...if you're lucky.

That's the one I would want. In BOLD.

You asked so here's what I see and think about it:
There's no front view picture of the home - why? Is it because the back looks better than the front? Because it doesn't have drive up appeal?

The home has a disjointed look to me. It doesn't appear to have been planned on a higher plane if you will. It looks a little makeshift to me. The garage looks worn and tired, the new metal one looks cheap to me. I may be all wrong but that's how it appears from what little I can see.

From the look of your folk's home and your present home, they appear very clean cut to me. I have to believe that you would want a well-manicured look to your next place too. This one doesn't have that turnkey
manicured look to it, and I'm wondering if the appearance of it gives you pause too?

As you mentioned Bodhi's prospective home/garage setup. It would be hard to match that look anywhere - turnkey. I suggest you keep looking. I would like to see that other home you mentioned. One acre should be enough to work with, however then there is the cost of building a 40' X 60' garage........

Good deal if you are planning on staying for a while. A friend of mine is about $200K upside-down on a house in that area, it's preventer her from moving to accept a job promotion.

Its hard to tell a lot from pictures but you really can't expect to get a high quality Architect designed home in this price range. It sounds like a lot of thoughtful features like wood burning capability and 12" walls (I'd want to know what they are made of though). The location sounds very good and you know the first three rules in Real Estate.....Location x3.

like SRJ I wonder what the front looks like.

I never intentionally bought anything that was ugly....unless I saw it could look good when I was done with it.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Time to move to az. Lancaster Pa. 3br 1.5 bath 1600 sf cape cod on .5 acre. 265000. Annual taxes 3875

PS a one car garage that none of my vehicle fit in(except motorcycle)

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

?????? Towanda KS???? About five years ago I saw a large well maintained relatively new hospital in the middle of Kansas for sale for about $30k.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The other home is not laid out to allow the large building, unless I plop it in the front yard. That would be classy.

I actually did a drive by on the place and it looks very inviting from the front. Other websites have the facade. I just got off the phone with the Realtor, and its the original owner. Wife died, kids grown, and he re-married and moved into her house. He's also motivated, and the 14 acres behind the house is negotiable.

We'll see. The floor plan may be too awkward and too much of a downgrade for me. I look at it on Saturday.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Where was that? Too bad this place is 5 hours away in the middle of nowhere Western Kansas.

http://www.wichitalistings.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=300553&PRM_MlsName=wichitaKS&VAR_AgentCode=&VAR_OfficeCode=&VAR_SearchType=

What's wrong with Towanda? I'd get to be a big fish in the little pond.

Most likely I'll wind up buying a seperate man-cave space somewhere. Having a commercial address, and keeping the home that I built new exactly how I wanted would be a plus. I was such a fool with the garage, though. It would have been so easy to do a 3 car oversize, but now with the HOA Nazis I can't change a thing.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

I think your issue is more or less your specific location within MI. Its a lot better in other places, like here in GR.

I'll never understand why people will pay such huge amounts of $$ for tiny apartments/condos and such....you can have such a nice house/property around here for the same $$ or less.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

That's the word I was searching for......"awkward." And, yes, downgrade as well. However - the 14 acres & prairie view would entice me as well. You could create your proving-grounds, possibly subdivide it, or......whatever on a parcel of that size. A colleague-buddy of mine has 25 acres outside Austin, Texas - actually it's a good 20 miles east - he's got a concrete-fabricating plant on the premises and at one time had about 40 Corvettes - mostly junked-type on the property - none of which could be seen from the county road. He's a Corvette freak BTW. That's privacy.

To me thats a lot of house/garage for the price, but in my area $200k wouldn't even pay for the engineering and permits to build a house even if you already owned the property. I need to get outta Kalifornia......

Right next to the gradeschool sounds as good as it gets in Towanda. Do you expect him to relocate to an area with higher valued real estate? He would have a property worth more but it would cost more too.

He lives where he lives.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I decided on the two step approach. bought the house and acre, now I will build the shop I want rather than try to use a space already here. those look like nice buildings, but you could tune a new building to your planned use.

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

That's ideal, compared the the Nazi controlled hovel I'm stuck in in Avondale for 200K. (now worth about 40) However some things to remember. A couple of years ago half a mill wouldn't have bought you that house you mentioned. When I was looking for houses here back then those properties were on the market for upwards of half to over a million. And there aren't that many of them either.

I would jump at the deal in Towonda Kansas (if I lived in Kansas). Did I read it right that theres 14 acres on it? Paradise.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

That would be a good area of the country to retire to, if FL isn't your thing. With $500k you could pay cash for a house and live like a king.

Its pretty and property taxes are damn near nothing, around here the taxes kill you.

$5k-$7k a year is for an average house, heck my uncles new beach house is probably going to cost him $30k a year in porperty taxes alone!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200