Pick a listing in your area, as close to home as possible and explain why you like it (or hate it!).

I will go first..



This one
Boott Mills, Lowell MA

Shorty and his girlfriend rent the studio apartment right below this one and are pining for it...

I think it is a bit overpriced as the owner is trying to get his original price back. It has been on a bit too long. Looking at the history makes me think the seller could be difficult.

But if the price were right, this is a great building, location on the river with views...Better than the one big room they have now for about what their current rent would cost.

What is for sale near you?

I have wanted this house since we moved here - when it was for sale for about $650K. (It was listed a few months ago as pending at 1.5 Million, but now is back on the market with a 200K price cut). It’s not really the house I want (though I really like the house) - it’s that last 15 or so pictures that I’m after.

https://www.bhhs.com/montana-p...E&PageSize=32&Page=1

Wow, Jodi. Look at all that luxurious interior space!

I'm happy enough where I am, while we're in Oklahoma. I do my recreational house shopping in areas where we might retire. With Muffin in NYC, one of the Quirtlets in Rochester, Quirt's mother in Connecticut, and my sister in Boston, we're looking at the Northeast. The question is when.

As of last month, we're both over sixty, so we could make the move within the next few years, but there's nothing really driving either of us to quit working. Quirt can work anywhere, so he could keep working after I retire, but his job is really stressful and I'm not sure either of us want him to keep that up indefinitely. My job isn't particularly stressful, but it's neverending. Nights. Weekends. Etc.

When I'm not teaching, I'm writing or working on promotion or doing other business-y stuff. (But not enough of the business-y stuff. I'm not good at it.) I can write as long as my wits are sharp. I can teach as long as my wits are sharp and I can haul myself to the front of a classroom. I just don't know how long I want to do it all. I'm hoping we'll wake up one day and know when it's time to move east and rest a little more. In the meantime, I house shop!

What a cool idea for a thread!

I found two listings.

This one is a classic 1700s farmhouse, very typical for this area. Some are completely rundown and trashed -- this one has been restored beautifully without being remuddled. I could do without the pool (just not a fan) but otherwise, I could move right in here. Our house was built in 1998 but tried to replicate many of these features (the big fireplaces in multiple rooms, the wainscoting, and the wide width floors) but there's nothing like the real thing! (Of course having lived in a circa 1800s house before this one, there's also nothing like wiring that's up to code and plumbing that isn't disintegrating inside the walls either.....)

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...38/2068571760_zpid/?


This one is actually walking distance to me, right on an old railway line that has been converted to a trail. It's an old hotel from when people from the city would take the train out to the countryside for their vacations. It's pretty trashed right now but if I had the knowledge/ambition/money, it seems like it would be a good choice to buy and renovate into a couple apartment units. At least I know I would have LOVED to rent in a building that like that when I was younger.

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...9438/82349267_zpid/?

I'm enjoying this thread, despite my "get the heck out of Dodge" mindset, so I'm going to color outside the lines a little bit and post a house that's in the general area of where we might retire.

Too expensive, of course, but it's really pretty.


It's nice to dream.

What a great thread!

No longer local, but I got notice that this Eichler house just sold. You might remember that we owned a very similar house from 1976 until about 2000. As I recall we paid $78K for it.

Quite a contrast to the houses seen so far and the amount they got for it is - especially in that neighborhood. This one does have a much larger lot with a tennis court and a swimming pool.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Oran...t-92869/home/3421717

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
I have wanted this house since we moved here - when it was for sale for about $650K. (It was listed a few months ago as pending at 1.5 Million, but now is back on the market with a 200K price cut). It’s not really the house I want (though I really like the house) - it’s that last 15 or so pictures that I’m after.

https://www.bhhs.com/montana-p...E&PageSize=32&Page=1

Super nice house Jodi. But that place is *so* exposed to the wind. Like where we are now. Trust me, you don't want that.

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

Super nice house Jodi. But that place is *so* exposed to the wind. Like where we are now. Trust me, you don't want that.

I was going to ask about that. Don’t people plant windbreaks these days?

We've been looking at places in the southern Berkshires--our plan B if Missoula real estate continues to be so ridiculous. As things stand now, we can get more for our money just about anywhere else. Including very hot/expensive markets. But I can't show examples now. Maybe later tonight.

Great thread idea!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

Super nice house Jodi. But that place is *so* exposed to the wind. Like where we are now. Trust me, you don't want that.

I was going to ask about that. Don’t people plant windbreaks these days?

At these elevations, and with the soils and aridity we have, planting a windbreak in these circumstances is a challenge.

Yes, it does get windy up there. But the views are spectacular! I’m super curious as to why the pending sale fell through. (The price increase on that place is insane!)

What's not to like?

https://www.cincinnatimodern.c...Bedrooms-USD935-728/

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Yes, it does get windy up there. But the views are spectacular! I’m super curious as to why the pending sale fell through. (The price increase on that place is insane!)

Next time I want views I will get them facing away from the prevailing winds, up against a southeast facing hill. Our just downhill neighbors have a drastically different climate than we do.

I like to look, but I don't want to leave my place.
Many factors will compel me to leave, but it will not be easy.