buying a condo

John and I have been looking into buying a condo for the past few months. We picked up our looking more after we got back from California a few weeks ago. It's been really interesting trying to find a place that fits out needs. There are a few basic things that we need. I am a piano teacher as most of you know, and I need to have space for a piano in the place. This is a problem with a lot of standard condos and townhouses that are in most complexes because the living space usually isn't big enough to accomodate a piano teaching area, and a waiting area as well. Also, we need to have guaranteed parking for my students each week so our own driveway would be ideal. These requirements limit us to more 'house like' condos or single family houses in general.
We have been looking at condos and houses in Lowell. Most of them in our price range have been pretty run down, although we've found a few that had potential.
A few days ago I went with Carol (our realtor) to see a condo that turned out to have most all of what we're looking for in a place. It has a lot of living space on the first floor, and even a separate room that could be used as a studio for my piano lessons. It has its own driveway, and a shared backyard. We got all excited, showed our parents, and placed an offer. We negotiated a good price with the owner, and accepted. We just had the place inspected, and to our dismay, it has some serious issues, there is work on the foundation that needs to be done, the chimney needs to be replaced or fixed, there is a problem with the gas line, and a few other things. Basically, these things we would not want to do ourselves because it would be way too costly and it's hard to tell if a few other things are going to need fixing just a few years after we get the place. This puts a serious damper on the resale value unless we put some work into the place. So, John and I need to decide if we walk away, or renegotiate for the owner to fix all the issues before we buy. Ahhhh!
I've decided that being a grown up is overated. :)

I will keep you posted on what we decide, but don't be surprised if you hear about us resuming our search for a home. Decisions, decisions.....