Two houses....

But VERY unalike in dignity. It's something I'm thinking about very thoroughly this week, hoping to come to a solid and unwavering decision.

The contenders: (At roughly the same asking price - obviously the offer I would make on either house would be quite different depending on the condition)

The Yellow House
-Listed as "vacant", owner disclosure states that property has not been lived in in 30 years. A house full of furniture and crap that certainly looks lived in seems to state otherwise.
-According to the owner disclosure, is not wired for television. I assume this means there's no internet yet either.
-Needs a new roof (assuming at this point they only mean "reshingle" and not "replace entirely")
-Needs new flooring (currently has crumbling linoleum and nasty green shag carpeting from the '70s)
-Needs painted, and to have wood-wall-paneling removed post-haste
-Needs a fence
-Foundation "appears" good. No word on actual condition
-About 3.1 miles away from work (roughly, as none of the maps have a clue where work is)
-Needs new appliances
-Needs new closet doors and a light fixture created/installed in the master bedroom
-Has two bathrooms
-Needs to be repainted on the outside, because the yellow is glaring and badly done
-All this new flooring and painting equals a possibility of making this home more "mine" by virtue of remodeling

The Blue House
-Has slightly larger yard with fence
-Comes with complimentary "bomb shelter" - literally a concrete room in the ground with unknown purpose
-Has three separate rooms that could function as living rooms/a sewing room/offices
-Possibly needs minor electrical work - wires protruding randomly from walls and questionable phone-line running may be an issue
-Is ~7.5 miles away from work, but probably requires the -35 for quick commute to work
-Has no flow - is an "in law" plan with one bedroom far away from the rest
-Needs appliances (some, but not all?)
-May possibly have asbestos siding (unknown)
-Comes with a screened porch
-Has three full bathrooms, all of which could benefit from touch-ups.


So which one? Right now I'm leaning towards the blue one, but it's all dependent on the structural assesment and the disclosure that I haven't gotten yet. The fact that the yellow house owner lied about the house having been empty for 30+ years makes me suspicious about other things.