At least it's got a great kitchen

This is the house that currently has our attention. An old Victorian on a large lot in Colton, NY. Colton is a very small village up the road. A few churches, general store, tavern, not much else. Except for a fantastic walking trail along the river and a state park with swimming and boating up the road a bit.

The house is currently vacant, so my Dad and I poked around it this morning. The interior looks fantastic, with a great kitchen and hardwood floors downstairs. But there were lots of issues with drainage around the foundation. I'm glad we went on a rainy, muddy day so that it caught our attention clearly. There's quite a lot of wood rot at the ground level. Who knows how bad it could look from the basement. Also a few issues with the standing seam roof that we'll have to make sure isn't leaking. And the deal breaker would be if the old wiring is still in place. The barn and the front porch have old knob and tube wiring. If that's in the rest of the house, we shouldn't buy it.

And the final complication is that the house is owned by Dan's boss. Which could be weird. But it also means that we have some insight into his psyche. We could probably get a better price if we went to him directly and cut out the realtors, but I really want a buffer between us to do the negotiations. If we do the negotiations. Because buying the first house we look at would probably not be a good idea. Although it does fit our usual way of doing things.

Another view circa 1903....