Four-sided Brick in Established Decatur Neighborhood

My blog title reads like a personal ad for a house, doesn't it? 

This casa is a 3 bedroom/2 bath with a lot more space than we expected. In addition to a good-sized formal living room (sidenote: what does one do with a formal living room?), the house has a HUGE second living room that flows into a nice sunroom. This will make more sense when you see the photos. The house is located in the same nice neighborhood as this cute 3/2 we looked at last weekend.

This place is currently sitting in second or third place on my list.

View from spacious formal living room into dining room.

Main living room/sunroom. It's H-U-G-E.

The kitchen has a similar layout to our last house — but the footprint is 

a little bigger. We would want to update this.

"Vintage" (euphemism for "ugly") pink tile in one of the full baths.

View of her backside. Can't you just see a basketball goal back there?

Part of the (unfinished) basement. This basement has potential for growth.

Cozy backyard, complete with birdhouse.

Pros:

• Convenient location to Toco Hills, downtown Decatur, the Virginia Highlands
• Established neighboorhood
• Lots of space
• Priced within our boundaries
• Our investments in the home would be supported by the neighborhood — and we could cash-flow the improvements over time
• Room to finish part of the basement (one large room, a bedroom and small family room or some kind of in-law suite)
• Deep and wide two-car garage
• Optional swim/tennis club membership

Cons: 

• Bathrooms, kitchen need updating
  
• Screened in porch downstairs is accessed via the unfinished basement (awkward for now — but will be nice if we finished part of the basement)
• High taxes (more of this $6,000/year-ish stuff. ugh!)
• House sits slightly below street level
• Front porch slopes downward slightly (though this may be by design so it doesn't collect water)
• Curb appeal is better than the photos show — but it's not the "looker" from the street that this one is