Welcome! Several months ago, my boyfriend and I were beginning to look for a home. We weren't quite ready yet to jump into things, but happened to view this Craftsman Bungalow in the town we are currently living in; Rahway, New Jersey.
We pretty much fell in love with it, in spite of the obvious amount of work it needed to bring it back to life. Actually, it's not in *that* bad condition all things considered for a 95 year old house. It seemed structurally sound, most of the original details were still intact, and the roof, and mechanical systems were relatively new.
The house went off the market at some point while we also stopped looking, waiting until a home I already owned was ready to be sold. Finally, that happened and we began to look again.
One day, we were at an open house around the block from the Bungalow, and I noticed there were bags of garbage piled on the front porch. I made the grand leap into assuming this meant that the owners might be cleaning out the house to prepare to put it back up for sale. We already had gotten wind that perhaps the original Owner had passed on and some relatives were possibly in charge of the place, so this made some sense.
I called my Realtor, and had him give us another showing. It was as lovely as we remembered and I placed a bit that day. The price had dropped by $20,000 since we'd first seen it, and my bid was still another $30,000 off their current asking price. They came back with a counter offer immediately, I have countered once already and am waiting for another one as I write this. I've already been told that most likely, my last offer could be accepted as the house has been on the market for nearly a year. Whatever the case, it's pretty much a done deal since even if we go one more round, I want the house, and will be happy with whatever price it winds up inbetween (but, of course, will be much happier if it sticks where it is!).
Anyway, luckily I have "minions" to help me restore the home. I work for an architectural firm, and was with another firm for over 25 years. My prior boss has already said he'll come along on the inspection to do a punch list for me and, is pretty psyched to help out in whatever way possible. I'm hoping, that one of the contractors I used to know in my old job, who I trust completely, might be interested in coming out to NJ to work on it (keeping my fingers crossed!). My brother, is in the flooring business and I already have a kitchen guy I've used in the past that was fantastic.
Anyway, I hope this blog finds some followers. More pictures to follow. I'm creating this from work, and umm, my boss has been walking around more than I thought he would so I'm going to close this out for now!
