Hooray!

Hooray! The lawyer has returned from Mexico and everything is in order for us to buy the house in Hoquiam! And the Humptulips offer is confirmed and we are just waiting on the fax!

Kurt Cobain

One of the celebrities to come out of Hoquiam was Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobain#Early_life)

Kurt was born to Don and Wendy Cobain in the Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, and spent his first six months living in Hoquiam, Washington before the family moved to Aberdeen.

Water issues

One of the frustrating things about this area is that it is so wet. We were thinking about putting in a basement apartment in the house, but Steve called the city and it turns out we're not allowed to have living space there; all the living space has to be 6 feet off the water line. This is not a big problem, but the water has been an issue with our other ventures. We are also looking into a 5 acre raw land parcel up in Humptulips, Washington, just north of Hoquiam. The lot we are looking at is selling for very cheap and is full of trash. We figure that it was the owner's private junkyard and now he is tired of it. Nevertheless, we may have the chance to buy this for very little, and the area is quite nice. There are plots of 1 acre and 5 acres surrounded by forest. Anyway, back to the water, when we looked at the lot on Sunday, there was a lot of water on the dirt road. We met a gentleman who was looking for car parts and he told us that there is so much clay under the soil, that the water doesn't drain well. According to him, Humptulips is a good place to build a "mother earth, off the grid" house, and no one will come to bother us. Anyhow, more on this later, I suppose, depending on what happens with this plot.

The Addition

Someone decided to build an addition to the back of the house, behind the kitchen. Unfortunately, they didn't do a very good job and there are some issues with rot.

There is a second bathroom (toilet) in the addition, that might work once the water gets hooked up.

We're thinking about just ripping this off and starting over, we haven't decided yet.

Steve going down the creaky stairway

Upstairs Bedding

Entertainment System

There is a TV upstairs, which serves as the house's entertainment system. Batteries not included.

Upstairs Back Bedroom

And then here is the back bedroom in the upstairs.

Front Upstairs Bedroom

There are three small bedrooms upstairs. This is the one in the front, overlooking the roof and a small part of the front yard.

Bathroom

There is a lovely clawfoot tub in the bathroom.

Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the few rooms that still has things in it. There are some cabinets that may or may not be kept during the remodel, and some general tables and trash.

Then there is the fridge, and we haven't had the courage to open that yet.

Window

Here is a picture of the window in one of the first floor bedrooms.

First Floor Bedrooms

There are two rooms on the first floor that could be used for bedrooms. The yellow window looks out to the front lawn.

Living and Dining Room

This is the living and dining room, looking in from the front of the house.

Behind the second door is the kitchen.

Garage

We're thinking of just tearing the garage down. It has some rot and is pretty old.

Front Porch

This is the front porch. It's pretty sturdy, not too bad!!

Side of house

Back of House

House Pictures

Steve and I decided we wanted to invest in some property. We were looking at a number of possibilities, and eventually settled on a fixer-upper located in Hoquiam, Washington, just about 20 miles from the coast, and 45 miles from Olympia.

When investing, I've heard it said that the key is to invest in an arena in which you have an edge. We decided that our edge was finding places that no one else wanted to deal with, because of their many issues. When we talked to our real estate agent, Nancy, she told us about this house in Hoquiam, and how it was under abatement from the city and had been on the market for several months. Steve's ears perked up, and he immediately wanted to see it. We went to take a look and we liked what we saw. It does need a ton of work. For one, there is no water or sewer or electric hooked up. The house has been gutted of most everything. We'll need to put in a lot of sweat equity, as they say.

Last weekend, Steve and I went down to Hoquiam to take another look at the place. I took some pictures ---