Thanks for all your responses. We looked at it again with older, wiser folks ;) and there were some issues that they pointed out. Issues that we don't want to tackle. Also, I decided that if I would ever do a renovation to an older home, it should be on an older home with some sort of character or charm. There's really no point in dumping money into this particular home. There's no architectural charm whatsoever. One thing that I was "right" about, however, is that renovations in areas such as this can be profitable since the homes range from 250K to over a million. With that being said though, I was NOT looking to profit. I just want to be in a good location in a house that I like. The example given by an agent is if the land alone will sell for 250K - 290K, then the land with a 2300 sf house all updated nicely can sell for well over 400K. Baton Rouge doesn't follow the usual "rules" in certain locations. Another example, sort of, is there's a mid century modern house that I really want (husband doesn't like it) for 525K, but they purchased it 6 months ago for 319K, and haven't done a thing to it. Agent expects it to sell for 375-400K according to comps, but wouldn't be surprised if they got closer to what they are asking due to location. Someone may come along and buy it for what they are asking then drive up the price per square foot in the neighborhood. This seems to be a trend over here. Location really talks since the city is running out of IN CITY property. @ Artichokey, yes we have large life insurance policies on both of us etc etc. My husband is an insurance nut. He gets it on EVERYTHING. It's annoying, really. Also, if anything ever happened to my husband and I needed to go back to work, I could and would. KickyMarcia, we took a tour of the house you posted, but the pool is an issue and there were a lot of things that I would want to update and or change. I'm the problem. I'm too picky. So, we will just wait until the right house comes up. Livewireoak, public schools in Baton Rouge are a mess right now. It's a political debate not suitable for here. But trust me, they're nothing like the schools in Tennessee. Either way, we LOVE the Catholic school they are currently attending. It's a great school, Church, and Community that makes the drive just something I have to do. Hopefully, however, we will find a home soon that gets us closer to the school. In the meantime, NancyinMich, I will check out those coolers. :) Again, thanks for all of your opinions and advice! Take care!

I'm taking a different point of view. I was one of seven children--five boys, two girls. There are very few eight bedroom houses out there. We all shared rooms until the older kids started going off to college. When we were little, I shared a room with my older brothers. Once I got a baby sister--eight years younger--I shared a room with her. True, it was a pain in the neck sometimes, having to go to bed and get undressed in my room without turning the lights on because she went to bed earlier than I did, but it did not scar me for life. My take would be that in a few years, your daughter should get her own room. That could happen when your older son goes off to college, or the two boys could share a room, if there's someplace else for the older boy to do his homework, etc., after the little one goes to bed. But I would also look around the house and see if there was any other space that could be used for your office. Maybe 1/3 of the garage, leaving a two car garage? (I think a one car garage just wouldn't fly today.) Or the dining room, or your bedroom? And talk to your kids and see what they say. My cousin had three kids in five years and for a while they all slept in the same room. When she wanted to move the two girls into their own room, they were upset--they didn't want to leave their baby brother all alone at night. So the parents had to work out a schedule to transition them all to the new sleeping arrangement.

Be sure to ask questions because you want a good installer. When our carpet was installed, the guys didn't use stretchers and it looked like crap. The company wanted to send the same installers back to fix it. Long story short, it wasn't worth any more aggravation so we cut ties and found a good local guy that fixed their poor install. I've heard carpet padding is more important than the carpet itself. I don't know if I fully believe that but a good base seems to be important of other things. Also really think about what color you're going with. I thought we were picking a 'neutral brown that would work with everything' when it's actually a pinky brown. I'm fine with it now, but couldn't understand why I didn't like the combination of my gold paint with it (orange and yellow clash with pink undertones). So definitely bring samples home - the larger the better.

Do you really want tenants living above your sleeping spaces? What if they are night owls, pace all night long, keep the TV loud, etc and keep your family awake at night? "hopefully I can covert" --- what if they don't allow the conversion? Do you plan to do an illegal one to fit your family? Is the town assuming that the garages will be used to store cars and keep them off the streets? Is there street parking for what could be 4 cars?