Summer 2002: Offer, Contract, Closing

Note: this is a former static page that has been entered here. These events took place over the months of August and September of 2002.

I saw this listing in the Chronicle's list of open houses for August 18:

ALAMEDA $LOTS. SUN 2-4. 1878 italianate, over 2,000sqft, Lot is 7950sqft. Diamond in the Rough. Pocket doors, eat-in kit., 4+BR 2.5BA, Bay windows. Agt 510-865-3460

So we went to the open house. We figured it would be a real dog, but it was worth a look, if only for the huge lot. At the open house we discovered a few interesting things:

• The second parlour had been turned into a "master bedroom"
• There were two large bedrooms and one small one upstairs, giving us only 2+ bedrooms, not 4+
• The bathroom upstairs was only a half-bath
• The front porch was corded off and the steps were falling down
• Somebody had seen fit to put a huge plastic awning on the baack of the house

But the house had great bones, and we could see the extent of the damage. We decided to put an offer in, reminding ourselves that we were unlikely to get the house, given the market, but we would be kicking ourselves if we didn't put in an offer.

To our shock, after a bit of dicking around by Mindy Kane, we found ourselves future homeowners on a house we never expected we would get. Here are some photos from our first inspection:

The back of the house viewed from the yard

The collapsing front porch

Here's how the foundation is being held up

How not to repair a gas leak

An interesting choice of paint colour

posted by ayse on 09/25/02