New York March NYC Meet-Up

So today is the day. They canceled the two Cyclotron runs today, so basically I went to work as usual, but put in for a last minute vacation day to free up my day. No stress and there seems to be a remarkable flow going on that I would say is "divine intervention."

A lot of my playful behavior as a 62 1/2 year old man is due to a sad childhood, that is why in a ways I never grew up. It takes one to know one, and the same kinda applies to "Maggie." We both grew up fast and sadly had to leave our childhoods behind.

So last night we kinda both got serious and grew up. The 1912 Victorian has us concerned because come September 2d it would have been listed for 2 months and no takers. This home has mucho potential, but Maggie was afraid of the possible unknowns. Also she said that it is so private and remote that she might feel isolated if I were not around.

Since I lived in a log cabin in the Santa Fe National Forest 47 miles from nowhere I kinda know about that feeling of if anything bad happens you are kinda alone. I respect these feelings.

Our backup house now is our favorite and first choice. In the same area, south Peekskill with the desirable better schools, a quarter mile closer to Metro North and town, but still mighty close to Blue Mountain Preserve.

The ranch is from 1950 and for decades out one floor living is an asset. Also I figured out that I would rather be printing, riding my bike, and playing guitar. This home is smaller and only 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths, but I have interior access to the basement instead of Bilco Doors.

The basement is already built out, but I would get rid of the bar and all the paneling that reminds me of the 70's. This house is more turnkey, it too has a back yard that is large and there is a buffer of trees that border 9A a two lane parkway that runs north-south along the might Hudson River. This is a really ideal basement for my studio, and basically it already has great bones.

"Maggie" wants to go "Country Cottage" get a farm sink, and update things, so I get to recycle all the modern funishings that go with a luxury Madhattan apartment. So the "Calzone" makes a comback, and this listening room with the retro tube glow surrounded with guitars, bass'es and amps along with a print studio and darkroom should be mighty productive.

Underneath the carpets in the bedrooms are hardwood floors. I would recycle the carpets for sound proofing for my music studio and listening room for my 300B tube mono blocks. Off the half bath I'll build out a nice darkroom, probably not as crazy as Dan's. Of course I'll also have my Piezography studio for digital.

So for the long-long term 3-4 decades out this home is kinda future proofed, while over the long-long term the bigger Victorian over time would of become a liability.

Call me a lazy-slacker but this is less of a project house. Also know that it stayed with one family since 1950. Not much side yard, but the backyard is deep and the house is set far back from the road also.

Peekskill is a post industrial town that fell into decay. It has a good amount of immigrants and poor people, and use to be a dangerous place to avoid. Some artist moved in... So basically Beacon is the same formula, but today in Beacon you are more likely to meet a hipster from Brooklyn. Peekskill is a little behind, but is closer.

On Metro North you see all these serious bikers with carbon fiber road bikes coming up from NYC to breath fresh air because Peekskill is only an hour trainride. It is somewhat know as the foodtown of Weschester, it has a live music scene, and an art community. All in all an almost Beacon that is closer to NYC and is more bike centric.

Cal
 
Out to Lunch said:
You are way off from buying anything. Just keep on looking. One day, you'll walk into a house and realize: this is the one. Cheers, OtL
Click to expand...

OTL,

What you said happened last Friday.

Today we are making an offer.

The "Ranch" was kinda future proofed because of one level living, but in the backyard I could hear the cars doing 45 MPH on 9A. It defeated the idea of having a back yard. Know that I currently live on Lexington Avenue so I'm very acquainted with "street noise."

So we tried to tone down the 1912 Victorian?/Craftsman. We went to view the house at 4:15 PM, and at that time the golden hour starts filling the Victorian's 24 windows (all new). Pretty much no home will be as great as this one with all the old details.

Know that I confirmed the rear of the yard is public land, and my suspision was correct: The back-backyard is a complete building lot where I could build another entire house. A survey from 1967 reveals that the front porch was open back then.

