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Got It!

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  • Got It!

    So, I haven't been around much because we went on a house hunting expedition to San Antonio. I made a concerted effort to see several houses in a few of the historic downtown neighborhoods. I hated them. They were nice, they were fine, they were BORING...

    I finally looked at Rick and said- I'm not willing to live anywhere but the King William District and that's just the way it is. So...there are TWO houses for sale in the neighborhood, both of which are in desperate need of serious amounts of money to make them inhabitable (as in neither has air conditioning or heat...one has a fake Mexican front that was slapped over a gorgeous Victorian, etc.)

    We pondered and pondered and finally made an offer of the less expensive of the two. (we went to a second walkthrough with our realtor/friend, our contractor that we used for a previous home in the neighborhood, and an architect and the estimate was minimum 150k to rehab it. which means undo the crap that the current owners have done)

    and- nearly two weeks later- we have a contract and they have accepted our contingencies and it's all good.

    Whew hew! Now, it's time to find a one bedroom to hunker down in until this place is inhabitable. Poor Rick will need to be studying for the Boards at the hospital...

    Jenn

  • #2
    I guess I'll need to add General Contractor to my list of jobs!

    It's a great house though- 11 foot ceilings, pocket doors, brand new roof, kitchen, and foundation. BUT they ruined a number of historic details AND did an amazingly bad job installing one and a half baths. Essentially the entire left side of the house needs to be uninstalled and the walls on the right side need to be refinished AND the ceilings need to be redone (rather than repair the plaster they just covered the ceilings with pretend wallboard- the kind that's seamed) AND the floors need to be refinished AND the gorgeous front door needs to have the plastic window taken out and a real glass window installed. and the center staircase to nowhere needs to be removed...

    Yikes!

    But it's still in better shape than the other one which cost more and needs MORE work.

    Jenn

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    • #3
      and the center staircase to nowhere needs to be removed...
      really curious about this.

      Congrats Jenn!

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      • #4
        Ah, the Center Staircase- the current owner's pride and joy. Basically this is a one-story house but it has a HUGE attic. They decided to add access to the attic by building a giant staircase in the middle of the hallway- and in doing so, completely eliminated all airflow. (remember this house has NO a/c- in San Antonio. Yeah the walls are at least a foot thick but the whole design was to use the height of the ceilings and the transom windows to get the air circulating!) And they never finished the attic so if you look up the stairs, you see the attic. Quite pretty.

        We've decided to take out the staircase completely and move access to the attic to the porch and turnt he attic into Rick's office/library. But, that may need to wait until all of the other renovations are done. There are more than enough rooms to make an office in the short term.

        Thanks for the good wishes. This is pretty much my dream house in my dream neighborhood. (If I can't live in a rowhouse on Capitol Hill, this is a fine second place!!!)

        Jenn

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        • #5
          Congrats Jenn! It sounds like you're going to be a busy girl. Will you be doing alot of this work yourself?

          This is my dream one day.....to restore an old beauty to its original design.

          A friend of mine recently moved back into her home after being completly re-done. Walls moved, another floor added, more rooms...everything. Anyhow she kept an online journal. It had tons of before and after pictures. It was the coolest thing to look at. Here is the site to get started if you're interested:

          http://diaryland.com

          Maybe you can keep one. I know all of us here would love to watch the progress.

          Good luck! I hope your DC house sells soon!
          ~shacked up with an ob/gyn~

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          • #6


            What people do to a perfectly good house. It sounds like some of those things should be relatively easy to take out. When we moved in, DH ripped out a cheesy wall that blocked light and airflow in the first hour of getting in the house. Lucky for us, they did a really bad job putting it in so it just about fell over for him. It was fun! You should take the first swing at that staircase.

            The best part of remodeling is that you get your house exactly the way you want it. And you have such good taste that it will look mahvelous.

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            • #7
              Congratulations! := I'm so excited for you! Wow, a staircase to nowhere? You think they would have rather put that $ towards central a/c. Definitely post before and after pictures.

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              • #8
                For the most part of house-hunting, I found myself wondering what people were thinking in the 70's (couldn't have been all bad, I was born that decade ) because design-wise, the remaining vestiges are a bit of a nightmare.

                Hijack warning: I’m now working on my first home. It’s a 2-story, hundred-year-old row home on a city side-street that dead ends at a community garden. The bones were fantastic, but some of the design choices weren’t ones I’d have made. So far I’ve ripped out all carpeting, put in new hardwood, re-finished old hardwood, refinished the banister and steps, removed plaster and exposed a brick wall, redesigned (but haven’t implemented yet – waiting for my tax return ) a new bathroom, painted, put in new kitchen appliances and cabinet hardware, and lot of other stuff. I knew I wanted a historic house, and knew also what amount of work went along with that. I’ve done what I could on my own and with my dad’s help (fortunately I inherited his handy genes) and have hired contractors for things over my head or that required tools I had no desire to own. If you’d like to see before/after pics, check out:
                http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dayisme/a ... 86&.src=ph
                They’re mostly before pics, but I’ll be updating soon. Or eventually, whichever comes first…

                Good luck with everything and keep us posted.

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                • #9
                  Just got the 29 page inspection report....

                  and luckily 99% of the problems are cosmetic and/or in areas we plan on demolishing anyway.

                  Whew...

                  Jenn

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                  • #10
                    := Excellent!

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                    • #11
                      That's great news on the home inspection! I am exhausted from just hearing about all of the remodeling projects you have planned.

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                      • #12
                        Sounds like a great house and a great project! Congrats on finding your 2nd dream house. Can't wait to see photos!

                        Jennifer
                        Needs

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                        • #13
                          Congrats Jenn! Hope the renovation will go smoothly and won't put you too much over budget. Would def like to see some sort of journal/blog of the work.

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                          • #14
                            Congrats--keep us posted on the renovations!!! We're considering taking on another old fixer-upper ourselves, but can't decide if we are up for it.
                            Awake is the new sleep!

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