Sunday, August 10, 2014

House shopping when I should be house fixing

You know the blogging challenge you gave yourself is a resounding success when you lose followers because of it.  Consider me the dad from The Berenstain Bears. You know, the one where he's trying to teach them how to ride a bike and he keeps riding into ravines and smashing into trees and then saying "yes, that's what you should not do.  Let that be a lesson to you?"  You read that as many times as I did when you were a kid, I just know it.

Anyway, I am he and "blogging so much that you lose readers is what you should not do. Let that be a lesson to you."  But I can't wimp out on day seven, so onward we press.

Remember when I mentioned that perhaps we might consider hopping on the real estate upgrade train?  Well, you know what makes any train ride bearable.  Yes!  Having a destination to look forward to!  So of course I'm scouring zillow and googling addresses and using google earth to walk around acreage because obviously someone else is going to scrub the bathtub whilst I do so.

Then, as I memorize every photo of every listing that could be a maybe possibly, I'm also wondering if you can paint cultured marble (you can!) and if you can make a tacky brass shower stall not so brassy (you can!) and if there's anything you can do about a bathroom that's tiled in a patchwork of ridiculous colors (there is!).  Because apparently fixing up our current house has gotten really old and boring but fixing up a different house will be all fluff and fun and no one will track paint onto the carpet ever?  Of course.

Interlude: have you ever shopped for houses whilst children past the age of reason are living in your home?  No?  Well.  Then listen here, reader dear: asking their opinion is what you should not do.  Let that be a lesson to you.

And then, just this evening, as I was writing this in fact, I came to the subduing realization that the house I'm standing in right now:
(that's one of our gardens there in the front, not, like, the jungle taking over our yard with nary a care from us or something)

and the house that is currently the price+size+condition+outbuilding+acreage+location front runner:

were clearly birthed from the brain of the selfsame house designer person and why, Lord?  Why?  Why must we forever live in a long white ranch with black shutters?  Am I just not cut out for a quirky 1970s contemporary?  Or a striking two-story brick farmhouse?  Or a charming tudor on a hill? 

Obviously this is either a sign that we definitely should or we definitely should not think about buying that house and all I have to do is stay up until midnight staring at every single photo and bird's eye view and county property history record in order to figure out which one it is. 

Shopping for houses before you've even decided whether or not you're going to buy one is something you should not do.  Let this be a lesson to you.


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28 comments :

  1. Ha! I've started scouring Zillow and I will not be even thinking of buying a house for at least a year while I save for a down payment... much less having to figure out what state to even live in! Crazycakes over here too!

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  2. I do the zillow search a couple times a month and am constantly calling my husband over to me "See this beautiful old farm house, can you buy this for me? Great, thanks". Oh and just ignore the fact that it's an hour drive from our jobs. ;)

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    1. Current front runner of houses we won't be moving into anytime soon and life is unfair ;) ..... http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/610-Williams-Blvd-Fairfax-IA-52228/73084644_zpid/

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    2. Molly that house is PRETTY or at least the realtor knows how to take pictures.

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  3. Hahaha! Signed, she who has spent the past few days looking for houses online. And who lived in two long ranch homes with shutters!

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  4. We did the same thing before we found the house we are now in. We looked at a lot of bad houses and decided that we really didn't need to move and then we found this house. It is the beautiful farmhouse on the hill unfortunately the acreage was sold off many years ago, but we are happy with our half acre lot.

    Hang in there...you'll find the right house someday.

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  5. Darn those Zillow commercials. Makin' me cry.
    Country Girl's Daybook

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  6. OH house shopping...we're in the process of closing on our first one. I've looked at Zillow so much my eyes hurt just thinking about it lol.

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  7. I don't even know how many readers I lost when I did Jen F's 7-day blogging challenge. But probably a lot.

    I hope you're looking for places with 2 on a lot. Because I'm ready to jump ship from this drought-ridden state o' mine. And that's not creepy or anything, in case you're wondering how you should feel about me moving in next door before we ever even meet in person. Living in community would be awesome, it's true. Let that be a lesson to you.

