I came, I saw, I...don't know...

Well, we did it!  Traveled ten hours to visit the potential dream house for sale in Pennsylvania.  My husband was driving from Tennessee to New York anyway, so I went with him and we took a detour through New Castle to officially look at the house.  We spent the day checking out the house and the town, then the next day he drove on to New York after dropping me off at the Pittsburgh airport to fly home.

And - it the house was EVERYTHING I had hoped it would be.  And then some.  It was a dream house for sure.  In fact, seeing it live made me love it even more.

Not only is this a magnificent house - really, just a giant piece of art - but it has barely been altered since it was built in 1912.  Old house lovers understand what a big deal this is.  Almost all the original parts are still there.  No one painted the woodwork.  No awful renovations to undo.  And the woodwork and floors, etc. are still all in amazing condition.  It is a solid house.  Made out of the best of everything.

I'll share a few highlight pics from my personal tour:

I could hardly believe I was actually standing in front of the house I've looked at in pictures dozens of times.  It is *beautiful.*

There are 16 fireplaces in the house; I was told all work (allegedly).

I was also told the current homeowners (who have lived there 25 years) only ever used a couple of them, because 16 is a lot to take care of if you don't need them (my assumption).

Each one has unique tile patterns.

I believe this one is from a child's room.

The third floor of the house is the servant's quarters.

All through the house these original calling systems are still intact, though I don't think they work anymore.

Just about every room has a beautiful window seat like this.

I couldn't believe what good condition the woodwork was in.

So I found out where the elevator goes to!

I had seen it a photo in one of the solariums on the second floor.

It goes down to the outside, next to the carriage entrance.

"What do you think this is?" the realtor asked us about this untouched contraption in an upstairs bathroom.

Here's a clue: the hole at the top is where your head sticks out.

If your guess was "old school sauna" you would be correct.

This is a sauna heated by about 40 vintage lightbulbs.

I cannot even imagine...

Outside underneath the stone gazebo were two baby deer.

Apparently they are regular visitors.

This was strange, since the house is in the center of town.

And here is the indoor heated pool, with no water (obviously).

We were told it's been in continuous use, but the last time it was drained the owners did not refill as they knew they were planning to sell the house.

Here is a picture of the carriage house from the yard.

The apartment above the garage is a shambles.  (Project!😊)

The landscaping looks like it hasn't been done this year; there is a stone wall in a rectangular shape in the above photo that is full of grass.  I assume there used to be a garden inside.

I can make that happen!

Here is a view of the house from the side yard.

*sigh*

There is a church next on this side of the house.  Not a bad neighbor.

The front porch is quite large and there is beautiful detail (woodwork, stonework, tile) every place your eye goes.

Here is a photo of a room in the carriage house apartment.  It only looks lit because of the flash from my camera.  It was totally dark up there; all the windows were boarded up and there is no electricity turned on.  You can see there is still beautiful woodwork, though!

I wonder how it got to this clearly distressed state?  I think the house went up for auction in the 1960s and the windows may have been taken out then. (?)

The current owners never bothered to restore it as the house was plenty big enough without the huge garage apartment being necessary.

There is a double sided fireplace in the apartment that's viewable from two rooms. 💗

Yes, it was the house of my dreams.  So here's the catch: New Castle.

As it turns out, apparently no one online has anything nice to say about New Castle for a reason.  As we interviewed a lot of random New Castle residents on the city we got a lot of negative feedback.  The main reason?  Drugs.  Apparently there is a significant drug problem in New Castle and all of the issues that go with drugs are problems there.  And we were told that the neighborhood and street that the house is on (apparently one of the better neighborhoods in New Castle) is not good at all.

The problem, according to one lady we spoke with, is that years ago as the original millionaires were abandoning the city and the economy was slowly going downhill, the city council in New Castle allowed many of the bigger old homes to be divided into multiple apartments.  So now instead of the beautiful old houses attracting single family units, it's multiple lower-income families in each house.  And that has changed the feel and atmosphere of the neighborhood as much as you imagine it would.

Many of the apartments on the street are HUD housing, so some of the problem tenants are difficult to relocate.

Not everything everyone had to say was bad though.  But the main consensus: New Castle isn't bad as long as you don't live in the city.  Which is bad news for this house.

I have witnessed right house, horrible location so many times now it's frustrating.

