househunting

I think for the rest of the month, I'm going to title my posts ending in "-ing". A few years ago, the band Boys Night Out did this kinda thing on their (awesome) album Trainwreck. I figure that following in their footsteps will help me become a more awesome album.

Reese and I saw three houses on Sunday, for two reasons: first and foremost, we NEED A FRIGGIN HOUSE. Secondly, we needed to avoid the Pens game in order for them to win. Whatever our hunch, it just felt like if we did that, we'd be sitting in the Eastern Conference Finals a week from now. Well, ho HO! Look where the Pens are! GO PENS.

Uhhhhhh, oh yeah, the houses. This might start to shift into the "three little pigs" --- just a warning. The first house - made of hay - sure seemed as much. It was a big, old country farmhouse that had a few (more like VERY few) renovations done in 2001. I quite clearly remember driving by this house back in high school and wondering what they were adding on, so at very least this placated my curiosity. The house is nice enough from the outside, it was big and white and could stand to have some siding re-done, but nothing major. The inside is another story, though. When you enter the place, you walk through a sun-room that's pointing directly at a huge hillside; receiving absolutely no sun whatsoever at any point during the day. There is a small hallway leading from that sun room into the kitchen with what looks like a closet directly to the right in the hallway. This "closet" turned out to be a full bathroom. It kind of made me chuckle. "A full bathroom between the kitchen and the back door. HEH!" The kitchen was a definite Rollo-slayer. The ceiling was little over a foot taller than myself, not totally uncomfortable, but you could definitely tell that somebody paid a handyman poorly to convert an old porch into a large kitchen. Poor Rollo would end up wedged in there somehow and we'd never see him again. I can't live in a house that outright refuses my friends due to height. There was a fairly sized dining room and living room off of the kitchen that were nice enough, but the real kicker happened when you walked upstairs. This house was marketed as a three-bedroom home. The master bedroom was okay, just big enough to fit my crap and it had its own private full bath. We found another bedroom not far away, but locked down tight by some distrustful fourth-grader who apparently thought I was out to get his "Ameri-thon" trophies. I never had an opportunity to swipe any... But the home owner tried to pass off a common area upstairs as a third bedroom. There was no privacy, no wall, just large, open, un-carpeted area. Particle board flooring and all. That was the deal breaker right there. It was a real bummer too, as the yard was huge, the acreage was massive and the two-car garage reminded me of the times when Ted, Rollo and I would just chill in his garage and drink til we couldn't see anymore. On to house #2!

House #2 was in the middle of Cal, something I thought was cool. It was a true three-bedroom house with a large, flat yard, a garage and off street parking. The front door opens into an absolutely MASSIVE living room that had Reese and I drooling from the time we stepped into the place. The dining room was huge too. Each had 12 foot ceilings and had plenty of sunlight due to well placed windows. The kitchen was an anomaly. It had "floating counters" that you could move around the room as you saw fit to arrange. The fridge stuck out like a boner in spandex. The oven didn't have a vent, instead relied on a 1950's style vent fan that was built into the wall. The weirdest part was the only full bath in the place was built right onto the kitchen. Much like the last house, I found this strange but I could probably deal with it. After all, up until here the house was wonderful. Going upstairs changed everything. The floors were the original linoleum tile covered distastefully by pieces of loose carpeting. The tile was peeling in many places, and the walls were all original. The rooms were sickeningly small and the whole "look & feel" reminded me of a lifetime movie set in the 1970s where a redhead kid would be abused by his stepfather. There was also a small bathroom up there too, but the toilet was smack in the corner and left NO room for your right leg if you had to drop a deuce. The house also came with a dilapidated, flat-roof garage that really didn't have a roof as it was busy caving in on itself. On the bright side, the yard was my favorite part of this house. Big, flat and easily maintained. Unfortunately, I'm not a buffalo and I won't be living on a plain. Onto house #3.

Reese loved this house from the minute she walked in it. Its a nice cape-code style home with a ton of updates. The living room reminds me of the one I had when I lived in my old house in Cal, which immediately won me over. It has a huge, open foyer which leads to a revolving staircase. Also on the main level is a large master bedroom (bonus for me!). There's an incredibly large dining room that's just off the kitchen. Now, speaking of the kitchen, here's where the house bums me out. The kitchen is small. Quite possibly one of the smallest I've ever seen. This really isn't a problem (I'd just knock out the wall separating the dining room, add some counter space and a breakfast bar and combine the two rooms) but it IS additional work and I'll have to save - quite possibly for years - before I could do any of this. Another bummer was the bathroom setup. Going upstairs, the bathroom greets you as the first door on the left. Its got a tub and a crapper, but no shower (again which is fine) but as I'm doing my thorough inspection of the bathroom - I notice that there's NO electrical outlets in there. That won't sit so well with Reese, who I know won't want to blow dry her hair in another room (and really, she shouldn't have to). So, if there's no shower here, and no shower on the main level, you can guess where its at. That's right, its in the basement - right next to the washer & dryer. Yessss... Finally something I'm not keen on. So, add another full bathroom needing added onto this house at some point as well (more money... ugh...). The upstairs bedrooms are well sized, and if my genes cooperated, it could easily house a boy and two girls (or vice versa). Back to the basement, it is rather nice with high ceilings and with the potential to be finished eventually. The basement extends into a single car garage, which I'd probably seal off and make a bar or family room. I can build a better garage... I have the technology... The power... wait... back to the house... The yard is a postage-stamp equivalent. This is a corner lot, so its pretty large with a private alley in the back for additional parking. The house also has an incredible view of beautiful, downtown Brownsville. (That's supposed to be a feature?) It is the only house to have electric heat (both baseboard and heat-pump) which will help us save an incredible amount of money. So yes, we like this house and we're prepared to make an offer on it.

We've got two more houses to see, one tonight and one later in the week. My big beef with these houses (aside from the obvious) is the lack of yards. I'd like to be able to have a fire-pit or bonfire area at my house. Of course that won't be a deal breaker, but I'm so sick of always having to set my mom at ease before I can invite people a bonfire.

Crossing my fingers.