My last post probably left you thinking we had a totally terrible and unproductive trip. That would be false, but it made for better comedic timing. However, everything I wrote about agent A was true. Man, did that woman suck at her job.
The good news is that after she dropped us off in the Chili's parking lot, we cold called an agent from Keller Williams (LOVE!) who found us a dozen suitable houses in half an hour. We are now planning to name our next child after her. Let's hope it is a girl, as a boy named Janet could have some gender identification issues.
The good news? There are houses in our price range that aren't scary and have a big lot. The bad news? Most of them are located in the next town over. You know, the one we were hoping to move to in the first place. Because it is nicer. Yes, that one.
We looked all day on Tuesday without much luck. Our new realtor remained upbeat and promised us that with every house we saw, she learned a little more about what we liked and how to meet our needs. She dropped us off at our hotel that night with the promise to keep looking.
An hour later, she sent an email that said, "I think this is the one!" And we thought she was right. So the next morning we schlepped WAAAAY over to the other side of Next Town Over to look at this promising house.
At first glance, this house appeared to be everything you could ask for: four bedrooms, three and a half baths, two living, two dining, office, utility room all situated on a two acre lot and wrapped up in gorgeous dark red brick. Then as you walk around you start noticing things. Wow, this hall is really skinny. Were those bricks around the window ever mortared? Why are there wires sticking out of all of the windowsills? What happened to the trim work around the kitchen cabinets? What the heck is up with the half sanded/half varnished cabinets? Hmph. Giant random piles of dirt? Check. Fancy fence that looks like pipe fence but is actually PVC? Check again. What was the deal?
It turns out that two owners ago, the original owners, built the house. They used their brother-in-who was a general contractor, but not a builder. Apparently, they ran out of money in the middle of their project and kind of left things half done. Wow. And I thought my house was the land of half ass!
For all its quirks, this house is still the best fit we have found and it is priced very reasonably for the area (though still at the very tippy top of our budget). If we were to fix up all of the half-done items and get the yard in shape, we could sell it for quite a profit a couple years down the line. Normally this sort of stuff would fall to me and T would have nothing to do with it. But the monetary aspect of this house has him all excited and willing to participate.
We are headed back next week to look at more houses and to give this one a closer look. We need to make sure it is structurally sound before we are willing to proceed. And our minds aren't made up, so we will look at whatever else Janet finds.
Oh, we leave tomorrow, so no more posts until Thursday. Wah!
it sounds as if this is like an adventure!!
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