If only people didn't like New Castle because it's small.  Or boring.  I'm sure I could tolerate either of those just fine.  But possibly dangerous?  I'm not sure.  That's the part I'm not too clear on.  It's obviously a somewhat troubled area, but how bad it actually is I'm not too sure.

Meanwhile, I haven't stopped thinking about this house.  Worth it?  I don't know.

an honorable mention

This old house search has been going on for a long time.  A LONG time.  The housing market is awful.  Interest rates are high.  It's been awful for a long time and there hasn't been much to choose from, as far as old house inventory.

Last year I did find one that I felt was a contender.  It was forty minutes from our current home, in a much smaller town, which will probably grow as the rest of Nashville has and become a good investment.

But this house was a real mixed bag, and my husband was not interested.

Would you like to see it?

I really liked the Victorian look and huge porch of this house that was built in 1900.  It sits on almost two acres, and the yard had lots of potential.  Such a big yard, yet it was close enough you could walk to "downtown."  There is also a police station down the block - not a bad neighbor!

Here's the entrance.

So what was weird about this house?  Well, everything.

Apparently this house was purchased several years ago and was remodeled from a single family home to a group home.  It was clear that the only consideration in the renovation was cost of materials - only the cheapest possible materials were used.

I counted at least seven different floorings used (see pic above).

And note the exit sign above the font door - there are commercial signs built in throughout the house.

Other remodeling "highlights:"

all the woodwork in the house was painted white (*sigh*),

many of the old windows were missing and

pocket doors were removed (see above) in an awkward attempt to add another bedroom by putting in a single door.

Of at least five fireplaces that I remember seeing, they all appeared to be blocked and non-functioning.

It was clear that function was the ONLY consideration - beauty didn't seem to be a factor at all.

Above you can see the kitchen layout was totally weird; again, I'm sure whatever was cheapest to do dictated the decision making.  Since this was a group home, there were ovens on both sides of the kitchen.

Here was what was formerly part of a wrap-around outdoor porch, enclosed and turned into a long and narrow sunroom.  A second kitchen was then added.

Upstairs: more white paint and cheap modern flooring.

I didn't post the photo, but the upstairs also has a bathroom with one toilet, two showers and three sinks.

The curb appeal and location/lot of this house are it's best features.  The house is just shy of 4,000 square feet with a separate two car garage and shed, so it also has a good amount of space.

But wow, was the interior all over the place.

According to the realtor, it functioned as a group home for less than two years.  So, all those renovations for what?  I asked the realtor if the remodeler had saved any of the old house features - it's windows or pocket doors or original light fixtures, etc.  She asked and the answer was no.  All that stuff just tossed in a dumpster.

So in the end, there were two main drawbacks.  One was that the house contained almost nothing original.  The second was the price.  This house was listed at $695,000.  That's about $30,000 more than my dream house from the previous post. I know this is Tennessee, but $695,000 for this mess?

I've been looking for a project house, but this project would be EVERYTHING.  It would be sourcing old house features and then putting them back in.  Although the house is move-in ready, everything would need to be undone and then redone.  Which would be kind of fun.  But really expensive, especially considering that the house is WAY overpriced to begin with.

Even I'm not sure I want a project that big.  Especially while I'm living in it.  Though I could see potential (I always can), this was a big no from the husband.

And the saddest part of it all is that the house was dismantled for seemingly no good reason.  Once they're gone, you can never get them back again.

I really wonder who is going to buy this house...I was told the way too high price was partly because it could operate as a commercial property.  But this is a very small town for a business, and what doctor's office would want to have to maintain a nearly two-acre lawn?  The house is WAY too random and ugly to be a bed and breakfast, so....who is going to buy this messed up house?

Time will tell.

I think I'm in love...

It has been a while, but I need somewhere to process my thoughts right now...I think I'm in love.

With a house. 💗

I've been looking for my "forever house" for a while now - at least five or six years, seriously.  My husband and I have lived in our current house for over twenty years, since we watched it being built.  And that's the whole problem: it's a new house.  (Well, technically, I guess it's not really new anymore, but my point is, it's not old.)

I have ALWAYS wanted to live in an old house.  I love old houses.  I love historic architecture, antiques, vintage things, really anything with a past and a history.  And as much as I've enjoyed where I've lived, I'm ready to move on; I've been ready for a while.

