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Comments
The Wake Robin Inn is really impressive. If I were a partner at Goldman Sachs, that's what I'd spend my bonus on. It's actually vaguely reminiscent of the White House, for extra megalomania points. I assume by "inn" you mean it's a hotel, and it's certainly much more stylish than your average Marriott (and presumably doesn't insist on leaving the Book of Mormon in your room).
The second one has nice interior decor, but it's the setting that really makes it - it's gorgeous.
Yeah, it's quite impressive. It is a small hotel more than it's the typical American definition of an inn, though its own website didn't seem to mention breakfast being included, and that's usually included everywhere! It's actually not that luxurious compared to some places out in western CT like the Mayflower Inn or even some other place in Lakeville that I forget the name of that my parents went to once. But it's not bad. Also, it's almost right on the lake, but not quite. Your comment about average chain hotels amuses me...New England is known for inns like this. It's a trope, basically, like our white, tall-steepled churches and long, winding stone walls. Also, there very well might be bibles in the rooms, who knows. Were you joking about the Book of Mormon, because I've never seen that in any hotel. Just ordinary King James Version bibles.
I think everyone from here, BTL, Heaper's Hangout, and of course actual TV Tropes should raise the $4.275 million and buy it, then hold our negotiations for the future of TVT there, like I've been suggesting repeatedly. Once everything has been sorted out, we can sell it again and use the money to improve the site even more! (Ok, sort of joking, but that would be pretty great. Or terrible, depending on your views.)
As for your comment on the second house: The privacy and views are why people are willing to forgo convenience to live out in the sort-of-country like that. It's a double-edged sword in that the more people did it over time, the worse the views get. That house visible in the distance in pictures 14 (sort of), 15, and 18 probably wasn't there in 1990!
Still waiting on Glenn's response, as per usual.
^ The Book of Mormon bit's not a joke. In Marriott hotels I've stayed in, in the UK, they often include the Book of Mormon in the bedside table drawer, with the Gideon Bible. I think the Marriott family are Mormon.
It really stands out over here, as Mormons are pretty rare in England. It would actually feel a lot less weird to find a Koran in there.
I guess I haven't stayed in enough Marriotts. I'm just used to finding that Gideon Bible. And a phonebook, I guess. Being able to use Wikipedia to look up who the Gideons actually are was very satisfying.
Yeah, we can side-discuss things as much as we want, but I'm not posting more properties until I hear at least some sort of an opinion from Glenn on the New Milford 90's house, and maybe also the inn. I'm emphasizing this because it was a lack of such response that killed off the thread initially a few months ago. Not mad, just pointing it out.
I'm busy, gimme a moment!
Let's go somewhere we haven't been before in this thread. Such as the town of Edgemont, South Dakota, which my parents and I stopped by once on a vacation trip. It's at the southwestern corner of South Dakota.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/400-10th-Ave_Edgemont_SD_57735_M75788-28167
Real estate seems quite cheap here. 3 beds, 2 baths, and 2200 square feet for less than 150K.
The red on the front is a bit glaring, but not too big a deal. I'm more wondering about what looks like a triangular-prism-shaped space between the porch roof and the porch ceiling...what would you use that for? Of course, I can't see if there's a more useful access for it anywhere.
Think a small town in the rural North American west is dingy? Think again; it's got all the modern amenities, including a ceiling fan and what looks to be a relatively new fridge. Sure, the dining room looks pretty simple, and outside you have that old-fashioned dark red color, but you've got a tastefully furnished living room and (what looks like a) finished basement.
I used to have one of those octagonal bathroom windows in the house I lived in back in Florida. I'd climb onto the edge of the bathtub and peer out onto the street from it. It was pretty nice.
Looks like they got one of those "easy set" or whatever pools out back. Regardless, the yard also looks quite nice, as far as I can tell from these photos.
Would I be interested?
Sure, I guess. I'd like to see it a bit more to see how well the rooms are arranged, and what the bedrooms are like. Seems to be in decent shape for being from the 1950s. Seems like everything (except the bathroom and basement) is well-lit by the way place was built, and I generally do like ranches.
