I Should Really Start That Book Now.
Saturday found Hubs and I driving around with our trusty real estate agent, Bob. We had an aggressive plan to look at 7 houses in as many hours, plus stop for lunch (hey, Bob was buying). We knew that we had to find at least one winner or a potential winner in the group.
I swear that what I'm about to tell you is true. I can't make this stuff up if I tried. It deserves a bullet list.
I swear that what I'm about to tell you is true. I can't make this stuff up if I tried. It deserves a bullet list.
- One house looked perfect on paper- 5 plus acres, 3 bed, 2.5 bath, on a cul du sac, secluded, very motivated seller. The stench of animals hit us as we opened the door. Seeing as Hubs, The Boy and myself are all allergic to animals- I say that house is a 4 on the 1-10 scale.
- One house had dead animal skins and heads in multiple rooms in the house. 3 on 1-10 scale.
- One house had a 30 year old kitchen that was never updated. The oven handle was being held on with electrical tape. And they were asking 400K for this place. 1.4 on 1-10 scale.
- One house boasted a "stargazing room" which turned out to be no more than a 6x6 foot hole cut into the attic, a glass enclosed top put on and then a long metal ladder to climb up to said "room". Um, no thanks. Nice kitchen though. 7 on 1-10 scale.
- One house had a woman still there- no problem, it's her house. But she opened the door and very sarcastically said, "You're 45 minutes late. I have dogs. I can't stay out all day you know!" Funny part is, we weren't even late! We requested an hour long appointment but showed up with 15 minutes left.
- One house was obiviously a divorce situation. You could feel the pain of the house as you walk through the rooms. Ugh. Nice house though. 6 on 1-10 scale.
- One house had no front walkway to the door. We entered in through the garage so that's not a big deal. But what about guests?
- Same house- we pull half way up the looooong, shared driveway and the neighbor had A BOAT! I was driving, slammed on the brakes and told our agent, "Nope, turning around. Not even dealing with it!"
- Another house had the largest bedroom I've ever seen in a house, but the yard was so torn to hell that you couldn't even walk on it without the dead grass poking you. I'm a sucker for big beds so I give it an 8 out of 10.
All told, it was an experience.
We put an offer on one house.
You tell me- which one do you think we picked??
posted by Sunflowerfairy at 10:04 PM
7 Comments:
I say the last one with the big bedroom or the one with the so called "stargazing room".
Must be the last one. Yards can be cleaned up, but it's much more expensive to remodel a kitchen or get rid of animal stench.
Good luck with the buy!
I'm guessing the divorce house.
Wow, what a day you had!!
Either the divorce house or the ones with the animal skins and heads (the old owners will probably take that stuff with them).
I'm guessing the last one. Yards are fixable. (I would never pick the divorce house. We looked at one of those and it was beautiful, but the wife was there and just oozing misery. She burst into tears twice during our tour. I don't know what her real estate agent was thinking, letting her stay there. Even if she hadn't been present, the negative energy would have driven me away.)
Oh, the one with the shared driveway...no wait...the one with the 30-year-old kitchen...no wait...
The last one with no lawn/yard...those things can be fixed. Bad juju with the divorce house (again fixable). The 5 acres did indeed sound good on paper. I know from experience the only way to get rid of the animal smell is rip out and replace all the flooring (carpeting, etc--this might also include some walls if it is saturated--yuck, I know...), sanding and sealing wood flooring/subflooring (maybe even replacing these). Lots o'work and money but the land would be a sweet deal.
I say the last one came in dead grass on your list. And dead grass can be revived in no time flat, it's trivial.
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