Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

[Manalto]

Am I over thinking this...should I consider myself Fortune's Fool?

My suggestion is to check out Auburn Discount Fabrics. It's about 35 miles from you. The owner makes runs to New York and gets a wide range of fabric from high-end to low-end. Everything is $3 a yard. They may not have exactly what you want but inventory is constantly changing. Your visit to this store may also convince you that the UK listing on eBay is the right choice.

Overthinking is a fine quality in a person!

[Lily left the valley]

James, thanks for telling me about that place. The yelp reviews for it though...woooo.

Still have not heard back from the seller about the door curtain, and they even reposted the ad just yesterday. That's not inspiring a lot of confidence and making it easier to put off my decision.

I did end up spending a silly amount of time looking at possible vintage curtain styles for the kitchen windows. (We currently have zero up.) I did get some neat ideas of how to alter some vintage sheers I got in trade from my local favorite 2nd hand place a while back that I then stashed in a drawer and haven't really done anything with since.

That, of course, got me to thinking about paint colors for in there, all the bits and pieces that will need refurb...and how reticent my Floor Manager is about "losing" the kitchen during any process.

If I don't paint at least one room this fall, I think I will go mad. There's still too much blah beige everywhere. I did finally get him to agree on one paint chip color (the office), but no progress there yet. It doesn't help that the cheap single coat they did for the sale is cracking all over the place and even just plain falling off in some spots. I do like the old dining room color peeking through, so I may just get a bucket and junk sponge and start washing off the cheap coat of beige and see what things look like. It's either that or break my promise and start ripping off the rest of the cheap fake wood plank flooring in the dining/hall so at least the warm old red -oleum will be SOME color in those rooms.

That stashed curtains reminds me...Sean made an offhand comment when we picked up the doors recently about how the door collection is growing. I asked him, "Would you rather I collect shoes?" He laughed and said, "Nope."

[awomanwithahammer]

I know what you mean about painting. We built a house in the 80s and Bill didn't want me to paint walls any color but white, because "we have so much wood, so we need the contrast." After many years, I was going mad without any color, and I knew he wouldn't agree to any of the paint chips I presented. So I painted one...small...room...with color...without consulting him. When he didn't object, I branched out and eventually I got color in the whole house! I finally figured out why he didn't want anything but white, though. He's a preacher's kid, so he grew up in parsonages, where everything was bland and they weren't allowed to make changes. That's all he knew, so I had to educate him. He likes it now.

[Manalto]

White can be pretty harsh on walls. I like my rooms to be soothing. I'm glad you eventually got your way, Bonnie, even if it was through subterfuge.

Lily, I haven't looked at Yelp lately but a couple of years ago when I did the reviews were pretty harsh. Armed with that information, I went in and was exceedingly polite to the people that work there. They were helpful and kind, and we even cracked a few jokes back and forth. I think some places, for whatever reason, have a tendency to attract difficult clientele. (At the fabric store near me, owned by the same people as the Auburn location, a salesperson told me that a woman took her child into the corner to defecate.) You should be treated decently without having to coddle salespeople, but the Land of Should is an alternate reality.

[Lily left the valley]

So, the neighbor to the west told us their landlord is wanting to retire, and is going to sell the house. (He owns several properties.) He's given them a year to find another place to rent. She's despondent because she thought they'd be able to stay there long term, and now feels blindsided. They are older than us, but not like would need a retirement home in two years old.

I mentioned this to Sean, and he's rather interested in buying it. We had joked about buying the property if Sean won the lottery in the past when they used to have parties so often (before weed became legal). So now it feels sorta like...well why not consider this?

He's thinking we could continue to rent it to them until we pay the mortgage off, and then do one of a few things we had discussed in the past (usually after one of their late-late night parties) about what we could do if we bought it. It's also a possible place for my inlaws for retirement so we can be close by (they currently rent, close to where my MiL works, but there is no family nearby at all).

Whomever would live there, if we were to do this, it would pretty much double our property size, and then we could change what plantings as we saw fit, as well as remove some troublesome border trees/rocks.

I'm a bit concerned even if we can get a mortgage, that if anything happened to whomever we might rent to in order to help pay the second mortgage that would mean we'd lose it. Sean thinks if things go really south, at least we can let the bank take that one rather than this. But I don't think that's how it works when both are under mortgage.

He has one coworker that is well beyond retirement age with a lot of health issues, and should she finally retire or plain pass away while still working, it would bump him up to FT status, which would be a huge change in our financials. She's the one he had to cover her route for a few months last year when she had a heart attack and a stent put in.

To me, it's too many ifs. Yet who knows where things will be in a year's time? I'm thinking if we send the owner a letter signifying interest early next year, he might agree to a pocket sale. Of course he might also want a ridiculous sum for the house.

So I told Sean we'd need to at least save up a down payment, and that would mean tightening our belts if he doesn't get promoted anytime soon/I don't find additional work. He seems to think it'd be worth it even if things stay the same. I'm thinking let's see how the rest of this year goes, and how much we manage to set aside on top of the debt we've been paying down.

Time will tell, I guess?

[Manalto]

There's a long tradition in my family of having relatives in houses close by; it has worked out well in too many ways to list. A few friends have similar situations and the positives seem to far outweigh the negatives for them as well.

It's annoying not to be clairvoyant but the good news is, if you express an interest to the owner, there's no commitment and you'll able to change your mind if it doesn't feel right. Knowing the people who live there and have an intimate knowledge of the house is a big advantage. We can only proceed armed with the information we have today, with the understanding that Murphy's Law applies. In other words, I'm cheering you on and hoping that it works out that you are able to get the place next door. How do you like the house? Have you been inside?

