Friday, May 1, 2015

7 QT: House Tour

Our house goes on the market today!  
(On the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, so work it St. Joe!!)

We are listing it for two months only, and praying that God doesn't mind the challenge of selling it quick.  We feel that it won't sell (realistic not pessimistic), and if not, we are going to either stay and remodel a bit, or rent it out and buy a new house.  

So, how about a house tour...

1) 

Here we are.  Our house was built in 1885 in a quaint seaside town.  We actually have a water view when looking out the front of our house from the top 2 floors :)

It was remodeled into a two family house, then turned into condos.  My brother bought the first floor condo and rents it out.  We bought the second /third floor condo.  Our condo is almost 2000 square feet, but we only have 3 bedrooms and would like a single family home.  The condo part of it is why we think it won't sell, but who knows?!?!




This is our teeny weeny backyard.  We are in the process of planting grass/getting more wood chips back there, but unfortunately didn't get it done before these pictures were taken. 


2)

Okay, now walk back around to the front of the house and go up the front stairs to walk through that white door below...


You are in our family room!  Welcome!


We have this cool little room off the side of the family room where we keep the kid's toys.  We call it the toy room, because we're ingenious like that.


3)

Walking out of the family room, we have the living room to our right...



I know you're supposed to take down family photos and religious artifacts, but if somebody doesn't want to buy our house based on our beliefs, then I don't want them to buy it.  Sorry not sorry.


4)

On the other side of the living room is our dining room...


...which isn't used as a dining room at all, but as an office, work space for the kids.  This room has my favorite paint color of all time.


Right beyond the faux dining room is the full bath, where many a book has been read.  Ew, gross.


5)

Then you walk into the kitchen!  It's small, but works for us, and many a happy meal  has been eaten here (homemade, not Mickey D's, though Lord knows those have been ingested here as well).  Gosh, we've lived here for 10 years, so that's like 10,950 meals served.




Those white double doors are a built in pantry that my Dad made when he was sick of seeing us stack food on top of the brown cabinets to the left.  The single white door next to it is our bedroom door, which we are going to walk through now...


6)

And this is where the magic happens!  That's a King size bed and we looooooove it so much.  It only took me 6 pregnancies to upgrade :)



Look at that dinosaur of a tv!  One day we'll get a flat screen for our bedroom.  And this also proves that Yes! We do have a tv in our bedroom.  Thanks for asking, rude person questioning why we have so many kids.  We just don't think watching tv is the most enjoyable thing to do in this room.  Blush.  Let's get out of here before I get pregnant...


Ok, this beautiful room is our screened-in porch.  It overlooks our backyard, and makes a nice place to eat a meal in the summer or sit and talk while we watch the kids play below.


7)

Now we walk upstairs to the attic second floor.  I don't even want to show you this full bathroom.  It's gross because it's the kid's bathroom and kid's miss a lot.  Also wallpaper :(  


Outside the bathroom, in the hallway, is this really nice living area that we have made into Maggie's bedroom.  That's a Queen size bed, to give you an idea of the dimensions.  Those blue curtains are tacky but they pull across to create an illusion of privacy from the boys.


Across from her room is the little boys' room.  It's small but cozy, and everybody sleeps 11-12 hours a night, so it's magically delicious.


Meandering down the hall a bit, we find this built-in desk that I use as my gift-wrapping table.  The closet on the right is our linen closet, and the one on the left holds all the coats and costumes and pre-purchased gifts.  


Right next to the closets is the big boys' room.  JP sleeps on that top bunk, with a reading nook below.   He reads there every night :)  This bunk bed is awesome, it has a desk on one side and drawers & shelves on the other.


This is Eamon's bed, with a blacked-out skylight above to keep out the sun when we force them to bed before sunset.  Mean parents.


This is Andrew's bed...this room is huge.


And walking out of their room, here's a shot of the hallway all the way down to the gross bathroom.  That little door on the right is one of about 6 that allow us access to tons of storage space.


And that's all she wrote.  Come visit us!  Or better yet, buy the house, and then come visit us in our new one :)

Happy Friday y'all!!  Linking up with Kelly and Friends.

30 comments:

  1. I love your house! I want to buy it! Actually, I just think moving might be easier than cleaning and de-cluttering at this point. But seriously, I have always wanted to live near the ocean, and your home is beautiful!

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    1. Yes, come buy it!! Let's make a deal ;)

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  2. Your home is so lovely! What are you looking for in a new house?

