning to feel disenchanted. I like capes and I love Cuyahoga Falls, but it is impossible to find a nice home in my price range here. Roberta then took us over to North Hill. North Hill has a terrible reputation and is considered the worst neighborhood in Akron. She explained that for the past 4 – 5 years, North Hill property values have been steadily increasing. Furthermore, Akron is putting a lot of money into the North Hill area (well, the part of North Hill that neighbors downtown Akron and earned North Hill its reputation). We drove far north of the bad part of the neighborhood and pulled into the driveway of another cape cod. I fell in love. It had a small, well-kept yard, a nice one-car garage, the kitchen area had been expanded into the front yard to make a large eat-in kitchen, the downstairs bedrooms had polished hardwood floors, the upstairs had been converted into one large bedroom and the basement had been partially finished to make a sweet playroom for the kids who had lived there. Roberta told us that this house would not be on the market when we were ready to buy which is too bad because I was ready to move in right then. This house cost less than either house in the Falls.
Our next stop was in the Firestone Park area of Akron. Firestone Park borders downtown on the south side. The actual park sits in the middle of the neighborhood and the nicest house surround it. The neighborhood steadily declines in value as the houses radiate out toward the city. We looked at two homes halfway between the park and I-77 (instead of the “wrong side of the tracks,” Firestone Park has the “wrong side of the freeway”). The first was a tudor-style home. I loved the outside, but the inside felt…wrong. The kitchen was about the size of my cubicle and had countertops with rainbows on them. Also, the previous owners had put down linoleum tiles to mimic hardwood. It was a strange transition to the formal dining room which had all original hardwood floors and woodwork. It had one of the most beautiful living rooms I’ve seen. Every wall was windows. But the old homeowners decided they needed more room and built a tiny add-on to the side. It wasn’t finished and just seemed weird. The upstairs had three bedrooms and an outdated bathroom. The vents were basically holes in the walls between the bedrooms, but it did have a neat laundry chute. Not as neat as the laundry chute in the house I grew up in that we could fit into and slide down, but I still love the laundry chute feature. I couldn’t really put my finger on why I didn’t like this house. Don’t think I’m weird or stupid, but I think something bad happened there and something still lingers.
The second home in Firestone Park was a Colonial on a nicer street than the Tudor. It also had a one-car garage and a fenced in yard. The inside of this house was enormous! There was a huge kitchen with breakfast nook. The counters were bright red and the cabinets below instead of going straight down to the floor were slanted in towards the wall (they must’ve been state-of-the-art when they were installed at least 30 years ago). The kitchen led into a large formal dining room with built in china cabinets. The living room was huge and there was an addition that I couldn’t find a use for. The upstairs had three fairly large bedrooms and a reasonably updated bathroom. I couldn’t believe this house was on the market for only $80,000. I loved the house, but the size of it was intimidating. It looked like it would be expensive to heat or cool.
Next we headed over to Ellet. Justin’s parents live there, so I’m picky about Ellet. It’s a nice area, with its own school district, but it’s kind of expensive. Not as expensive as the Falls, but probably a close second. We tried to look at a ranch-style home, but the selling agent had the wrong combination for the lock box and also had closed a deadbolt that we had no way of opening. The back door opened, but had two chains on it. We gave up after 10 minutes or so. I wasn’t too keen on the house anyway since the entire street was composed of identical homes and the entire back yard had been paved. No thanks.
The last home we saw was a HUD home in Ellet. In this case, the house was built in 2000. This was everything I don’t want in a house. The first problem was that it didn’t have a driveway. The second problem was that the neighbors had already taken all of the parking in front of the house. The second story of the house hung over the first story by about a foot. That’s terrible feng shui, and even though there’s a fix, it’s expensive. We get inside and the previous owners were obviously upset when they were kicked out. I could tell the carpets were new, but they’d spilled brown gunk all over them. I don’t want to think about what it was. The downstairs was one enormous room with an island in the center for a closet and a bathroom. The upper level was three bedrooms and another bathroom. The rooms were of decent size and had good closets, but the previous owners had taken the switch plates, outlet covers, and smoke alarms. The drywall tape was peeling away from the walls. The carpets were not only stained beyond repair, but were in desperate need of being stretched. They were buckled everywhere. None of the woodwork in the house was real wood and everything felt flimsy. Two sides of the house had no windows whatsoever. It was basically a poorly-built cube that had every good thing about it destroyed by its previous owners because they had been unable to pay their mortgage. I’m used to seeing people buy poorly made, cheap crap that they’ll have to replace in a year or two, but I was shocked to see that same philosophy in a house.
We stopped at McDonald’s to get some water. While we were waiting in the drive-through Justin noticed that part of the white picket fence had been burned and wondered out loud what had caused it. Roberta thought that maybe someone had thrown a cigarette out the window and caught the mulch on fire. It was a plausible scenario. Yesterday, Justin, Tena, and I went to Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed flames in the mulch of the parking lot island. I took my hot diet pepsi and did what I could to put it out, but when I ran out of liquid, I could still see flames. I noticed several people looking at me from the Sprint Store. I walked over and asked if they could see the fire. They told me that they could see it and they’d tried three times already to put it out. Then one of the employees said, “Maybe we should call someone.” “Good idea,” I replied. Then Justin busts out with, “If only someone had access to a phone.”
The Banana Split Decision from Cold Stone Creamery is bliss.
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Date: 2005-06-06 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-07 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-07 12:12 pm (UTC)There are neighborhoods here completely made up of this style of house. Rows and rows of them. I've never seen them out west. They remind me of mushrooms with their funny roofs and I think they're adorable. They're also extremely energy efficient, though the upstairs gets really hot in the summer. It's rare to see one with a fireplace now.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-07 01:57 am (UTC)The more time you have to look around for awhile, the better off you usually are.
Some states have disclosure laws that require things like water leakage, floods, major accidents and crimes to be disclosed by the real estate agent, but not all states do. Same with the title search; some states don't require past messes to be resolved as to who actually *does* have title to the property, and it can lead to some very strange lawsuits.
Also, the agent is not your friend. They are the seller's friend. You may find it worthwhile to get your own broker, it avoids conflict of interest issues. I'm not entirely sure of the details on things like interest rate offers vs. points in where you go to do the financing.
I would not take the word of the seller's agent, for instance, as to how to handle all that.
You may want to spend some time poking round on the money website Motley Fool for their take on the money involved in buying real estate. I found them helpful on cars--it helped me pick up enough o the language to have some idea what we were dealing with. What they say doesn't always apply in any given case, and it is a viewpoint, not a purely impartial one.
There's a lot of useful secondary links in most of Motley's webpages.
http://www.fool.com/homecenter/find/find.htm
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Date: 2005-06-07 12:08 pm (UTC)Roberta is our buyer's agent. She also sells homes, but there's a lot of red tape involved if she wants to sell me a house where she is also the selling agent. I intend to skip the issue entirely by refusing to buy any house where she is the selling agent. She hasn't shown us any houses that she is selling.
Thanks for the advice!