kind of excited..

For a long time now my hubby and I have been thinking about selling this house and buying a house closer to his work (which is about 30 miles away). We thought we would take the time to remodel some rooms in our place so it would be easier to sell and we would make enough off the sale to put 15% to 20% down on the new place. So a friend calls me the other day and her daughter and son in law want to know if I am willing to sell the house, sure for the right price I said. She came over last night and her and I talked about what my bottom line was, and she looked around and we talked about what would be included and what wouldn't. They think the price I am asking is fair and if the house appraises at 15% higher than the amount of the loan they are asking for then their bank will loan them 100% of the amount they are asking for. They are looking at trying to get it done before the 1st time homebuyers tax credit is over with (which apparently was extended until June). I am so excited, I was looking online and found 2 houses which are quite interesting with great prices. Of course some of you probably have high cost homes, up here you get a lot more home for your $$ than you can in other places..these are the two that are piquing my interest right now..of course I will probably look at a ton more before we are through

http://www.bigbearrealestatecompany.com/realestate/detail.asp?key=17826

http://www.homes.com/listing/99935514/373_Easton_Road_PRESQUE_ISLE_ME_04769#stay

I like the first one, wow houses are cheap there!

And you would qualify for the existing homebuyers tax credit if you buy before June I believe.

This is odd, because Dh and I have been discussing selling our house, to get out of the high note, and to move closer to his work. I really would like to get out of this area. Actually loooked at one this morning in Chelles neck of the woods.......

Youre right erin, we would. Hubby checked into it.

My sister has her house up for sale in town, and it has a big indoor pool and she's selling for $147,000. We don't want to go that high though and don't know if we want to maintain a pool when we get old..lol

I like the second one.

I love them both, these are the major issues I have

The Mars Hill house (1st one)- While the spiral staircase is pretty, it's very narrow and I can't see carrying laundry baskets up and down, or even going up and down those stairs when I get older. We would have to carry the dog up and down, moving furniture upstairs would be a pain too. Other than that, we like it..the fuel usage is a little higher than we would like.

The Presque Isle house-(2nd one) Love the pics they do show, don't care for the carpet in the study (could easily be changed) but from the pictures I cannot tell if there is a garage. I may have to call and find out, no garage is a deal breaker for us. You can't leave your car out in the weather up here in winter, you go through vehicles pretty quickly that way and face the problem of the car not starting on really cold days.

Of course I would love to see more pictures of both houses, they don't really have a lot of pictures on there..and didn't put a lot of information either..of course over the next couple months we will actually be making appointments to see some of the top picks that we come up with.

147K is in the median range here, I paid more than that for this house, any less and you get 2 beds, 1 bath usually. I am looking in the 4-5 bedroom range, I want a sewing room, and a guest room....and an "extra" bedroom.

I am talking to our tax guy, to see if we qualify for the existing thing, not sure since we built this house on the same property as the old one....technically not the same lot, but the same address.

Wow Kelly, you can get a lot of house for the money there in Maine. I love looking at houses! When we made the big move north, pre-computer, I had to do do a lot of it by mail, with a broker sending spec sheets with crummy b&w photos that didn't let you get a good idea of the house. Then I'd go look at a big bunch, fall in love with one, and find out it had been sold already. Frustrating, to say the least!

I can see your points about the spiral staircase. In fact, if I was looking to stay in the house through retirement, I would look for a master bedroom downstairs. You just never know whether something will happen where you won't be able to navigate stairs in the future.

I like both of them, but love the side yard in the first one. Love the den in the second one.

P.S. Does your dog have boots on in your new avatar photo?

My inlaws have one of those stair cases- on purpose too, lol. I HATE it. My kids are not allowed on it, the nephews have fallen down countless times and MIL broke her ankle.

lol Lori..no it's not boots..it's one of his favorite toys.. I will try to post a better pic of it ....hold on a minute

I love both houses, but for the first house there is no getting over the fact that we would have to put regular stairway in the first few years. Lori, there may be a bedroom downstairs it doesn't say. But I would still have to get upstairs to gather laundry, store stuff, whatever I might need to do, just not as often when I get older.

The second one is great..just not sure on a garage..and I really don't want to mess with building one if there isn't one.

