So how would one do "character" outside the house - yes it's a modest house without insane detail I see sorting through other posts here. This has always been a working town, homes were built originally for the market here rather then as they might have been in a wealthier city. Frankly I don't care if anything happens on schedule I work for myself and have a lot of time on my hands, every other month with little to do. Work has always been a hobby to me, I'm used to working more then I do now because my business is established so I need a second job and why not work for myself on an old house? Does it matter that I'm naive so long as the numbers are making sense. Other then this site I haven't found anyone in the real world - my builder friend, a friend who studied construction management, realtors I know who can figure out how I can lose on this home. But real estate is local and I'm sure this town doesn't make sense in the real world either. This town has it's own set of rules, many outside investors avoid it, I spent over six months studying the market, with paperwork to the ceiling and back to the floor. I think it's odd that there's so much pessimism - I don't know what life would be without a risk. What taking someone like me who's traveled a lot of the world, who's run a company since 23, who's not the type to live in the suburbs (tried that house on the hill thing and it wasn't me) and saying it would be "more fitting" to buy a modest cookie cutter house. They are all the same, they just move the kitchen here to there in one home, the garage east rather then west... does it matter that I'm quirky, does it matter that the fixer is a modest fixer without much historic value? I don't know what this is, didn't realize people were so into historic values of homes. I grew up in one. It was a money drain, double the size of this house with far more issues starting out. it had to be lifted, cranked up, windows put in, everything... I grew up poor in that house that is now called "victorian" and then one day the rich people wanted to live in a house like that. Before only poor people lived in those homes. So apparently something happened from my childhood to my early 40s and I'm still a bit stumped. But I'll soon research more and will find out what all of this is. Yikes I sure upset a lot of people, I'm still scratching my head as to why at an old house website most people are against someone wanting to on a budget fix up an old abandoned house who has cash and time on their hands. Maybe not enough but with good enough credit to get a loan - I must have come across as a complete nutcase. I'm sorry for that. Guess when I started this post I was in panic mode. I like the house, my gut is usually right in life and I enjoy risk. As a realtor friend of mine emailed today - everyone wants a risk free investment - life doesn't work that way... why do you think I got the house at a steal because it's an obvious risk, if it wasn't and it was fixed up it would be double the price if not more. It is what it is - if I wanted some huge historic house with more detail now that I know more I guess that's what I'd go find. I like the simple life - I'm not an ornate person, I've been to third world countries and I don't believe in huge American homes - it's not for me. I want to live debt free - and you know what, if people for thousands of years lived without heat, without this or that that we might consider to be necessities in our "homes" and that over half the world lives in poverty compared to us... maybe during these hard times it is actually time to go back to our roots? And to the person that criticized me for wanting to go back to a family home, to my roots, to live in my means - heater working or not - maybe I represent something. I didn't make a mistake and buy a house at peak, sorry to all for profiting off of these times. I think I found a freakin' good deal for my boy and I and after sorting through hundreds of homes I'm going to take the leap - life will go on... if not I'll cut my losses and without losing my shirt.

Evilbunnie (and I love that name!), I definitely don't think your post was finger-waggie. You brought up some excellent points that I hadn't considered, such as contingencies, the my possibly unrealistic $5k remaining budget, etc. What sealed the deal for me on my decision was when I sat down with my trusty Excel spreadsheet, with this forum's advice in mind and the pricing I'd done on the things I wanted, and laid out a 3-step, 2-3 year plan. Even with doing mid-range components (nothing super expensive, but better than rock bottom), I came up with $17,500 for my total. And that's if everything had gone right. I cancelled the cabinets the next morning. I decided that I simply could not afford to do what I wanted to do with my kitchen. I would rather do a $500 patch job to get me some temporary storage and to knock out the wall to give me more open space, than to spend, say, $10k or $12k and end up with a kitchen that I just wasn't happy with. And truth be told, things always go wrong, don't they? To do what I really wanted to do, it probably would've ended up at $20k if not more. The fact is, I'm 27 and I still have student loan debt. I have a secure job that I love, but that doesn't pay awfully well (I'm a writer for my state's fish and wildlife agency). My budget is tight with a mortgage on one income and this economy is just plain scary. My cash needs to stay in my savings account. Your advice and everyone else's brought me back to earth. And I am SO thankful for that. It's a tough lesson to learn, but we just can't have everything we want at this moment, right? I believe we can have what we want, but slowly and with planning and hard work and good old-fashioned saving money. I am so glad to have changed my mind before it was too late. And how wonderful to be adopted! :)

