Our friends and family generally argued for the beach, since that could be the relaxing weekend home that most of us imagined in years past, but could never afford. The historic homes, however, have their own unique appeal, and if they are your cup of tea, are very affordable compared to the rest of the country. They have also generated a loyal following of preservationists who love them.
So, being a real estate junkie, I searched all the zip codes in Galveston for listings to try to find something I could talk Susan into. Susan, I should explain here, is a mountain person. These are people completely different from beach people. We beach people like sitting in chairs under umbrellas with the occasional dip in the ocean to cool off. Mountain people like to hike.
I found an unexpected hook, however. Susan and I like to dance. I found a historic house built in 1880 that had a ballroom. A BALLROOM!
The house was 9000 square feet on two floors with a 4500 square foot basement on the ground level. (The first floor is about ten feet above ground.)
The price was $409,000. It currently has a pending sale with an asking price of $337,400. I've added pictures to this post.
This house was damaged in Hurricane Ike. For example, some of the siding had been damaged. It had 5 A/C systems, but the outside condensers were ruined. The kitchen was intact but had no appliances.
I should mention it was a foreclosure. Three years before, prior to Ike, it had been for sale for $1.25 million. I was nuts for it. Susan was as well. Then, practicality started to set in.
I called a paint supplier on the Galveston Historical Foundation's preferred list to ask if they could recommend a painter to give me an estimate to paint such an enormous house. Without missing a beat they said I should call Nelson Smelker. I did, and assuming he was a painting contractor asked him if he could give me an order of magnitude estimate for painting the house. I wanted to know if it was going to be $5000 or $25000.
I told Nelson that I didn't own the house, and may never own it, but this would be part of my decision making process. So, I explained, I was in no position to hire him. I would, though, pay him for the time he put in to estimate it. He said he wouldn't charge to do it, that this is the way he met potential clients. He called a few days later and said it would probably be more than $25,000, plus what it would take to repair the siding. When you add 5 A/Cs and kitchen appliances, just stabilizing the house adds up. Then, Susan reminded me, we would end up with a 9000 square foot white elephant with enormous cooling bills flying out the leaky floor-to-ceiling windows.
In my next conversation with Nelson I found out he wasn't a painting contractor, but rather, a general contractor with particular interest in historical buildings.
I told him this project was too big for us and we should be looking for a smaller one. I asked him if he knew the house at 1503 Sealy (the one we eventually bought), because it had just been re-listed after a pending contract had fallen through. He said he not only knew of it, but knew a lot about it. In fact, he had been engaged by the people with the previous contract to estimate the work they wanted to have done.
I told him we were going to look at it. He offered to come along to give some ideas he had developed for its renovation.
That's how we met and how our renovation began.
After much thought, maybe not enough, we bought it.
More later
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