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Well............bailed on Harrisville

Found a fix and flip on easy street (no pun intended)http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/112-Easy-St-Butler-PA-16001/75197597_zpid/

Offered 120 they countered at 138 and would not budge. Told my realtor thanks, but no thanks.
Shame too, this had potential and a gorgeous kitchen. Full basement, it is a Ryan home built in the 60's with plaster walls, unfinished basement (no biggie)

The downside is it that it is rather close to 422 and a mid level income development is going in over the next 2-3 years for "budget" apartment/townhomes.

That being said, good luck to realtor selling it then as opposed to NOW.

Plan B is this http://www.trulia.com/property/3186361835-116-Covewood-Dr-Butler-PA-16001

Has both baseboard AND foreced air gas heat. Both work. Not sure why owner opted for baseboard, no worry the gas works. Couple need to SELL this one as they have a contingent offer on a 4 bedroom home already in the works. THus, they gotta sell.

Kitchen appliances stay, everything else goes. Taxes are HALF what the easy street house listed for. Backs up to a wonderful view of woods. In a cul-de-sac, thus no traffic.
ONly drawback is the kitchen. Hate the electric cooktop and the wall oven is dinky. Also lacking space for a dishwasher! Ugh! However I can get an apartment sized unit to squeeze in.

Electrical is 200 AMP all updated. 80% eff furnace and a nice Trane XL outdoor unit. Not very big, but with 2 stall garage and a mostly finished basement, I can certainly work with what is there.

Put in offer for 140 with seller paying closing costs, what I have in cash reserve would get me around $700/month mortgage taxes and insurance included. Certainly cheaper than paying rent plus I build equity.

Should it come to pass, I would certainly be amenable to hosting a wash in sometime in the future. :) Only caveat is no one can bring PODS! :)
 
Heat is gas? If there's gas already you could yank out the electric cook top and put in a gas one.

I'd be curious as to how much insulation there is.

Septic tank or sewer?

Yes, I'm nitpicking because this looks really nice. I don't see any major issues. :-)

Jim
 
My two cents worth: the second one, on Covewood Drive, looks much nicer and in much better condition. I noticed that the first one looked like it had had cheap work done and that the front steps/deck were going to need redoing soon. It also looks like the lower level was in a potential flood plain so you might have gotten water/damp basement (perhaps even the reason for the electric baseboard - wonder if there was buried electric and/or other radiant heat in the ceiling or floors). The woods behind the Covewood Drive house are lovely, plus you are up high, so no flooding....

I'm not as impressed with the prices as the coasties are, I would have though they would be a touch lower or about where they are. Equivalent houses in the suburbs of Chicago (some suburbs, like say Munster or the southland in general) are similarly priced. Of course I'm jaded, I paid even less for my classic pre-war 6 co-op in a fairly high-priced area of Chicago..... (it was a wreck, one realtor who had shown and tried to sell it told me people couldn't imagine what it would look like it was so bad)

Just as a PS about Norway - EVERYTHING is electric - there is no natural or mains gas service anywhere that I'm aware of. Some people lately now that they are getting jaded have put in lp cookttops and the like. Oil heat wasn't uncommon/rare (but much less so that in Sweden where it was very normal until the '73 oil crises) but even in the pre-war era electric panel heating was standard (not the baseboards like we use however) - Oslo used to require that every apartment and house have a fireplace or wood stove for power outages, which are very rare (as in almost never).
 
Another caveat

The easy st house will be right next to a development that will, ahem, have low income tennants. I think it will be 50 units total. 20 for 2 persons 30 for families.

Figure 2-3 years of dust, mess, etc plus the fact resale value will plummet after these units are built AND taxes are almost twice as much, the Covewood house is a much better opportunity.

The basement also has a wood burning fireplace. Not a deal maker or breaker for me.

I was told the gas furnace and central air both work. The only thing I can think of for baseboard electric is perhaps someone had allergies that can be exacerbated by blowing dry air in the winter.

It also has anderson windows, older but in good shape.
 
If you are planning upon long term, the environs (woods versus development)and taxes should probably be a bigger part of the equation than just purchase price alone. Plus a nicer house, if you ever did have to sell, is always better, in addition to the pleasure in living in it.
 
Low Ball Offer with a eye towards significant remodel

The house has potential,  I would advise doing your homework in regard to what other homes are selling for in the area.    Trulia.com will give you information on what houses recently sold for in that zip code.

 

Once you determine what the average sales price for house is the area compare similar houses in terms of square footage etc.  Make sure you look at houses that were fully remodeled to get an idea what the market will bear in your area . 

 

Personally I would opt to remove the baseboard units  and the window AC units ( that one visible on the front porch is an eyesore)  and install central forced air and try to get a natural gas line run in for it if economically feasible.  If not look into a high efficency HVAC or Geo Thermal HVAC .  Also are the windows double pained  thermal?

 

The plumbing looks good, no evidence of polyethylene pipes judging from the water heater.  I would wrap the water heater in a blanket and add a timer

 

 The kicthen cabinets look good, you will want to save that dishwasher looks like an ultra wash !!   I would upgrade the range and fridge to match and change out the countertops. 

