Home Inspection

January 12, 2010

...was the day of our home inspection, but before that occurred, there was a large amount of activity that unfolded in the days between my initial impulsive visit to the house and the home inspection.

But first...a big old * * * DISCLAIMER * * * :

FYI -- the zillion photos of the furnished house in this posting are from the time of the home inspection, when the previous owners were still there. Wish I could take credit for the cute decor and all their neat stuff, but sorry guys, it's just a bare bones now.

(Actually, not entirely true...I have done a little work to it already, but y'all might be scared when you see MY style, especially when opposed to the tasteful decor of the past owners!!! Oh well, nobody ever accused me of being too normal!)

The following verbiage is an account of those days; if you really don't care about my long-winded account of the trials and tribulations of a first-time haggle-hating homebuyer, you can skip the rest and just scroll down to the photos (way, way, way) below!

Anyway, I called the home owners' realtor, Gretchen Brewster, shortly after the initial visit, to let her know that I was really interested in the house, and although she can act as a dual agent, she suggested we get our own realtor to make sure everyone's best interests were protected -- a very practical idea, and in hindsight, I realize, one that halved her income on the house sale. But I guess that's why we loved her so much, her intentions were true, not just then, but throughout the entire proceedings over the next couple of months. I would recommend her to anyone.

We asked for Gretchen's suggestions regarding a realtor, knowing anyone she recommended would be fantastic -- and so she was! The irrepressible Beth Galfer came by our house that very afternoon. She was just an amazing realtor, sweet from the heart and kind as can be, but sharp as a tack when it came to business matters. She worked well with everyone, from Gretchen, to the current owners, to our lawyer, to -- most importantly -- us. She was literally "on call" 24/7, and unfortunately for her, I pretty much was calling about ten times daily during initial proceedings! Yet she unfailingly answered my myriad questions, and if she couldn't answer a question herself, she got the answer by another means and had a response within the hour. And she was chockful of helpful advice every step of the way, having done this so many times before, for which I was grateful, because often I felt lost in the proceedings.

This particular day, the day of our home inspection, reminds me of just one of the dozens of times she offered priceless advice. She suggested I take lots of photos and get room dimensions with a tape measure because it would probably be my last chance to see the house before closing. "Trust me," she said, "you'll get antsy in the next couple of months and want to buy some small stuff for your kitchen and bathroom, and then you'll discover that you can't remember the type of floors or the color of the walls or ceilings!" Such a small thing, but I would not have thought of it in all the hubbub of everything happening. And she was spot-on; I referred to my photo cache dozens of times in the coming weeks as I eagerly awaited the closing date and thought with excitement about decorating and bedding choices and bathroom decor.

Beyond that, Beth's and Gretchen's interest in me and Ayize has extended well beyond the house sale. They still email just to check in and to chat. They are both eager to drop by once we're settled in and see how the house has changed and how it has stayed the same. Beth also brought us a giant purple orchid, robust and beautiful, as a homecoming gift, and it continues to bloom a month later.

They were also both instrumental in facilitating a really fantastic relationship between myself and the sellers, now relocated to the Southwest, and often my update emails of home renovations and the gorgeous blooming garden fly between all four of us with much exchanges of joy and friendship. The former home owners may be here this summer to see their daughter, and we are all hopeful they will be able to come to the house and spend some time with us then. Anyway, both Gretchen and Beth were absolutely wonderful and I would recommend them both with no hesitation to anyone. I realize now, as many around me negotiate house sales and buys, how fortunate I was to have not one, but two, good people to work with. Apparently, they are somewhat rare in this business! But anyway...

I guess I'm just trying to express, without coming off like some sort of advertisement, that I really had the best home buying experience possible. Even our hardened, semi-retired lawyer, the gruff but charming and utterly charismatic John Donohue, commented that he thought this house sale was among the most, if not the most, peaceable of exchanges he has ever been involved in to date.

Anyhow, I have strayed far off the beaten path, sorry about that. Just reminiscing...

So, back to the beginning of my tale. I contacted Gretchen and she connected us with Beth. After much discussion with Beth and further communication with our family lawyer, I made a very low offer. I felt sad, figuring it would be rejected out of hand, but I knew it was at least an honest bid of what we could do. Surprisingly, they accepted, after just a wee bit of haggling, and I was overjoyed! And terrified! And elated! And shaking in my boots!

