Oh Alexa, I love it. It has always been a dream of mine to restore an antique house. This one is a beauty -- okay the addition on the back is a little funky, but not enough to discourage me (or you).

You are at the perfect time of life to do it. Young enough to do some of the work yourself and also young enough to complete the project and enjoy it for many years. Your kids will be home for quite a few more years, so they will enjoy it, too.

I am too old and creaky to even think of taking on something like this!

I say do it. By the way, don't paint the bricks if you are going to sell.

Love it. My kind of "dream" house, so long as the previous owner does the rehab, because we're not handy at all!

Sue

Fabulous!!! I have always dreamed of a big old antique farmhouse! Go for it!
What's in that addition? Garage I presume? Family room?
and if you go painting any of the brick in that house.....!!!! LOL! Imagine sitting on that porch in a rocker listening to the birds....or listening to a roaring popping fier in one of those fireplaces in January.
Make an offer!!
Linda C

I agree, that's fabulous! What fun it would be to bring back it's beauty. RiverRat knows a lot about a project like this.

Magnificent! I was looking at the picture & planting your new gardens! :)

Have you done any research at the historical society? I'm sure you'd dig up lots of good archaeological treasures on the site.

/tricia

My kind of dream house, too, Alexa. I'm imagining your gardens.

Looks fabulous Alex and at a great price! You're both young and you have the time, and I know you have the energy, to make it what you want it to be.

If you love it ...go for it! Seems like this is a great time to buy real estate if you can.

Oh Alexa its GREAT!!!

Ditto what everyone else said!

Me personally, I think it would be an awseome project for you. You have great style and an eye for detail so I know you would do everything to restore this home to its original charming self.

On a side note its a great price for such a home in that locale...so GO FOR IT!!

Cheers!
Susie

Alexa, I know THIS house. I was born and raised and spent 27 years practically down the street from it! It was my dream farmhouse growing up! GO FOR IT! Gina

Woah Gina!!!!

Alex, if that isn't Karma I don't know what is. I'm not a very religious person but I always believe there will be "a sign" to help me understand which road to take when faced with decisions........think Gina just gave it!

Alexa! What a great house. Cathy has been to my home and has seen the restoration and work we have done to our property. Even though we have been out here for many years, we really started all the reno of grounds, house and additions about 5 years ago. It is a never ending project but one that we love and will continue to do.

I love renovating. So ask away if you have questions.

We live on a piece of property that has been in family for over 100 years. We have found many holes in the ground where they buried the glass (bottles and containers) and so many other exciting thing in walls, outdoor houses and barns that are left over from the early 1900's.

Your boys will have a great time!

What a beautiful place. I'd say go for it full speed ahead if you are up to the challenges it brings and it sounds as though you and DH are.

While it certainly does have potential, are you up to years of remodeling, fixing up and living with well water?
And everything costing 3 times what you think it might?
The well alone is a big drawback to me.

Oh my goodness...we hicks in Michigan want to live where we HAVE well water. Tastes so good. When we go to the city, we drink bottled water cause the treated city water is yucky to us. Guess it all just depends on what youa re used to.
Alexa, the house is just gorgeous.

Actually, if you moved that house to Michigan it would cost about 159,000. LOL. We can't give houses away here.
For your area, I bet that house is a bargain. Have you listed yours?

Since we've been in a drought for the last decade, wells are very undesirable as the only source of water here. They usually go dry. And we have great tap water so it's hard to believe anyone would take a well. Although I wouldn't mind one down in my garden area!

Having lived in two older homes, one being a cabin on the lake I think y'all should go for it. That is if you are up to the challenge. Knowing you, I think you are...then there is that "sign" that Sharon mentioned...Mmmmm.

I think it looks like a great place....I'd love to see some pics of the interior. I'm thinking it is great...I've always been a fan of older homes.

David

Wow, Alexa, that is a drop-dead gorgeous house! Looks like something out of a Currier & Ives print!

Let us know if you decide to go for it, I can't wait to see what you do with it!

I love my well water, too! Wouldn't trade it for any of that treated sewage they call water in the cities around here! Now don't anybody go getting their knickers in a knot....I am not saying everyone with city water is drinking sewage...just those in our area. LOL

Linda

Alexa, You could host a CF get together!!

