Realtor #3: Houses 1-4
#1 - Tudor House: Very cool looking stone tudor on a very small lot (0.14 acre) with the neighboring house practically on top of you. It was also on the corner of a very busy intersection. We knew before we even walked in that this house wasn't for us. It had an in-law suite, which I thought was interesting - I thought it might work for an au-pair. Apparently, they converted what was once a doctor's office into a mini-apartment. The inside needed lots of work - the dated wallpapering (which was on the ceilings too) was frightening. We would have need an extra 100K to spruce that thing up. No getting around the location or the lot size, no matter how much money we had to give it a much-needed face lift.
#2 - Delaware Ave Remodel: Adam and I have seen enough shoddy contract work from our Graduate Hospital-search to know that we were not fans of this house. There were just too many things to overcome, including weird bonus space/rooms - one behind the fireplace (they must have closed in a porch) and wacky converted attic rooms that would only be appropriate for midgets., It also had a weird layout on the second floor and a small master bath and itty bitty closets,
#3 - Tulip House: I got a good vibe from this house before we walked in. Gorgeous plot of land, great landscaping, gorgeous tulips (on steroids) in the front, and a fabulous slate porch with trellus - I was also intrigued by the photo of the desk/window nock, which ended up being a part of master bedroom. This was a 75 year old house that had been remodelled. The basement had a low ceiling and icky, cheap flooring. Adam wasn't a fan of the kitchen. I was bummed about the two small bedrooms with small closet - no good place for an au-pair. The master bathroom was not remodeled and would have needed a lot of work. It was a disappointment because it had a great layout for entertaining and a phenomenal backyard in a great neighborhood.
#4 - Haverford House: The jouse was right on Haverford Ave, but had these large (and I mean BIG) shrubs in the front that completely hid the road - you can't tell in the first photo - it must have been taking standing in the scrubs. The entrance to the garage was actually in the back of the house and it had a nice patio. Garage didn't connect into the house though. On the first floor was a small living room, a nice dining room, the kitchen and a half bath. We were concerned at first that the living room was too small, but the basement was finished (bottom photo), making the small living room a non-issue - nice half bath in the basement as well. The 2 bedrooms on the second floor were a good size for an au-pair and the hall bath was in good shape as well. Master bedroom was small, with little closets and a hurting bathroom. The toilet & sink, and floor had been redone, but the tile and the shower were awful and would have needed to be our first remodel project. The closets were teeny. They converted the attic (slanted ceilings) into an office. I would have converted half of the attic into my closet/ironing area. Its location on Haverford Ave was the biggest drawback, then the master bath, and the non-connecting garage.... definitely a house to be keeping in mind though, as we continue our search.
Our Realtor was better in person than he's been over the phone, but he talks to much and was keeping us in places longer than we wanted to be. I don't need to talk everything to death for places that we aren't liking. We'll have to make more of an effort to keep the pace faster going forward. We had been debating finding someone else, but this guy seems to know what he is doing -- definitely more experienced than our nightmare of a realtor the first time around.
Adam will be taking the reigns from here. He's much more particular, so it makes sense for him to be doing the legwork. I'm swamped at work and have a harder time leaving at 5:15pm to go see places after work anyway. It's too bad that I'm not a better judge of what he would like, because I have more vacation days and could have easily taken a day or two (or some half days) off from work to go see a slew of houses all at once. I could have then had Adam circle back to the keepers.....
The search continues..... Adam will be going out again one day next week for Round 2.
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