I used to dislike ranches. I felt that having a two-story house was more fun. But in recent years I've realized just how convenient having everything located on one level would be.
PS: The quite ordinary midsize 90s colonial has since sold, I think.
Yay, this thread is back again! I've got a few things I'll throw in, I suppose.
I like the house you've just posted. I'd live there. I don't think I expected it to be that nice when I heard "South Dakota"! And yeah, the midwest is ridiculously cheap. My mom and I were looking at Real Estate in Topeka once, it was mind-blowing from our perspective.
Anyway, I've got some for today. I'll lead with three, actually, I hope you can handle it, because of course feedback from people other than myself is 50% of this thread in theory. I'm going to use each of these three to illustrate a different point or conclusion that I've reached during my time as a real estate geek.
As western Connecticut suburbia goes, Newtown is pretty nice. It's on the more rural end and mostly quite luxurious, or at least nice enough. So here's a nice ordinary medium-large 2007 colonial that illustrates the point of "It's not just about the house, but also what gets put in it."
Just look at all that crap! They're burying a perfectly good house under a tide of flowers, candles, and very large urns! Among other things! But seriously, I could never live like that. I'd be too worried about knocking something over. I think that house would have showed better.
Ok, here's a ranch in New Rochelle, NY, on the waterfront; it illustrates the point "It's not about when a house was built, but when it was renovated." The fact that the only exterior shot of the house is the second to last doesn't help. 1963? Hah! This doesn't seem like anything but the 80's if you go by the completely converted interior, which is wonderfully 80's-tastic, looks like it escaped from a contemporary. It's got a few more modern elements, but that ain't enough. Still really 80's, and I really can't imagine how it started out in '63. Well, sort of.
And finally, we go back to CT, Hartford County east of the river, to South Windsor. For non-CT people, East and South Windsor border each other but are across the river from Windsor, which to me is a huge difference. South Windsor consists mainly of flat former agricultural land and is basically archetypal New England flat-terrain suburbia. Very dull town, really.
But anyway, there's this little thing called Victorian Woods. It was built from the late 80's to probably the mid-90's if even that. As the name suggests, the houses are in a neo-Victorian style, pretty simple as Victorian evocations go. They are close together but the whole thing is set in the woods. It all feels very cozy, and hopefully that will be made quite clear from this last house, which embodies the historical fact (ok, maybe a bit of opinion) "There was a transitional period in New England between the postmodern/contemporary styles of the 80's and the traditional styles of the 90's, and houses from it embody the best of both."
Ahh, that area. I refer to it as the Yellowstone of South Windsor, because it looks totally different from the rest of town architecturally. It looks like a small but close-knit bunch of cottages nestled in the woods, as it's surrounded by lots of tall trees.
What exactly is that siding? That pink thing on the front. Its color isn't the problem; I'm just curious what material it is. The shape of it is something I haven't seen anywhere else.
I like the way the living room is open to the upper floor. Is that a connected living/family room? That looks pretty nice; seems to be two rooms offset from one another but open to each other where they meet.
The soft, fluffy carpeting all over the place reminds me of the house I used to live in.
Picture 10 is an example of something I really don't like about baseboards. If you have furniture, it's quite awkward to place them, because you just end up with an awkward gap between them and the wall. This applies to both baseboard radiators and decorative baseboards. Where we had such "elephants" (large dressers) in my first dorm, they actually didn't lay baseboard (or even carpet) there; the elephants were built into the dorm room.
BOOO, MAC USER. Those folding window blinds do look quite nice though. Then again, everything looks nicer on a sunny day like that.
The kitchen looks very nice. As does the dining table area, which is nicely connected to the kitchen. I also like how open those stairs are to the rest of the house.
That old-fashioned coverable desk...what's it called? I always find them slightly irritating because they look vaguely like pianos, but then let my hopes down when they're just desks.
