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04:21:2002 Entry: "Appraisal"
Appraisal
Holy deleted expletives, Batman! Stan just found out from Cousin Dave the results of our house appraisal. It's gone up three grand in value since the first appraisal in December! And I was so afraid they wouldn't appraise it for enough this time. The appraiser was actually really nice. She had a puppy with her when she came and it really enjoyed playing with Hieronymus (we temporarily put BratBoy in the car because he's not good with unfamiliar dogs or people). Now we get to close either on the 6th or on the 12th (our 14th anniversary) and put Stan's stude loans into our house (mortgage). What a great emotional relief that all will be.
It's amazing that a home can appreciate over three times its value in the course of a decade (yeah, we bought it pretty cheap back in '90, back before it became such a trendy neighborhood.
Yes, it's a trendy neighborhood, or at least that's what our neighbors are calling it in their For Sale By Owner ad. He got a transfer to Denver (of all places) and they're needing to sell their house. I don't think they're asking enough for it...it's a really nice house with two big bedrooms, a bigger-than-average yard (for the neighborhood), three 100-year old oak trees, nicely finished off and everything (unlike ours which still needs help in many respects!). But maybe it's because they only have two bedrooms and one bath...that always makes it harder to sell. That's probably why ours appraised for more because we have three bedrooms and two full baths...makes it more saleable. And ours is larger too (we need the extra room for art studios/computer room). It also is amazing to think that only 20 years ago or so (before we lived here) the "East Side" was the place in Madison where one didn't want to live. Now, thanks to targeted urban development areas, it's trendy. Weird.
3 Comments
isn't it amazing how those things work???? i live in the house i grew up in and own it now. The best part, is it is completly paid for. The bad part is it needs, still, alot of things done to it. We have the standard joke that we were/are the "Addams Family" house on the block....cause of how it looks...yard in fornt has rocks that have been there since '76, a few old evergreen type trees, and generally looks spooky., which does include the spiders,the bat bungalows,and that all the nieghborhood cats hang out in OUR yard.....Compared to the others houses who are perfect, green lawns,and totally tidy.
when my parents bought it in '69 they paid $15.500....and it is worth $150.000 today....go figure.
Posted by Lori @ 02/01/2002 11:44 AM CST
What's really strange is the people who owned our house before us lived here 17 years (and hardly made any improvements, which is both fortunate and unfortunate, depending). They bought it in 1973 and sold it in 1990 and the house sold for only $14,000 more than what they bought it for. Add inflation into that, and they didn't make anything on it. But of course at that time, this was the "bad side of town."
We really lucked into our house. Had we stayed in Colorado, we never would've been able to buy one. Fortunately, older east-side houses were inexpensive in Madison back then (but it was plenty expensive for us...we just barely qualified for it).
I really feel sorry for people starting out now the way Stan and I were back then. There's just no way with the incredible increased property values that people could qualify now if they have only a few thousand in savings and low wage jobs. And then you see all these ostentatious McMansions in the suburbs and you just have to wonder what the heck is wrong with this country.
Posted by Ann @ 02/02/2002 12:40 PM CST
right!!!!
i have thought the same thing as well. If we were buying now, i doubt we would even be able to afford Littleton. We'd be lucky to live in an affordable house in 5 points.
And speaking of Mcmansions...that reminds me of Highlands Ranch...yuk! and when we drive thru it, my first thought is always the same....no trees! and the houses all look the same...no color
Posted by Lori @ 02/03/2002 12:45 AM CST