The house saga is pretty much resolved, but I’ve gotten a bunch of questions about our former plans vs. what we finally did, so I thought a summary was in order.
Three years or so ago, we bought a lot – a beautiful treed lot in a quiet neighborhood – the lot where we planned to build our retirement home. In the ensuing years, we designed said retirement home, walked the lot many times, deciding where the house would sit. We modified and tweaked and rethought and generally came up with our perfect house. And we were happy.
A few months ago, with my transfer imminent, we decided to get started with a survey. Besides showing us the exact extents of our land, the surveyor was going to recommend where he thought the house should sit, and his company would design our septic system. From him we learned [cue ominous music] that in St, Mary’s county, one cannot build unless one is a licensed contractor. There went our hope of doing a lot of the work on our place.
Then there was the matter of the $10,000 impact fee imposed on all new construction in the county – before we could pull the first permits, we’d have to pay. OK, cost of living and all that – we weren’t happy, but we could deal. The search for builders began. Not a fruitful search, however.
St. Mary’s county is experiencing a building boom – it started about a year ago, and it hasn’t eased in the least. Contractors are having to bid on the services of subcontractors. Nothing keeps to schedule. Builders have more business than they can handle at the moment. We had trouble finding builders who’d even look at our plans. One guy took them, and that’s the last we heard. Another offered a “bid” of sorts – he quoted a starting price, not including a laundry list of items, no way to guarantee a price because of the necessity of bidding for subs as well as the skyrocketing cost of materials.
So we got discouraged and thought we might try condo living. The thought of being able to take off on the boat and not worry about our house while we were gone had a certain appeal. There was the matter of the condo fee on top of the mortgage, but we understood the necessity, so we found a realtor to show us a bunch of condos in a community in Solomons.
They were OK. Nothing special. Just apartments that one could buy. I wasn’t all that impressed with the workmanship, and some were downright nasty (like the former rental unit where the vinyl was peeling up in the kitchen and the wet bar) - after we saw 8 or 9 of them, we decided against condo living. The main driver was the fee - $450/month! We got to looking at how much more house we could buy if we increased the mortgage payment by $450, so we changed our tack.
We told our realtor we wanted 3/2, 2 car garage, and a basement, preferably in a no HOA neighborhood. This was an instance where a realtor really was necessary. Houses like we wanted would have multiple contracts on them the first day on the market – often within hours!! We’d find one on line and call about it, only to learn it had sold the week before. So Nina checked daily.
Our first time out, we looked mostly in Lexington Park and Great Mills – nice enough areas, but very desirable, so the houses were really overpriced and moving faster than they showed up for sale. There were a couple that had great promise on paper, but once we saw them, and in one case, smelled the place, we moved on.
Next outing was a little farther north in the county. That would shorten my commute, but it took us farther from the marina – good and bad. On this trip, we found one place we liked, but it was under contract. Supposedly the buyer didn’t have his financing lined up, so we wrote a backup contract. It was a smaller house than we wanted – no basement either, but the rooms were good sized, and there was a great workshop/garage with its own electric meter and a bathroom and an intercom connecting it to the house. Plus it had 2 really nice utility sheds – all this on a flat half acre. The neighborhood was quiet, and across the street was a county park, so there would be no construction.
After we submitted that contract, we drove back and drove around that neighborhood more – that’s when we saw the two duplexes right behind “our” house - they looked like they were rentals, and the properties were ratty. Plus the somewhat junky-looking place at the end of the street - we couldn’t figure out what all the buildings and vehicles were about. Suddenly, the house was less desirable, but we didn’t panic. And we made arrangements to see 3 more places still farther north.
Saturday, May 29, we met with Nina just before lunch. The first place we saw was on 2.22 wooded acres – the setting was lovely. The house was nice enough, but the owners had modified the plans to give a HUGE master bedroom and two tiny additional bedrooms. Plus it was a split foyer, which I really don’t like, and the basement was finished as the living room. We’d have had to build a workshop, or convert the garage to a workshop and build a new garage. Still, the price was right, so it was a good possible.
The next house was on 3 acres. On paper, it had all the features we wanted – 3/2, unfinished basement, 2 car garage, sheds, trees, no HOA, within 30 miles of my work and Steve’s, brick… Oh, but the décor. The owners were the builders and they’d been there 29 years. We saw a sign to indicate that the kitchen had been redone in 1977. The house was stuck firmly in the 70s. It was solid, but HIDEOUS!!! But the basement was amazing – 1682 sq feet, with a fireplace with insert at one end and sliding glass doors leading to the back yard. FCD drooled. This place definitely popped to the top of the list.
Last on the list was another place with a split foyer. It also had a huge garage – the owner ran his business out of it. Behind the garage was a shed and a kennel. The lot was 1.25 acres, nary a tree in sight. The owner met us at the door with a cigarette in hand and followed us around as we looked, and we looked FAST. One daughter was watching TV in the master BR, smoking away – gah! What a stink!! We asked a few questions, and got out of there post haste.
Our talk returned to the second house. Yes, the interior looked nasty. The kitchen needed a complete overhaul. All the carpeting had to go, and we’d want to replace the windows and the nasty paneling in the den. But it was a great house. It seemed solid and well-cared-for. The yard was lovely. It had a screened gazebo in the back, and a lot of the furniture conveyed as well as a freezer and all but the master BR drapes. The couple was retiring to Florida. Their name is East – ours is West. We just left Florida to retire in MD. Fate.
We wrote a contract, asking for an answer within 24 hours. The backup contract had not yet been presented, so Nina told the other agent to hold off a little longer. Plus we had a kick out clause as long as the shaky-financing contract was in effect.
We offered full price, no contingencies, to close on July 30. They countered by asking for Aug 16 as the last possible closing date, since they were having a house built near Orlando and they didn’t know exactly when it would be done. We agreed.
We bought a house. It’s 3/2, with a living room, dining room, and den with fireplace and insert. Bow window in the living room – 1682 sq ft living space matched by the same area for the basement. Oversized 2-car garage. Beautiful mature shrubs and trees. 2 sheds in the yard – fully fenced lot.
As soon as we close, we’re hosting an UglyFest. We just have to share this place in its hideousness before we redecorate. We’re also going to investigate whether we can sell off the back 1.5 acres. It’s a corner lot, so access is easy. We just don’t know if there’s a minimum lot size required there. If we can’t sell, that’s OK too.
So, that’s the story of our house search. We’re having it inspected this week, and barring unseen problems, we’re good to go. YAY!