A quarter mile away down a one-way-in-one-way-out street is "The Hot Rod Hotel." This road flanks and skirts around my corner neighbor's house and it descends where it eventually becomes a wetlands of cat tails. The rear of my back-backyard (second building lot) has a steep drop off that is bluff/cliff like. The vibe on this road is way north upstate on a country road way rural, but you are in Westchester just north of NYC.

On the survey they show an extension of a road that was not built that today still does not exist. To build that road and make my back-backyard another corner lot does not seem feasible without doing a landfill and destroying a wetland. IMHO not cost feasible and it would not create necessarily more taxable property.

Seems like divine intervention. Recent new designer roof, new furnace, and I figure about $11K worth of brand new windows (24 of them). I just need a PE to report that the electrical and plumbing are durable and fine.

"Don't tell Maggie," but it looks like I can still build out a compound. I could do an off the grid timber-frame barn in the back that would have a solar array and be super insulated.

Cal
 
MrFujicaman said:
Never did understand why people would cover up beautiful hardwood floors with carpet!
Click to expand...

MFM,

Perhaps they are bald and don't shed hair worse than a dog like me.

BTW the floors on the first floor are narrow planks of clear "heart pine."

Reminds me of my loft in Williamsburg that had 7-8 inch wide, knotty heart pine floors that were distressed Formally the building was a burlap bag factory when men held hooks in their hand and used their backs to unload ships along the tough guy waterfront.

Think yellow, orange/red and amber.

Oddly the upstairs is just pain oak. My guess and Devil Christian thinks the Heart Pine is original and the oak is later and not period correct. Another possibility is that the heart pine was an upgrade to the original home when it was first built.

Augie
 
Cal, good luck with the house, and when everything is done, I hope there's
a place in town that we could all meet but the City whenever this corvid-19
is good too.
 
Cal, I understand heart pine better than you know. My Dad's house across the road was built from heart pine from a sawmill my grandfather ran from about 1910 to 1940. My grandfather told the workers to go to the mill and take only the very best of the wood to use. There's a family story that he fired one guy for using a board with a big knot in it.

The floors are all heart pine, the walls are heart pine.... My dad's childhood bedroom upstairs is all heart pine-floors wall and ceiling. Sleeping in that room is kinda like sleeping inside a wooden cigar box.
 
All of the sudden my home that languished and nobody loves has 5 people wanting to view it according to the listing agent. "Maggie" is a wreck.

We are the first to put in an offer. I hope that accounts for an advantage. Perhaps it will discourage some buyers.

We are also a buyer that has things verified, and are putting down a big down payment.

I hope this deal does not go down south.

I don't have that barn yet, "Don't tell Maggie," but at least I a nice two car garage. Funny thing is I don't own a car or truck.

I'm moving ahead and contacted a PE firm about the house inspection.

Cal
 
‘ All of the sudden my home that languished and nobody loves has 5 people wanting to view it according to the listing agent. "Maggie" is a wreck.“

Cal,,,, be careful the 5 new people wanting to view the house might be “Shills”.
It happens at the tables in Vegas all the time. You never really know who you are playing with or against. They maybe there just to drum up business.

I hope you get the house, sounds like it suits you and Maggie perfectly.
 
Calzone said:
All of the sudden my home that languished and nobody loves has 5 people wanting to view it according to the listing agent. "Maggie" is a wreck.

We are the first to put in an offer. I hope that accounts for an advantage. Perhaps it will discourage some buyers.

We are also a buyer that has things verified, and are putting down a big down payment.

I hope this deal does not go down south.

I don't have that barn yet, "Don't tell Maggie," but at least I a nice two car garage. Funny thing is I don't own a car or truck.

I'm moving ahead and contacted a PE firm about the house inspection.

Cal
Click to expand...


Cal,



Years ago we were bidding on a house, and were told by the listing agent that there was another bidder. We but in bid were told that the other 'bidder' had placed a higher bid, and responded. This went on for a few cycles and we gave up. Years later we spoke to another agent who we have used through the years and found out there was no other bidder, and in the end the seller had sold mouths later at ten's of thousand less than our first bid.


The house is worth what it's worth to you, and that's it. There will be another one if this one does not work out.


