House Hunting - the good, bad and exceptionally ugly!

Groovy, I guess at least the wallpaper and shag look like they’re in really good condition :joy: Am I the only one really digging the coffee table in front of the sectional in the bar/den room? I need one of those!

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There are quite a few pieces in there that are keepers…to me!

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It’s kind of a treat to see a place where the owners really leaned in to their hideous taste :joy:. Didn’t Coco Chanel once say that, “it’s better to have bad taste than no taste at all”?

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I expected to see a place I’d like considering old doesn’t bother me.

But nope… not sure that ever was in style TBH.

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Wow. That house is hilarious. It really needs to find a buyer who shares the vision because it is good shape as a fairly fully realized vision of something. Love it.

We bought a house 25 years ago that was built from a plan from a competitor of Sears Roebuck, which also used to sell house plans. The parents generation bought it and their son, who was an amateur painter, lived in it with his wife. He died and we bought it she she was 84. The entire stairway and halls were painted with a mural that of what seemed like Italian scenes from the middle ages. That wouldn’t have been that bad except ShawWife who is a superb professional artist (museums own her work, etc.) said that the perspective was off and it would make her nauseous. In addition all the wood floors were incredibly dark. We bought it, painted over almost all of the mural, and sanded the floors (which were beautiful wood). Although I never loved the house, it was perfect for raising our kids.

We started looking for a house that we would prefer given that the kids have been out of the nest for a long time. We looked for 6 years. A few months before the pandemic, our RE agent called and said, "You need to get over to this house quickly. It has been on the market for several years combined with an adjacent farm on a very large lot for a long time and they’ve finally separated it into two lots. Tomorrow they are going to reduce the price to a price that is very attractive. We get there and the entry hall has a fancy motorcycle in it (probably a collector’s piece they are very proud of) that impedes the view through the glass of the river on whose bank it sits. Then, there is an in-law suite with a kitchen that you enter through two brick arches that make it seem like an Italian restaurant with garish decor. They had not staged the place or even completely put stuff away. Grotty rug in the in-law suite. In the main house, it looks like they got a great price on irregular bricks (each piece has stuff sticking out, which contractors call clinkers). The living room is right on the river but only less than half of the outer wall is glass. And, while there are three bars, it is a 4700 sf house with no obvious dining room. There are built-ins from the 50s that sort of look like there were high school shop class projects.

However, the site was/is incredible. It is grandfathered on the bank of a river. If you built it today, it would have to be 200 feet back. There probably aren’t 10 lots in the greater metropolitan area that are this extraordinary as the river bends at our house and we have not only an up close intimate view of the river and animals (some of whom believe they live here) and the long view down the river. And, it actually is a pretty nice house if you get used to the quirks/junk.

So, we made an offer that day for $1000 above asking if they took it off the market before the weekend and thus didn’t have the scheduled open house.

We now live in the house. People who have visited us who looked at the house and passed on it. They now say that they just didn’t have the vision that we did and couldn’t see how it would be a nice place to live and now it is gorgeous (even before the planned renovation). The house was recently described by one of our friends to another as a wildlife refuge that features a capuccino bar, a petting zoo and an artist’s studio. We’re also friends with the former owners – the couple got divorced after the sale and we are really friends with the former wife and her kids. Great people.

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Kind of brings out the Liberace in you :grin:

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That’s what I was thinking - it appears to be in impeccable condition…

We house hunted for many years before finally buying our home. My H was/is very meticulous and does a very thorough inspection of any place we MAY buy. I remember one of the homes we looked at, we were looking around in the area under the house. I pointed out to H a beam in the middle of the area that was readily swinging at the slightest push. H said yup, that’s supposed to be a major beam supporting the house.

We still love the house we bought over 30 years ago. We put in hardwood flooring everywhere but bathrooms and kitchen (which have sheet vinyl). We also put in a new roof. Haven’t done much else.