Looks like even six-panel doors have to make way for cat-panel doors.
Picture 19 is an interesting room. Is that storage or a bedroom? I can't really tell.
Screened porch is very nice...especially if you're right next to the woods, as this house is.
Would I be interested? Looks decently priced for what it offers. Then again, I'm not a real estate specialist with a good pulse on prices. Also, I'm not too keen on living so close to the woods--between bugs, storms, leaf and branch pickups, and preferring lots of sunlight, I'd probably prefer to live in a place with fewer trees immediately surrounding my house.
And what the heck does "nine potential living spaces" mean? Total rooms? Possible total bedrooms? Possible total comfortable occupancy in bedrooms?
I'll comment on the others later.
> $799,000
> 4414 sq ft
> 4.1 bathrooms
> 3 car garage
This would be too much space for my family even if you offered this to me for free. Also, 2 acre lot seems to in this case imply a lot more time wasted on lawn care. If only I knew several homeless families to pass it on to...
The foyer looks quite nice, bright, and open. I wouldn't have put these baroquely-ornate decorations with it, though. Those are more suited for a generally more ornate style, while this house seems to have a more modern style and bright coloration to it, chair rail and the panels below that excepted. Now the bar chairs and shiny fridge in the kitchen match the contemporary styling. Tiled kitchen flooring is also nice.
The dining room just looks overdecorated. Between the ceiling paneling and chandelier, the huge urn on the left, all the stuff on the table, the detailed rug, and the cabinets on the far wall, there's just...way too much going on, and this looks almost like a minuscule palatial dining room recreated for a museum or something. The chandelier also doesn't look like a standard chandelier, but instead like a thurible, which contributes to the museum-like "artificial" feel. It should be replaced with a more standard chandelier focusing on gold and clear tones to match with the white of the ceiling, the rug should be moved elsewhere (leaving the table and chairs on the wooden flooring), and the table needs de-cluttering.
Looks like the family room is another place where there's just too much stuff. Gee, it sure is urny around here. I guess the owner has to be urning quite a lot to afford all this.
The den, in contrast, offers a sudden breath of fresh air and feeling of spaciousness. Ripe for a dance studio or a place for a gathering over a board game or a small concert. With a room that's sparsely furnished like this, you actually feel like you want to use it for something, rather than avoid touching all the museum-pieces.
Granted, it seems the owner is probably in the process of moving, so the density of stuff in rooms might actually not be the standard fare. The next room shows another large load of very ornate stuff...arranged in such a way that is clearly not meant for display or personal enjoyment. That said, the sheer number of items--and the large amount of plastic wrap--now makes me wonder if the owner deals in these items.
Now that's a marble-tiled bathroom. The decorative countertops are still chock full of excessive accessories, though. Come to think of it...I never use a jacuzzi, but might there be a nice way of combining the shower stall and the jacuzzi, so you wouldn't have to have both separately? As for the candles...I might find it more creepy than romantic if I were to spend time in a hot tub with my significant other under candlelight. I'd be too afraid of knocking stuff over.
From a distance out back, this house actually doesn't look all that big, interestingly.
As for the house on the Long Island Sound waterfront, I feel too lazy to do a play-by-play review. Instead, I'll just agree with you that it definitely doesn't look like something from the 60s--it looks much more recent than that. There were some moments, though, when I was wondering whether I was looking at a movie set or airport or office building.... Sure, it exudes a very stylish elegance far better than that house in Newtown you posted does. The simplicity of colors and shapes in its contemporary design lends it that feeling--one that I've also felt occasionally, when visiting the domiciles of wealthier people. However, it just...doesn't feel like home. It feels like a resort. Or some sort of idealized stylish area. But not one where I'd expect to find, say, a TV set with an SNES hooked up. And not the kind of place I'd really enjoy living in, because it exudes style but without the warmth and coziness of being at home.
Ok. So. I've been house-hunting all the while. Never stopped. Just busy, and this thread is hard to tend to properly. And I'm still on somewhat of an "I love the 90s" mentality.
