W. O. W.

Things have been happening fast around here. You know I've been complaining for awhile about my closet of a house, which I've grown to just freaking hate. The claustrophobic clutter is driving me mad. I can't move without having to step over something, shift something, or walk around something.

For more than a year we've toyed with the idea of buying a bigger house. We looked at some last year, but got sidetracked for awhile. Then last Sunday I kind of snapped and told the Dread Reverend, "I've got to get out of here!" There ensued a flurry of looking up houses online, etc. etc. yadda yadda. Monday we spent all evening driving all over Trumbull County looking at houses we'd found online (outside only; no inside tours).

Then we found this. An 1880s farmhouse in need of much TLC, but not, miraculously, a lot of structural repair. Apparently, anyway - we haven't had any experts look at it yet, but we took our first inside tour today, and we did not see any structural issues at all. Lots of filth, a bit of very tacky subdivisioning (a family subdivided it for privacy, partitioned off the stairway and the living room, put a second kitchen upstairs - all easily removed), lots of needed cosmetic repair. But no apparent roof leaks, basement walls straight and solid, no real problems at all. I'm still in shock.

So I think we're gearing ourselves up for some serious negotiation on this place. I've been doing research on renovation loans, because (a) the price on this place is good, which means we can afford to add renovation costs onto the initial mortgage and still keep it affordable; and (b) obviously it needs a lot of work, and a renovation loan would allow us to get some of the major work out of the way quickly, by getting extra money for the fixing up rolled right into the mortgage and having it to hand immediately, instead of having to wait to save up for it.

'Nuff of that, let's get to the pictures!

And then the adorable Poo ... pouting because we couldn't take him with us tonight to see the house. Next time, Poo!

Well, there's what's going on with us. We're gearing up for this place big time, and I'm PSYCHED. Yes, it's a ton of work. No, I don't mind at all. I've always kind of wanted a house I could fix up ... in my own way, not stuck with someone else's ideas of 'nice.' And something that would actually be really nice after the work was done. I truly don't mind doing the work, in fact I'm already so psyched about all the fixing-up - even sanding and painting and stripping wallpaper! For a place like this, I don't mind. And this one will highly reward us for the effort put in, it's got such potential.

The only real down side is there isn't a lot of property with it - 3/4 of an acre, which translates into a big front yard, and a bit of a back yard. The family sold off the other 20 acres that used to go with the house to a local church who plans to build there. Of course, that's not so terrible - a church on 20 acres can't really be a bad neighbor. It's not like we'd have someone else's houses surrounding us 20' away like where I live now. And we already plan to privacy-fence most of the yard - the back and part of the sides, at least - so though it may not be a huge yard, it will be bigger than what we have now; private; and still out in the country.

But the house is three times the size of the current one, not to mention the 2+car garage with an entire second story on it as well!

Now the tricky part - the financials. Can we afford this???