h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm going to post here any thoughts pertaining to the house hunt as well as links to homes we like, whether or not we're even considering them.

This one's really nice, a half mile or so east of where we are now. The monthly payment is a bit more than I'd like, though:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3019470054-4232-N-Sawyer-Ave-Chicago-IL-60618

That's my idea of a stereotypical American house, but I didn't think they had them in the big northern cities. It's rather beautiful.

same for me, that is what I imagine when I think of a house in America. I'd love to live somewhere like that.

I'll add a me, too to the above then!

Blame Hollywood, all those shots of suburbia and kids on bicycles lobbing newspapers through the front window...

Love the living room.
Kitchen - assume it is a tad small cos that is a very odd place to put a fridge - presumably there was nowhere else it would fit, which could be annoying? Plus seems rather lacking on storage (noting rack by the fridge). Finish round window on LHS seems a bit rough but can't tell if it is just overpainting on the frame or actual rough plaster as well. Whatever, indicates decoration by someone not overly careful or attentive of detail, which would make me want to check any DIY signs around the place...

Bedrooms look great, love the size of the main two although 3rd one isn't really a bedroom.
Master en suit - nice, but no shower?
Or do they tend to split them up? The other bathroom seems to be just a shower - very nice too.

Nice size garden and seems to have been reasonably well kept in the past. Deck nice too, but rather overlooked and not much of a view. You'd kinda be on display to the rest of the neighbourhood on there!

But all in all, looks very nice!

Bearing in mind we're not even considering looking at that one (I don't want to pay that much, at least not right now)... this one is fairly typical of a city home that's been updated fairly recently. It's perhaps a little bit bigger than some. (Also I prefer brick or stucco to wood, but that's neither here nor there)


Bathrooms in most homes here tend to either have a tub with a shower head over, a sink and a commode. Master baths often have a jacuzzi type tub and separate shower stall, or just the regular arrangement. What we call a half-bath here would have either just sink and commode, or sink, commode and shower stall.

Lack of storage is bad... though a house with a basement has lots of space for dumping stuff.

Most city homes, even newer constructions, have kind of smallish kitchens. I can cope with them, though I prefer bigger ones.

That really is a pretty house, isn't it? I liked seeing the photos and thought you all might, too.

That said, if we don't buy my uncle's house when he moves later this year, I think we are going to wait out the actual end of our lease in April 2012. Maybe we'll get a house for my 40th birthday the following month. I think I'd rather that than risk paying a lot of extra rent and legal fees for terminating the lease early. We'll see.

But looking at places like this, in addition to the fixer-uppers and the homes obviously owned by older people, with lots of vintage stuff that hasn't been updated in decades, gives me a lot of ideas about what I like, want and need. So all of your input gives me things to think about- thanks!

I think the master bath in this one has a shower head over the tub, on the end that you can't see in the photo. Agree about the deck- I'd be unlikely to use it for much because I wouldn't put a grill so far from the kitchen and that'd be most of what I wanted with a deck.

I love the flooring in that one, and that they retained the original stained glass where it is, and the fireplace. I like it when people update without gutting all of the little things that give a place its character.

The place I wanted had an offer made on it while K was still out of work, so we won't be getting that one.

Oh and I promise not to post EVERY house I see for the next year and a half.

aw go on!
I love looking at houses!

Nice house - but small kitchen.

How come so many USonian houses have an abundance of bathrooms but rather smallish kitchens? Do you bath more than cook? Not that I mind large well equipped bathrooms.

Guess the deck could be turned into outdoor spot for the kittehs with some netting and such.

I just found the kitchen strange as one of the ex-pat in UK complaints you here is that our kitchens are too small.

I still think bunging the fridge in front of the window is a bit odd though, even in desperate measures. Surely stick it in the corner and the less bulky rack in its place?

I grew up in a house with a huge kitchen and just two bathrooms, so I guess it varies. Our current place would have a tiny kitchen except that the third bedroom was removed and the kitchen is the whole back now. We only have one bath, which is one reason I'm about ready to move on.

Tiny kitchens annoy me, to be honest. And I totally agree about bunging stuff in front of windows. It's a pet hate of mine.

But looking at photos and touring the homes is fun, and gives me a good idea what I *don't* care for. Like tiny kitchens.

We don't want any more than two baths, actually. Too many toilets to clean.

You'd hate my kitchen, it's minuscule: about 6 and a half foot long, 5 foot wide.

we have a tiny galley kitchen too, and unfortunately our fridge/freezer has to go in front of the window. But we have the most enormous picture windows all over the house so there's no loss of light.

whereas my kitchen is uselessly long. About 16ft long, but the first 8ft is only 5 and a half ft wide. Then it opens out. Of course, all the kitcheny stuff (sink, fridge, cooker, storage) is at the wider end. So you have to go through the 8ft narrow bit to get to the useful bit.

Luckily, being a singleton, this means I have a nice useful area to dismantle, clean and reassemble motorcycle parts. Although even then, it would be more useful if I could do that at the far end near the back door and not traipse oily gunky stuff through the food preparation area. Mind you, to me, food preparation = get it out the freezer and bung it in the oven for half hour or so.

I'm such a catch aren't I?

I'm sure you are!

I think our kitchen is about 19 X 12 or so, but I'd have to measure again. Luckily it's perfectly square. Then again, we don't work on motorcycles so we don't need a staging area for parts... but I'd like a spot to put K's drums rather than on the back porch.

How can it be perfectly square if it's 19x12?

That's what I like about my current flat. It's only one room, but has a full-sized kitchen.

It's square shaped, not funny shaped (or long and narrow, etc). Not *precisely* square shaped. I haven't bothered measuring in over a year so I can't remember the exact dimensions.

I've had a one-room apartment before and the kitchen was virtually nonexistent, so that is definitely a good thing that yours is full sized!

Hopefully I'll have some free time at the office today to peruse house ads and post one or two back. If I stumble across anything obnoxious or spectacularly hideous I'll have to post it, too, for laughs.

Oh yes. I want to see the horrors.

of course, that's the best bit of it. You don't go to find a place you want, you go sniff at how other people live!

Loved that house too, must say. It was attractive and full of features without needing carbon-dating. Clean lines and bright and the upstairs rooms seemed particularly well done - the eaves weren't too droopy on top of things.

I think the kitchen in it is probably salvageable and I noticed that they have two dining areas which probably could be rearranged to suit you and cope better with the kitchen.

One good thing about timber-framed or brick houses is how relatively easy it is to move services during remodelling. Icelandic houses are usually concrete and moving anything involves a jackhammer and VERY understanding neighbours.

Oh, yes, more good stuff and way more bad stuff please. Nothing quite like vicarious house-hunting!

I much prefer brick- they tend to be better insulated (though not always, like in the case of the building we live in now ) and homeowner's insurance costs a LOT less than for wood.

I haven't received any new real estate listings today yet, but I'll keep trawling the sites I usually look at.

A few months ago we looked at an old convent the Archdiocese is selling off, after closing a church. The church itself was converted into what appear to be apartments, and the rectory into a single-family home. This convent was pretty cheap, really nice, and had central heat and a/c, but it had four floors, seven bedrooms and four baths. WAAAAAY too big for just us two. Though I got a kick out of the fact that the ironwork and stained glass had religious symbols in them- I dig that stuff in a tacky sort of sense.