Wow, it has great bones. Yes, a bit dated, but if you don't mind doing the renovations, you could end up with exactly what you want.

It is beautiful, even though it's in the mountains I think the amount of wood on the walls would be a bit much for me, but that's personal preference. It looks in good shape, even if a bit dated. Not like you can't live there.

To me, if you are okay with the floorplan, that is number one in my book. You can see all the changes that can be made. The possibilities that are endless. The house is beautiful! The area is beautiful! The question for you is: Can you live with it like it is while tweaking this and that? The roof is not caving in. The flooring is not coming apart. Make a list. Consider what you think would be top priority. With the counters, you say you can't replace those right now, then see if you can paint them to look like granite or something until you can replace them. I have a plastic shower too. But it's not cracked, or damaged. I keep it super clean, and tidy. My biggest thing with it, is we could make it bigger if we take it out, and have it tiled, but right now we don't have it in our budget. It is on the top of our list, though. But it didn't stop me from buying the house. I love my house. And the biggest reasons are the yard space, and the floorplan. Not the shower that I can change, or the counters that I can replace. Hope that helps :)

Totally agree with Phoebe. The house is beautiful, and I don't think it's all that dated. The area is beautiful, and if the location, floor plan, and price work for you, then definitely consider it. The things you mention are all merely cosmetic that wouldn't need to be tackled all at once.

I think the lot, the view, and the floorplan are going to trump the cosmetic changes to the bathrooms. Do you generally really like the house and the lot? Looks very pretty!

Personally I wouldn't swap out the countertops for anything expensive until I was ready to do the vanities and shower. I'd either live with them as is or find a better piece of formica.

Depending on how expensive your tastes are, I'd maybe say $12000 per bathroom to tile the shower and swap out vanity and counter.

Do you like log houses? They require a lot of care and feeding from what I understand - we were looking at a log cottage and the upkeep was not to my taste.

The house looks very clean and move-in ready. If you like everything about the house except the counters and showers I would go for it. In the grand scheme of things, those are minor changes that can be done over time and the house is perfectly livable in the meantime.

It's a beautiful house and property. If it's structurally sound, I'd go for it (too much interior wood for me too, but that can be changed down the road if you're so inclined). Can you tell me - what is that covered walkway thingy?

If you are happy with the location go for it, everything else can pretty much be changed with time and money.

I would be so busy enjoying the views out the window that I wouldn't care what the counters and showers were made of. But there's a lot of knotty pine in there. You could rent out the loft over the garage and pay for improvements and changes with the income.

I'm blown away by the asking price! It seems like such a bargain compared to similar homes here in the northeast.

As others have commented, you have to embrace wood interiors to love that home. I prefer not as much, but I would spend nice days on that screened in area. The great room looks inviting, too.

Overall, it looks very clean and well cared for. I'm not thrown at all by the bathrooms and could live with the kitchen. Depends on your priorities.

Thanks all!

I think we would have about $50,000.00 to make changes at this point.

Im OK with all he wood, the style has grown on me and I'm ready for a change from my white trim, farmhouse style house I'm in now.

Hubby loves the river access to fly fish, I don't really care about fishing but will love the view. I like that there is room for kids to visit and have some space.

Living on a small river myself, I think it can't be beat! The house looks clean and ready to move in, allowing you time to decide carefully what you want to do with the things you want to change. Tell us about the long covered walkway? Does it go from the house to garage/loft?

Are you thinking of buying this instead of the home you've been planning to build? It looks like heaven on earth for your dogs!

We are torn about building. We would want to be closed on our current house which means we would be in a rental while building. Allowing for delays that means a year in a rental. We have 6-7 dogs, 3 Lancashire Heelers and 3-4 German shepherds. Not easy to find a rental that will allow for that. We are professional dog trainers so not an option to not have the dogs.

So building allows us to get what we want but is very problematic.

The covered walkerway between the 2 buildings is required for some odd reason. We couldn't figure it out until we read the covenants which states any outbuildings must be connected via a covered structure. It's not terribly usable but is a nice walk between the two. I would put planters along the railings or something.

I think the house looks amazing!

One thing I wish I had done was to research what remodeling actually costs. Our house was "affordable" to us because it needed to be updated. We arbitrarily felt that 20K would do the kitchen, 10K would do the master bath... But our kitchen is going to be 70K and we won't be able to redo the master bath any time soon as a result. I think we might have passed on this house had we done some research into pricing.

