The Crazy Cat-Lady House (Exterior)

I have bad insomnia and on nights when I'm having trouble sleeping I'll search various homes for sale on MLS sites. I'm not sure why I do it, as we live in a great house that we had built 7 years ago. Maybe I do it thinking that I'll find some gorgeous house for dirt-cheap. I love our house, but it does lack some of the character that older houses have (i.e. crown molding, high ceilings, arched doorways, stained glass etc).

The other night I came across a listing for a 2500 square foot Tudor-style house with almost an acre of land. It was located near Steve's office, on a nice quiet street, so I wanted to take a look. I was also intrigued by the description of "spa room located next to the master bedroom." I wasn't sure what a spa room was, but I was imagining a beautifully tiled room with a huge jet tub and a steam room. I should also mention that the home is listed for $260,000 which is right in our price range.

Today Steve and I met with the realtor to see the house. The house was built in 1883 and only three families have lived there. We're not sure who the first family was, but the second family was named Hughes. The man was a doctor and Steve's aunt was friends with one of the Hughes daughters. His aunt had been there many times when she was younger.

After the Hughes moved out, a family with the last name of Paine moved in. They were the ones selling it. Mr. Paine was in a nursing home about 75 miles away, and Mrs. Paine had moved away to be closer to the nursing home, which is why they were selling the house. The home had been on the market for almost 3 years. No one had lived there for 3 years!

Below is a photo of the house taken from across the street. A nice-looking house, I think.


Here is the beat-up cat mailbox...this should have been my first warning. Aren't black cats bad luck?


The Paines were very cheap and had solar things bolted to many of the windows.
See photo below.


The backyard was huge and overgrown. It reminded me of Miss Havisham's estate in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. Nothing had been done to the yard in over 3 years.



Below is a photo of the backyard taken from the back porch. It's difficult to really see how horribe the backyard was unless you were there in person. There were weeds that were taller than me!

Apparently the Paines liked ponds, as there were 5 ponds in the backyard. Most were just plastic tubs, as seen in the photo below.

Below: we're not sure why there is a truck cab and other junk in the backyard. Behind it you can see one of the sheds (probably where they keep the bodies....)

Below: we counted 22 of these metal trash cans scattered throughout the backyard.

Below: a closer photo of the shed and debris.

I didn't take a photo of this, but there was a portion of the back corner of the yard that was fenced in with several dog houses. I asked the realtor about the dogs and he told me that they didn't have any dogs. The dog houses were for Mrs. Paine's cats. He said that she had more than 20 cats and she would put them in the dog houses at night with electric blankets. She even had that area set up with electric for the blankets! Well, that would explain the kitty cat mailbox and the various cat motif throughout the interior of the house.

In addition to the 20 cats, she had over $75,000 worth of Hummel figurines, as well as a deep love for wallpaper and ugly carpet.

The home had been on the market for 3 years and was originally on the market for $300,000. The realtor said it took him almost 2 years to convince the Paines to lower the price to $260,000. Last summer there were two offers presented, one for $225K and one for $230K. Both offers were rejected. According to the realtor, Mrs. Paine is deeply attached to the house, isn't hurting for money, so she will not budge on the $260,000 asking price. I have a feeling this house will be on the market for many more years to come. I can't believe that just three years ago someone was living there. It looks like no one's lived there for 10 years. I think the home is stuck in a time warp consisting of 1960s wallpaper mixed with 1970s carpet.

There is no way we will be making an offer on the house. It's not just the cosmetic stuff. I can overlook hideous carpet. The main thing is that we would have be put at the very least $100,000 in renovating it. The additions that were built-on were poorly and cheaply done. For example, they added onto the kitchen, but instead of knocking out the wall to make it a large room, the kitchen is divided into two rooms. The built-in bookshelves throughout the house are cheap and pressboard, so those would have to come down too. And I worry about what is lurking behind all that wallpaper. Is the plaster damaged? Are they trying to hide water damage? What sane person would wallpaper the ceilings?

It's a shame, because I'm sure that the house used to be beautiful. At least, until the Paines moved in.