I’d love to jump right in and show you how the house looks today and all the progress we’ve made…but it only seems right to start at the very beginning.
This story begins in October of 2010. We were living in Los Angeles, renting a house that was in foreclosure. The landlord was very forthcoming and we were lucky enough to live rent free for an extended period of time. When the bank started snooping around, we knew it was time to move on. We began looking for a rental without much luck. Very few landlords desire to rent to tenants with pit bulls, especially two. We looked at purchasing a house in the LA on and off for a few years, but didn’t find anything we could comfortably afford that didn’t need MAJOR renovations.
One day my boyfriends parents sent us a listing in Maine, which was quickly followed by a Flip Video tour of the property. The house was fairly new construction (1998), settled on a nice 2 acre parcel of land. The main attraction was the price. To top that off, it had been sitting on the market for two years and the owners wanted it gone. We liked it, and although it needed some elbow grease, it was a great investment. At the time we had no intention of moving to Maine, but knew that even if we rented it, it was a win-win. We put in an offer, and it was ours! The whole process was so much faster than I imagined. We timed closing with a planned vacation to Florida and flew to Maine a few days prior to seal the deal. Just like that, we bought our first house without even stepping inside!
Take a tour of the house we saw for the very first time, just one day before we signed the formal papers.
*I have excluded all photos of the basement. It has a long way to go.
Why it didn’t sell?
Our house had it’s own unique history. This is the reason it sat vacant for so long and also why were able to get such a great deal on it.
- The previous owner was obese and his wife was disabled and reliant on a wheel chair. The entire house was built handicapped accessible. The house as built as a 2b/2ba, but in order to make it more accessible to his wife, converted it to a 1b/2ba. The second bedroom was converted into a very large master bath, complete with huge shower, jet tub, laundry, bedit, urinal, & toilet. As we came to find out a one bedroom house is not desirable. In fact we had a hard time obtaining a loan because there were no comparable houses in the area. As well, the renovation was never complete. There was open drywall, incomplete electrical work and missing fixtures in the master bathroom.
- It was outdated!! That should have really all been capitalized. It is hard to believe how a house built in 1998 could seem this ughh. Every wall was covered in a different type of hideous wallpaper. Every room (all connected) had a different color of indoor/outdoor berber carpet. All the cabinetry and shelving throughout the house was 80’s fake oak.
- The previous owners passed in the house.
Why we bought it?
- We found the accessibility to be a major plus. For one all of our doors are 36″, which makes moving furniture easier. For two, homes that are handicapped accessible can be hard to find, and therefore in the right circumstances, can increase your homes value
- .The house had great bones. It is literally build like a brick house. All of the framing is 2×6 vs. traditional 2×4, and the drywall is commercial grade fire rated 5/8″ vs. traditional 1/4″ to 1/2″. We saw potential. Even if we did basic painting and patching, we would be able to rent it as a 1 bed and more than cover our mortgage. I had also been obsessing over design blogs & hgtv reality shows for a while. We often talked about renovating our own house. This house had so much cosmetic possibility. Plus turning the house back into a 2 bedroom would greatly increase its value, and therefore our own equity.
- The previous owners died of natural causes. This was a non issue for us. Every house has a history and every home deserves another chance. We have never felt any weird of negative energy in this house. I actually feel like the previous owners would be very happy that we are renovating and lovingly restoring their home and property.
How we got to Maine?
This full story is for another day and another post, so here’s the short version. The day after we bought the house, a huge storm hit the entire east coast.. All airports closed for multiple days. We missed our vacation, so we decided it was a good opportunity to get busy.
During those first three days of peeling wallpaper, painting and taking many trips to the Home Depot… we fell in love. Not with the idea of this being our house forever. We fell in love with the ideas and possibilities of renovating it. We wanted to live the reality of the blogs and shows we had been watching. We wanted to get our hands dirty and become the DIYers we admired.
When we returned to LA, we decided it was time to change it up. We were both getting burnt on the expense and pace of city living. Within a month we began planning and saying our goodbyes. Three short months later, we loaded up all of our belongings and trekked 3200 miles. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies, only we were leaving California.
This is where our adventure begins.