I think it's great! The outdoor area would sell me. Looks like good bones and just some updating to do. The loft is a great space, especially since you have grown children, etc. that would visit. The walkway would be a nice place for the dogs to get out and "stretch their legs" when raining/snowing (if it snows in that part of GA, I'm not sure where that area is).

The owners paid $430,000 for the house according to Zillow, though we don't know how much more they put into the house. You may have looked at every house in the area already, but here are some of the comps.

http://www.zillow.com/pricing/home_condition/?zpid=105259583

The area does get occasional snow. This is in the blue ridge mountains an hour north of Atlanta.

Here is the other possibility that we are considering. Very cheap finishes but lot and layout are good. We would have more like $150,000-175,000 to update this one.

Cabin2

I would offer 400K let them counter offer or you may get a bargain, kids often want $$$$ ASAP

Cabin 2 seems to have more level access to the river. I did not love the way the backyard of cabin 1 appeared to be a fairly steep hill. My in-laws retirement home had a steep hill to water access and it was a pain to get things down and back. Also as they aged the climb became a deterrent to them enjoying their space.

The first home you posted is to me, far superior as long as knotty pine doesnt wear on you. But it looks bigger and more open. However, in the photos it was hard for me to see what the views were ... are there water views or just trees? The second house appeared much closer to the water and has the nifty deck; that would be a draw to me.

And yes, AMCK, those of us in the NYC ambit should not even be made to look at what GA real estate costs!

I will say that while Georgia prices are easy on the pocketbook we don't get the services and infrastructure that ny and northeast prices get you. Kind of a free for all but that goes both ways.

Oh I like house #2 also! I know where Ellijay is. Beautiful area.

They both look very nice. #1 more like a cabin with all the wood paneling, and #2 more traditional. I personally like the layout and large rooms of #1. And it seemed to offer the opportunity for move-in-ready with a place to live while you do small reno's at your pace. Great, beautiful area, north GA.

The two homes are very diferent but both are beautiful settings. The things that you do not like are relatively unimportant because they can be easily changed.

We have 3 " plastic" tub/showers. It has never occurred to me to change them. Only overnight guests would be seeing them. Plus, I am not really a tile fan.

Countertops and light fixtures can be changed very easily. You cannot change the trees, the river, etc.

Considering you do love it, and it's structurally sound and doesn't have major problems to be solved-I think you can do (relatively) small changes to get it to your liking.

It's lot's of wood there; very earthy palette. As long as you're not totally redoing the whole look(which would be really strange)/need to tackle a remodel because you have to-I think it will be easy to find materials that will play well with the house. Lots of things will work, without feeling too new and unrelated to the things that are already there. You never want to just slap something new over something old without any consideration; here, I believe, everything can be done in such a way so it looks harmonious, and doesn't require pulling everything out.

Eh, you are probably right about schools, but I dont get water sewer or trash pickup. Trust me, even if I did ... You guys are lucky.

That's a LOT of wood! If you buy it, will you have enough money leftover to make the changes you want? If not, keep looking - you will come to hate those countertops and showers VERY quickly!

This is more along the lines of what we want in showers and bathrooms.

Well it seems like a very realistic plan to me, and beautiful too

(even though no amount of grout will convince me that pebble tile is not super slippery when wet..but that's me)

I think it's a gorgeous house, but they're asking far too much. I think your gut is right--for that price it should already have the high end finishes you want. Was it previously purchased at the height of the market?

I agree with those who said the view makes up for a lot. We bought an ugly duckling lake house that needed (and still needs) a whole lot more updating than either of the homes you've linked to. Sometimes I get frustrated with the plastic showers, the fake marble vanity tops ... and the green tub ... but slowly but surely we are turning this into our forever home. And in the meantime, when I think I just can't stand the ugly parts a moment longer, I look out at that view and know we made the right choice.

The only thing I found is someone paid $430000.00 in 2001. If that's correct then they way overpaid.

My current top is $425000.00 but I will take our builder out first to see what we can do with $50000.00-75000.00.

darcy, that view would be worth the green tub!

You have to really like it, it sounds like your husband does. Is the issue the house? Or is it moving more out into the country where it would be more isolated than where you're currently living? I would move in tomorrow without hesitation and I wouldn't bother changing the countertops. Over time I'd probably make some changes but from the photos it appears that nothing HAS to be done immediately.

#1 is gorgeous. Plastic showers and countertops will be overlooked when you have your stuff moved in. You will be busy enjoying the fabulous outside places and high ceilings. You don't live in the shower.

If the Formica and showers are in good shape (which they appear to be) go for it. It's neutral. Very pretty lot.