House Hunting....

As I get my house ready to put on the market, my husband suggested we go to a couple of open houses yesterday. I thought it was a good idea too. They were close by and would only take a few minutes of our time. We wouldn’t have to bother a realtor to take us and we would get an idea of what is out there. Houses always look better when you read about them in the ads.

The first house was about a block away from a very large boulevard. In fact you can clearly see it from the front door. I want peace and quiet. I was too turned off to even go inside and look around.,  Besides that, I took a look at the outside and the bricks and steps up to the house needed work. I didn’t want to waste any more time there.

The second house was on a nice quiet little street. Quiet being one of my major concerns. The door was open and the realtors were there ready to show it. We had to take our shoes off as we walked in because of the white carpet. We started to look around. The large living and dining rooms were covered in a floral print wallpaper, not to my liking. The kitchen cabinets were dark walnut and so was the paneling. It was a small, efficiency kitchen so needless to say it was too dark for my taste. Even the refrigerator was paneled…YES…paneled to match the wall paneling. My husband didn’t even know what it was at first, he had to open it to see. I will admit that is the first time I ever saw that in my lifetime.

Now we proceed to go to the bedrooms. We walk into the first one and I ask the realtor, this would be the master bedroom? He says no, there is another one that’s larger. I am surprised. The problem with this bedroom, as with another one we saw, is that the wall opposite where the bed would be, is all closet space. That’s great except there is no place to put the triple dresser. Anyway, we move on to the next bedroom and not the realtor says, oh the other one was the master bedroom, because this one is clearly smaller. Fine. I move on to the third bedroom which is the size of a walk-in closet, just big enough for a crib and dresser, not a grown person. Finally, I peek into the bathroom. The color theme is yellow, it almost makes me nauseous. It’s nice and clean, but yellow in the bathroom I could do without.

Then we proceed to the finished basement. It’s finished all right. It’s all paneled with a natural, raw wood that looks like it’s been varnished or shellacked, with knots in the wood and everything. It has a half bath down there. Again, it’s not suited to my taste.

We thank the realtors and have some last minute chit chat about how technology is taking over the children of today and share a few laughs. As we walk out and I trying to make sure I am out of earshot before saying a word to my husband. At a safe distance he asks “what do you think was wrong with it?” I told him a better question and shorter list is what did I think was right with it? Everything is wrong with it. If I have to pay over $500,000 for a house, I don’t want to have to gut it out before moving in.

That was the bad news. The good news is that when I got home I was a lot happier with my own house and how it looked. So maybe I can be more content as I pack and clean and not so anxious to get out. I know we just started, but I wonder if this is going to be the case with every house? When they say move-in condition, it’s not the same “move-in” condition I have in mind.