Now THIS house needs some good MCM furniture!

[thatgirl2478]

www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3800-E-Washington-St_East-Peoria_IL_61611_M88292-49235

[bunnymendelbaum]

Wow, yes the current furniture it just not doing it at all.

[FormerlyRR]

And the crystal chandeliers. So at odds with the house.

[downtoearth]

And the kitchen needs all wood cabinets back in it and not those white ornate ones.

But that is really a cute house that has a lot of potential.

[partiallysunny]

Nothing really OFFENDS me, but so much potential just wasted.

[thatgirl2478]

I know. We're hoping to go see it soon - though the 1,000 ft driveway gives me pause (I have no idea where to find a reliable snow plow service around here - we've always done our own and while we have a very nice snowblower - it's probably not enough for a 1,000 ft drive).

I can't get over the fact that it's almost 6,000 sqft AND it's on 2.26 fenced acres! Whoa.

[lilac05]

Wow! That house has TONS of potential!

For plowing, call landscaping companies. It's often pretty inexpensive to have them come plow the drive. It's pretty easy money for them!

[trident0]

That house is beautiful and I love the views. (Agree, the furniture is not so great, but you'll fix it!)

[nursecramer]

It's no Queen Anne, but it does look fabulous.

The "sold as is" gives me pause, though. Were you able to get the disclosures from the listing agent yet? It makes me wonder if they know something is wrong...

[Nina]

Love all those windows and the light! I like the house and agree the current furniture is just not right in it.

[thatgirl2478]

Feb 10, 2016 0:01:12 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

It's no Queen Anne, but it does look fabulous.

The "sold as is" gives me pause, though. Were you able to get the disclosures from the listing agent yet? It makes me wonder if they know something is wrong...

We haven't had time to go see it yet - but yes the 'As Is' gives me pause too.  As does the relatively low price for such a big house on a big lot... but it's also in East Peoria (which isn't a top notch town - there are worse places though).

[circa1978]

There are are like eight pictures of the trees in the backyard and none of the five bathrooms. That does not bode well.

[thatgirl2478]

Feb 11, 2016 21:57:31 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

There are are like eight pictures of the trees in the backyard and none of the five bathrooms. That does not bode well.

I know. 

There are alllll sorts of bad signs:

1. ridiculous low price for that much land & house (house was listed in 2012 for 1.9 million - but it was delisted & not sold - though that could have been wishful thinking since the guy bought it for 200k in 2008)
2. when you go to look up tax information, the FMV of the house is higher than the purchase price - that never happens.
3. when you try to look up assessment or tax bill info (a different site than the parcel info) you get the message that the parcel taxes were sold...
4. there's no pictures of the other 2 bedrooms or the basement...

We're seeing it at 9am Saturday so we'll see...

[emisi]

Feb 11, 2016 23:35:00 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

Feb 11, 2016 21:57:31 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

There are are like eight pictures of the trees in the backyard and none of the five bathrooms. That does not bode well.

I know. 

There are alllll sorts of bad signs:

1. ridiculous low price for that much land & house (house was listed in 2012 for 1.9 million - but it was delisted & not sold - though that could have been wishful thinking since the guy bought it for 200k in 2008)
2. when you go to look up tax information, the FMV of the house is higher than the purchase price - that never happens.
3. when you try to look up assessment or tax bill info (a different site than the parcel info) you get the message that the parcel taxes were sold...
4. there's no pictures of the other 2 bedrooms or the basement...

We're seeing it at 9am Saturday so we'll see...

$1.9 million when he bought it for $200k?  Sounds delusional.  Make sure you provide an update on how bad the bathrooms are!

[picksthemusic]

Yeah, the furniture is doing NO favors for that house. Can't wait to hear what happens when you go see it!

[thatgirl2478]

Feb 12, 2016 11:46:57 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

Yeah, the furniture is doing NO favors for that house. Can't wait to hear what happens when you go see it!

LOL - less than 24 hrs now!!

[thatgirl2478]

Ok - so we went to see the house this morning. First the good:

As expected, it's HUGE. It has amazing details - the oak walls are in great shape (except they could use some oiling/conditioning), the stone floor is beautiful, the property is amazing (200 year old oak trees), and is mostly in OK shape - ie the foundation is crumbling, the retaining walls aren't cracked or bowed etc. It has hot water radiant floor heating throughout the house, many of the windows are newer.  There are built ins EVERYWHERE - the kitchen, the dining room the bathrooms, the master bedroom.



The bad:

The roof is shot - that's at least 16k probably more like 20k. The bathrooms are ridiculous - never been updated BUT they have some charm. One has pink & green tile, green tub/toilet/sink - the tile in that one is starting to fall off the walls (but it has a shower that's useable). The next bathroom is right next to that one and has a brown theme, no shower in that one (no biggie, we can fix that). The master bath was so crazy I actually took pictures - pink fixtures except for the sink that has a gold/metal inlay, crystal & gold decor knobs everywhere and flocked wall paper.






The kitchen was tiny, old and original. The cabinets were the 1950's metal cabinets in really good shape, there are 2 thermador wall ovens (tiny) that have seen better days (one was apparently non functioning). And because of how the house is laid out, there really isn't a good way to reconfigure the kitchen to work better. One wall of the kitchen is an exterior wall, one is a stairwell wall, one backs up to the pink & green bath, the other wall is a hall wall (with a window to the hall).

The basement had obvious signs of water intrusion - all the block was stained and efflorescenced about 1' from the floor all around.

The basement has a green Naugahyde wet bar with grill and refrigerator. There is also a circular naugahyde seating area around another poll and 2 other polls are wrapped in it. There are 2 bathrooms downstairs - a men's room & a women's room (seriously labeled) - the men's room had a toilet & a urinal and the women's room had 2 toilets.





If it was 50k lower, I might say it was worth it.

[lilac05]

Interesting!

I wonder what they did in the basement in order to have men's/women's restrooms!

[lilac05]

Also, that pink tub looks like it would be great for taking long baths!

[thatgirl2478]

Feb 13, 2016 16:07:59 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Also, that pink tub looks like it would be great for taking long baths!

not really - it was pretty short!

I kind of love the house - but there's too much going on that needs attention - and the layout isn't right for us.  3 of the 4 bedrooms are at one end of the house, the master is at the other end (and there's 100+ feet of house in between).