Houses, Houses, Houses

This past Wednesday, after both of us finished dental appointments in Grand Junction, we drove to Montrose and met our realtor, Linda, to view the inside of 4 houses we had identified as being “potential” retirement properties. The results were a mixed bag; I’ll start with the worst and work up to the best.

The worst was the 1930’s era fixer-upper bungalow in Cedaredge. (820 West Main.) The place is in pretty bad shape and there were no architectural details worth saving. We left quickly.

Holes in the roof at 820 W. Main

The next property was the peach and cherry orchard on Weaver Road outside of Austin. While the house had some nice features, like the kitchen and entry, the place was very “chopped up” with a very strange floor plan (due to making the main house into two rental units). Excellent views of the San Juan and West Elk Mountains though, but no garage or outbuildings.  With some reluctance we decided the orchard could be eliminated from consideration.

Entry and kitchen of orchard house

Overlooking Austin with West Elk Mountains in background.

Next on the list was the Marshall’s Road property. We had high hopes for this one but ran into a couple of major issues. We knew, from the listing photos, that the walk-through galley kitchen was not what Pam wanted and would require a major renovation to modernize it.

Marshall’s Road kitchen

The kitchen space could be expanded into a bedroom that shares the right-hand wall. This would leave two small bedrooms and one bath on the main floor, but the cost of a kitchen renovation is generally quite high. Plus, in a house built in 1909, what would be behind wall #1? Touching the electrical during such a renovation would likely require bringing the entire house up to code, which would mean losing the antique ceiling fixtures in the living and dining rooms.  Bummer, there goes the charm.

Then we descended down a steep and dark stairwell with minimal hand rails into the cellar, where we fund a truly antique furnace. Coal-fired with an automatic stoker, this thing is a monster.

Coal-fired furnace with stoker

I estimate it would be about a $5,000.00 job to replace this unit with a modern gas furnace. Again, by itself not a deal breaker, but over-all the cost (and labor required) to bring this place up to our standards would be quite high. And not just in major projects…the windows are the old style sliders that use a weight-and-pulley system; some of the windows had broken cords and the windows did not work properly. While not difficult to repair, it does mean every window would need attention.    The costs would add up since we would not have the time (and knowledge, in some cases) to do the work ourselves and would have to hire contractors.

And not just inside work…the 3+ acre lot also needs attention. For example, this old cement block building would have to go. So would the tree house behind it.

Old building would have to go

Still, the yard and views are very attractive – the front lawn is almost like a park.

West Elk view from driveway

And many rooms in the house were appealing, such as the dining area.

Dining room features antique light fixture

While not eliminated from consideration, this place would not be at the top of our ‘pick list’ unless the price dropped significantly. There are many high-priced renovation projects involved in moving forward.

The last property, on Tulip Circle in Montrose, was nicer inside than the listing photos indicated. Because of the price and the way the property is marketed (it’s a foreclosure, over $300,000 asking price, being sold at auction through a 3rd party) we did not initially consider it a real possibility. I didn’t take photos so will use a couple of the listing photos.

First, the way this property is being sold is… ah….unique to us. The listing company, Hubzu.com, takes on-line bids and submits them to the property owner, in this case I am guessing a bank. The bank can accept or reject all bids. If all bids are rejected, the bid process is re-opened for another round of bids. (So far this property has been through 3 bid cycles.) The kicker is that Hubzu collects an additional 4.5% of the winning bid price as a closing cost (essentially, this covers the Seller’s usual Broker/Realtor fee payment plus some profit for Hubzu). The percentage adds many thousands of dollars to the price of the property — $11,250.00 on a winning bid of $250,000.00 for example. Closing costs might, or might not, be financed as part of a loan on the property. If not, this means the Buyer has to have a lot more cash up front, a problem for us as it would be in addition to the 20% down payment. We are going to get more information on this process and see if it is a viable avenue for us to pursue, either for this house or some future one.

The house itself is about ten years old and quite contemporary, with upgrades to bathrooms and kitchen. It does feature two bedrooms on the main floor, each with an attached bath, along with a laundry area and a main floor bonus room (probably office). Upstairs are a couple more bedrooms with a shared bath.

Kitchen in Tulip Circle home

Master bath on main level

On the other hand, the living room is quite small and there is no defined dining room. The dining room table would end up in the kitchen area, potentially disrupting the traffic flow to the rear deck.

Living room

There are also HOA (Home Owner’s Association) fees and regulations, most of which deal which appearance of the property. Since there is no outside storage at present (there is an attached 2-car garage) it remains to be seen if an additional detached outside storage structure to house my toys would be permitted. We are checking (through the realtor) about this.

So, while we initially thought the Tulip property was beyond us (originally sold for $420,000 a decade ago), we were impressed enough to look further into the auction system and how we might be able to move forward. The odds are against us; we believe the minimum the bank would accept is more than we have to offer, but the longer the place stays on the market the better our chances become. Watch this space!

Around our current house on the high desert, lilacs are just staring to bud and, for the first time ever, the white lilac bush looks like it will flower. A Mother’s Day gift to Pam a few years back, the lilac has grown well every year but has never flowered. A few white buds are beginning to open and maybe (assuming no more freezing nights) there will be quite a show of flowers in the coming weeks. White lilacs would be excellent, but the plant’s main landscape attribute is an amazing growth pattern that now provides screening for neighbors’ ugly properties.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Two of the retirement houses in contention above represent a tug of war between the heart and the head.  The heart says 1909 historic Grandma house, absolutely.  The Seller has a photo of the original building standing treeless on the property in 1909; it has remained in their family for over 100 years. Truly a property worth updating (kitchen, furnace, electrical).  So says the heart.

On the other hand, a newer home like the Tulip house perhaps makes more sense for the older folks we are becoming; it has an updated charm, and is on a large lot in an upscale subdivision.  The auction process is unconventional and may or may not be something we can pursue due to cash on hand.  But a newer home would likely result in fewer large and costly renovation projects and (potentially) fewer maintenance issues over the next few decades.  So says the head.

And the winner is? Maybe neither one.  I think I could use a time out.

Happy Trails.