The House that Branson and Kate Built

http://www.trulia.com/property/photos/3029331255-2600-S-Adams-St-Fort-Worth-TX-76110#item-0

We may not have built it, but this property has definitely been a significant undertaking. And we haven't even bought it yet. Branson and I have officially been under contract on this house for about a month, but there have been a few setbacks and we have a long way to go. The owners were asking for $160,000 and Branson decided to offer them 115,000, if that gives you any concept of the negotiations that were bound to be necessary, considering the gap between the numbers. The house is in a lovely location on the corner in Ryan Place neighborhood, voted one of top neighborhoods in the USA by some credible source. The neighborhood and style of the house are definitely the selling points for me. It's a beautiful old neighborhood really near TCU in the historic district of Fort Worth, exquisitely close to a Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Fuzzy's, Yogurtland, Anthropologie, Pottery Barn and everything else that is right with the world...including my job! While on one side of it, you have a very elite upper class, the other side is Hemphill-the ghetto/Mexico City/Home of Catholic Charities. I love this area for entirely different reasons, including authentic cuisine, carniceria galore and the significant po-po coverage.

The deal that looked like it could go through was $130,000 with sellers getting necessary repairs done first, for the purpose of the FHA approval, and covering closing costs. What is became was we pay $145,000 with the sellers making up to $15,000 in repairs before closing, and covering half of the closing costs. So far, this has included significant foundation repairs, rebricking of the front of the house, re-walling and ceiling the cottage after a pipe exploded, tearing down the collapsed garage structure and what we are still waiting on is: a retaining wall where the collapsed garage once was, painting the exterior of the cottage and house, and finishing the lift of the cottage foundation after some tree branches are cleared. Yesterday was meant to be the closing date but, alas, it has been moved to the 22nd. Needless to say, we've been packing for weeks but definitely have a lot more to pack. And since we will be living in a 450 square foot cottage, we will be getting rid of most of our belongings and only intend to keep our bed, dresser and kitchen table. Mind you, we don't have room for the kitchen table in the cottage, so if anyone has any creative ideas for dining that takes up less than 4 cubic feet.