 

I would low ball the first offer,  94,900  , personally I would not pay more than 100k for this house and certainly have a home inspection 

 
 
When I had my house on the market, every time I would get a super low ball offer right off the bat I would counter with a price higher than the listing price... The low ball offers only pissed me off.
 
Australia

rapunzel, How does anyone manage to afford a house? Are rents cheaper? Where I live it is cheaper to buy than rent and about 80% of the inhabitants in my area buy.
 
Ben, I like the 2nd house much better.  The Ryan house reminded me of almost exact duplicate houses built in Houston suburbs by Ryland Homes in the late 1970s early 1980s.  I love the woods in the back, far nicer looking area and really like the inside of the house too.  As far as your comment about the dinky oven, vast majority of houses built in the 1960s,  had 24" built-in wall ovens and the cabinetry to "match".  Thus many were limited to a replacement of the same width unless total redo of kitchen cabinets.  But those cabinets are most likely original and very much the 1960s style and probabl8y very well built.  But I rally do like the house.  Far better than the one with the planned "development" nearby.  Bob
 
For Amanda

Buying and renting are very unaffordable here. A lot of people are left out in the cold. The situation in the US is better, even if people earn less money, it buys them more. There are a lot of different alternatives for people to afford medium and low cost housing in America. There is no such thing here in Oz. We have homelessness and many folk permanently live in caravan parks. Our rental housing is largely overpriced rubbish and if it is nice you pay even more. If I didn't own my own home I would not be living in this country.

Many young people are now forced to stay home with their parents. If you are looking to rent you have to queue with dozens if not hundreds of other people for the same property and whoever puts in the highest bid gets the rental. It is said that our real estate market is 70% overvalued. Yet, people are still buying, the demand is there and prices are not expected to fall significantly. Three houses were sold in my street over the past 8 months and they were all purchased by Chinese people. My next door neighbor has just put his home on the market and I've already placed a bet that the buyer will be Asian. Most people auction their houses and homes generally sell within a few weeks of being put up for sale. A lot of houses don't even get listed, they are snapped up straight away.

There are areas where housing is more affordable (around the 300 k mark), but that's not where the jobs are and you have to travel for hours to get to work.[this post was last edited: 1/22/2015-19:04]
 
A couple possibilities about the warm air heat:

First, make sure the registers in the 'cool' rooms are actually open. Once that's done try closing the dampers in the 'warm' rooms a little at a time. Second, make sure the air filter is clean.

If the blower is not original, it might be too large or too small. Too large causes an oven -> refrigerator -> oven affect. Too small means that rooms too far from the furnace don't warm up due to insufficient air flow.

It might not be balanced, especially if the furnace is not at the center of the house. Rooms that are furthest away from the furnace would have insufficient air flow and be cold. Dampers in the main ducts might be set too far (or not enough) open. That can cause some rooms get too much heat and others too little.

Another possibility is that by the time the warm air reaches the furthest rooms it has cooled off too much to do its job. In that case, one generally insulates the ducts where they run under 'warm' rooms. There's no need to insulate runs under 'cool' rooms as heat lost simply warms the floor.

A good warm air system (even one from the 60's like my parents') would have an automatic humidifier to keep the place from drying out and an electronic air filter to keep dust to a minimum.

Sometimes the simplest thing to do is to attach an external booster fan to the register in the coldest room to boost the air flow. I have 2 I'm not likely to use again, so let me know if you want them.

Jim
 
IF U BUY IT CONSIDER...

If you're going to think of heating might consider a gas floor furnace IMO. I'm in a house thats about 1400sq ft. and built around 1945. I doubt anything was ever done in the way of repairs till I bought it in the 80's when it was inspected and the copper gas supply had to be replaced with alum , I also added a thermostat without a problem since. no noticible blowing air, no noise, you dont get that on and off cold to hot cycle like forced air either. Just wish it had duct work to the dinning room and kitchen, mine heats to bed rm hall and living rm which is ok but the owner was cheap I suppose? Now bash me for liking old technology:)
 
I agree appnut

The 2nd house is much better overall. I can redo the kitchen at some ppoint.
 
Looks like it might be a deal

Just have to work out details on closing costs, inspection, etc. When all said and done, I will be about 175/month less living expenses vis a vis rent. Naturally I will have a trash collection plus sewer (currently baked into my rent) but at least I will have a place to call my own.
 
Australia

Thanks so much for explaining the situation with housing costs in Australia. I really appreciate that; and it makes me appreciate my house and its affordability a lot more.
-chaik
 
Bill:

That kind of floor furnace used to be called a "circulator." My grandparents in East Point, GA had one in their first house, purchased in 1948.

It was located in the floor of the hallway, which was more or less centrally located within the floor plan.

The running costs were low, but there was one drawback: On cold nights, bedroom doors had to be left open to the hallway to keep those rooms warm.

And oh, yeah - you did not step on the floor grille barefoot more than once!
 
about 175/month less living expenses

Ben, don't forget you can adjust yo9ur withholdings because of all the mortgage interest.  Always helps new home owners regardless of monthly expenses. 
 

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