Real Estate Blues and Silver Linings

So we’re not buying a house.  Or at least not that house.

Last weekend we went to see this house that’s been on the market for several months.  I’d looked at it online several times, totally enamored of the kitchen, but nixed it because I thought the yard was too small.  Then I ran into our realtor (the one we used to buy this house) last week and mentioned it, and she said it was deceptive.  So I went to look again.  Turns out she was right, so we decided to really LOOK at the house.  The kitchen was even better in person.  Fully updated, cabinets all over the place, granite counters, over 2,600 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, another room for my office, another for the gym.  It was instant lust.

We were scheduled to go back and look after work on Thursday.  I’d finally gotten around to getting my oil changed (waaaaaay overdue) and since I was already out of the office, I decided to drive over and take a look at the outside to check for window rot, cracks, and the like, as it was pouring buckets when we looked the first time.  Hubs met me over there and we found them.  Cracks in the brick.  Lots of them.  Way more than should be expected for just settling.  It was tragic.  Like finding out that the hot, sexy guy you’ve been flirting with is married.  Put together with some of the things I’d seen inside that I initially chalked up to some poor workmanship and it means structural issues.  Not something that’s worth risking no matter how fantastic the kitchen is.

I will forego, for now, the obvious metaphor for writing that’s staring us in the face here.

Hubs went out to check on another house and totally fell in love with it.  Smaller, but newer, and a very efficient use of space.  Whoever was there before had left it unlocked, so he took a tour and some pictures.  We were all set to ask our realtor to show it to us, then found out that it’s under contract.  Hubs was crushed.  I wound up going out with the realtor anyway to look at another house that needed way too much updating, but we had a nice discussion to clarify exactly what we want and need and how much we’re comfortable paying for it.  Then we started talking about our current house, which she thinks we’ll be able to get quite a bit more for than we’d anticipated.  So all our sweat equity and thrifty updates absolutely paid off.

Now that we’ve had time for the honeymoon period and disappointment to ebb, we’re back to being practical.  We already got the mini-storage, so we’ll move forward with the decluttering and cleaning out of our house to sell, and start fixing the last few things that need touching up.  The “season”, as it were, really doesn’t start until May (May-September because we’re a college town), so we’ve got time.  And I’m more comfortable not making a snap decision.