The house we're looking at belonged to Dr. William A. Mudd and was built in 1860. (It's a historic house and even has a plaque in the front yard!!!) You can see some pictures of the house by clicking here. The original structure consisted of just the two front rooms of the house--then the other parts were added on later. William Mudd's father, Dr. Henry Mudd, was friends with Abraham Lincoln and was excused from official service during the Civil War after he agreed to give medical treatment to both Confederate and Union soldiers. William followed in his father's footsteps and became a doctor. The realtor said that supposedly William Mudd was related to the infamous Dr. Samuel Mudd who was accused of helping John Wilkes Booth escape after assassinating President Lincoln, but I was checking today and couldn't find any close family relations. But with a name like Mudd, surely they must be related somehow.
The house is in good shape for being as old as it is, but it has a few problems. It has a totally ghetto paint job inside, and the floor coverings in the kitchen and bedrooms are not tacked down to the floor. It has new electrical wiring and a new roof, but there is a small leak in the roof on the newest addition to the house. There is also a little water damage (it looks like some old condensation) beneath the linoleum on the kitchen floor, and there is a little bit of black mold around the storm door in the basement. That being said, at least the house has a basement! The house also has a lot of character. The kitchen wallpaper would have to go, and the ceiling panels in the living room and master bedroom would either need to be removed or covered up, but the house has amazing insulation. Their utility bills are 1/3 of what Greg and I are currently paying, and they keep their house 10 degrees warmer than we do!
Here is a list of pro's and con's for buying the house:
Pro's
- It has a basement
- Utility bills are 1/3 as much as we are paying right now
- Our monthly payments on the house loan would be less than what we are currently paying for rent
- We could build up equity in the home
- It is a historic house
- It is a brick home and is very well insulated
- We would have an additional bedroom
- It would be our house
- We could make money when we sell it in the future
- It has a big bathroom
- We could have a little garden in the yard
- It comes with all of its appliances
- Did I mention that it has a brick-lined basement--good for taking shelter during tornadoes?
- It would be fun (though a lot of work) to fix up
Con's
- Owning it would tie us to Athens, and if we were to move in the near future, we would have to sell it
- It is old and could, at any time, have any number of problems
- Its furnace is kind of old and might need to be replaced in a few years
- It would need to be repainted and have the floor coverings fixed
- The mold problem around the door in the basement would need to be fixed
- We would need to make sure that the panels in the ceiling do not contain asbestos
- It doesn't have a garage
- It doesn't have a lot of closet space
What do you think?
4 comments:
When it comes to black mold, I would recommend running far away--especially when you don't have Riley around to say, "I'll clean it!" (like she did when Sarah and Joel found a black mold surprise while remodeling their old bathroom). Scary stuff. I do think all the cons sound like pretty major problems that you would have to seriously, seriously consider.
I once heard that you have to own a house for a minimum of 5 years in order to earn back your initial investment of closing costs and such. I am sure this fact is more true when the housing market is bad (like now) than it is when it is good. In the first number of years your payment is really almost entirely interest and so you won't be paying a lot of your loan value down--so in that sense you are just as well off renting. Like Lindy said, having dealt with the mold issue in the past, I don't know that it is something I would want to get invovled in again. I think we got lucky and it still cost us a whole lot of time and money (hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars). It sounds like the housing market in Athens is such that you could get a home without any problems for little more than this house and you would save money in the long run as you wouldn't have to pay for repairs. It is also surprising how many expenses come up when you own a home that you wouldn't expect. I am an advocate for home ownership as well, but these are things to consider. Good luck, whatever you decide.
My two cents - Paint is not a problem. It's probably the cheapest way to give a room (or multiple rooms, in your case) a face lift. Sometimes you can ask the seller to cover your closing costs. It's worth a try, especially if you aren't trying to low-ball them on an offering price. A couple of other things to consider with home ownership are property taxes and homeowners insurance, but with the asking price for the home, I can't imagine either would be terrible. Good luck, whatever you decide.
I am thinking along the same lines as those above. It's ultimately your choice and it is a cute house. My thoughts are that you don't know how long it will be until the market comes back up, and if your dream job comes available between now and then, you may not be able to sell it. More than that, however, is that it is always WAY more expensive to buy a house than you think. You've got the closing costs, fees, taxes, plus all of the repairs and replacements that need to be made (which would be a lot on a house that old). I really don't think it would get you anywhere financially. It's a general misconception that by paying rent you are throwing your money away. It's often much better to rent at a good price and stick away as much as you can so that when the time is really right, you have what you need to put down on a house and pay for those extra costs. Especially when you aren't even sure you'll be there longer than a year or two.
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