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  8. It's funny because I scrolled down and saw the second house photo and thought it WAS your current house from a different angle... >.<
    You've inspired me to embark on my own blogging spree! Not 7 days in a row. But maybe every other day for a week? :)

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  9. Yup! I hear ya! It is such big decision and after you make it and sign all the papers and sell your current house it's hard not to doubt your self or your decision. This coming from the girl who helped make the decision to move 15 minutes away while 37 weeks pregnant because we wanted a bigger lot.....we move in 2 weeks!
    It seemed like a great idea then. lol. . In all serious we love where we are going, but making the decision was torturous. ( as was worrying about selling our current, house,) And you know what? For some reason I am still checking online listings...WHY?!!! Self torture obviously. Good luck on your house hunt! :)

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  10. I do the realtor.com game too. I would love to move the next county over which is where we will likely be doing homeschool science at the nature center once a month homeschool phys ed at their Y on Thursday and homeschool art and library on Fridays this school year. It's also closer to the once a week co op that the Catholic group in the big city. And I want a basement. I'm actually looking only for ranches with basements. Our current house has no basement. The realtor.com game picks up after any tornado warning we have and we try to all cram into the 1/2 bath for the duration. It will just not work once 7 yr old and 2 yr old are too big for laps or sitting on the sink. The ranch is because I'm sure if we ever move my husband will remind me he doesn't want to move again ever again and I'm trying to say a ranch would be better when we're old and decrepit. Oh have you gotten bad enough to look up the property on the county auditor websites. I've found the 3000 sq ft house they are really counting the basement totally and the master bedroom is a garage conversion likely. We're not ready for at least another year to move financially but now I at least know that we'd likely have to spend near the tippy top of our price range and what we want is pretty rare. I'm also blaming my obsession on the cutting of directv and not getting my HGTV time anymore. My 2 yr old son would pass out every night quite easily as a baby whenever I sat down in the recliner and switched on HGTV.

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  11. Yeah, we "just shopped" for a couple of years. The Hubs would remind me that we weren't moving, then show me an awesome house. Now we're two weeks from moving. What bugs the heck out of me is all the improvements we're doing on our current house for someone else, and we're moving into a house with more projects than we can count! :p

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  12. I love Zillow. I'd love to move. The the problem, oh the trickiest of problems, is that after 4 years here, I've finally started cultivating actual gardens, and now the thought of moving before I can see all this hard work come to full glory is too much.

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  13. But, but, but, but, but y...if you move, you won't be living in "House Unseen" anymore. You'll be living in "House Seen and Found on Zillow"

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    1. Haha, good call. She'll need a new url and everything.

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  14. Just wondering how anyone could stop following your blog! I say, post every day for the rest of the year!!!

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  15. I DO remember that Berenstain Bears book! Isn't it weird how you can not think of something for 20 years and then have it vividly come to mind when someone mentions it??

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  16. I am in love with this lady's blog: http://www.sopocottage.com/. I apologize/don't apologize in advance if you find the need to read from beginning to end in one sitting like I did.

    Also, I went to an open house in my neighborhood this weekend. It made me very, very grateful for our own house. Very. And aware of how tricksy real estate photography can be. For instance, they can't capture smells. Or sound. Or the grimy feel of countertops. ::shudder:: (I don't really know why I surrounded "shudder" with colons.) http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1670-Parrot-St-San-Diego-CA-92105/17078466_zpid/

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  17. I agree/disagree. My parents always knew they wanted to retire to the rural area where my brother and his family live. My dad started checking out real estate ads long LONG before they were ready to make that move and it just happened that they found the perfect house - on a lake so mom can fish, with an apartment in the basement for me, plenty of room for family gatherings - and it was a foreclosure so it had been marked way down. And he knew it was a great deal because he had been watching the real estate market here for awhile. Besides... it's fun to window shop, even if you're not buying!

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  18. You would never lose me as a blog-reader/follower. Not unless you became a Satanist or something. So don't do that, k?

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  19. Damn zillow. We were gonna buy a house in a lovey Houston suburb but now we are moving back to maryland to live in my parents house! Super excited and riddled with anxiety!!

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  20. I feel you, friend. On so many levels. Followers, fixer uppers, and ranch styles as far as the eye can see.

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  21. After our last move, my husband says we're never moving again (subject to God sending a direct order), so now I have to house shop for OTHER people. Like my parents. Who don't want to move at all, but I don't tell them I'm house shopping for them, so it works out.

    Oh, and I hear you on the don't ask the age-of-reason kids for their opinion rule... really that applies to almost everything they could have an opinion on.

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  22. Listen, I just found your Instagram then found your blog and am loving it.

    Your are my people.


    Consider me a new reader. A fellow zillow house searcher if you will. Carry on with your birds eye view searching. I'm right there with ya.

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