House Hunting

What a funny day today turned out to be.

We allowed ourselves a slow start to our day; the kids played video games, I took a long, hot shower and fussed with my hair the way I like it, Ian had a long soak in his much loved jacuzzi tub. I even had a short catnap on my bed and snuggled up with Jordan.

We've been eyeing a home in a nearby neighbourhood that is at the high end of our budget. The exterior is a bit hard on the eyes considering that the garage, door, mailbox, window frames and shutters are all painted a hot pink. Still... it had possibilites. When I read the local paper yesterday I saw that they were holding an Open House today so off we went.

It was pretty nice. I liked the layout very much, it had the four bedrooms we're looking for, as well as a separate family room and living room. But the DECOR was enough to knock you over. Each room was painted a different colour, but three shades of that colour. The bottom half of the wall would be the darkest shade and the top would be the lightest and in the middle would run a strip of the shade in between. Every room was painted like this! The carpet would need complete replacing as well. I felt like we could live there but there would be so many repair jobs to do and so much painting that the costs would run too high. And the kicker for me was that it didn't have air conditioning.

NEXT!

The next place we went to was larger and only Ian went in this time. I'm so glad! He said there was a very strong odour as he entered the home that permeated the entire first floor that was only slightly better than the smell of weed throughout the second floor. The realtor followed him thoughout the house pointing out the obvious and said that the house was very clean. Ian guessed that the realtor failed to see the fungus growing on the baseboards in one of the bedrooms. To his complete shock, the entire family was at home during this open house. All 13 of them, he estimated. One of them was in the shower. Two little kids ran ahead of him and shouted out a play-by-play as to what he was looking at. "DAAAAD!! HE'S LOOKING IN THE BATHROOM NOW!!!" Get the idea?

NEXT!

The third place was much better, but very small. Ian went in alone again rather than bring the kids in as well. It backed onto a lovely park but was very small and very over priced. Apparently there was no backing on the staircase so you could see between each step. I have hated those types of stairs my entire life. They have those kinds of stairs at Square One and I always take the elevator instead because I know that I will fall through. (I know.. not likely)

NEXT!

The last house left Ian completely speechless. It was clean enough, he said. Again the realtor followed him around and it had the same odour as house #2. But what left him in total shock was the condition of the basement apartment. He said it looked like there were hundreds of CDs out of their cases and both strewn around the floor. Hundreds of magazines strewn around in the same manner. Mixed in was a bunch of take out containers. Apparently someone didn't get the memo that there would be an open house today.

So Ian is now stretching out on our bed trying to get over his experiences. Strangely enough, we're both a little more relaxed about preparing our own home for sale after seeing what's out there!

I can't wait until we're looking for real. Sam can't either. Yesterday Ian's mother wallpapered our main bathroom. Tomorrow I will work on cleaning the windows and packing up the last bits of things that can go to storage. Some time this week we want to get the carpets cleaned and I need to paint our bedroom, the hallway on the main level and the entrance way, and I need to do a couple of patch jobs on the kids' rooms where they've ripped off their wallpaper. Lots to be done this week because we're hoping to have the realtor come on Friday to check things out and tell us what else has to be done. Then, depending on what they say, then get that sign up on our lawn!