Joe
 
The mystery "other bidders" who suddenly pop-up when a house has been on the market for a while, may just be paid shills, if they exist at all, there to make you fear and hopefully raise your bid. Bid what it is worth to you and no more. If it doesn't happen, it was never meant to be.
Phil Forrest
 
Guys,

I thought of this too. Thanks for having our backs (Maggie and me). I mentioned this to Maggie, but she said it happened just after we viewed the house.

As police detectives say, "There is no such thing as a coincidence." So then I thought about the facts: the Victorian was first listed on July 2d; after a month being listed the priced dropped $20K; and then understand that Maggie and I called this a "Funky House" that would suit old hippies or an artist because of some unusual and odd features.

I was a bit worried and anxious, but Maggie and I agreed that the listing price would be our limit. If someone came along out of the blue then it was not meant to be. Our initial offer was a low one, and the game of a comeback from the seller is still under the listing price. Happy-happy. We met in the middle. So now we agreed and fixed on our offer, next is home inspection by a PE and that will happen this Friday or Saturday. We paid under the listing price.

Also this seller answered the questions we had in a rapid fashion. That's how I learned about the designer roof that is good for 30-40 years, the 4 year old oil furnace, and the mucho 24 new windows that I figured cost about $11K to install.

This heavy lifting made this home attractive to me because this owner and the earlier owner performed all the heavy and mucho expensive heavy lifting when updating and improving a old home that is more than a hundred years old. In a ways because of these strong bones the home is cheap.

The seller also sent us the utility bills on a spread sheet so we could calculate and crunch the numbers. How generous was that.

Then we were sent this 1967 survey document, and that is how we learned that back in 1967 the porch was open, and we learned the property is actually two full building lots. Don't tell Maggie but I am kinda serious about the barn. I priced two pre-fab timber frame kits: one is 24x30 for 720 square feet plus the loft; and the other a 20x40 for 800 square feet plus an additional 400 sq.feet half-loft and a 240 square foot "lean" to mount a solar array.

Might have to increase the size of the solar array to 20 Kilo watts, and the barn roofs is mighty big to support this. Makes sense to buy an electric Volvo or Volkswagon electric (Maggie dislikes Elon Musk). Only $32K for the 24x30, and $42K for the kits, but the shipping from Montana makes it a bit cost prohibitive. But then also realize that one of the major big box home centers already is interested in working with Maggie.

Perhaps I could get a deal on distressed concrete pavers to build out the patio Maggie wants, or a discounted Mitsubishi heat pump to heat the perhaps 18x18 or 17x17 foot double car garage to build it out as a studio. The house, although 4 bedroom and two full baths is only 1525 square feet, so pretty much the garage will be a garden studio with heat and central air. The basement isn't the best to do a "Crazy Dan."

The kitchen isn't a mess, but the layout screams for a makeover. The present kitchen 12x13 estimated by my arm spans has doorways that prevented creating a triangle with the stove, fridge and sink. To top that off there is no dishwasher. There is a radiator, and all these doorways that broke up that space to create a design challenge.

So the kitchen is one of the reasons for the lack of interest. Maggie figured out how an Island with a sink and dishwasher could create a "Kitchen Triangle" and I see how that can be done without any demo, and the existing tile floor can be saved. The kitchen will be "steamlined" and made simpler. Open shelving made of wood will replace some of the oak cabinets.

I will replace the ceiling with a metal tin ceiling in the kitchen. Maggie picked out this boutique Italian gas stove. She wants to make the oak cabinets white and wants a 30 or 36 inch ceramic farm sink.

In the end this will be a great kitchen. It looks like the sink and kitchen Island will line up with this double window that is on the side of the house, so the effect is as if it was designed and created to fit perfectly.

So here is the big reveal: this is a 1912 Victorian, which is not a true Victorian because it wasn't built in the 1800's, but in the detailing it exhibits mucho Craftsman styling. What is unusual is that the exterior is what they call "Pebble Dash" which is a stucco with natural pebbles imbedded. The lack of traditional wood lap siding also breaks the mold we think of when we think of Victorian, especially one with "walkouts" and a princess tower.