While I LOVE The House of Goodwill (love, love, love it) - it's merely a vintage house (built in 1974).  It's not really old enough.  I have always wanted to live in an OLD house.  And as I'm getting old myself, I better find one soon.

The problem is, so many people have moved to Tennessee, that the real estate market has shot way up.  So everything I'm interested in - an old project house on more land - has pretty much already been bought by a developer, so it seems.  And lots of them were converted into "new" old houses (yuck!) or else they are just way too expensive.  And our next move will be big, so I'm not ready to commit to another house unless it's THE house. 

So anyway, the big news is: I've found a house.  I just haven't seen it yet in person.

That's because it's not in Tennessee, a state I never thought I'd leave.  While I've loved living in Tennessee (in particular the zero state income tax and low property taxes), the area we're in has changed a lot since we first arrived.  And not for the better, in my opinion.  More people, more traffic, more crowds...it just was never my dream to live in a busy suburb.  I'm more of a small town girl.

Because I love real estate, and looking at old houses, I was randomly surfing a real estate site that lists only historic properties, and I was looking at Pennsylvania, a state I've lived in before.  And that was where I saw it.  THE house.  I could not believe the listing, and as soon as I saw it, I started researching the area.

I could go on and on.  But would you like to see it?  This house has everything!  All the old house features I've always dreamed about, and more!  Here we go!

Yes, it really is 9500 square feet.  Quite possibly way too big.  The size is definitely not the appeal.  But this house is just so beautiful.  This house in Nashville would be multi-millions of dollars.  The price is a steal!  It was built in 1912 as a wedding gift for Grace Johnson, the daughter of an oil baron.

I love the stone and all the old windows.  The mansion is considered to be an "eclectic" style.

Here is the living room with a beautiful built-in window seat and built-in bookcases.  This house has sixteen fireplaces!  I wonder if any of them work?

Ok, so this is the library, built with imported pink marble from Spain.  On the opposite wall of the stairs is a fireplace.  Finally, a house that could fit all my books!

Here we have the second floor sunroom (there are four solariums in the house) or sleeping porch.  Can you imagine sitting in here during a cozy rain shower or snow storm?

This is the first floor sunroom, or breakfast room.  Not only could this house fit all my books, but all my plants too! 🌹

This is another of the home's solariums, I posted this one because it has a picture of - get this - the elevator!  (Currently not functioning I was told, but a solvable problem!)

I love this photo because it shows off the beautiful woodwork, which is all through the house.

Here's a photo of the outdoor pergola.  The outside of the house has just as much beautiful detail as the inside.

Here is the two-story carriage house (fits nine cars) with apartment on top.  The structure to the left is the greenhouse (in need of new glass).  The carriage house needs to be finished inside, so I was told.

Here's another photo of the outside.  Even the clay tile roof is beautiful!

I've seen more than one hundred photos of this house online, but those are some highlights.  I've studied the history, searched out the town, talked to the realtor, learned everything I could about this property and place.  All that's left now is to see it, and that should be two weeks from now.  I can't wait!  We'll see if the "good on paper" house lives up to real life dreams fulfilled.

What else to know?  The house is on 1.3 acres on a street with many other beautiful historic homes.  Not the acres I was hoping to find in my next property, but the house is so beyond anything I've ever imagined that I think I could live with 1.3 acres.  I think it would be enough to contain my garden (I've got big dreams), and the four indoor solariums and greenhouse to redo would enable me to enjoy all my plants year-round.

The yard also has a pond and creek, and there's an outdoor fountain in one of the covered porches.  The master bedroom has it's own balcony and did I mention the heated indoor swimming pool in the basement?

This could be a house I would move for.  A house so amazing I would toss aside all my assumptions about the future to change course and live there.  It's not the size.  (It might be too much.)  It's the details.  It's the stained glass windows, the woodwork, the stone, the greenhouse, the history.

The downsides?  We'd be leaving a state with no income tax for a state with.  Also with high property taxes.  Not to mention that the cost of utilities in this house is sky high.  Oh, and back to winter six months a year!  There's one other big downside - no one online seems to have anything positive to say about New Castle, PA, where the house is located.  Hence the price.  

Looking at New Castle online, it's a town full of incredibly big, beautiful historic homes for low, low prices.  I'm looking forward to seeing it live.

And then I'll know.