Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT MM: next chapter

[starquestMM]

The last 18 years I've been in a in town "starter home". It was the worst house in good neighborhood and I've just about rebuilt it fixing stupidity. In that time, I've also gone from a young and dumb to a 44yo that is fairly accomplished with anything mechanical or DIY. I've outgrown the two car garage and had been looking for a different place for a while. My nature isn't to rush anything big, so I'd passed or lost out on a couple of places I liked over the last several years. This Sunday I went to tour a country house new on the market at 1pm and had beat out another suiter by 10pm. I paid over asking which is practically sacrilegious to me and my nerves where defcon 5. Turns out there is such a thing as an "escalation clause" which I hadn't even heard of before.

Garage wise, the new place was advertised as four car in a 2 up and 2 down configuration. Turns out one of the down bays is only 14' deep, so for now I plan to use that short bay as my workshop. The up bays will be parking and some storage.

Its 3.2 acres, so there are future shop options. The whole property is a steep hillside so that is a challenge... (but the view is wonderful}.

I'll keep posting progress here. So many questions and opportunities its hard to know what to ask the GJ braintrust.

mm

 

[Chrisb62]

I know you just posted a teaser but................

 

[driftpin]

Unclear as to if it's been purchased, or he just has an offer pending, and has dreams.

 

[74Ken]

IF your property drops off, think about a CORE-SLAB. Drive in on the front and down underneath from the back.

Ken

 

[starquestMM]

IF your property drops off, think about a CORE-SLAB. Drive in on the front and down underneath from the back.

Ken

Thats a good thought and would be a good place for the mower/lawn tractor I'll be needing. Suspended slab garages are pretty common around here because of the hills.

Inspection is Tuesday and closing is set for mid December. I didn't take any pictures, but here are a couple from the listing.


There are a couple of trees on the hillside somewhat blocking the view. There is a acre and a half pond at the bottom of the hill but I didn't have enough time to walk down there during the showing. There might be a small dock or shed there based off the satellite photos.

 

[Chrisb62]

Looks like a very nice place..... hope all the pieces fall in place perfectly for you.

 

[starquestMM]

Only update I can provide for a bit:

Up garage is: 23Wx25D, has concrete floor issues and the electrical has a lol factor needing cleaning up. I can Plan to drywall all of this and live with the floor.

Down garage is 27W, one bay is 20D and the other is 14D. The bays are separated by a wall for dust control as they were using the small bay as a woodshop. It'd make it easier for wrenching if i pull that down. Drywall also needed here for fire purposes.

There was a dock down by the pond, but its toast. Hard to argue with this though:

 

[j p smith]

Pretty cool acreage, is the pond on your property? or is a shared pond

 

[starquestMM]

Shared pond with two other neighbors.
Still on track, only bad news is the leachfield might be taking up some of the better shop locations.

 

[starquestMM]

Well I'm in like Flinn so to speak. Here are some initial impressions that might help those house shopping:

1) this house is close to a busy road and its louder than i expected. I knew the 30yo original windows had issues and were due so I scheduled a contractor to come in 2 days after closing. Their initial quote was decent but didn't do anything about the sound. When I prompted them some more, they were able to provide laminated glass for the two most important locations... It wasn't that much $ and I'm hoping it'll be worth it. Their installs are one year out, so it'll be awhile before I'll know.

2) Slope! I didn't have a bunch of time to think about this place and underestimated how difficult the down garage driveway could be. The first time I tried to pull my utility trailer down there, I really struggled to get back up. Later I risked going downhill to the burn pile with some brush and couldn't get back up until i switched paths. I figured it out in my 2wd truck both times... but in the long run, a few retaining walls could make things work a lot better.

3) Deswitchification might be a word? This house has a confusing amount of wall switches. For example the master suite has seven switches to cover two rooms (no walk in closet). Every single ceiling light either has a fan switch or a bath fan switch to go with it. Confusing AF. Some of the switches aren't located logicially.

4) Exterior lighting: I don't know what to do here, but now its a combination of blinding flood lights and inconvenient I don't like it. This place has 11 exterior 120v light fixtures on EIGHT switches.

5) plumbing seems decent with only a few simple corrections.

6) Having a hot tub is nice, maintenance not really that bad so far.

7) The ductwork makes some popping noises that are pretty loud, but I can fix them. The siding also seems to make plenty of noise at dawn which I probably have to live with.

8) I was hoping the previous owners would leave the little jon boat, but no such luck...

9) A trash compactor can crush beer bottles... the cat doesn't like it.

10) 90s era under cabinet lighting produces enough heat to toast bread stored in the cabinet. True.

11) Hanging a pendent light by its electrical cord for a decade instead of the chain is bad.

12) Only benefit of having a utility corridor in the front yard is the Internet seems legit enough:

I'm starting to work on the shops, so I'll post some pics as that takes shape.

 

[starquestMM]

Well spring is here and it turns out the house came with about every type of flowering tree that'll grow here. Lots of plants coming up, and its nice the previous owners are telling me what they can.


Concrete contractor managed to work my driveway in amongst the snow storms this winter. I still need to dress all edges to finish it. I had them leave me all the old gravel and busted concrete on the lower side so I can use that on projects elsewhere.

I have a scut on order and a growing list to tackle once its here.

Lower garage is in progress, working on electrical atm.