The ad told us that this was in fact a short sale, and that some poor slob had paid three hundred and forty thousand dollars for it in 2006. Holy crow, it's now approved for short sale at $160,500. Sweet!
Phone calls with the listing agent on Thursday got us set up for a Saturday meeting. Yes, there was known to be mold in the basement, but it was a new, white mold, not the terrifying black mold of a low-budget real-estate horror movie. Worth a look.
So, Saturday came around and unfortunately the mold was the least of our problems. That part, at least, seemed to be an easy enough fix. The smoke that stained the wallpaper and soured the air was a big part of our decision not to pursue this house. The strange layout of the rooms and lack of closets was another. Yet a third turn off was the back yard - not what we remembered. The entire thing was concrete, which could conveniently be used to fill the pool of death, if we decided to go that route.
Basically, the house needed to be gutted, and redone, for me to be happy living in it. As first time buyers, the project was just too big for us. I'm thrifty, and we're both handy, but there's not a lot we know about actually rebuilding a house. The house is only valued at around $240k on a good day - if we put any more money into this than $80,000 over selling price, we'd for sure be losing in the long run. Aka, sweat equity. The only way to build it.
Sad, too, because the house is a real beaut'.
