I don’t know about where you live but where I live the cost of a house is KAH-RAY-ZEE. It’s come down, a little tiny bit with the whole economy in the crapper thing but not that much. At this point we’re “following the market” doing a little research and tracking prices, narrowing down which town it is we want to settle in, balancing the pros and cons of condo verses single family and really figuring out what we can afford (hard to with unknown factors like employment for me – that’s a stress filled posted for another day). Last week, while obsessively checking researching, I fell in love with a house. It kind of feels like I’m participating in online dating. (NOT speaking from experience on this one folks) He looks great in the photos most of the time but you figure once you meet for coffee the magic may wane. Not this time. We were 1 family of a kazillion at the Open House. People were snapping photos (me included), measuring, and walking around with intense faces that led me to believe a few of the folks were prepared to knife someone for the place.
Excuse the blurry kid in the moustache shirt (Freezer paper stencils for the win), I was focused on the thing of beauty behind him! Isn’t it beautiful?!!! It has a yard, a BIG yard for around here standards, a little kid playhouse, a garden, 2 swings, a picnic table and a 2 car garage that could be turned into work and/or play space in the future. A great backyard. And the front and inside are not too shabby either. The owners have great style. I wish I had gotten a shot of the fabric on the pillows in the chair in the living room. It was vintage amazing and my first thoughts were, “I bet she has a crafting blog”! The house is on a big busy street but not abutting the highway like another single family we looked at . To quote my husband, “If it were any closer to the highway we’d have to pay a toll”.
It’s a 2 bedroom but with character and break out spaces. The closet in the kids’ room was huge and funky and could be turned into a playspace or sleep space down the road. The “master” had a little office connected that would be perfect for etsy and crafting.
It was funky with tons of character. Not what usually pops up in our price range. We went to 8 Open Houses on Sunday and some were down right depressing. One was cute, perfect for a gnome family with a polka dotted mushroom garden out front and a mini-deer for a pet. Not so much for our family. Being sold “as is” for $379,000 I believe. It did have an amazing view of the Boston skyline off in the distance. Someone is going to buy it, knock it down and build up something new. Betcha.
My scanner, the fussy diva that she is, just decided she no longer wants to obey me. I was going to scan the sheet from the OH with more photos and stats. Ugh. Basically it’s a 2 bedroom (the first house not the hobbit abode above) with 1 1/2 baths and 1130 sq. ft of homey goodness. Not a huge house but one that feels like a home we could happily live in.
I wish I had thought to take photos of some of the other clunkers. In summary, we looked at a condo located above a chiropractor, a townhouse sandwiched between the high school and a grocery store parking lot, the house on the highway, a crime scene looking single family with a layout designed by monkeys, the fairy cave with the view, an overdone condo conversion with a laughable asking price, a tiny house apparently occupied by a cigar smoking dog and the house of my dreams which is now under agreement after 3 days on the market.
It’s probably best that we weren’t ready to buy because I feel certain it will go for well over the listing price ($399,000) and that’s a bidding war we would have lost. I will work to not compare all future homes with this one but it will be a difficult.
I’ll update with the final SOLD price.