We are still buying a house!!! It wasn't just a dream. We are two weeks into our search and we have already loved and lost.
We went into the search with a couple of houses in mind only to find out that they already had contracts on them. Oh well.
Then we went to look at 8 houses last Friday. That's right 8, and we did it in 2.5 hours. Some of them were so gross. Here is a run down...
House 1: We had to step over a pile of trash to get in the door. strike one. It had an addition that looked sketchy and still had the sliding glass doors between the rooms. Strike two. It had wood rot on one of the front columns. strike three. OUT!
House 2: Wood rot under the front gutter. strike one. wood frame house in FL.. seriously.. strike two. The front part of the driveway was missing and they replaced it with pavers. strike three. Not to mention this place was trashed. There were dishes in the kitchen cabinets, food in the pantry, trash on the floor, clothes in the closets, and hairballs in the shower. No one was living in this house, there wasn't any furniture just discarded things, it had obviously been abandoned. OUT!
House 3: This house was cute, it had bamboo floors, a giant master bathroom,indoor laundry room, and a big kitchen. But upstairs it had nasty carpet, tiny bedrooms, tiny second bath, and no dining room. It was a maybe for a while, but by the end of the day we decided this one was also out!
House 4: This place was creepy. It had an old doorway that was walled in and a room on the other side that we couldn't figure out how to get into, because the key didn't work in the lock on the outside door that we think lead to that room. Also it had giant power lines running through the back yard and an above round pool sitting right underneath those nasty power lines. No thank you!
House 5: This house was the first one we really liked, and put on to our this is a definite maybe list. It is cute, updated, inside laundry room, nice yard, new windows, newer roof, it was good. The worst parts were that the bedrooms were all next to each other, the bathrooms were kind of small, there is only one living room, no family room, and it's not fenced, so we'd have to put in a fence. We are going to see this house for a second time tomorrow.
House 6: This house had a funky lay out, it was kind of trashy looking, and was the "nicest" house on the street. We walked in and it smelled horrible, so we left. At that point I wasn't looking at anything that wasn't at least as good as house 5.
House 7: This was our favorite house of the day. It is in an established neighborhood, it was the biggest house we looked at, it had the biggest yard, and needed the most updating. It had the smallest master bathroom I've ever seen and had BROWN kitchen appliances. However, it had a brand new roof and AC, was a great floor plan, two of the three rooms had walk in closets, it had a formal dining room, big kitchen, screened back porch, fenced yard, close to work for both Chris and I, on a corner and a cul de sac, and had a side loading garage. It was adorable. White block and painted brick, with black shutters and a red front door. We were supposed to go see it for a second time tomorrow, until our Realtor called this morning to tell us that it was under contract as of this morning. We are definitely sorry we didn't move faster on this house, but know that there is a house waiting for us somewhere.
House 8: This house was old, small, needed updating, and had a strange carport turned garage deal going on. But was in the best location of all of the houses and right on the bike trail that runs through our area, like open the gate in the backyard and there it is, kind of right on the trail. This would have been great for Chris because he rides his bike a lot but we decided that it was more even more creepy to be on the trail than it was convenient. Anyone could bust open your gate in the middle of the night and then be in your yard guarded by a privacy fence breaking into your house. To us that was just not a risk we were willing to take. So we passed on that house as well.
Tomorrow we are seeing house 5 again as I mentioned and we are also seeing two new houses. I'll let you know how that goes as soon as I'm done recovering from it.
By the way, I've already picked up 7 floor samples, 8-10 booklets on paint color ideas, and a brochure on buying kitchen counter tops from Home Depot and Lowes. I need a house, and quick, before the home improvement stores think I'm just a crazy lady who is obsessed with free samples.
We went into the search with a couple of houses in mind only to find out that they already had contracts on them. Oh well.
Then we went to look at 8 houses last Friday. That's right 8, and we did it in 2.5 hours. Some of them were so gross. Here is a run down...
House 1: We had to step over a pile of trash to get in the door. strike one. It had an addition that looked sketchy and still had the sliding glass doors between the rooms. Strike two. It had wood rot on one of the front columns. strike three. OUT!
House 2: Wood rot under the front gutter. strike one. wood frame house in FL.. seriously.. strike two. The front part of the driveway was missing and they replaced it with pavers. strike three. Not to mention this place was trashed. There were dishes in the kitchen cabinets, food in the pantry, trash on the floor, clothes in the closets, and hairballs in the shower. No one was living in this house, there wasn't any furniture just discarded things, it had obviously been abandoned. OUT!
House 3: This house was cute, it had bamboo floors, a giant master bathroom,indoor laundry room, and a big kitchen. But upstairs it had nasty carpet, tiny bedrooms, tiny second bath, and no dining room. It was a maybe for a while, but by the end of the day we decided this one was also out!
House 4: This place was creepy. It had an old doorway that was walled in and a room on the other side that we couldn't figure out how to get into, because the key didn't work in the lock on the outside door that we think lead to that room. Also it had giant power lines running through the back yard and an above round pool sitting right underneath those nasty power lines. No thank you!
House 5: This house was the first one we really liked, and put on to our this is a definite maybe list. It is cute, updated, inside laundry room, nice yard, new windows, newer roof, it was good. The worst parts were that the bedrooms were all next to each other, the bathrooms were kind of small, there is only one living room, no family room, and it's not fenced, so we'd have to put in a fence. We are going to see this house for a second time tomorrow.
House 6: This house had a funky lay out, it was kind of trashy looking, and was the "nicest" house on the street. We walked in and it smelled horrible, so we left. At that point I wasn't looking at anything that wasn't at least as good as house 5.
House 7: This was our favorite house of the day. It is in an established neighborhood, it was the biggest house we looked at, it had the biggest yard, and needed the most updating. It had the smallest master bathroom I've ever seen and had BROWN kitchen appliances. However, it had a brand new roof and AC, was a great floor plan, two of the three rooms had walk in closets, it had a formal dining room, big kitchen, screened back porch, fenced yard, close to work for both Chris and I, on a corner and a cul de sac, and had a side loading garage. It was adorable. White block and painted brick, with black shutters and a red front door. We were supposed to go see it for a second time tomorrow, until our Realtor called this morning to tell us that it was under contract as of this morning. We are definitely sorry we didn't move faster on this house, but know that there is a house waiting for us somewhere.
House 8: This house was old, small, needed updating, and had a strange carport turned garage deal going on. But was in the best location of all of the houses and right on the bike trail that runs through our area, like open the gate in the backyard and there it is, kind of right on the trail. This would have been great for Chris because he rides his bike a lot but we decided that it was more even more creepy to be on the trail than it was convenient. Anyone could bust open your gate in the middle of the night and then be in your yard guarded by a privacy fence breaking into your house. To us that was just not a risk we were willing to take. So we passed on that house as well.
Tomorrow we are seeing house 5 again as I mentioned and we are also seeing two new houses. I'll let you know how that goes as soon as I'm done recovering from it.
By the way, I've already picked up 7 floor samples, 8-10 booklets on paint color ideas, and a brochure on buying kitchen counter tops from Home Depot and Lowes. I need a house, and quick, before the home improvement stores think I'm just a crazy lady who is obsessed with free samples.