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You guys are going to think I am crazy but I LOVE IT! It is nowhere near my personal style but I think it’s great how everything goes together and they made a commitment to do what they love. So many houses look like they came out of the same Pottery Barn catalog - bland and safe. They had an idea and they just went for it which I think is just great!

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I agree @helpingmom40 . Would I want to live in it? No, over stimulating. Is it a wonderful example of great design. YES. Would I love to have a piece or two in that home in my own home for eclectic variety? YES.

This home would be a great AIRBNB as is.

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For the right people perhaps. We’re not among them and we’re willing to put up with a lot in places we rent vs buy.

Over stimulating is one way to put it.

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Ok, I have looked at the pics a few times and am thinking this is a “tardis” house. That house is definitely bigger on the inside.

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When we were looking for a home in the Boston suburbs in the early 90s, I picked up a small real estate guide from a magazine holder in the foyer of a restaurant we were leaving. On the cover was the house of my dreams, and I couldn’t believe the price! We drove straight over to the listing realtor’s office sure that, if it was still available, we were going to be living our dream. I was so excited until the realtor said, “I’m not sure you want that house. There are others in that neighborhood I’d be happy to show you.” When we asked why/what was wrong with it, she said, “Well, it’s hard to explain, but the house just has a vibe, and it’s been on the market for three years.” Undaunted, we told her we wanted to look at it anyway. I was thinking that whatever vibe the inside/decor gave off, we could fix it even if we had to gut the interior. But that wasn’t it at all. The minute we crossed the spacious wrap-around porch into the gorgeous high-ceilinged foyer with beautifully carved center staircase leading up to a stained-glass window landing, we all felt it. There was something malicious about that house that we could sense in broad daylight. We went up that lovely staircase and half-heartedly poked around one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever been in and walked out. In the eight years we lived in the house we eventually bought, that one never sold. The realtor had no information that anything had “happened” there, but anyone who looked at it felt it just wasn’t the right house for them, and the realtors in her office didn’t like to show it because it gave them the willies. We always referred to it as the evil house after that. I know this sounds like a bad movie plot, and I don’t usually go in for such nonsense, but I felt it, and I wanted that house badly.

When we went back to our old neighborhood on a visit several years after moving to AZ, we decided to drive by that house. It had been torn down and the land was incorporated into an adjoining park.

That is so bizarre. DH and I looked at one house that the realtor told us had been the site of a suicide. (They’re required to tell you that sort of stuff – here, at least.) But it didn’t give me the willies. I’m wondering if there’s any history of the house that could be researched to find out the story.

It’s a novelty home! People looking for a SHORT stay and looking for something different from home would have a blast spending some time in that home.

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I’m willing to leave it with, “to each their own.” :sunglasses:

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There was a “dead realtor house” in the greater area we used to live. The homeowner came home and found a murdered man in the bathroom… the house was on the market, and the man was a realtor apparently showing it to someone who pretended to be a prospective buyer. This was the first homicide in that small town. Needless to say, the house sat unsold for a loooong time. Then finally someone (with nerves of steel? bargain hunter?) got it. As far as I can remember, murders, suicides, accidental deaths, etc. were not subject to disclosure when we were house hunting in that area, and Internet was not as full of info as it is now… so if someone wanted to make sure there would be no ghosts of any kind, they had to do a lot of DD on a prospective property. :slight_smile:

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When I worked at a hospital, a patient wanted to know if anyone had died in her room, and if so, she wanted to be transferred to a room that had never had a death.

This was in the cardiac intensive care unit, so…

I don’t think it would be a deal breaker for me to buy a house where someone had died, but I guess I’d have to actually be faced with that choice to be sure.

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Oh my. We have that aqua carpet in the downstairs photo. It’s in S2’s bedroom and we are tearing it out soon, as it’s 30 years old and yucky.

Some of the furniture would be worth something, though – genuine MCM!

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