What had I done???

Anyway, nothing was yet set in stone, so I tried to take deep breaths and tell myself that it was still just an accepted offer at this point, nothing more.

The next step was scheduling a home inspection. Beth knew of some really good ones, and her favorite, Greg Layman, was available within the week. So...off on another tangent (consider yourselves warned)...

because I cannot rave enough about Greg! This guy did an amazing job! Even our sellers loved him! And how many sellers love the man inspecting your beloved home for defects, which will surely result in less money in your pocket via price reductions??

Anyway, Greg was professional, super courteous, a fast worker (appreciated greatly, because I had left Ayize with my very-generous friend Rebecca, but I felt bad about leaving him for so long and at the last minute, with so little notice), yet extremely thorough. He arrived an hour early, having finished a previous job in the neighborhood faster than he'd expected, and received permission to start from the owners in advance of our arrival. I showed up and the owners cleared out, but not before we'd all exchanged pleasantries and discovered we knew each other! I had worked with them twelve years ago when they'd adopted an ailing puppy named Harmony from the animal shelter, as she was then called, and had helped them with medical advice, set them up with treatments at McCormick Animal Hospital, and made sure their refunds were issued after appointments. They told me tearfully that she had passed away just a year before, but had been a wonderful companion to them all these years. I was so touched to meet them again. It seemed a good omen.

So anyway...Greg continued on his merry way, finishing up the last of his inspection, and I followed Beth's advice and shot numerous photos, plus made my measurements as suggested for later reference. When Greg was all done, he sat us down and went through everything he had found, dividing the problems into two categories: required work and recommended work.

Required work on the house, meaning anything that could pose a safety threat, was the responsibility of the sellers to handle, either before the sale with their own workmen, or by allowing a price reduction on the house sale equal to an agreed-upon amount of the work required (the latter being the preferred way as far as I was concerned, since I would rather have the work done myself with my people, even if a full reimbursement was then less likely, as opposed to having outgoing owners handle it who, no matter how kind and generous, must consider their own selling and moving expenses and may therefore not be able to have the optimal work done).

Recommended work was my responsibility and included any home improvements that were immediately needed yet not vital to my health and safety. The seller could, of course, handle those issues prior to the sale or allow further price reductions on the house towards such work, but that would be discretionary, not required by them.

After Greg's "talk-through", as I call it, he took me on a walk-through, and physically pointed out each of the issues he had addressed. He then emailed me, plus mailed a hard copy, of his twenty-or-so-page report, complete with photographs, of everything we had discussed. The guy was thorough! I could not have been more pleased! Again, I would recommend him unhesitatingly to anyone...and did. My own sister used him for her current house purchase, and she and her husband seemed immensely happy with the job, as I felt sure they would.

Okay, well I have babbled enough at this point in my lead-up to my many photos, so I'll stifle my yammering now and let the photos speak for themselves. They show what the house looks like furnished, and although I know my tastes run much more to the minimal, they still continue to provide great guidance to me as I think more and more these days about our eventual decor.

Enjoy!

Home sweet home!

And facing the house, to the right, is the wonderful entrance to the garden.

The front entrance, and the lovely tin Tibetan prayer flags hanging over the door that flutter like a gentle breeze whenever the door is opened or shut.

A view of the living room (the heart of the house) from the vantage point of standing in the front entranceway. The ceiling is sky blue and a lot of the trim was sponge-painted in a purple pattern long ago. I'm in love with the hardwood floors and big windows that let in a ton of natural light. From this vantage point, you can see the dining room in the background.

Same vantage point, looking to the right. The door on the left leads to the kitchen, which leads to the den; the door on the right leads to the second bedroom.

Same vantage point, but now looking to the left. There is a door on the far left (not pictured) which leads to a small study and a huge closet; the door on the right leads to a tiny "hallway" with three doors off of it, which are, from left to right: the basement, the bathroom, and the master bedroom.

