What do you think of this house?

[stellarose]

www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/220-NW-137th-Ave-97229/home/26572882


It's close to the hwy, but the noise is more of a white noise and only realize that it's there when you think about it. Not ideal location but not horrible. No blinds in any windows, no fridge or w/d (which I like do I can pick out what I want). The garage is smaller with the chimney protruding into the back. I think if we back in it will be fine but no pulling in forward otherwise the driver door would hit the chimney. There is clearly a lot of yard work to be done. I don't know if they are done or planning to finish sodding, I doubt it.

The yard is the biggest factor of deciding what to offer. House next door sold a few months ago for 190ish, not updated but yard complete, nice house overall. House across the street is bank owned and they won't take less than 197k, but smaller house, not remodeled and a large corner lot with grass everywhere.

I don't know how to pip, let me know and I'll post done more pics. They didn't put any backyard pics up on the website.

[Roc A Bee]

The kitchen layout is weird particularly the oven placement.

[hannamaren]

It seems nice. I dont know what your area is like or what things sell for at that price.

One point, you mentioned the highway. It doesnt bother you, but could it bother a future buyer? You dont want to get in a house that wont sell in the future.

Otherwise, I like it.

[muttsrule]

I like it a lot. It has a unique and crisp feeling to it.

[thatgirl2478]

not sure of the location - not just the highway but the fact that you back up to commercial property. I'd be hard pressed to buy a house that close to a store/business of any sort. Heck, I wouldn't even consider houses that were near apartment complexes or churches/schools.

[dapotato]

it looks like a flip from both the sales history and choice of interior finish materials. meh.

also, i'm not anti-freeway houses. i live close two major freeways, and any noise is white noise at my place. but my place is a lot further from the freeways than this one is from that highway. houses that close to a highway will get more than white noise when you're outside. i personally still wouldn't care about the noise, but many others will. that location will make resale harder (not impossible, but harder).

[stellarose]

Thanks for throwing that in there, I forgot to mention about the business directly behind. You can't see it at all from the house, but yeah, it's there. It's a tire store directly behind.

This reason and proximity to the hwy are definitely concerns for future resale.

Okay, how about this one:

www.redfin.com/OR/Hillsboro/180-NW-231st-Ave-97124/home/26646839

I'm actually pretty intrigued except for the amount of work that would need to be done....man oh man, what is this lady thinking?! Kind of makes me sad that it is a short sale. Where will she go with everything?

[Balki.Bartokomous]

I would pass. I don't like that it backs up to those commercial buildings.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

Ooh. I actually sort of like the second one. I think it has good bones, but it looks like a TON of work. $100k or so. How much could you put into it before it would be more than market value?

[Deleted]

It's boring. I think it's livable and all that, somewhere I wouldn't mind renting, not a house I would want to own though. The second house in interesting. I was expecting a picture of several cats. I think it has a lot of potential, the size, the fireplace, the brick and the built-ins, I think it could be beautiful. It would take a lot of money to get there though. Right now it kind of creeps me out. I'd be interested to actually see it without all that shit in there.

[stellarose]

My thoughts exactly....I'd love to see it empty. I don't even know how you could get a decent inspection done with all that stuff in there.

It would take a lot of work. I think you could put about 100K in there and still be save at not going over market value. I think you could do a lot with 100K, but I don't have an extra 100K to work with. How would someone do that? Buy it and then hope there is enough equity to borrow against?

We are just looking for a starter home. I would love to take something like the 2nd one on, however, I think it would be too much and out of the question. I would love to see it when it is done.

[stellarose]

Yeah, 26 can get rough, but only during rush hours. We live in this area now and have for awhile. I don't need to take the Hwy for work or any errands and neither does DH.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

If you're looking for just a starter, then I'd save your $ and keep the bigger projects for your next home, TBH. I would use this first home as time to figure out how you use your home & what you really want in your next one before investing the extra $$.

