Sunday, February 26, 2012

4971 Trail Circle

Southeast side of home (photo from mls listing because I forgot to take one)



Northeast side of home (ditto above)



Walking in the front door



Standing in entry looking into dining room



Standing in dining room looking toward kitchen



Kitchen: No fridge, no microwave, dishwasher falling apart, stove looks good :)



Kitchen with dining room beyond



Family room fireplace



Balcony overlooking family room



Balcony - On main floor: master bedroom door to the right, hallway to the front entry with half bath to the left and closet with water heater to the right. Upstairs: bedroom to the right, bathroom straight ahead, another unseen bedroom to left.



French slider in family room



Standing in family room looking back towards kitchen, hallway to entry to the right.



Master bedroom



Master bedroom gas fireplace & door to deck



Master bath



Master bath jetted tub/shower combo



Vanity with shell sinks and gold fixtures in master bath.



Going upstairs...



Bedroom 2, looking to the right of the door



B2, as you walk in



B2, looking to the left of the door



Upstairs bathroom (full)



Bedroom 3, looking to left of the door



B3, as you walk in



B3, looking to the right of the door




Northwest side of deck



Northeast side of deck



Southeast side of deck



Southwest side of deck



Chimney



The yard, 'nuff said ;)

Friday, January 6, 2012

16324 W Monte Cristo

The good:

It's a nice neighborhood and convenient to everything. Close enough to the 303 to get where you want to go without having to listen to the traffic. It's in the middle of the neighborhood so no wondering what's going to be built in your backyard some day. Lots of people out and about when I went through.

The house itself is a nice size without being overwhelming. The layout is livable, not choppy. The main family parts are in the back of the house for maximum privacy. There are formal areas, but they're not huge so not a lot of wasted space. The family room is good sized with natural light. The kitchen is open to the family room and has an eat in area off of it. The kitchen layout is workable and the pantry is a walk in.

Upstairs the master bedroom is split from the secondary bedrooms. All bedrooms are decent sized and not cookie cutter squares. All bedrooms have great natural light, one of the secondary bedrooms has two windows.

The yard seems a lot larger than the lot size would indicate. I think the house is set forward on the lot far enough that the backyard is really spacious. The pool is large and appeared in decent shape, although it is empty. There's a nice seating area with raised fireplace at the far end of the pool. There is a shed on the west side of the yard, more on that later.

The landscaping seems to be intact, although dying will be imminent once the heat arrives. This could be a really lush backyard with some water and care.

The bad:

Remember that shed? Yeah, it has a hive of bees living under it currently. I was notified of this by my son who has an intense fear of bees (although the child has never been stung by anything worse than a mosquito.) The boy can peg a single bee at 500 paces, through a closed door and in the dark. Anyway, at first I thought that the colony was dead because there was a ton of dead bees strewn all over the patio. But I was wrong, they were definitely flying in and out from under the shed. It's an easy fix, call in a pest guy and have them kill the hive. I'm 99.99% sure they were honey bees, which means you need to remove the combs once you kill the bees. It's not an expensive issue and once a hive has been removed it's extremely rare for that same area to ever get another hive.

I wasn't sure if this was good or bad, but there's no grass on this property. Previous owners have installed cool-decking from the pool to the shed. Great for parties, not so great for dogs.

The colors. Oh my goodness the colors in this house. I didn't see a lot of damaged walls, but at least the bedrooms & dining room will need Kilz before painting to cover the strong colors. All walls need paint, or a whole lot of bleach, or both.

The carpet (which I think is only upstairs) needs replacing. It's worn, torn, stained and frayed. It's original and it was cheap when it was put in. Having said that, it's only upstairs so the cost would be lessened.

The kitchen cabinets will not meet Candi's requirements :) They are not upgraded at all. They're livable, but they're not long term loves. Counter tops are laminate, in okay shape. They need to be cleaned and the one edge piece where the stove goes needs to be replaced. Again, cost to fix this is minimal. Unless you want to install new cabinets and granite. Also, the stove is missing.

My overall opinion:

It could be a really nice house in a good neighborhood. It needs cosmetics and a few upgrades to meet your standards but it's a nice layout and a good amount of space. The yard is nice, could be awesome. Personally I would remove the shed of doom and replace the extra cool decking with grass, but that's only because I don't mow the lawn at my house :)

The pictures...

Walking in the front door



Looking left towards the dining room. Formal living room is the first room to the very left. Loft is above dining room.



The filthy wall under the window by the door.



Dining room with bayed window



Standing in the dining room looking towards the downstairs bathroom, laundry room and door to the garage.



Under the stair storage area



Downstairs half bath



Laundry room



Standing in family room looking towards kitchen. Formal areas are to the left through a doorway you can't see.



Standing in eat in area of kitchen looking towards family room



Kitchen



Microwave managed to stay although the stove seems to have wandered off



Walk in pantry




Walking up to the loft



Standing in the loft looking out the high windows of the living room.



Walk in closet in loft



Looking into the master bedroom



Master bedroom



Master bedroom/door to bath & closet



Master bedroom, looking through bathroom and into closet



Master bathroom tub



Master bathroom. You'll have to give me credit for closing the lid prior to taking the shot, I'm such a professional ;)



Dual vanity



Separate shower



Master closet



Master closet



Upstairs bathroom



Linen closet by master bedroom



Secondary bedroom 1



Secondary bedroom 1



Secondary bedroom 2



Secondary bedroom 2



Secondary bedroom 3



Secondary bedroom 3



Looks like a little water damage on the far east side of the patio ceiling. Small area, about one foot square.



The base of the shed of doom, where the bees were flying in and out.



The west side yard, two ac units, almost guarantee they are original.



The east side yard, there is a door into the garage on this side.



Standing on east side of yard looking across the pool to the shed of doom.



View of the water slide



Upgraded fire pit



Standing in northwest corner of yard looking back towards house



Standing in door to garage




Garage



Third stall of garage