My new bride and I went to some open houses this past weekend. We saw one house that I’ve had my eye on for some time.

http://www.24masonave.com

It’s a flip. The agent said that straight out as soon as we walked in, but it was fairly obvious. The house was pretty much empty and all the appliances were brand new. According to Zillow, the flipper bought the house for $412,500 on 9/25/2006. It went on the market less than a month later. A friend of mine with access to MLS told me that it initially listed for $575K(!). It’s now at $530K.

The renovations seem well done and fit with the style of the house. The flipper made some good choices, including knocking down the wall between two of the tiny bedrooms and making a proper master. The house in the “Presidential” section of Babylon Village, a more upscale neighborhood and somewhere we’d really like to live. Quite frankly, my wife loves this house.

On the other hand, it’s still a pretty small house. I’m looking for small, since it’s just me, the wife and our cat, but smaller should mean cheaper. The living room is minuscule and it has big, old fashioned radiators that take up a ton of space. I can’t imagine where you’d even fit a couch. The lot is very small and, because of the configuration of the house and the garage, There’s literally no backyard.

Another thing that bugs me is the basement. It’s just over six feet from floor to joists. I’m 6’1″ and my bride is just under six feet tall. It’s usable as a laundry room, but I was hoping to have a basement to use as an exercise area. That’s right out for this house.

The house is still way overpriced. It’s still a small house on a small plot of land. That’s why it’s been on the market for eight months. There are some negatives, as I pointed out, but we’d be more than happy to live there if the price was right. A “right price” for us, at this point, would be about a 20% haircut for the seller. While I’m sure he’s motivated, he’s been paying a mortgage on that house for eight months, I doubt he’s quite that motivated yet.

It’s too bad, because, of all the homes we’ve seen so far, we like that one the best. Nothing to do but wait.