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.