I don't think you could add any more windows. There are so many that I undercounted some. There are a few around the foundation for the basement. I think some or perhaps many might think the house is garish, but I guess that might be my style. LOL. Like me this house kinda stands out.

Devil Christian says that this is a durable siding if not damaged, and from my observations it seems intact. The house in the golden hour has an interior glow that I never experienced in any house, but my loft at time would catch that glow.

So in the end, the barn is a goal. Basically initially made into a studio/workspace, but eventually becoming a full blow off the grid home that is just a one bedroom/one bath.

Our 6 year old grand daughter already asked, "Are you going to get a pool?" She is a mermaid of sorts, so don't discount a 30-40 foot lap pool.

So how crazy is all this. All my saving and delayed gratification and living in a 650 square foot one bedroom Madhattan apartment with a Fashion Blogger is paying off.

Cal
 
Cal, there are Amish in NY and PA. One of the guys on Large Format Photography Forum had them build him a barn and they delivered it. It wasn't as big as what your talking about, but he was impressed with the quality of it.

Also,both Home Depot and Lowe's sell storage buildings-several models have lofts.

I was going to close this and then a thought hit me-since Maggie is a media figure, think about having her agent contact Home and Garden TV to see if they would help with the kitchen remodel. Couldn't hurt to ask!
 
MrFujicaman said:
Cal, there are Amish in NY and PA. One of the guys on Large Format Photography Forum had them build him a barn and they delivered it. It wasn't as big as what your talking about, but he was impressed with the quality of it.

Also,both Home Depot and Lowe's sell storage buildings-several models have lofts.

I was going to close this and then a thought hit me-since Maggie is a media figure, think about having her agent contact Home and Garden TV to see if they would help with the kitchen remodel. Couldn't hurt to ask!
Click to expand...

MFM,

Amish are also in Ohio. I know this because I was stuck in Ohio for a week when I broke the rear axel on my Jeep Scrambler when doing 65 MPH on an interstate with a load of my heavy paintings in the bed. Somehow I didn't end up rolled up into a ball of steel and glass.

Anyways Ohio, Penn., and New York is closer than Montana.

I like that much of the build out and build up I can do. Of course big jobs like the slab and erecting the shell will be done by crews, and when I need the pro plumbers and electricians for their licensed skills I'll use them.

I just secured a great mortgage rate.

I figure I will sell some of my hard assets that I bought to fight and be a hedge against inflation. Pretty much this home and the future barn will preserve and store wealth. In a ways one hard asset for a real estate investment that not only preserves wealth, but also is a hedge against inflation.

Already home improvement and housewares are lining up. Poor Calvin the lazy slacker. LOL.

Cal AKA Augie
 
MrFujicaman said:
Is this the house in Peekskill or the one in Beacon?
Click to expand...

MFM,

This 1912 Victorian is in Peekskill. It has city sewer (a big deal and this means having a darkroom. It is kind of a hidden neighborhood nested in-between Route 9A and the 1500 acre Blue Mountain Preserve (Mountain bike heaven). I only have one next door neighbor, the rear is public land (I have a survey from 1967) and I'm not in any danger of flooding even with global warming.

I am on the outskirts of town and only a 1.3 mile walk to Metro North. The train ride to Grand Central is an hour. There is an hourly bus on Washington Avenue a few blocks away that goes north-south to connect the towns and if we need to head to Main Street in town. The walk into town is not far, but realize that this is coming from the skinny bitch named Calvin who walks all around the 5 boroughs of NYC and walks 2.3 miles each way to work to save the $2.75 Metrocard fare. Cheap-cheap-cheap.

The barn might not happen right away, but I will somehow have more fixed income at age 70 than what I make right now working full time. How did that happen. Every year I'll have mucho money that I'll have to do something with, and this late in life as a hedge on expected inflation real estate and building out a barn into a living space off the grid seems like a great inflation hedge and store of value.

Super insulated, off the grid, heat pump HVAC...