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    1. Another bedroom would be nice for this family of 8. We also want a single family home as this is a condo...I updated the post to explain that!!

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  3. What a great home! I wanna visit there some day. Oh wait, I did!! hehe... I felt like I was visiting all over again. *sigh*
    Praying with you that your wonderful home sells quickly and you find another that's just right for the Martins.

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  4. Just a bit of encouragement...we put our house on the market on February 2nd of this year hoping to sell and get settled into a new home in 18 months. We thought we were being "realistic" as well, but we had an accepted offer by Feb 6th and moved into our new home on April 14th! The process was super stressful, but it all worked out wonderfully in the end.

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    1. Wow Amy, now that is a great story! Come on St. Joseph!

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  5. And why are you selling?!?!
    I love your house!
    You have made the best use of space ever. : )
    And I know you said the bathroom is gross, but I love the commode in the corner like that! And the toy nook!
    We live in a new house that we built, and I love it.
    But there is nothing that compares to the beautifully built woodwork and architecture of older homes. : )
    Anyway, I will be praying for you to sell and see what is in store for your lovely family.
    Oh...and that porch!!!! : )

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    1. I think the porch is my favorite too :)

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  6. Your house is so cute! Why don't you think it will sell?

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    1. The condo part of it - I just updated the post to explain...thanks!

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    2. Ohhh, that explains it! I thought it looked like a bigger house on the outside. Well, you never know, and if you hang onto it, it could be a great income property for you guys!

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  7. It's so big and nice! I'm sure someone would love to buy it.

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  8. What a great house! I hope it sells quickly!

    and seriously? water views?? This Iowan is jealous! ;)

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    1. Yup, when the trees are bare, you can see the water through them :)

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  9. What a beautiful home! I think it is lovely. If you really want to sell I suggest the St. Joseph Novena. He came through for us in a big way. :-)

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    1. Seriously starting it. And trying to pray a Rosary every.single.day in the month of May!

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  10. Selling homes can be hard. We had to make double house payments for 4 months before the house sold.Crazy! Best of luck on selling and moving.

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  11. You forgot the part about how your house has the BEST CROSS BREEZE EVER. Seriously, even in the middle of summer, with the windows open, that house is breezy and beautiful. Think of all the money on AC/fans the next owners will save!
    Good luck! St. Joseph, sell this house! Please.

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    1. Yes, it definitely does have such a nice airy, breezy, beachy feel in the warm weather. Thanks for the prayers!!

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  12. I love your home! It's beautiful, and as Billie Jo said, you use all the space so well - I'm impressed. I'll pray that it sells quickly.

    And I love your sense of humor, too. :)

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  13. Exciting! I hope God makes it really clear to you what the next step is. I enjoyed the house tour a lot. Thanks for posting!

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    1. We are praying like crazy, thanks Katie!

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  14. Your house is lovely. You do use the space well, and I pray it sells quickly for you.

    Is there any way your brother would be willing to sell his condo as well and then you could sell the whole house as 1 mult-family unit (perfect for in-laws or investment income!) and share the income with your brother.

    We are buying a house (on Monday!!) and in the process looked at tons of houses, including a lot of mult-family ones (although we are buying a single-family home). I don't think I've ever seen a house like that split up so someone was selling only part of it. In all the houses we looked at, the entire mult-house duplex or triplex was sold as 1 unit and then new owners can rent out or remodel or whatever. I think it could be trickly legally for the new owners if they own part of the house along with your brother. I mean, it's different if it's family, but you would presumably not be selling to family.

    Of course you probably already thought of that, and it wouldn't work out, but those were my thoughts.

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    1. Yup, it would DEFINITELY sell better/faster as a two-family, but my brother is in too deep financially on his portion to sell it. If we did sell it all together, we would take a huge loss, so we have to try to sell only ours. That's going to be nearly impossible, so we'll probably end up staying or renting it out.

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  15. Your house is beautiful! I just wanted to say, renting out is not the end of the world. We still own a house in a previous state where we lived but couldn't sell it at the time we had to move. So renting became our only option. My best advice to anyone thinking of renting is 1) find a GREAT property management company (b/c even if we lived near by I would not want to do "landlord" duty and our property managers have the best quality labor at the cheapest prices when needed, and 2) charge enough in rent to cover the mortgage AND the property management fee. That way nothing is coming out of your pocket. I hope you can sell but if now, let someone else pay down your mortgage! Praying for you and your family!

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