So I recently had Ply-Gem windows installed in Anchorage, AK. We had 15 done, mostly medium and large. The company here in Anchorage did a great job quoting and installing the windows (although they didn't send any touch up paint with the installation crew, which I'm still waiting for as the new windows look a bit dilapidated from the outside due to the chipping that occurs during install), with a great warranty. After the windows were installed, cracks appeared on four of the windows, which I was very disappointed with. This is just under a 30% failure rate. So, the company I used for the quote and install here in Anchorage came round to take a look and take photos. I showed them the cracks, and also the poor finishing in the exterior brick-mold (they didn't send up any touch-up paint for the exterior after install...which is on the installation company). The PlyGem rep came to the house as they said this was very unusual, based on the number of windows sold. I told him, for me, in my experience with PlyGem, they have a near 30% failure rate, which is more important to me than the 'who cares' how many they sold last year. I told him I was thinking about having my patio doors replaced and had a quote from the company here in Alaska to do just that. However, I told him that I was reluctant to go with PlyGem based on my experience with the windows. He told me that PlyGem would give me triple for double at no extra charge for the patio doors, but I had that deal already with my existing quote, so I pinned him down to agreeing that they would get me free triple glazing for the doors and I'd pay for the installation company's time and materials, less the cost of the glass. We shook hands and agreed that deal, with me reiterating the agreement as we shook hands and he left. Now, 2 weeks later, I'm still waiting to see if they honor that deal, or if the PlyGem Rep. lied to my face, which I would be furious about as the agreement we made for the free glass couldn't have been clearer. I will update as soon as I hear back from my installation company here in Alaska. So, I'd wait until you hear back from me as to the professionalism of PlyGem to stand behind their product...and promise (in person) prior to making any order with them. If they don't, I'll tell you exactly who I would go with in future and for the reasons also. ...............to be continued!!!!

Final update: American Range refused to replace the defective range, so my purchase was refunded and the distributor worked with a nearby retailer to pick up the range about 1.5 weeks ago. I am glad to be through with American Range. I replaced it at the same time with a new Capital Culinarian 30" manual clean open burner range (MCOR304LP) that I bought through Eurostoves. We're still getting to know it but so far it's great. The burners are incredible! They worked like a charm with essentially no adjustments needed after installation. The three 25K burners are super strong on hi, yet they turn down to an incredibly small flame on low. It's quite the range of temperature. We only used the oven a few times thus far, but it cooked those items well (trays of bacon, a batch of muffins). The thermostat seems to be set for using convection, and when we don't want to use convection we need to turn the setting to ~25 degrees higher than the temp we want. For example, if a recipe calls for 350 degrees no convection, we generally need to set it to 375. When first turning on the oven, the initial heatup seems to turn off well before the oven reaches the temp setting. We found that turning on convection during heatup helps the oven get to the temp setting more quickly. The American Range oven behaved similarly, so perhaps pro style LP ovens work this way in general. The fit and finish is great. No scratches and everything is put together well. We haven't used the broiler or the wok ring yet but look forward to using them. My best moment thus far is when the CC brought ~6 quarts of water to boil (for cooking pasta) in like 5-7 minutes. I was surprised and elated! We are way, way happier with this CC than the similar-model American Range that did not work out for us at all. Cheers!