Anxiety and dread vs. Ballrooms and river views.
This is what Iāve learned: Ā Mortgage regulations for muli-family properties have changed drastically since the finance debacle/economic explosion.
Any property over 4 units automatically requires a commercial loanāregardless of whether itās a commercial property.Ā So, at 7 units, this house is well into that territory.Ā And? Ā Commercial loans require 30% down.
Plus? Ā Banks in our state now require a propertyās rental income to cover its expenses. Ā Which?Ā If you saw any of the photos?Ā You can see that any rent would be minimal.Ā And that actually we would have to pay someone to live there.
But?Ā If we got a construction loan and jumped through some other hoops, maybeā¦ So we applied for a construction loan.Ā Which would, theoretically allow us to borrow more money… to fix it up… to get renters… to pay the mortgage…
Compounding my anxiety and dreadāat the staggering amount of money we were thinking about oweing.
But?
We would live on the first floor. Ā We would have fourteen-foot ceilings and a ballroom.Ā And if there is one thing my life has most been missing?Ā Itās a ballroom.Ā And a mansion.Ā And a hoopskirt.Ā And Rhett Butler.
However.Ā You can see.Ā That it will be a while.Ā Until there is any romance going on here.Ā You can see.Ā That for a very long time there is going to be sweat and misery and this bathroom.
Not to mention my entire life will plummet into a bottomless blackhole where I never see my husband again.
I meanā I will see Paul.Ā But not my actual husbandā¦ Ā He will be my very least favorite version of himself: Ā The work-crazed maniac.
And?Ā How can we leave our house? Ā And start all over?
AND?Ā How can we sell our house when we do NOT EVEN HAVE A KITCHEN.Ā I mean, we have a kitchen in the sense that we have a stove and a refrigeratorā¦ but we also have a giant hole in the ceiling.Ā And a giant hole in the floor.
And we made a makeshift island by ripping off a weird mini-peninsula from the previous owner.Ā And then raising it up to a custom-height suited for me.Ā With stacks of two-by-fours. Which is not a look Iāve seen Christopher Peacock using.
How can we try to finish our house?Ā While starting a new one? Ā One that’s roughly the scope and intricacy of building a NASA space station? From scratch? Using only paperclips?Ā How?Ā How?Ā How?
Iāll tell you howāwe canāt.
Because the realtor called to say the house is under contract.Ā For the full asking price.
Nearly everyone who loves us saidāwell, it wasnātĀ meantĀ to be.Ā In a chipper and irritating voice.Ā That made us think they didnāt understand we wereĀ tryingĀ to rip apart our entire lifeāso clearlyĀ weĀ thought it was meant to be.
So after walking around questioning the universe and gnawing at my fingernails and writing a construction plan and a business plan and checking my email fourteen times an hourā¦ itās nice to be done with that.
But sad to be done with the part where we moved to the river and drank champagne while floating in ourĀ dinghy.
RELATED POSTS:
Part One – When we first looked at Biddle Mansion.
Part Two – Where I questioned whether I would survive if we bought it.
Grace
June 26, 2013 @ 11:53 am
I’m so sad that you didn’t get this house. It has so much potential.
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
June 29, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
Ditto. Absolutely.
DB
July 22, 2013 @ 9:25 am
They have not posted updated pictures. Have you seen the property since it was sold to this company? http://skyarchitects.com/home.html
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
July 22, 2013 @ 4:47 pm
I haven’t been by, but Paul has… he said they are THROWING money at it. He says it has a new porch, and that it looks fantastic.
p.s.- I think that site is the company who is doing the work, not the owners.
Stephenie
July 30, 2013 @ 12:49 pm
Dear Victoria, I so feel your pain over this house. I have found so many houses in similar condition, though not nearly so large or in such prime locations, that have spoken to my soul and demanded that I come love them, take care of them and bring them back to their proper glory. None of mine have come to fruition either, which is probably for the best since I don’t have a Paul but rather bookworm. š Knowledge of these things does not stop my very being from yearning for their classic architecture and fine, moldy details none the less.
Heather
October 6, 2013 @ 9:15 pm
Where oh where do I find a man like Paul??!! You are so lucky to have a man that will fall in love with such a fantastic money-pit like that with you and actually pursue it! I would have done anything to get it also, not stopping to see the ginormous responsibility of it. Just the lovely crumbling, spooky, old romanticness of it!
I too fell in love last year (as a single girl) with an old home from 1840 that had been vacant for years. I actually got a contract on it, but could not quite get enough of a loan for the renovation. I was devastated and cried for weeks, BUT the next year came upon the cutest home I now own built about 1910 that has already been redone (booo), BUT at this time in my life is what I need. I can now see the other house would have been a disaster.
This post from you was over a year ago, have yall looked at anything else since as magnificent? I’m new to your blog but will keep reading!
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
October 7, 2013 @ 8:23 am
Please, are you kidding? Don’t be sad you bought a finished house… I envy you!
No, we haven’t seen ANYTHING like the Biddle Mansion… and yes, we’re still sad.
Elena
July 27, 2015 @ 1:14 am
Have you seen this? Maybe there will be another . . .
A coloring program for adults, hosted by the woman restoring the Biddle Mansion. Color pictures of Victorian mansions!
http://patch.com/new-jersey/cinnaminson/colorful-conversations-biddle-mansion-0
Elena
July 27, 2015 @ 1:16 am
And . . .
http://rivertonhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/The-Biddle-Mansion.pdf
Beth
May 16, 2016 @ 7:39 pm
I’ve stumbled upon this many moons after the saddening loss of the house already being “under contract” but I wanted to commiserate with you just the same. Since travelling to Ireland from Canada in 2010, I’ve had this crazy dream that my DH and I would buy a ‘shanty’ overlooking the coast and spend our free time over there restoring it. Why there? b/c living childfree, we anticipate we’ll be able to do something stupid like that. Fastforward to January 2016…. and I found one. It was just out of our price range, but it was perfect, even if it had no doors, no windows, no roof on half of it, and was across the Atlantic ocean. We scrambled to learn about property buying in Ireland, contacted a solicitor, and two builders… we even happened to be renegotiating our mortgage so could add the extra we were short onto that. And then…. “someone has made a full offer”. Well, since we couldn’t beat it, and wanted to fly over to see it in person at least once before we sunk our futures into a dream in another land… we had to let it go. I still pine for our shanty, and I will make my DH drive us over to see it whenever we go over in the future. I hope I’ll read through more posts to see that you’ve found another dream shanty!
Marilyn
October 21, 2017 @ 7:02 am
Love this. My husband and o often walk by an play what if with that house
Shannon
February 7, 2021 @ 10:45 am
My dad used to live in that house. It has an intense mystique!! Came across your blog researching Riverton architecture for a lesson plan. Really loved this and appreciated all photos of the old place.