The House

It has been a very long time since my last blog. For those of you who read this from time to time may be interested in why it has been such a long time.

I have bought a house in Hamilton. This is something that was on the books for about six years. This March I looked at a house that fit the bill to the T. I bought it. This does sound not so complicated but I have a habit of making things complicated.

In order to be able to afford this house I had to find a power of sale and a fixer upper. This ended up being a house that was partially gutted, entirely replaced top floor minus a kitchen and a bathroom. The Rollercoaster started in March. Because it was a power of sale, it had been vacant for over a year it was impossible to get a mortgage from the banks (oh yea and no toilet or kitchen). The vendor didnt cooperate in any way or let me make some minor changes to the place to get an appraisal. Now that I have been involved with this process I understand that there is no way that I could have gotten an appraisal. Because the heating was off and the furnace was unproven as well I was unable to occupy the building which meant a special insurance too.

Fast forward three months to May and the electricity is on. I replaced the service and the stack but not without having to navigate the ESA and utility companies. There is too much jargon for someone who had never gone through the motions before. One month after that and the water is on. Now we are entering the final stage. All the windows are intact. The bathroom is in, the kitchen is in, the painting is almost done. It has taken about four months with an average of three days working a week to get it to this point.

So what is the grand design? I bought the house primarily as a place for a studio. The selling points of the house is the way it is already divided into a lower apartment and an upper. The upper is a very pleasant living space which is not huge but has enough room. The lower area which has both a front door and a back door is the studio/gallery space. The house is commercially zoned though its last use was a hair salon.

The current upgrades include all new wiring, plumbing (it was ripped out the weekend I took possession). I put a fence around the property and put in a front porch.

I wouldnt suggest doing the house and studio thing this way. It was a terrible ride. Im afraid that most of the things that I went through no one could have warned me about. In the end though nothing that money couldnt fix. There are no major structural issues. Because it was gutted and the drywall wasnt up in most of the house I was able to inspect it and make sure that it was fine. Essentially an inspector can only tell you how they see it and are not necessarily going behind drywall and walls to find the real problems that have been covered up. The house has never received an addition or changes to its overall shape. This is a good thing and anyone who has watched the DIY shows it can be expensive, almost as much as putting in an addition.

Whats next? Stay tuned. I want to change the way houses are kept. House becomes the art.

Paul.