In a 90's-built development called Lexington Green in the Connecticut coastal town of Milford, I found something very interesting. Except for a flatscreen TV in the family/living room (there isn't a separate informal family room and formal living room, too small a house), it appears trapped in the year it originated, 1994. Just look at how floral everything is! Also, in case you can't tell, the bathroom info is wrong, it's at least one full bath but also one half bath. In general it's a pretty unremarkable house, but its time-capsule nature is awesome. The only other house on the market in that part of that development is the same age but was completely renovated recently and feels completely different.
Is the dark turquoise carpet part of the 90s feel? And the general use of dark turquoise coupled with pink, flowers, and flowery pink, backed by white?
And I'm actually kinda amused that there's a flat-panel TV sitting right above an old cabinet-inset TV.
That's fairly common; I can think of a lot of houses I've seen with that. I mean, the cabinet TVs are perfectly serviceable tables.
Looking at the picture, I think that's actually the same model of cabinet TV we have in the house my family inherited from my grandmother...huh.
How old are those things?
Um...
Old enough that I don't know how old they are because I didn't exist yet.
Yeah, I love when I find cabinet TVs being used as stands for other things. I've never really encountered cabinet TVs IRL, but I certainly find them interesting.
And to answer your first question Glenn, yes. Absolutely. My house that I grew up in, which we renovated most of throughout the mid-to-late 90s, didn't wind up with much of that exact color, but it had similar moments. It was also a really common car color at the time.
I saw a cabinet TV in a curbside junk pile recently, while jogging.
[01:01:16] i...never knew this craziness existed. i just discovered two living space ownership/tenancy arrangements that i've never seen before. so we all know about owning a house, renting a house, owning a flat, renting a flat, right? and some of us are probably aware of "co-ops", which are basically condos but with owners as shareholders of the community as a whole i just discovered 1. ground rent. cheap-ass house. Pay $1000 a month to rent the ground it sits on. wtf 2. 55+ active adult communities (which I've seen before)...but with mandatory fees to provide meals and linen service and such the second one i can understand the first one though here's an example http://www.vamlsrealty.com/ListingDetails.aspx?RowIndex=1&ListingID=1656909 1344 sq ft house with 3 beds 2 baths 15 years old (pretty young) but you pay $893/mo to "rent" the land it sits on the house is incredibly cheap otherwise--just $55000 i should post this in the real estate thread
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That is extremely odd, never heard of it before.
I've got some more good recent stuff for this thread, but I'm at work now, so I may or may not put it up until later.
Ok, doubleposting to put some stuff up...
I may have put this up before, but it was given new, better, more comprehensive photos, and floor plans! This is a very strange and unique house viewed from today's perspective, although it seems like it was pretty darn clever for 1972 as well. A sprawling contemporary over 6000 sq. ft. Doesn't even look like it has a second floor at first, but it somehow does. As the floorplans show, the main floor is well-separated into 3 areas, basically service, public, and private.
The house doesn't mostly feel like 1972, which I guess is a compliment to the owners...the vibe I get from most of the furniture is 80's (early 90's a bit maybe?) contemporary. As you can see, the price has been reduced, and it's been on the market nearly a year. A hard sell indeed. You'd really have to like the layout and design to want to live here.
Ok, that was unique enough that I'll let it sit, but I have something VERY different to follow up with.
> service
I was thinking, as I looked through this, that this house would be awfully empty if just a single family of average size lived there. There's a lot of space to put stuff, if you're a real pack rat, but still...
Those bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling would guarantee I'd never run out of space for my books. Not sure I'd have enough stuff to fill those high walls.
I do really like how spacey and high the ceilings are. I really like how the ceilings aren't just a boring flatline but generally have some sort of interesting slope to them.
Y'know what this house actually looks like?
It looks like a slightly outdated and realistic version of the cool living quarters of anime characters in series in modern or futuristic settings. For example, think of Nanoha's huge-ass bedroom in StrikerS. Now, throw that into real life and date it back to the 1990s, and add a few touches of hotel- or conference-center-like modern elegance.
