We bought this house hoping to start a family. Since that wasn’t possible (a whole other post) we decided that we want to sell it when the market starts to rebound. We are hoping that after the 2012 election the market picks up. Our house was seeing 15% gains per year from 1999 to 2006 so if we sold during the peak in 2006 we could have sold it for a $138,000 profit. As it is now we owe more than it’s worth so all I can do is improve it a bit and then leave it alone for awhile and pray.
I am rebuilding a spare bathroom from the walls out and have about 50% of the work to go yet. I’ll post pictures of that work soon. Until then here is our house from the outside on a half cul-de-sac with the smallest front yard you could imagine.
I have spent more money on Scotts Plus 2 this year than any year previously so of course this year I have more weeds than ever. 
There is a lack of plants in the rock beds and we are contemplating what we want to do with them now that we cleared them up. As you can see, we have no driveway for a 36ft RV.
I replaced the ugly pea gravel that surrounded our house with river rock but still have two beds in front to complete. Plus I have A LOT OF TRIMMING to do in front of the house, they got way toooooo big!
A weed snuck in behind the AC unit, arrrrgh!! I yanked it after taking the pic.
I have some brick to pick up yet. I have to find a place to put it!
Our fire pit goes on top of those 2 square patio blocks so it’s not entirely on the patio.
More patio pavers to pick up! Damn weeds!
I still have to order the river rock for the front, it still has lava rock. Slowly but surely it’s getting there. One more load of rock to go! We are having the roof replaced next year and maybe the siding as well.
7 comments:
It's a nice house, Erik, but home prices were extremely inflated for a long time.
Case in point, my folks home on a fairly decent hunk of property, 2500sqft, two story colonial columned home cost roughly $90,000 to build in 89, including the price of the lot.
When they though about selling it in 1994-95, it was appraised at $159,900.
I think the last time we looked at an estimate, around 99, it was in the $350,000 price range.
Since the bubble is gone, you may be looking back at the cost to build the home vs what it was appraised at to get what its going to be worth anytime real soon.
Home prices likely won't pickup alot for at least 5-10 years, given that it may take that long to repair our economy and the damage done to it during the ~last 4 years.
Matt had some points, but I think both of our houses are going to sell, soon.
In 2000 Craig did some plumbing upstairs, caused a leak that we didn't know about for a day, and that ruined the ceiling and walls of the bathroom below. We gutted it because it was ugly anyway. It sat gutted for 10 years!
He HAS been working on it on and off (other projects keep getting in the way) for the last year and a half.
MAYBE by spring it will again have fixtures. Maybe...
Plus now I have stripped the old wall paper out of the other two and they are ugly.
You are not alone. Wev'e owned ours since 89. We saw it double plus in value and now the estimated value has shrunk to about 3/4s of the original purchase price. We have put almost that much into it in improvements!
At least the money wasn't in the stock market!
I like the looks of the river rock, and the rest of the yard looks nice too. That's a lot of work. We sure need to get busy around here. Yard has gone to pot this year.
Matt, I understand how it works but it would have been nice if I could have been one of those who profited from the market at it's peak. It would have been nice if the Dems didn't push legislation giving anybody with a pen a mortgage they couldn't ever hope to pay for and then gave them outs to not pay after the bubble burst.
My house is suffering value because of this stupidity but I'll end it there because my blood pressure can't handle thinking about it.
Merikay - I hear ya! I hope to get my lazy butt in gear so I can have the bathroom done before Thanksgiving.
DonnaK - Thanks, I hope to have the front finished soon. :)
we feel the pain of what the house is worth and what you owe..
ours is the same situation..high mortgage penalty..real estate fees..condo market is gone in the toilet...lots of regrets here on the other side of the country..if only!!..this is our one big hurdle..until we can unload this god-forsaken place we have to wait..and just dream!!..
lovely home you have!..looks like you have done a ton of work!!!
Nice house and the lawn lookds great. Just remember to not over fix or you will neve get it back. Mine is paid for so I will just sit on it until this is over then may sell and full time.
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