The house that wasn't

Before we found our home, there was another house. Although we love our new home, we will always wonder about this other house that we call the Ranch House.

This was a house we took a good month of dreaming, debating, and researching before we put in an offer. It was a 1971 red brick ranch stuck in a time warp. The listing stated it was “as is” with “deferred maintenance,” but it had a double lot. At the time, the listing agent had yet to post photos, but our house was now under contract and the double lot was too intriguing to pass up.

Going in, I was more cautious than Mike, who was focused on the potential of the double lot and improvement, ah, opportunities. But it also had an emotional draw as it reminded him of his grandmother’s house. Despite my desire for a two story, I was also charmed. The brick was in fantastic shape, the lot beautiful. Much of its datedness was also cool, and we’re not hipsters. The entryway had a fantastic green tile that we would never rip out if we could help it and we loved the parquet floors in the parlor.

It was a good size and layout for us. Not too big, but we had room to grow. We would be happy with one child, even two there and the occasional guest, but we wouldn’t have the McMansion issue of unused rooms. Mike liked the outdated kitchen - and he’s picky. It had a wonderful parlor room that would be a perfect library, especially if we added french doors. The family room, an addition to the house, had some amazing shag carpet (we would not keep) and an impressive fireplace, but had a good cozy cabin vibe. The original living room, the center of the home, could become a mix use space, where we could have huge family dinners or the kids play and work on schoolwork. The basement, aka the Lava Room, had this fire red carpet and dark paneled walls, complete with a mirror wall and a bar. The house had charm, it was begging for some love, and we could see what it could become.

BUT.

The roof, we could see, might need repair or replacing. Some of the windows were failing. We wanted to expand the closet of a master bath into the closet, shift the master wall into the original living room and put a closet on that side, and, of course, we wanted to make cosmetic changes to all the living areas. We thought the Lava Room could remain for awhile as an entertainment lark. Because it was that groovy.

We debated. When Mike wanted to make a move, I would back off. When I took the plunge, Mike whoa’d me back. Then, finally, after a month, we decided to go ahead and pay for a home inspection prior to putting in our as-is bid. When we told our agent to get permission from the listing, we were told that offers were coming in on the Ranch House.

Well, crap. So we put in an offer we thought was fair, considering what repairs we could spot with our Bambi eyes, wrote a heartfelt letter, and held our breath. Our agent came back and said a total of 5 offers had come in on the house, one including a cash-no contingency offer above our price, but that our letter won the owner over and that she countered at the cash offer’s price. We said okay and ordered a home inspection with a company that had a reputation for being tough. Our previous research regarding home inspections revealed that often those on the agent’s “recommended” list pay to be there and tend to be soft on the inspection.

Mike and I arrived, nervous but hopeful, and it basically went downhill from there. The roof was actually in better shape than we expected, and the foundation also was in good shape. And that’s pretty much where the good news ended.

1) Mold in the attic due to a roof leak and very poor ventilation

2) Mold in the basement due to a past sewer back up - basement needed gutting

3) Most windows needed replacing

4) Addition siding needed repair/replacing

5) Electrical needed a full upgrade

6) House air intake came from the garage, so that needed blocked

7) Roof needed partial replacing

8) Iron stack needed replacing

9) Chimney had several issues

10) Some plumbing needed replacing

11) Other miscellaneous

Getting the house into healthy shape would’ve wiped out our entire renovation budget before we could get to the pretty stuff. Mike and I reached the same conclusion while walking through the inspection and let our agent know that evening (he didn’t show up to the inspection). Later we found out, as the inspectors were picking up the radon test, that there hadn’t been a cash-no contingency offer on the home or even that many offers. We’d already felt awful about the Ranch House and now felt completely misled and betrayed by our agent. It was time to move on from both.

The house just closed this week for 4k less than our final offer had been. We wonder. Do they know what’s in store for them? Is it someone who can give the house the love we couldn’t afford to? Or is it someone who hopes to do a sloppy flip? We hope it’s the former, that someone will appreciate it and can afford to make it healthy and happy.

As we’ve been painting and de-wallpapering our new home, we’ve talked about the ranch. Not with regret, just curiosity - and RELIEF! Our colonial is outdated, yes, but in pretty darn good shape, aside from some common siding issues. What little work we’ve done so far is the faintest of tastes of what we would’ve been in for with Ranch House. Aside from health risks and, oh yeah, the 5 different ways the house could slowly or quickly kill us, our marriage and quality of life would’ve suffered if we’d focused on what could be and not hard, cold reality.

We still can’t believe we have the home we do. It’s beautiful. It’s outdated. Some of the things we loved about Ranch House, we love in this one: the sunken family room with a fireplace and wood beams, the perfect library room, the way it begs us to make it ours. But it’s safe. It’s close to a lovely lake. New roof, good windows. Yes, it’s a small lot and isn’t in our #1 school district. But it’s also closer to stores, the neighborhood is stable and people take care of their homes, and best of all … we’re not scared of it. Even as we were falling in love with Ranch House, we were scared. It took us a month and with some pressure to put an offer on it. For a first house as a couple, we took a HUGE bite … and had to spit it back out.

We’re so grateful for this house. But we will always wonder about Ranch House. This spring, we will drive by it and keep tabs on it, and maybe someday we’ll be brave enough to knock on the door and introduce ourselves to the new owners. Bring some cookies and ask for a tour. Not as some form of torture, because we now know it was not the right house, but because we did invested ourselves emotionally and mentally, and we still believe it to be a beautiful home … for someone else.