Linda, Conversely, I have well water and have spent thousands of $$ on water treatment systems and I still can't drink or cook with water from my faucet.

Looks like a great house - hope you get it! The one caveat I would add would be that it might be haunted because it's so old. That's scarier for children than it is for adults, but you might ask if it has any history along those lines. I had a lot of trouble with poltergeists as a child, but as an adult, they don't bother me, although I still encounter them.

Good luck!!

Lars

Now that's a house with character! Where's the pond? lol a place like that always has a pond - with ducks and frogs and happy muddy kids :)

Have you talked DH into it yet??

As Riverrat says, living in an older home is a labor of love. I grew up in one, I like that lifestyle. If you like that lifestyle too, and can afford it, this one is a no brainer. Unless it needs 150K work inside? If so, I'd try and get them to come down in price. It seems like they might.

It needs easily $100k plus worth of work. It is probably not livable in the condition it is, so it would mean floating both properties for a while and I'm not sure that can happen.

We are still looking at numbers though....

Thanks for all the encouragement and I will kwwp you posted!

Alexa

Do you like the neighborhood? What are the values of the homes surrounding it? It's beautiful!, and the Birds Eye view looks good too, but what a lot of work in store! I'm used to dealing with much smaller numbers, so forgive me for thinking that's a lot of money for that much of a fixer upper. But I live in Texas and just bought in Oklahoma, where the prices are quite a bit lower. How many other places in the area have you looked at? What are the values of the homes in the neighborhood? You didn't say how much you've been looking. Having just completed house hunting, I know what it's like to fall in love with a place that just isn't reasonable. I did so, and still covet the land I fell in love with, even though I know it wasn't right for us, and the place we ended up buying is much better. Knowing all that, I'm still in love with the place on the river, one of the first places that we looked at and fell in love with and that we'll never own, because it was way over priced. Waaaaaay over priced for the condition of the out buildings and the home. It was and is a heart breaker, but we just couldn't justify spending that much on that particular home, no matter how beautiful that land was. The first time we saw it, it was sunset, and elk were grazing on the lawn. The birds were singing, and nothing could have been more beautiful. I was ready to buy the place right then. But then we took a closer look, and another closer look, and brought in some experts we trusted, and they took an even closer look, and they found serious problems. In spite of making the mistake of falling in love with the first place we saw, we had to turn away. No place has made my heart pitter patter the way that land did, but the house was just bad. Just plain bad. And the barns were bad. It was so over priced it just wasn't justified. I'm happy with what we ended up buying.

I don't know what fair market value is for the place you're looking at, but be sure to figure in what the land is worth and what the building and location is worth, on top of what improvements are required to the property and buildings. I wish you all the best, and hope that this is THE house for you.

Sally

Sally - you bring up a lot of good points. That particular street will have 5 other McMansions built on the cul de sac. They will be listing in the $800k - 900k range, which probably justifies the price on this one. Also, they will all be on city water/sewer so a hook-up is definitely possible. It is 5 min from where I live now, so my kids would be in the same school district, though they would attend a different elementary school. I love the town where I live so that isn;t an issue LOL!

Truth be known, we haven't been looking at houses, this was a spur of the moment interest when we were talking to friends who just bought. We were killing time looking at Realtor.com and it snowballed from there.

Anyway, It will be next week before I can get an appointment for DH to walk through (he hasn't seen the inside yet - it may scare him to death LOL) so this is still in the very beginning stage....

Thanks for all the positive thoughts all, and I promise to post any updates!

Alexa

Alexa...I have been watching the market for about a year now and I am beginning to see homes in "our" area start to go up again.

I really can't tell you what to do...I mean I know you and I know you always do your homework so I trust you will make the right decision.

How do the boys feel about potentially moving??
My kids are older and I was surprized how they both felt about moving. It was a process....in the beginning I was met with a lot of questions and fears. That was followed by a little anger and frustrtion...now they are both on board.

Amy has admitted to me that is it were her that would have to change school, she would have been upset about it.
In fact Drew was a little upset about it because it will be a totally different schooling experience for him but he is now actually happy about it and is looking forward to the new experience.

I just wish you the very best of luck and if you need some support I will GLADLY go check out the house with you LOL!!!

Cheers!
Susie