And holy crap that is a lot of mirrors.
I question how much cooking those people do, since the kitchen honestly seems to be one of least renovated parts of the house. Another thought: All that space is well suited for displaying art.
Agree with the anime observation. I haven't seen StrikerS but I know what you're getting at
Anyway, let's get...wait. Never mind. Much older house coming at some point.
The Hartford Courant's Courant Real Estate section highlights a luxury property with like 5 bedrooms and 6.1 baths that was recently put up for sale. Unfortunately, it seems that the Raveis website doesn't have pictures of it yet...
Ah, I'll have to take a look at that some time today.
I've been pretty busy recently. Found a wonderful house in New Rochelle, NY last night. It's most notable for the way that what must have been the family's childrens' bedrooms are frozen in time to about whenever they left.
Yeah, here it is. All that's been freshened is the kitchen, one bathroom, and I suppose the master bedroom a little bit. Otherwise...check out the living room in pictures 9 and 10 stacked electronics in picture 15 (is than an NES in the cabinet?) and of course the childrens' bedrooms in the next three pictures. And pic 22 clearly shows a home office, not sure what all those diploma-looking things on the walls are about. Like, I'm wondering what this guy could have possibly been, and I have no clue.
But yeah, this is another house haunted by a great many memories of years of family life (presumably) well lived...my favorite kind of real estate discovery!
I see what you mean by it looking old-fashioned, from the furniture to the cabinetry to the colors to the bathroom sink and counter to the...is that a chandelier in a bedroom! And another chandelier in another bedroom! And another!
I like that spiral staircase though.
It's not TOO dated; the monitor's at least a flat-screen, though I guess it's next to a newer TV which is on top of an older TV which is on top of a HOLY SHIT YOU'RE RIGHT! THAT'S AN NES!
And...oh my, that's an even older computer. The photo on the wall is old. The old TV is still there.
I guess this is how boys and girls lived in the 60s and 70s.
For some reason I've noticed that small tiles seem to be an old thing, while larger tiles are a newer thing.
I don't know whether it's wallpaper or a funky paint job in the master bedroom, but at low resolutions like this photo it looks kinda ugly, like moisture-damaged walls.
That's a lotta diplomas.
Uh, people, that's a basement, not a patio.
Thank you for the NES confirmation. Yeah, I didn't quite think of those bedroom fixtures as chandeliers but I guess you're right. Also, what's interesting is that in the backyard they do in fact have a patio and an in-ground pool but of course there's no pictures, I found that out through Bing Bird's Eye.
The house in the Courant you mentioned, I saw that. I don't really have an opinion, my mom thought it a good deal because of the incredible view and [something else I can't recall] for the price.
Next, presenting the New Haven apartment of an Emmy winner. I have no idea who he (assuming it was a guy, because of vague context clues that may in fact be useless) is, and you may have a hard time spotting the Emmy (hint: near the Japanese swords), but the whole thing is interesting. Kind of an aura of faded urban sophistication and a well-traveled life. The building isn't that attractive, but the view from the private balcony seems decent. Tiny kitchen. Note the description says owner is willing to leave furniture.
Kind of odd that they wouldn't take pictures of the pool. Though maybe it's not in good shape or something? Or maybe just kinda dirty.
As for the New Haven apartment...at first glance, the living room area--specifically, the relative position of the couch, TV, and big window--reminds me a lot of a condo my parents were rather interested in, over in Queens, back when we were still thinking of moving there. Though I like how this has hardwood floors instead.
I used to really like carpet. I grew up in a carpeted house, and I was really excited to get to live in a dorm that had carpet in the rooms, when I was an undergraduate. Then a few years later, I realized just how dirty it feels--it's like my feet would feel all sticky just from walking around in thong sandals (a.k.a. flip-flops). Now I prefer tile or hardwood floors. Vinyl will do in a pinch too.
That said, those are older hardwood floors, aren't they?