Tour of the house, starting with the tiny study. I love this funny little room! Lots of windows and lighting, and I hope to have a desk in the same sunny spot to handle bills, etc. The shelves make me feel a bit claustrophobic, so I've already removed quite a few and will probably ultimately remove them all, as I'm not big on knick-knacks.

Note the doorway on the right, which leads to a large closet space.

This is the closet, with its wonderful pink window that so reminds me of my old house in Portland, and all the funny animal tracks on the walls and ceiling. Everyone seems aghast at the decor except me and Ayize, who love it, and are actually really bummed that the previous folks took the head with them. We are currently searching for a replacement, so keep your eyes peeled for us!

This is the other side of the closet; not pictured is all the room in between. Trust me when I tell you that there is more than enough storage space in here for me and Ayize!

The reason for these two funny rooms is simple: the study and the walk-in closet were once united as a single, third bedroom but somewhere along the way someone added a partition wall to make them into two separate rooms. Old farmhouses like this one that are still standing in this curious corner of northwest Evanston were all built without closets, they were definitely function over form, so over the years, people who craved that sort of thing added them in quirky ways.

I myself am a more simple sort, with pretty limited clothes, so a dresser per room or some similar quick fix should suit our clothes storage needs just fine. Maybe one day, we'll knock that wall down and restore the third bedroom back to its original condition. Just a thought, fun to entertain, when considering far-off possibilities...

Across the living room from the study/closet is the second bedroom. A very cute room, though the parchment-yellow paint job is not so much to my taste, but somehow, in all the abundant sunshine, it works well. I love the antique leaded-glass panes in these three front windows, original to the house.

I hope Ayize will be happy in this room. I feel quite sure he will!

Another view of the second bedroom from a different angle. There is also a large, built-in cabinet with multiple doors and shelves that stands floor to ceiling near the foot of the bed by the entrance to the room. It's attached, and huge, but it fits the room okay, and provides much needed-storage space. Hated it at first but it has grown on me.

Okay, so as I said, the little "hallway" off the living room leads to three things. This is the first, the basement. I love the funny beast the homeowner painted on the wall leading downstairs, and the frogs from an old 1978 wall calendar which she incorporated into the door decor at the foot of the stairs.

Not your typical unfinished basement! This was a corner which the homeowner, obviously an artist by profession, used to store a lot of her ongoing and finished projects. I love the rainbow shelves and the purple painted-on rug! It's a neat little nook hidden away in the basement.

The basement is HUGE. Sooooo much storage space. She also painted all the poles and doors down here in various styles, plus several of the walls. Lots of fun!

The man was an IT specialist and kept a little "man cave" downstairs filled to the brim with computers and equipment and power strips of all shapes and sizes. It appears it was decorated (I'm assuming) by his daughter in her teenage years. It's really a lot of fun to see all the stuff on the walls!

Another futuristic project I like to dream about is finishing the basement. Yes, it is many, many years off LOL but a girl can still dream...

I think if the walls and ceilings were drywalled and painted white, and the windows (there are ten down there) utilized to provide a gynormous amount of natural light, maybe even carpeted floors to boot, it would be a really fun space. With partition walls, and two small enclosures for the heater and furnace, and washer and dryer, there is room enough for several different enclosed spaces (it's almost as large as the space upstairs, to give you an idea) and would be a nice way to provide me and Ayize with some additional "breathing room" as he gets older and doesn't want Mama up in his Kool-Ade all day!

Anyway, back to reality (and back upstairs)! So this is the bathroom. The homeowner had a lot of fun with color and decor in here and it shows. I love the quirky things she did, decorating the door, sponge-painting a cute border on the tiles, accenting everything with bugs...

...adding sea grass to the opposite wall, using decorative lucky Indian elephants (one of my faves) as towel holders...among other things. She actually did so much more, but I retained a lot of it, and you'll see it when I show the bathroom in its current state, so I'll save that for another day!

And finally, the last of the three rooms off the "hallway" (I keep calling it that in quotes because it is seriously only like four feet long), the master bedroom. Sky-blue ceilings again, in a really nice hue, and ample room. I love the bamboo privacy covering over the window, which they left for me, as well as the bedside lamp sconces, which are also still around.

