Well I promise I didn't really forget, but it probably seemed like it.
So here's a short run down since December 2010... Made it through the school year (mostly...). Finally got my CCC's! Woohoo. Funny story though, when I texted the man to excited tell him he had no clue what that stood for and said something about cables. Can you tell he works in AV?? The vets have decided that our dog has allergies - good job Sadie - they believe that's why she gets red around the eyes and tries to eat her skin off. Interesting, huh?
On a different note, we've been tinkering with the real estate market - looking at houses that is, not trying to sell. I'd like to now share some things I've learned thus far.
1. People like cats as pets, but home buyers (and home sellers) should not like cats. Cat urine is the enemy of a home search, it's stinky.
2. Many home still have pastel colored bathrooms. I've now seen (online and in person) yellow, blue and purple. I'm waiting to see pink and green.
3. Realtors use nice language in their listings - they are in short, sales people. Be CAUTIOUS when you read that it's a fixer upper. For example "IF YOU THINK OLD HOUSES ARE JUST PLAIN NEAT & YOU HAVE VISION, THEN CHECK THIS OUT * WE DON'T KNOW THE EXACT YEAR BUILT, BUT PROBABLY EARLY 1900s" is translated to: "This house is a mess and we have no nice things to say. The floors are sloping towards the middle. We aren't sure when it was built because it was built at different times, additions were added and it actually has about 5 different levels. Reno = more expensive than the structure is worth."
4. Cash is king, if you don't have the most you loose, especially in short sales.
5. If a realtor says there will be no pictures posted because the owner was a hoarder, run - see below.
I'm going to delve into #5 just a little more. We knew the house would need reno, but from a good listing, you'll never know how much. But I thought, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, that's worth looking into, right? I asked our realtor if I could take pictures to show Andrew if he couldn't make the showing. Her response was " I think that should be find, let me check" and then that the listing agent said she would not be posting pictures because the previous owner was a horder... anyone watch "Hoarders" or seen that hoarder episode of CSI? I thought, there is a chance that the term has been over used here, right?
Enter front porch, 2 mini-fridges and some boxes. Weird. Enter house, clear living room with dust and cat hair all over the ground (remember #1?). Oh yeah, this house was built in the 1950's, cue wood panelling, EVERYWHERE!! Another 2 fridges in the kitchen (hm, most people just have one in the kitchen maybe an extra in the garage, but not 2 in the kitchen...) and yet another fridge in the landing area outside the bedrooms and main bath. Oh yeah, there were also piles of crap in the landing area and kitchen. And there were also 3 milk crates of records - full size and 45s (that's kind of cool I think). Black sink, toilet and tub (WHEN was that in style???). Meanwhile cat hair and piles of crap are littered around - although walkways in all rooms were open. Basement time, cat hair covered stairs, room with a deep freeze and more piles, oh and another deep freeze under the stairs. Basement entry attached garage, state of the art garage door opener systems with weathering and digital temperature gauge (WEIRD). Back upstairs, I found the washer/dryer in the mudroom - key here, Kenmore Elite front loading Steam Clean series set (WHAT?!? that's worth a LOT of $$!) I wanted to find the second bathroom so on a search I went. I found the mother load, AKA the master bedroom and bath. Cue cat urine smell and room without walkways and only piles of stuff - no space for a bed, or to walk more than 2 feet past the doorway. Wow.
So if you took the time to read that long description, and on the off chance that it made any sense... You too will NEVER go look at a house that someone tells you was owned by a hoarder. That is, unless you have (#4) a lot of cash to strip the house down to the studs and floor boards and start over. Even then there are no guarantees.
We will continue our house search. Slow and steady, we don't even know what we really want right now. Hopefully our realtor doesn't get fed up with us... haha... ;) Maybe I'll continue writing blog posts, or maybe I'll wait another 8 months.
