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| From Foreclosure house |
The love of my life commented the other day that we will have been a full year without a kitchen of our own before this project is finished. Not being able to really cook is wearing on her. We moved out of our home in Shawnee, Kansas in March of 2011. We were in temporary quarters for 3 months–living with friends. And then we moved into our “project house” in Kansas City, KS in July. Our “kitchen” was on the covered porch, and we cooked most meals on the grill. Once the weather turned cold, we moved most of the cooking inside using boards stretched across sawhorses. Love of my life has almost used up her creative repertoire of meal ideas cooked on an electric skillet, electric griddle & a crock pot.
We are now at the sheet rock phase of our project. In preparation for this phase we cleared everything out, including our makeshift kitchen. Love of my life said we’ll just have to eat out each night. Now, we like to eat out occasionally. But if we have to do it every night, it isn’t much fun. She likes to cook and most restaurants can’t compare to the food she makes.
The guy we hired for the drywall said he would have a crew & that the project would take a week. Love of my life took him at his word and scheduled the hardwood floors for the following Monday. No crew showed up, and the guy hung and finished everything by himself. I was impressed that he could hang rock on the ceiling by himself, but Love of my life wasn’t at all happy that the job is now going into the second week and she had to reschedule the floors. She’s also particular about keeping the work site clean–something our drywall guy has no conviction about.
Love of my life estimates we’ll have to move the “kitchen” a couple more times as our project moves on. We’ll go back to the sawhorses in the “kitchen under construction” until the cabinets are installed. Then she’s talking about using the master bath area–it will be gutted by then–or perhaps the family room area in the basement. She’s not much in favor of the family room because we’ll have to go up and down stairs to get to the pantry which is by the back door.
Right now she’s grumbling about the sheet rock dust and can’t wait to get the shop vac out and attack it. She’s already had a couple of forays into the mess–enough to plug up the Dyson vac–but it’s a losing battle. When I’m working she will clean even as I’m creating more sawdust, but she can’t keep up with Drywall Guy. He should be done today. So she will be busy tonight.
Odd Things You See in Kansas City HUD Foreclosure Houses
I make it a practice to tour homes in the Kansas City, KS area. I especially like to see the HUD foreclosures in Kansas City. Some of the foreclosures are torn up and will need some rehab. But I’m seeing more and more of the foreclosed homes for sale in Kansas City that appear to be move-in ready. Of course, looks can be deceiving and you would need to have a good inspection done before you commit to buy one of these foreclosures.
On a recent tour, I found a house in western Kansas City, KS that has some acreage with it. Even though it’s in the city, it has the feel of being in the country. The view from the back door is nothing but trees as the land slopes away toward the river valley. Across the street I heard a rooster crow. There is a nice yard between the houses on either side and nothing behind but trees, as mentioned previously. And the great thing is that this feel of being in the country comes from a house located on 63rd street in Kansas City, KS. It’s only minutes away from shopping and entertainment found in the Legends in west Kansas City. It has reasonably easy access to the major streets and interstate highways that lead into Kansas City.
The house looks to have been newly remodeled. The exterior is in decent shape–no peeling paint or missing pieces of siding or trim. The kitchen has been updated. The hardwoods have been sanded, stained and finished. There is new ceramic tile and what looks like new carpet. The walls look freshly painted. The master bath is tiled and looks to have new fixtures–and the work looks to be well-done. But I was puzzled by the toilet location in the master bath.
Now, there is still plenty of space between the toilet and vanity, but the space behind the toilet will make you feel like you’re sitting on the throne in the middle of the room. How weird is that? As the Love of my life would say, “Some man designed this.”
I’ve also learned from the Love of my life that even design fails can be overcome with a little creative thinking. For example, rather than going to the trouble and expense of tearing up the floor to move the toilet, you could build out the wall behind the toilet and have storage there. In fact, it could extend over and beyond the toilet as bookshelves and a place to store linens.
This is the kind of vision and help I give to my clients when looking at homes for sale. There are lots of foreclosures for sale in Kansas City right now. I can help you find one that has the potential to be your dream home.