More views of the bedroom. As you can see, easily enough space for a large dresser...

...and even a second dresser! Plus a table, more artwork, etc. And of course, the view of my beloved garden from the window at left, such a joy for me to behold.

Okay, leaving the master bedroom, and walking back through the living room and to the dining room at the back of the house. This is the wall on your left as you enter...

...and this is looking straight back at the garden and garage. Such lovely natural lighting for meals!

And finally, this is the view to the right as you walk in. Behind the bookshelf is another gorgeous leaded-glass door, also original, that leads to the den on the other side of the wall, and I'm seriously contemplating opening up the space by having the painters free the door and remove the drywall from the other side. We shall see...

You can also see the leaded-glass door to the far right in this photo, there are two, they are very handsome, and you can close off the dining room entirely using them, though they are really just for decorative purposes. They were also originals, and were once the actual back door to the house in some very long-ago incarnation before an addition was built that included the master bedroom, dining room and den. I just love them!

Leaving the dining room, and moving back through the living room and into the kitchen. (You can see the lead-glass door leading to the dining room in the background to the left). I am standing all the way in the kitchen now, facing back towards the living room (to the left) and you can also see the entrance to the den (to the right). You can see how tight the kitchen space is, but it works for me somehow, I have never really wanted one of those HUGE gleaming kitchens. I like everything within reach and simple, because I'm just THAT kind of a cook (if you can even call me a cook. Bring on the Easy Mac and the microwave)!

Anyhow, this little inside wall of the kitchen houses just the sink, dishwasher and some cabinetry, including two adorable spice cabinets that are attached to the wall. The door leading the living room can actually be swung shut and child-proofed if I ever need Ayize out of the kitchen. I like that option!

And the outside wall of the kitchen forms an L-shape, with the fridge (not pictured), the stove, and a long Formica counter, plus way more cabinetry than two human beings could ever possibly require.

Ha ha you can see the owner custom-painted the stove to match the rest of the kitchen sponge-painting, and the cabinets have red handles to match the crimson color of the ceiling (see previous photo). The whole kitchen decor is a bit overwhelming to me, but I will probably just make small changes (paint the cabinets a flat white or some such), because despite the sponging mania which makes me feel like I've time-warped back to the early 80's, there's also something really charming about the kitchen. So I'm sure I'll be able to figure out a happy medium eventually. For now, I'm happy to just sit and think about it...for as long as it takes.

This is the den, a really nice back room that is flooded with sunshine during the day and cozy at night. It has views of the garden through four huge windows, and although I am not a big fan of carpeting, it works for me for now until I can figure out a better (Weeman-friendly) option. Wee is a good boy but sometimes -- particularly in severe weather -- his housebreaking leaves a lot to be desired, and since this room is easily enclosed when we are away, it will probably require hard, easily-cleaned flooring!

Anyway, I'm a big fan of the den.

Here it is from a different angle, there is a utility closet as well (you can kind of see on the left), plus room for this custom-fit computer desk, which they thankfully left for me. The shelving space for CDs above the desk is actually courtesy of a drywalled, painted renovation done over the back of the old leaded-glass door (the one I talked about in the dining room). I really want to find a way to open that up. I think it will open up the whole space even more delightfully! But we shall see...

Dog towel holders by the back door LOL!

A view of the garden and garage in the dead of winter. I loved it even then, buried under the snow and cold...just wait til you see it now!

Anyway, inspection over, I left the house with a lot to mull over. There were a ton of home improvements both required and recommended -- typical for any 90-year-old house -- but I was also even more charmed with the house than I had been before. A dilemma to be sure. Anyway, my mind churning, I raced down the street to Rebecca's to pick up Ayize, praying he had behaved himself commendably during my lengthy absence.

I was overjoyed to hear a glowing report from Rebecca, apparently, he and Colin had been having a real love-fest! Here, you can see Ayize alternatively trying to feed Colin his sandwich and dispensing smooches in between the poor guy's bites.

I collected Ayize and as we turned to depart, I saw that sweet old Otis was happy to take over where Ayize had left off.

I thanked Rebecca profusely and headed out the door, my thoughts racing about all the possibilities I needed to ponder in the days ahead.

Yowzas!