The Scoop...

House Hunting Day #1 is done. I saw a total of 4 houses, including the one I pictured yesterday. There were two houses that we weren't able to get in to today, so that will probably be the bulk of my next house hunting day. Of the ones I saw, only the one that I pictured yesterday is really a consideration, and here's why:

The first property Suzy took me to is a fairly large house (4 bedrooms, 2 baths), built in 1898, that sits on a very busy street. She had picked it because it was about $15,000 under my maximum price. I think this was intended to be the one that shocked me into the reality of my buying situation! It was AWFUL! While it did have a roof, several sections of it had fallen into the living space of the house and water was just kinda freely flowing into the house. Most of the kitchen had been gutted (and I mean that vandals had broken in and stripped all the useful stuff out - not that licensed contractors were remodeling!). Part of the staircase was missing and had been replaced by a ladder, and it was pretty obvious that some squatters had been using the house up until recently (or maybe they're still using it, and they were just out to lunch when we stopped by). Afer about 5 minutes, even Suzy said, "yeah, this place is over-priced". That made me feel somewhat better.

House #2 was actually a lot better, although it was over my price range, but highly negotiable. It had been recently remodeled and had an awesome kitchen with granite counter tops and all. The down side was that it was in an "up and coming" neighborhood, that's decidedly more "coming" than "up". Suzy said it was my decision, but she would not choose to live in that neighborhood. Noted. Check that one off the list!

House #3 was really, really sad. It was built in 1809, and once upon a time was probably the most adorable little house in town. Its right on the edge of my price range, but it would require at least $50,000 to make it habitable. Not the kind of money I have. Not to mention that it was in that same questionable neighborhood. It was pretty dirty, too, and when we came out of it, Suzy asked me to spray my shoes with bug spray before getting into her car - apparently the hosue is known to have fleas in its nasty carpet. Nice.

Finally, we moved on to the Dream House. It was as adorable on the outside as it was in the pictures. The inside didn't disappoint either, except that it was small - but it would be more than adequate for a single person with 2 cats. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a large open room on the second floor that could be another bedroom or an office or something. I, of course, would use it as a craft room, naturally. The hardwood floors had all been redone, and they looked spectacular. The kitchen was renovated, and although it was done cheaply, it was done well. The yard was really big and has a fairly large garage, which could be used for a car, although its being used as a shed right now. The only issue that we could find was that there's some kind of wackiness going on with the electrical panel - it has 4 extensions cords coming out of it that run off to different parts of the house. "Not up to code at all", Suzy says. So, the bottom line is that its still priced WAY above my budget, but Suzy is going to call the owner's realtor and tell them what I can afford. If they say no, they say no. And they probably will, but there's still a chance that after 7 months the owners are sick of it and want to seel, at any price. We'll see.

Above is a picture of one of the 2 houses that I didn't get to see today. Its an 1819 "workman's cottage" that's right on our river. Am I brave enough to take on a really old house ont he flood plain?? Stay tuned...