The waiting is the hardest part

[Malcolm Schweizer]

(Hat tip to Tom Petty)

The building is there. It's literally two feet from my house at the closest point (angled lot). My kitchen window to the east looks at it as I make my morning coffee... Every. Single. Morning. It's my dream workshop. It almost could not be more perfect. Roughly 25x30, open floor plan, stone building with 3' crawl space for running dust collection and wiring. It has a cistern and city water. The cistern could be converted to wood storage and even made into a kiln. The outdoor coal fired brick tove (180+ years old) could easily be made into a forge. It has a new roof but otherwise needs complete gutting and redoing, but that's all the fun of it. It has a covered nook in back that would be perfect for dust collector and air compressor. It also has a perfect setting for an orchid garden for my wife. It also is a classic example of Danish West Indian architecture with "Blue Bit" stone and gold Danish bricks. I could go on. It is my dream workshop.

It is for sale in the sense that everything is for sale, but not officially on the market. The owner has entertained offers but they were lowball offers. We are saving to make a real offer at the appraised value. I spend hours drawing out machinery locations, wiring, dust collection, and lighting plans for a building I do not yet own.

That fence adjoins my house. The white Jeep is parked at the edge of my house. The lot angles to where the house is almost touching mine to the back. The rear has a patio with ocean view and two sets of double doors looking out over the view.

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Please comiserate if you also have a dream workshop that is yet to be.

[Andy Giddings]

Malcolm, its very difficult to face so much temptation when its right in front of you every day - but its also hard for this mainlander to commiserate with you sitting in the Virgin Islands :-) If rust and power wasn't an issue, I think my ideal workshop there would be on the beach. Wouldn't be much work going on. The building does sound ideal though.

[Jim Becker]

I would be feeling exactly the same way about that wonderful building...and hopefully, you've expressed your interest to the current owner. You might even be able to structure a deal that lets you get there sooner through negotiation...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I negotiate for a living. The guy thinks the house is worth more because it is historical. Actually the fact that it is a historical structure makes it less attractive to most because you cannot change anything on the visible side of the house, and of course also there are the many issues of owning an old home that most people are not willing to deal with, like custom making doors, dealing with moisture creep in stone walls, and the repairs needed in current state. It has an awkward lot, butting up to two homes, one of which blocks much of the view. For me, however, it is perfect. Like so many other historic homes, it has fallen into disrepair. Being stone construction, it is structurally sound, but the floors have rotted and the door and window trim as well need repair or replacing. The longer he waits, the cheaper it gets. As we say here, "soon come." It's a perfect shell for me, but not worth the effort for someone looking for a home or rental.

[Daniel O'Neill]

I feel your pain. I recently looked at a dilapidated house on 1.75 acres with lots of trees and a decent price. The more I looked into it I realized that the guy had let the house fall apart and is trying to get livable house value from essentially a teardown situation. Even the existing garage is bigger than my current garage and the foundation from an old barn is still there on site (woodshop???) Since talking to the guy I don't think he'll come down too much too fast as he thinks it's valuable land. (It would be if it had City sewer & water). As it stands though he drops the price a couple thousand every other week. Even though it may not be the best purchase I think for love of the site I would consider paying a higher price and dealing with it later but we don't have the cash on hand to satisfy the bank and his asking price. Hang in there you'll get there soon and love every minute of it.