[Lily left the valley]

There's a long tradition in my family of having relatives in houses close by; it has worked out well in too many ways to list. A few friends have similar situations and the positives seem to far outweigh the negatives for them as well.

It's annoying not to be clairvoyant but the good news is, if you express an interest to the owner, there's no commitment and you'll able to change your mind if it doesn't feel right. Knowing the people who live there and have an intimate knowledge of the house is a big advantage. We can only proceed armed with the information we have today, with the understanding that Murphy's Law applies. In other words, I'm cheering you on and hoping that it works out that you are able to get the place next door. How do you like the house? Have you been inside?

I agree fully about the benefits of being close to family. We did actually talk to my in-laws today, and they didn't jump on the idea, but it's definitely not a hard "no we won't move there" either. She's in an uncertain situation because part of her work has been within the D.C. area of late, but she also has steady online work which she can do anywhere. Stepdad-in-law is retired, and he goes where she goes. If she loses her used to be F/T contractor, now freelance contractor D.C. area work (downgrade due to budget cuts), that will cut her tether to that area. She knows we're in a lower COL area, and she can continue to do her online work as long as she wants from here. Given what she does, she could make up for the lost D.C. work here, possibly even with the same agency.

My in-laws current lease is up at the end of the year. Depending on what happens with her D.C. specific work in the next few months could be a deciding factor. The idea was floated that if they do come up, they can stay with us at Beebe for the interim until next door is a done deal or they decide to find another place close by if it doesn't work out for us to purchase it. One of our original intents in our home search was for there to be room for them, should they want it, when retired. So we have enough space if it comes to that short or long term.

I appreciate the cheering, and really all of your post.

How do I honestly feel about the house/have I been inside? It's a 750 sq. ft. 1947 simple long Ranch style with an unfinished cellar. The exterior and windows have been upmuddled. Since I have not been inside--only seen glimpses of two east rooms because our homes are 10' and maybe a bit more apart and they don't believe in keeping curtains closed all the time--and given what my neighbor has told me about the place, I expect very little extant detail worth restoring if anything.

The short answer is: as a rental to help pay the mortgage or potential inlaw retirement house, it will serve either purpose and we acquire the property.

The long answer is: In some ways, the house next door through no fault of its own is a nuisance. Yet one we can work with to make it less so. Whomever sited that house and/or did the landscaping was an idiot about exterior water management and consideration for full root spread of mature trees. Although owning the property itself will help us mitigate some of our own water management issues, with removal of some trees and part of the stone wall which really were just a "natural" fence jammed right in the middle of a 10' separation between the homes' respective foundations, I am not attached to it thus far in an old home sense...yet.

We have discussed possibly later turning/adding to the building a sort of combo out building. Garage/workshop/root cellar/pit greenhouse sorts of things. The garage would be especially good so we can fit both cars, and rip up our current driveway here which will allow for better grading (and plantings!) on the east side of the house, and we'd turn our current garage into a garden shed.

If the town does not allow us to skirt building code by way of owning both buildings, we may decide to later shrink the footprint/remove the first floor portion of the house (and donate whatever bits Habitat for Humanity wants), as that also has even more advantages for water mitigation. It would allow us to extend the overhang on all sides of Beebe when we redo the roof. Currently, due to code we cannot extend on the west side because there would no longer be 5' or greater to the property line as we have to the east. Since we plan to reveal Beebe's original wood siding down the road, that extra overhang would be helpful in protecting the wood siding; as well as our original wood windows; and of course water mitigation around the foundation. (Which reminds me, I need to post about a recent foundation discovery sooner rather than later.)
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It took me a long time to try to make my reply this succinct yet informative. I hope I succeeded. If further clarity is needed, ask away.

[awomanwithahammer]

If I were in the same situation, I would definitely try to buy the house, if at all possible. Even if you sold it later, you could still make the necessary changes (to code, of course!) that would benefit Beebe before you sold it. And if you could rent it or even offer it on Airbnb (if your town allows that), that would be extra income. I say go for it if you can!

[Lily left the valley]

If I were in the same situation, I would definitely try to buy the house, if at all possible. Even if you sold it later, you could still make the necessary changes (to code, of course!) that would benefit Beebe before you sold it. And if you could rent it or even offer it on Airbnb (if your town allows that), that would be extra income. I say go for it if you can!

Thanks, Bonnie. I totally hadn't thought about the fact that we could remediate to code, then sell later if needed! I've been so focused on extra garden space and the idea the inlaws could have their own place if they wanted it, I completely didn't think of that.

Airbnb...not so much even if it's allowed here. Way too many horror stories, even with us right next door as a better chance to catch them in the act. I mean, it's not like it's a historic mansion or we're in a tourist trap where 400 people show up to party when there was supposed to be a family of four, but still. Nope. Not for us. (It doesn't help that I grew up in a resort town. Some tourists think that gives them free reign for their worst impulses.)

[Munch517]

I'm all for buying another house, I plan on doing everything possible to buy 4 or 5 houses adjacent to mine if they become available at the right times, possibly for renting out or a bed & breakfast type of thing. Buying houses to rent is a fantastic way to build wealth if you can keep good tenants (a big "if", I know), you have someone else pay enough for all the bills and maintenance and you end up with a paid-for asset and maybe some monthly profit if you're lucky.