Year Built: 1959
How Many Owners: I'm at least the fourth... no real idea
Size: Entirely too big. 4 bedrooms/3.5 baths.
Architecture: The building itself is pretty much a ranch. The inside... trying to be a half dozen things and succeeding at none.
Lot: About .4 acres, maybe more.
Without getting into too much drama, it's a short sale. I promise the only thing I'll say about that is never, NEVER BUY A SHORT SALE! Save yourself the trouble and don't do it!!!
So the condition that it's in now... nasty. The previous owners weren't into the whole "cleaning" thing and owned two large dogs. Housebroken but big, smelly dogs. They also switched out fixtures before closing and took things that were included on the listing. Did I forget to mention that they were going to get foreclosed on soon? I'd have been a lot more mad if I wasn't going to renovate the whole place, but that's seriously low rent behavior. Stay classy, Charleston...
(ok, taking down the drapes was my doing)
Original wallpaper in the back of the kitchen cabinets.
Right now I'm spending all of my time cleaning. I've never been this completely overwhelmed with cleaning a place before. It's not so obviously dirty to the naked eye but rest assured that everything needs cleaning. Touch a doorknob or countertop and your hands get nasty pretty quick. I'm starting in a room that used to be the master bedroom because it's seen the least amount of traffic in recent times. After some time on my hands and knees with a scrub brush and some simple green I have a room that's clean enough to lay down an air mattress and sleep in.
I think the bathroom was pink and gray once upon a time because the casing was originally the same shade of gray that I've seen in other bathrooms with that color scheme. What was probably well-installed original tile has been replaced with white on the floor and shower, put down by someone who doesn't know to go in a straight line. It seems good from a distance but when you're in there you can tell that everything is off. They also didn't put in the drain to the sink right and tried covering it up with plumber's putty, and lots of it.
More to come soon...