Family is stating their opinion ( which obviously won't ultimately change our decision) but they are giving great pointers. Both SILS and BIL worry about the age of the 1st house (it's a 1900) but you can tell that its been remodeled, the fuel usage is more than what we would like) one SIL agrees with me about the spiral staircase..and BIL thinks Mars Hill is out in the willy wacks (we are in the willy wacks now, but if we went there we would still be closer to Kris' work).
BIL doesn't like the 2nd house because the outside looks like a barn, and of course not sure on whether there is a garage or not. Its hard to tell how good the roof is from the picture as well. One SIL is worried as well about whether there is a garage or not..but likes it just as well. However she prefers a $100,000. home in PI that I had on a list of possibles.. but it doesn't say if there is a garage or not..

http://www.homes.com/listing/97525446/18_Dudley_PRESQUE_ISLE_ME_04769#stay


Other SIL wants us to be in Caribou near her, not in PI or Mars Hill..lol
BIL prefers 2 houses in Caribou that I had on a potential list but wasn't really impressed by either.

LOL Glad it wasn't boots. I didn't want to think that you were one of "those" people. I like the one that you linked to that your SIL likes, but the house next door seems a little too close for c omfort and it doesn't have the great side yard of the first house. The barn shape is charming.


Go and have some fun and schedule an afternoon of house showings. I thought it really helped having someone with me. Seems like the extra brain comes in handy when you might not be seeing certain flaws that someone else will pick up.

Hey! I'm thinking of becoming one of "those" people, lol. My poor dog is getting really old and has a hard time going out in the cold. I've been considering getting her some boots to protect her old feet from the ice and snow.

LOL Sorry, Tara. If your pooch needs boots, then go for it. "Those" people put boots on their pets as a fashion statement or to complement their own ensemble.

lol thats funny..we used to have carpet in the livingroom, when we put the laminate flooring in Jesse refused to walk on the floor, he wasn't used to the way it felt on his feet and didn't like it..for the first week I put baby socks on his feet and he would walk around in them until they fell off, eventually he became used to the floor.. When Jesse's feet get cold when I take him out he starts limping and then wherever we are I carry him from there..lol

LOL I have have huge doubts she would wear them anyway so I haven't made the plunge yet. She is an 82 lb ancient pitbull. It is pretty safe to say I will NOT be carrying her. We'll buy her wheels before it comes to that, lol. Although soon hubby is going to have to get the ramp back outside. We had one for my old man until he died, but stairs are starting to get rough for her too

I like this one, and would buy it in a heartbeat if it was here.
http://www.homes.com/listing/96793178/19_Third_Street_PRESQUE_ISLE_ME_04769
Cheaper than my house now, and a little bigger too!

don't get hooked on buy 1 of 2 houses, or even 1 of 5 house... look, look, look, and you'll know the perfect house when you walk into it. Basically saying don't "settle" just cuz you're so excited about moving...and and start watching HGTV if you aren't already !

congrats on the impending move.

Where were you lookin Erin? folks around here are getting stupid with their prices. because now their touting this as a 'retirement' community. which I despise.

I dont plan on moving. I wish I could get a differnt trailer. I will not build I'm sure. But we have to either build on to this one or something. its too dang small. But i wont sell my land. Not unless we just had to to survive.

My plans right now are to build a barn. I wont get what I want, I know that. But I need a starting point to build onto. we can live in a house thats too small, but I have to have a barn- SOON.

Erin, I like that house...you really can get a lot of house for your money up here. Our top that we want to spend is $100,000.

bizzeedee, I agree..this house is going to be the house that we will be in until either he kicks me into the nursing home or I send him there..lol That being said we won't make our decision lightly and we will look at plenty..those two I posted are just the front runners on the list of places I would love to check out so far.

We glanced at a house in Lufkin, but it was too much money for the condition, they want 399K, they might get 200K....I am thinking about buying one here and flipping it, using the money to pay off this house....and then either sell or stay.

I love the look of that spiral staircase, but I agree that it would be bad to have that as the only access to the upstairs.

I've never house shopped at all. Our house was inherited, which is good and bad. Good because we could never have afforded this nice a house otherwise. Bad because it is quite old and needs a lot of work. We'd never sell because this house has been in Scott's family for generations.

I like the spiral staircase too, but would also change it. Another thing, check out how wide the doorways are, you never know when you might need them to be wide enough for a wheelchair. 36 inches is wide enough, and we specifically had wider doorways put in our master bed and bath, thinking ahead might pay off.

Wow, we just got a call earlier. The perspective buyer for our place wants to close by Apr 1st! That doesn't give me much time. I still have JJ's room that I barely even started redecorating to finish, homeschool JJ and go looking for houses along with the regular house stuff. It's a little scary. When I bought this place I am in right now, it was a friend of mine that I bought it from so it was all very relaxed, we both went into the bank together and we used the same bank. Everything went very smoothly and easily and nothing was rushed. This is a very different experience for me, and my husbands blood pressure went up just discussing stuff this evening. I have to call tomorrow and start making appointments for next week.