[suburbanzookeeper]

The first house is a "meh" - it looks like a flip and I would be curious to see if they got any permits for their work or if their contractor was licensed. The kitchen layout is weird.

The second house is a lot more interesting... it looks like a lot of updating is needed but if you want a project house that you could start from one room and spread out, that would probably work. It really does seem to have great bones and the house size/lot size seems amazing (not familiar with the area). DH & I are DIY'ers at heart and that kind of house seems right up our alley but if you're not looking for that type of time/money sink, I'd run. At least it's bank approved so it should move quickly with the correct offer.

[mollybrown]

I'm exhausted just looking at pictures of that second house. No way. But H and I are not the DIY type, so it would cost a fortune for us to whip that place into shape.

[anna7602]

Oct 7, 2012 22:32:12 GMT -5 Balki.Bartokomous said:

If you're looking for just a starter, then I'd save your $ and keep the bigger projects for your next home, TBH. I would use this first home as time to figure out how you use your home & what you really want in your next one before investing the extra $$.

Why wouldn't you just think about these things as a renter? I'm not big on "starter" homes in general. If you have to compromise too much, what's the point? Selling a house down the road can be a huge PITA and there's no guarantee you'll recoup your investment, much less make any profit.

Maybe at $54/square foot, renting v. owning isn't as big a consideration as in a VHCOL area, but it's still an investment. I would personally hold off until you really loved something and didn't have a lot of reservations. In the meantime, you can keep adding savings to your eventual downpayment.

[stellarose]

Update: we placed an offer on Tuesday. All of our reservations about the place didn't freak us out and with a little work could turn into positives....more privacy, etc.

They countered yesterday morning but in an email. The selling agent mentioned it was going to be tight for her to us a response by our 4pm deadline. So she sent us the terms in an email and said if we agreed she would get the official counter over.

She never did and wouldn't respond to anything call, text, or email. She did finally call back at 8pm saying they were able to secure a strong offer. I'm pissed they didn't even ask if we wanted to offer more.

When we submitted our first offer she kept asking if this was our top dollar, were we at the top of our Budget and could we even afford this place. For some reason they got it in their heads we couldn't afford it and chose not to deal with us anymore. Frustrating since that is very far from the case.

💔 nursing a broken heart...now I just want to go shopping just to buy something.

Thanks for the opinions!

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2012 22:05:00 GMT -5 stellarose said:

Thanks for throwing that in there, I forgot to mention about the business directly behind. You can't see it at all from the house, but yeah, it's there. It's a tire store directly behind.

This reason and proximity to the hwy are definitely concerns for future resale.

Okay, how about this one:

www.redfin.com/OR/Hillsboro/180-NW-231st-Ave-97124/home/26646839

I'm actually pretty intrigued except for the amount of work that would need to be done....man oh man, what is this lady thinking?! Kind of makes me sad that it is a short sale. Where will she go with everything?

I actually love this one for the potential.

Sorry, I did not realize that this was an update!

[ECB]

"close to the hwy" in and of itself isn't a reason to NOT buy (if it doesn't bother you). I feel the overall neighborhood, location, etc, matters more.

I looked it up on Mapquest. I live almost exactly the same distance to a highway myself. There are sound barriers, but you can hear it when you're outside.

Our neighborhood is a highly sought after neighborhood in a great school district, location to the city, etc etc etc. The highway doesn't deter buyers.

[Doggy Mommy]

I like the first one. The second one needs way too much work for me.

I do think being so close to a highway is an issue though.

[sa]

I know how disappointing it is when a house falls through like that, but try to stay positive. Hopefully you'll find something better.

Our house was near the highway. There was a small patch of woods that muffled the noise. It never bothered me and my friends and family never noticed. However, when we tried to sell everyone raved about the house, but said it was too close to the highway. We eventually found buyers who didn't mind, but it can definitely hurt resale. So this may have turned out to be a good thing for you in the end.

[jene]

I would say no to the first one, the second one has way to much work (wallpaper) for my liking.