So, as of this weekend, we are officially in-contract on the little house by the Hudson, our very own River Cottage. If all goes according to plan we should be closing the first week in August. I thought I’d offer a little update on what we’ve learned since the inspection last month. First off, all your advice was so incredibly smart ! Our man on the job, David turned out to be amazingly thorough and helpful. He left no stone unturned, made everything seem clear and manageable, and ultimately confirmed our hunch that the house has a ton of potential. It felt like we were living in an episode of This Old House as he walked around poking at the joist boards (which are very important I now know), climbing up on the roof, and crawling into spaces that looked too small for a grown man. We did find a few problems, including a roof that needs to be repaired over the bedroom (before winter!) and some old termite damage to the foundation that was never properly repaired. With this in mind we are definitely taking on a project. The house is small, only 900 square feet with one bedroom and ultimately we hope we will add on to it. With the findings from the inspection, we negotiated with the buyer and received some credit off the price. But, boy, are we gonna have a busy fall! Some of the things we checked during the inspection:

* Septic inspection — this happened on a separate day from the main house inspection. In order to inspect the tank, it had to be pumped. The current owner (who’s been there four years) never had it pumped, so we were a little worried it would turn something up. But, we got a clean bill of health — though we were a little surprised to find out where the tank is (by the side of the house, rather in large yard).

* Water testing — the house has a well, and even though the water smells a little funky out of the tap (a tinge of sulfur to it) it tested fine.

* Radon testing — there’s only one floor, so tested in the bedroom, rather in than in the half the basement. This was fine too.

* Land Survey — we’re actually doing this now, before the close. The owner is really vague about the property lines (”Oh it goes to that tree, and up that way”) and we just don’t feel comfortable not knowing what it is we’re buying exactly. This is pricey ($1500) but ultimately if we discover something shocking (say, that the garage isn’t really on our land) at least it will be before we close. And presuming all goes well, we’ll have a clear blueprint of what we have when planning future expansion.

There’s so much more to tell, but this post is getting a little long in the tooth so I’ll wrap it up. I’ll write more later about the other BIG THING happening, which is that we’re hoping to get married this fall in or very near to the house! It’s a tad overwhelming, but exciting and fun at the same time. Stay tuned! — Angela M.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 4:47 am and is filed under fixing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.