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the good the bad the ugly
hi all
I'm reporting what we saw this morning... the house we're interested in (mainly becuase of location). This house is currently a rental, and we got to speak to the tennant for about 10 min prior to the realtor arriving.... priceless.... got all the poop.
Well, the GOOD news (other than location, which can't be beat) is that the house is about 100 years old, with the original flooring and interior doors, gorgeous victorian moulding details around the windows, the driveway is new, and the large deck and heating system are both fine (heater about 15 years old, and always under contract). The oil tank is above ground, so no surprises there... it was easy to look over. Also, there's municipal water and sewer... 2 other problems (cesspool/well water) avoided.
The BAD is the awkwardness of some layout aspects (common for old bungalows), and (as we expected) the kitchen and bath must be completely gutted and redone. It's a little small, but likely would be more spacious if the floor plan issues were resolved (closet placement....).
The UGLY is that that the tennant reported that draftiness is the main complaint... and that's almost certainly due to the HORRIBLE condition of the windows... must all be replaced. I think the siding must also be re-done. The roof has no gutters right now, and I could see potential water damage to the eves  Eves water damage may be ok, but ROOF damage would = no offer. No way would we tackle THAT. The final 'ugly' is I believe the yard needs a retaining wall in the long run.... and that would probably cost as much as the windows 
Finally, the garden needs a lot of tree removal.... but we knew that before hand, and we could do that on our own 
we're debating it.... tempted by location... but since I know exactly what's involved in renovations on this scale, I'm waiting for the all knowing FIL to give us his thoughts... While all these changes sound like they'd total 6 figures if we bought the best stuff, becuase the place is so small, and we'll buy mid-level supplies and do a good deal of DIY, I think we could do the bulk of it for possibly 40k. We'd obviously lower the offer price by about 15% from the listing becuase of this laundry list of stuff to do, but frankly the price DID take some of these problems into account, since a pristine home of this size and in this area would go for about 100k more than the listing price.
thanks for all your help answering questions.... we'll tell you what we decide in a couple weeks or so...
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