My offer has been accepted, had my inspection today but I don’t have the results yet. Barring any real problems I’ll close on a 2 story 3/2 home in Kenosha in 3 weeks.

I need to refinish the basement but the house is nice otherwise. Two-car garage, fenced in back yard. Tiny lot of course in town, but the $100k I would have spent on rental money for 3.5 years will be recouped at some point in a military-centric town. Properties are going for 20% more there on the border than 20 miles north in Racine.

I shoulda bought in Hawaii 10 years ago.

I’m pretty excited, I’ll have a dedicated gun room again.

Congrats. It's nice getting a new home but I hate the moving in part.

Congratulations!

Is was going to suggest a trip to Bobby Nelson’s Cheese Shop on I-94, but they closed:

After 70 years, Wisconsin says goodbye to iconic Bobby Nelson Cheese Shop.

Congratulations! Even though we lived by the base, I enjoyed Kenosha a lot. Did a lot of fishing up there and some good restaurants. Let me know if they ever re-open Brewmasters in Kenosha. It was a great restaurant with a micro brewery in it.

I’m over here near Lake Geneva if you need any local intel. Welcome.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Congratulations!

Is was going to suggest a trip to Bobby Nelson’s Cheese Shop on I-94, but they closed:

After 70 years, Wisconsin says goodbye to iconic Bobby Nelson Cheese Shop.

Well OttoSig will have a great time getting filled up on cheese, beer, sausages and other Wisconsin favorites at Woodmans Supermarket!

Welcome to Wisconsin!

How will lake-effect weather affect the commute to work during the winter?

Take the train.

Unlike Illinois Wisconsin takes care of the roads. Never had a problem driving to work.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
How will lake-effect weather affect the commute to work during the winter?

I talked to several people who work up there, they said many folks live and commute from Kenosha, even as far as Milwaukee. I’ll definitely need a new set of tires before winter but I gotta assume if many folks do it then I should be fine. Any steep hills should be doable in 4H.

Lots of good gun ranges near there and great shooting clubs.
Check out;

Racine IDPA

County Line range- Racine- Great range right on Lake Michigan

Schulltz Gun Club - Muskego

Daniel Boone Gun Club - Hubertus - wonderful location

Great people up there but you will need to learn to speak and spell like a Indian to get through all the town names.

Seriously, take the train. A monthly pass that gets you between Kenosha and Great Lakes is $37.50 for military. It's a less than 45 minute ride. A 30-day parking pass for the lot by the Metra is $60, but vehicles are limited to less than 8,000lbs. There maybe nearby garages that are cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Seriously, take the train. A monthly pass that gets you between Kenosha and Great Lakes is $37.50 for military. It's a less than 45 minute ride. A 30-day parking pass for the lot by the Metra is $60, but vehicles are limited to less than 8,000lbs. There maybe nearby garages that are cheaper.

I’ll definitely look into that, would save me a lot of gas money.

Except during major storms, Otto should be fine. They take snow removal seriously up there. I had a rear wheel drive jeep pick up and never had a problem. Our Front wheel drive mini van did even better.

I don't know how much things have changed but the train is not really a good option for him. Between the added time to walk from the train station to whatever ship he is assigned to, the crazy odd hours he will be working, and that he will want a car handy to run around the base taking care issues when the division is occupied, the train, while doable, isn’t a good choice. After being in at 5am to PT the division, at 9pm he is not going to want to walk 30 min to the trainn station, wait for the train, ride 45 min to get to his car and drive home. In the cold.
Not when he can just be home in 45 minutes. Especially if he has to be in the next morning again.

^^^Traffic shouldn't be an issue at those hours.

Save money on gas and tires. The best I could do on name brand tires for the 20" wheels was $295 each for Pirelli Scorpion AT somethings. Everything else was $400+ each.

I lived in SE WI and Chicago for 20+ years. The interstate overpasses really do freeze before the roads; first hand experience.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
And tires. The best I could do on name brand tires for the 20" wheels was $295 each for Pirelli Scorpion AT somethings. Everything else was $400+.

I lived in SE WI and Chicago for 20+ years. The interstate overpasses really do freeze before the roads; first hand experience.

Absolutely tires!

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
And tires. The best I could do on name brand tires for the 20" wheels was $295 each for Pirelli Scorpion AT somethings. Everything else was $400+.

I lived in SE WI and Chicago for 20+ years. The interstate overpasses really do freeze before the roads; first hand experience.

Absolutely tires!

Yeah I’m looking at the Falken and Toyo ATs. The new KO3s have good reviews in snow but I never cared for the KO2s, seemed their tread life was always less than the others.

I lived north of Madison for several years. The locals drive 70 on snow packed roads. THe state provides lots of services for its residents but has some of the highest taxes anywhere.
Pretty much everybody drinks. Every small town has a couple of taverns that are famiy gathering places that hold fish frys every Friday. Needless to say the cheese is great.

Inspection uncovered some pretty alarming things:

1. Main support beam is sagging in the basement.
2. No ventilation in the attic, moisture present. Upstairs bathroom vent terminates in attic, no soffit baffles.
3. Boiler is pretty well aged and warrants replacement based on age alone.
4. Garage roof is sagging.
5. None of the outlets GFCI work with a trip tester.

Others are easily fixable items but those five struck me. Three of which are 10k$ plus fixes if I had to guess. I can alleviate the attic issues fairly easily and many 100 year old home probably don’t have an electrical systems compatible with GFCI, wouldn’t pass new construction but it ain’t new construction.

However, a sagging main support beam, boiler, and garage roof likely means no deal on this house.

You're right about all three, expensive repairs. Is it really a boiler, or just an old furnace? I've never even seen a boiler, though I'd believe it in Kenosha or other areas of Wisconsin.