I think this apartment is rather cluttered. For example, see the desk, rectangular rug, and dining room set? it's like, get rid of the rug and suddenly the dining room area would feel less crammed. You can see how the chair at the left is basically pushed in all the way and yet still barely fits in the space beyond the rug.
My mom would probably not like the bright turquoise wall paint, but I don't mind at all. We were recently looking at one property that had a ton of wall colors--white, black, red, green, blue, orange, you name it. My mom called it the "artist's house".
The bedroom seems oddly simple compared to the more ornate common area.
I'm not a huge fan of those decorative "leaves" on the bathroom tiles above the sink and the kitchen cabinets. By the way, that bathroom sink looks like an old-style sink with a new-style faucet head. Interesting. The floor tiles are the small old kind though. Tiles up to the ceiling at the bathtub and in the kitchen are nice. The cabinetry seems old, but I'm pretty sure the flat-top range isn't original.
This owner REALLY likes decorations.
Is that one of them green patio mats made of course strips of plastic?
Nice analysis as always, again. I agree on the leaves. And yeah, the range is newer. Would you agree that the seller is probably older, or do you think I'm incredibly off about this?
Now, next. Something from good old Simsbury, not that far from the house I grew up in, sort of. There is a street called Westridge, with side-loops called Pinecrest and Foxridge. This all sort of connects two main roads, U.S. 44/202 and Route 167, better known in Simsbury as Bushy Hill Rd. True to Pinecrest's name, all this cuts through a pine-heavy area, which creates a truly interesting atmosphere, the sort I never really got a chance to live amongst growing up because the places I've lived have much less tree cover, and what there was was much more mixed. Developed in the 60s, the pines have had plenty of time to grow back, and a lot of the houses on these three streets are kind of...brown. The whole place has a sort of sedate, dull vibe to it. And finally, after months of waiting, I've found a house on Pinecrest that truly embodies this.
True to form, it's actually brown. A pretty typical early-60's colonial to be sure, but let's go inside. There's a lot of neutral tones and a lot of brown. The style is largely sort of semi-rustic or colonial reproduction-lite. (Note the Dutch door in pics 6 and 7...I've rarely if ever seen one inside a house) Few to none of the elements of the kitchen are really updated. The white corner cabinet thingy in pic 9 seems a bit too white and bright for that kitchen, arguably.
Going upstairs, we can see an actual rotary phone in the very spare master bedroom in pic 10. Opposite view in the next pic. Master bath may have been renovated but not recently. The other three bedrooms are equally spare. The hall bathroom is in fine shape but dated. Really, the whole house is weirdly immaculate and clutter-free. Sort of unsettlingly boring, to me. At least their TVs are new.
So go ahead, take your best shot at this one, if I haven't said it all already...
I'm sorry to doublepost, but this is just too awesome. Ok, so, growing up with grandparents on Long Island, I regularly passed North Shore Towers on the highway going to visit them. As the article explains, the Towers are a fascinatingly self-contained community with their own zip code, power plant, and all the amenities you could want...if your standards for food and entertainment and leisure are limited enough, you might never have to leave the complex except for medical care. Needless to say, many of the residents are elderly. The whole thing is sort of prestigious, though not really, or not as much as it used to be. And the views are amazing.
My grandparents' next-door neighbors, the Shchwartzes, moved from their 60's split (which they left wonderfully unrenovated as they departed) to move to the Towers in 2006, the year before my (by then widowed) grandmother moved up to CT. I got to visit their apartment and took a bunch of pictures which I can post here some other time, maybe tomorrow. And the whole place fascinated me. A bit creepy at times, but very interesting.
So courtesy of Realtor.com, here's some amusing dated apartments from North Shore Towers: A penthouse, a two-bedroom, and a one-bedroom. Ok, so the Penthouse is almost not so bad in a select few rooms, I'll admit. But the other two...yeah.
Gaston: AHHHHHHH
the mirrors...the mirrors...the mirrors...the mirrors...the mirrors...