Real Estate..Show Us Your Local Listing

14 January 2022, 10:59 AM

Staten Island house

This is an arts and crafts house near us. It is unusual in that it’s A&C in a neighborhood of Victorians.

We toured it once when it was previously for sale. It had built-in original cabinetry, and I think some of that has since been removed. At the time, the rooms seemed on the small side. It is at a fairly busy intersection.

They’ve put in a backyard pool. Not sure that is value-added in this climate. And part of the property is listed as buildable, which I strongly doubt, since we are in a historic district that forbids that.

I will try to attach my own photo of the exterior. It looks much nicer than the ones on the site.

14 January 2022, 01:11 PM

ShiroKuro

I like the inside of the Staten Island House, but the outside looks terrible!

A lot of people don't seem to realize that plants and trees around a house, esp. those that are close to the house, need to be pruned back. I bet the house would look waaay better with some very aggressive pruning, and maybe even tree removal. And that would probably increase its selling price too.

14 January 2022, 01:13 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
Listing says well and septic.

Wouldn’t be my choice, especially not in retirement.

14 January 2022, 01:13 PM

ShiroKuro

The Findlay Mountain Rd house has two pianos!

/onetrackmind

14 January 2022, 01:23 PM

AdagioM

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
I like the inside of the Staten Island House, but the outside looks terrible!

A lot of people don't seem to realize that plants and trees around a house, esp. those that are close to the house, need to be pruned back. I bet the house would look waaay better with some very aggressive pruning, and maybe even tree removal. And that would probably increase its selling price too.

I love all the dark woodwork/windows. My downstairs living areas are like that. But I agree, I’m feeling smothered by trees and shrubbery on the outside of that house!

14 January 2022, 01:52 PM

wtg

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
The Findlay Mountain Rd house has two pianos!

/onetrackmind

I thought you might be the first to notice that....

14 January 2022, 02:42 PM

piqué

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Pique, I see both an oil tank and a propane tank in the pictures, and I’ll bet it’s also on well. Septic tank is a given.

Country living is great but I prefer city utilities.

I guess it depends on the city. Helena's city infrastructure is very old. Many of the houses we looked at in town had sewer lines that were failing--a $50k repair at the time. Our well water doesn't need to be filtered, tested completely safe, and is delicious. The city's water is awful.

In Missoula, when I sold my house the inspection revealed the sewer line was failing. And the city took over the water company and now charges an absolute fortune to provide water that tastes awful and has been chlorinated.

If you have your well system inspected annually and have your septic emptied every five years, there should be minimal issues.

14 January 2022, 02:46 PM

piqué

Love the SI house by Joe's place, but I would not want to pay to heat it!

14 January 2022, 02:50 PM

wtg

quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
this one is just the other side of the state line. so much, much more for our money here! really feels strange because it used to be that montana was the cheap place to buy. i love the looks of this place.

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...12136/30002247_zpid/

Has some very nice features. Am guessing it's a flip; it sold about a year ago for $160K.

Looked up taxes on county assessor site, only info available is back in 2009. Taxes were like $4200 back then and the house (not including land) was assessed a little over $160K. I would expect the taxes to be quite a bit higher with the renovations, and Zillow's estimate of $625 a month seems to reflect that.

14 January 2022, 04:29 PM

Mikhailoh

quote:
Originally posted by AdagioM:

Mik, come buy wine! I think we’re thinking of the same place; nice people running that shop.

Indeed. It's Great Wine Buys. I still have them ship me a case or two of Oregon pinots every year.

14 January 2022, 04:47 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by piqué:
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Pique, I see both an oil tank and a propane tank in the pictures, and I’ll bet it’s also on well. Septic tank is a given.

Country living is great but I prefer city utilities.

I guess it depends on the city. Helena's city infrastructure is very old. Many of the houses we looked at in town had sewer lines that were failing--a $50k repair at the time. Our well water doesn't need to be filtered, tested completely safe, and is delicious. The city's water is awful.

In Missoula, when I sold my house the inspection revealed the sewer line was failing. And the city took over the water company and now charges an absolute fortune to provide water that tastes awful and has been chlorinated.

If you have your well system inspected annually and have your septic emptied every five years, there should be minimal issues.

If you like the cost of replacing a sewer lateral (and $50K is absurd - I could have one hand dug to 10 ft. for 1/10 of that - and did on the last flip house), you’ll love what it costs to replace a leach field.

Plastic pipe is cheap.

14 January 2022, 05:28 PM

ShiroKuro

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
The Findlay Mountain Rd house has two pianos!

/onetrackmind

I thought you might be the first to notice that....

You know me well!!!

16 January 2022, 08:36 AM

Steve Miller

Plenty of space. 42 bathrooms.

16 January 2022, 10:18 AM

ShiroKuro

Gross!

17 January 2022, 10:39 AM

Amanda

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Plenty of space. 42 bathrooms.

Hilarious. Two bathrooms/bedroom?? How? Why?

Lots of intriguing amenities (a moat? Kind of neat idea but how to keep it clean? Picturing lots of drowned animals in it - and more.)

One feature alone tells me the architect/decorator (and sculptor) have appalling taste:

That "sculpture" - looks exactly like the popular poop emoticon (only slimmed down).