Today John and I took a tour of the above condo which is located in Kings Point (our gated community).

We’ve been hoping to find a place that would make up for our current condo’s short-comings. This may be it.

If we stay here (in our current condo), we’ll eventually need to do some expensive projects to make it work for us.

We’ll need to replace the carpet and vinyl floor coverings with durable tile or wood flooring. We’ll eventually replace the living room windows with some that are more weather resistant, expand the lanai, enlarge the kitchen, and possibly move a wall between the master bathroom and office to expand the master bath by two additional feet (and rearrange the shower, etc.) Roughly we figure the changes we’ll need to make will total $30,000-$50,000. Although once we get a place or decide, we’ll hope to stay put, the value of the condo probably won’t reflect any of the changes.

The condo we looked at today is two years OLDER than ours but it’s considerably larger and has an exceptional view (a view is a requirement for me). There’s a pond directly behind the condo with a conservation district on the other side of the pond. The side yard is wide. It’s on a quiet cul-de-sac.

Most of the floors are 18″ ceramic tile. (Only the bedrooms are carpeted.) There are lots of closets and storage galore. The galley style kitchen is twice the size of ours with a window over the sink. There’s a nice-sized utility room with a utility sink off the kitchen and the utility room has a whole wall that’s a pantry (about 18″ deep).

The master bedroom is much larger than ours and would accommodate a “sitting area” toward the pond. (They have 4 or 5 dressers in a row along one wall in the bedroom.) The bedroom view is awesome. There is a walk-in closet for the lady and a second closet for a guy. The master bath is spacious with a large “Roman shower”. There’s a long two-sink vanity with ample storage. There’s nice sized linen closet in the master bath and a hallway closet in the foyer near the front door. (Yes, it has a foyer!) The guest room is larger than our current one with a closet along one whole wall and a pretty arched window.

Both bathrooms have solar lights.

The living room is about 30 feet long and about 20 feet wide (with two solar lights). They’ve divided it into two distinct furniture groupings: one area for TV and another for conversation, but we’d blend the two.

There’s a nice sized dining area which opens with sliding doors to the lanai. The screened lanai is really pretty. In addition to the dining room siding door the whole width of the living room opens up completely to the outdoor room and the doors slide in such a way that the opening is totally unobstructed. The lanai would also act as a greenhouse for John’s green thumb.

We didn’t come in the front way, but it appears there’s a gracious entry feel.

All the condo’s ceilings are very high with interesting angles and slopes and neat ledges at different heights. (They are currently filled with knick-knacks, but we’d prefer to just see the angles of those shelves bare.)

There are four solar lights (two in the living room and one in each bathroom).

The current dark, musty den, which is being used as a “library” with a whole wall of dark bookshelves, would make a perfect “office”/”music room” and is positioned away from the traffic areas so the required clutter wouldn’t be visible. It would eventually need another solar light but is large enough to serve all those purposes.

Negatives: the current owners are into art work and have dozens upon dozens upon dozens of paintings on all the walls (30-50 hung on just one living room wall). We’d therefore need to patch nail holes and repaint completely. The place is so cluttered that it’s hard to see the “bones” of the place. It has a sort of an old, musty smell (which would be eliminated with a thorough cleaning). The kitchen is dated but serviceable. Older white appliances are ok, but not glamorous. There’s no “breakfast bar” which we love in our current condo so we’d need to eat in the dining room all the time. There’s no dining light fixture, only an ugly fan with a light (a fan over a table?? Naw!) The garage Is too short for our truck and that’s almost a deal breaker for John. There’s no window in the den. It faces east while our current place faces west so we’d lose our lovely sunsets. We would be further from the South Club where we hang out and I wouldn’t do as much walking (too far to the clubhouses and it’s easier to be motivated to walk with a destination).

The things which would need to be done to the place: paint throughout, change cabinet knobs in kitchen and bathrooms, change light fixtures in bathrooms, upgrade fans in living room, dining area and lanai, install a hanging light over the dining room table, change lanai light fixtures, (if possible) add a “breakfast bar.” Eventually re-face or paint the kitchen cabinets. All of those things could be done for a few hundred dollars. Quite a difference from the $30,000-$50,000 we’d need to spend on our current condo.

Both of us can envision the lovely place this could be. It really has a lot of promise.

I should mention that the place we’re interested in has a very motivated seller who must unload the place. (The husband needs to be in an assisted living area and they have made plans to move to Lakeland where doctors can help with his care.) They need to move by the end of December. Therefore, we’re hoping we can make a cash offer and get a quick acceptance. We’d list ours for about $5,000 less than we paid for it two years ago and hope to sell soon. But we could also consider renting it out.

A lot to think about.

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It’s now several hours later. We went to the condo again with Trudy our realtor and I thought we were ready to make an offer. Then we measured the garage and the truck and found the garage is too small. The truck doesn’t fit. That was like a “sign.”

John’s now cool to the whole idea. He’s afraid of owning two condos at the same time. The association dues would have to be paid on both units. That’s nearly $400 monthly. With his cold feet and the garage too small to hold our vehicle, we’re giving it second thoughts.

I still love it. John’s less convinced. Actually don’t think John has the energy to move right now anyway. It is difficult and stressful to move and today John wasn’t feeling well enough to consider it. I know he doesn’t feel strong enough. I have to bow to his decision.

This place is nice. I just hate to spend the money we’ll need to spend to make it work for us.