Third Offer

We've placed our third home-purchase offer. It is on a foreclosure. The first house we made an offer on was a pretty good fit, at a great price with a great yard, but we were outbid. The second house had been on the market for a year, but the owners were nickle-and-dimers, and we couldn't come to agreement about the price. So here we are, making an offer on house number 3.
We are both a little sad about not being able to find the perfect house. I guess when your expectations are high, you have a long way to fall to hit reality.

This house is pretty good. Like most foreclosures, it needs work.

The Pros:
The price is perfect. You can't overestimate the value of a small mortgage.
It has nice space inside: good flow, big rooms, high ceilings, big windows, lots of light.
The master suite has it's own, big-enough bathroom.
Lots of closet space all over.
The roof appears to be in good shape (no leaking visible in the house).
The yard is already fenced in and is fairly level and nicely sized.
In a very residential area. I guess this is both good and bad.

The Cons:
The house reeks, and will need all the flooring replaced.
The windows are single-pane, so we will need to buy storm windows or otherwise make do.
The yard is shady.
The kitchen was stripped and doesn't have any appliances.
The railroad-tie retaining wall is sagging and needs to be replaced.
The patio is sloped the wrong way, and lets a small amount of water get into the basement.

So you see, the house is both yay and yuck.

The Plan:
1) Even before we move in, we will need to replace some of the flooring. The upstairs is wall-to-wall carpet and the downstairs is a mix of ugly things. I think the carpet upstairs is the cause of the stinky smell; it's trashed. I called around to some local carpet places, and we're looking at between 2k and 5k to replace the carpet. We would be going with the low-to-middle carpet, so we're looking at about 3k right up front.

2) Also before moving in, we will need to buy a suite of new appliances. At minimum: fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer. Lowes is having a sale right now, so I think we can get all the appliances around 2k.

3) ASAP after moving in, we will need to paint every wall. This is mostly just to help with stinkiness, because the wall colors aren't bad. I do love choosing paint colors though.

4) Eventually, replace all downstairs flooring with hardwood. I'm excited to DIY this!

5) Fix retaining wall (the wall isn't structural for the foundation, but it's tall and sagging).

6) DryLock basement

7) Redo back patio and adjust gutters to move water away from the house

Thats a pretty ridiculous list already, so I'm going to stop here. There will be other things we want to do, of course, but if we can get 1-3 done, the house will be comfortable to live in.

And now, we wait . . .