So, knocking word and crossing my fingers, I delight to tell you that Aaron and I started house-hunting about 3-4 weeks ago. We knew we wanted out of our current apartment as the lease term expires on October 31st and the rent was going up again. We decided to look for a rental in Carlisle (where I go to school) because there is a large rental market in town and places are fairly cheap (due to the large number of properties as well as the fact that both the local college and law school students aren't willing to pay $1,000 per month for a place). We met with a guy named Scott to see a property of his that we found on Craigslist. We liked the place, but we were a bit dumbfounded when Scott offered to sell us the property if we were interested and dropped a price of $100k-$110k. I was shocked at the low price and began to realize that the monthly mortgage payment on such a place would be several hundred dollars cheaper than the proposed $850 per month rent! And thus began the house-hunting...
Aaron and I began scouring Zillow, Trulia, jgr.com, and a few other sites. We had found several options, but there was thisone place online that we really loved and wanted to see; we contacted the realtor and went to see the house that night. The next weekend, we looked at about seven other properties for sale in Carlisle. We came down to two properties at the top of the list - the "white house" and the "blue house". The blue house was the one we had loved online - it was essentially move-in ready and just needed a few little things done to it. The white house was new on the market and needed more work - it needed either new carpets or the wood floors underneath needed refinishing; the kitchen needed a complete overhaul as it had clearly been expanded over time (the fridge was actually in the next room, the mudroom). However, the white house was significantly lower in price and did have air-conditioning which the blue house did not. In the end, the blue house won out - it had the charm we wanted, the space we wanted, a gorgeous kitchen, a nice yard, and an open layout; it also (as I'll explain) had a lot of work done and I felt like it was a lower risk in terms of things breaking or going wrong in the near future.
We decided to look into houses in Harrisburg as well. Harrisburg was more centrally located in my targeted job market. However, Harrisburg taxes are a lot higher and housing prices (for comparable sized and comparable quality homes) are higher as well. Plus, in Harrisburg, there is more concern over the neighborhood and safety. We checked out three houses in Harrisburg. The first had a sloped floor and lots of bubbles in the laminate; those problems meant tons of money to fix and lots of risk since we have no idea what is wrong and what other problems it might indicate. The second was a nice, newly "flipped" Cape Cod which was fine but looked much nicer in photos and had small bedrooms. The third was an old Victorian with tons of potential, but needed tons of work (it only had half a kitchen, needed all new floors/carpet, and had some mold in the ceilings). Needless to say, our "blue house" in Carlisle outshined the competition and we decided to place an offer. After two counter-offers, our offer was finally accepted on September 7th. This afternoon, we have our inspection! I am anxious to hear what the inspector has to see and also excited to take some measurements to start figuring out decorations, furniture, etc.
Now it's time to give you more information on our (hopefully) new house! The house was built in 1865!! To be clear, that means the house is almost 150 years old!! I love old houses and all the charm they have... As for the exterior, I'm sure you've already guessed - it's blue! The roof was damaged during a hail storm and will be completely replaced before we move it; it will be a brand new metal roof. The house is attached on one side and there is a small side yard on the other, with a gate leading to the street. Also, as you can see, there is a small flower bed out front (help me find my green thumb, please!)
Moving inside, the floor plan is very open. The first room is the living room, then the dining room, and then the kitchen with the laundry room/full bathroom off the far end of the kitchen. The living room is sectioned off by a support beam. Now is as good of time as any to mention - the previous owner went to do a small project, found out there was no insulation in the walls, and gutted everything. He updated the electric, some of the plumbing, and put up new drywall; that was also when he changed the house to an open layout. Oh, and check out the cute shutters on the front windows!
As I mentioned, after the living room is the dining area. The gorgeous wood floors continue from the living room to the dining room. The floors are original to the house, which means, of course, the floors are almost 150 years old! I've been corrected after calling them hardwood floors - they are not hardwood, but are, rather, pine. Regardless, I love them! The floors are one of my favorite parts of the house.
In the dining room, there is a brick fireplace. The actual chimney has been closed off (no chimney sweeps needed, yay!) and a gas insert has been put in. The fireplace was actually uncovered during the renovations and they cleaned it all up and put on a mantle. Somehow, the fireplace (which is not something I really felt I needed in a house) adds charm and really defines the dining area. Also, note, there are several ceiling fans. There is one in the living room and one in the kitchen (which is remote-controlled)!Well, it's time for inspection now! I'll continue this post later and will show you the kitchen, bath, upstairs, and outside!
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