Just recently Keen and I found, and lost, a very cute house
in the dance of bid-counter bid. I’ve
been looking, at first casually and then more seriously, for the last several
months. Several LONG months. I haven’t written
much about the house-hunting previously because I knew if I did Keen would
claim that I was “jinxing” us. (He has
made claims of the blog post-jinxing relationship before but I, as a scientist,
have rejected the theory regardless of his many 20-20 hindsight “proofs”. BTW, he was also quite upset at the landslide
victory of Rudy over
Rocky and claims I didn’t present his argument correctly. So to set the record straight… for Keen love
story trumps family story. If any of you
would like to change your preference based on this criteria please feel
free.) In any case, to avoid jinxing or
claims thereof I haven’t bored you with a play-by-play of my house-hunting
saga. However, now I feel I must say a few words before I explode.
are crap. To spare any future house-hunters
the pain I have been experiencing I need to point out a few things to the home
sellers on which the fault of this pain clearly lies.
First, it is no
longer a seller’s market! Get over
your dreams of retiring in the
Secondly, slap some paint on the walls. I don’t want to see the outlines of all the
furniture and pictures you used to have in the place. Or the chocolate-ly fingerprints from your
kids in the kitchen. It is not
“homey”. Your dirty walls are not a
prime selling feature.
too. Or that cat urine smell? Yeah, you know the one. DO something about it! That old “oh, but the new owners will want to
completely remodel so why bother?” really is just an excuse. NO ONE has that much cash to remodel anymore…
‘cause have you SEEN the price of houses?!
Fourth, if your house has been on the market for six months
or more, especially if it needs structural repairs or updating, GET A CLUE
you’re pricing it too high. (Ahem, see
the first point.) And by the way,
pulling the house for a week and then putting it back on as a “hot new listing”
doesn’t fool anyone. Repeat after me… buyer’s market!
Actually, I think we would have gotten this last house
except someone swooped in and outbid us at the last minute. After no one bid on the house at all for two months, someone just
happened to see it three days before our final offer and decided to bid. It wasn’t like our offer was unreasonably low
or anything either. It was a really cute
place, too (I would have had an office,
with a DOOR!). Whatev. If you want to pay that much you go ahead and
do it.
I’m holding out for spring. – the
weirdgirl
(I’ve been considering posting the Top Ten Worst after this is all over. You know, the House of Shag, the House of Tile, the Miami Vice House of Termites, etc. etc. The insanity of what people think is acceptable to view for sale (much less as a small glimpse of what their decorating sensibilities must have been) is mind-boggling.)
It could get worse… when we were house hunting we came across one house with a small out of the way basement door. Upon opening it, there was an entire room painted red. Ceiling, floors, everything. It was very Amityville Horror and we left without ever looking back.
He he. We had a painful weekend as well. I was planning on writing about the latest million-dollar cheesetastic house we saw. Just know, I feel your pain.
When we bought this house I looked at a house that had pineapples stenciled all along the stairway, thick burnt orange shag carpet in the basement and nail holes EVERYWHERE.
They were asking $625,000.
Ha! If you want me to pay sixhundredandtwentyfivefuckingthousdanddollars for a house paint over the damn pineapples. Jerks.
Hilarious. Post the Top 10!!!
It’s just ridiculous that you already have to pay close to a million for a house that isn’t quite right and then people don’t even bother to clean them!
Reluctant Housewife, anyone out there house-hunting, I feel your pain too!
We actually did run across a house with an extra, almost hidden, basement room which I recognized as a very old-fashioned photo studio… but I think it really creeped out my real estate agent (especially the hooks hanging from the ceiling).
The solution is simple: move to Virginia and purchase Stately Wasser Manor, which is for sale. I know darned well it’s a buyers market, so you can enjoy all new flooring and a relatively sane price.
Oh! I can’t wait to read the Top Ten!
It’s really interesting to read about other people’s house-hunting adventures. I guess we were really lucky when we were hunting last year because we didn’t see any godawful-ugly houses. Quirky, odd houses YES, but no ugly-need-to-be-remodeled places. And of course, in my opinion, we ended up with the prettiest house of all. ha! I better think that, right? After all, I’ll be living here for the rest of my life. heehee!
Betsy, thanks for the offer but I think we’ll be staying on this coast (considering the houses, can’t think of WHY at the moment).
KC, your house IS the prettiest!!
Try house hunting in Hawaii!!! For about 5-600K you can get a nice little shack/house in the middle of a Hawaiian ghetto. Not to mention the gecko poop, centipedes, scorpians and scary neighbors.
Isn’t paradise wonderful?