The start of all this will likely be the two car garage that is an 18 foot x 18 foot square outside parameter made of some type of terracotta block that is sort of like a narrow cinder block. The roof is a squat pyramid with no trusses, so a cathedral ceiling is beconing. Maggie want to replace the garage doors with bi-fold doors, and to add a pair of French Doors and a distressed concrete block patio surrounded by gardens.

Devil Christian has been in advisement. It seems for smaller spaces (non commercial scale) that Mitsubishi heat pumps are the way to go and for the garage I only need a one zone unit. The idea here is to heat the garage where with a heat pump system you also kinda get central air for free. Also very green and only about 25% of the energy cost of a gas or ol heating system.

The concept is a studio space surrounded by garden that is year round. The space will be open. One of the 4 bedrooms will be an office/workspace. This likely will be the second floor room of the pricess tower with the wrap around windows.

The basement is broken into two spaces. A skinny staircase off the kitchen is one entrance, but there is a set of Bilco Doors that lead to the first backyard. The porch has a brick foundation and is a separate compartment. The main part of the basement has an oil furnace that is 4 years old, there is an in basement oil tank, and the furnace is kinda centered in the basement to make the basement not a good layout to do a Crazy Dan.

I would of liked if 5 years ago if the current owner converted to a natural gas furnace for lower heating bills. It will cost about $700.00 to get rid of the oil tank, but the conversion kinda would pay for itself, and offers lower carbon emissions.

Now a thought has passed my mind, and might not be feasible, but if I have a pool I might be able to rig a heat pump system that might use water instead of an air heat exchanger. Air heat exchangers on heat pumps loose efficiency at the extremes of their operating envelopes, but versions that tap into ground water do not suffer from this limitation. During Polar vortexes or heat waves heat pumps are not the best, but otherwise they are mucho great.

So the engineering question is how or if I could exploit say a large pool of water as my thermal tap, and what capacity or limitations persist. Also how can I possibly off set costs and storage of BTU's to optimize a sustainable system.

The house is only 1525 square feet, but building out the garage into a studio does not translate into higher taxes, but effectively could add close to 300 square feet of living space that has central air.

Already the 6 year old grand daughter who thinks she is a Mermaid asked if we are going to get a pool. Hmmm... If I needed the volume and didn't want to use a lot of space in the back-backyard (40x100 full building lot) I could install a 100 foot lap pool. LOL.

Building a garden around that water feature would be over the top, a bit crazy, but that's my style.

"Don't tell Maggie."

Cal
 
Cal, I have a degree in HVAC. There is no way to get a oil furnace as efficient as a gas furnace. When I was in school for it we'd work on the oil furnaces-we'd get one up to 80% efficient or a bit higher, and the next morning it'd be back down to 60% or lower.

Think of it as having a Italian sportscar in your basement-you have to tune it every weekend.

We had one bad oil spill in the basement at Dad's house across the street-trust me, you REALLY don't want to deal with that!

The cheapest gas furnace you can buy, is by law, at least 85% efficient. We replaced Dad's with a cheap one ( we were going to sell the house anyway, and nobody around here likes oil heat) was 92% efficient My kid sister was up here after we replaced the oil furnace and said " This is the first time this house has ever really been warm."

Getting rid of the oil & oil tank might be easier than you think. We offered the 300 gallons of oil we had to a local guy who had a diesel tractor-IF he took all the oil and took the tanks out. If you have farmers in the area, they might just snap it up.

The oil furnace is most likely located where it is to feed the exhaust from the furnace into a chimney that was perhaps left over from an earlier coal burning furnace.

If you get a high efficiency gas furnace, the exhaust is now a piece of 2" PVC pipe routed out thru the foundation-you might be able to relocate the gas furnace to more favorable location. You'll have to rearrange the hot air ducts, but that shouldn't be too hard.

I'd look into ground water heat pumps where the heat exchanger is buried in trenches-that is the most efficient type of heat pump

Trust me, switching to gas will save on fuel and repairs on the heating system. If they don't have natural gas there, see if they have a propane dealer or two in town. I have propane and I like it because I can buy my propane in July or August when the price is at it's lowest and "stock up".
 
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