Thursday, February 4, 2016

Keep looking.....


 Our search continues. If the Universe is trying to teach me patience, I wish the lessons would end now, I got it, thanks! I have never been through such a futile process in all my life. We have been looking for a house for three years now. 99% of the houses in our price range are not being kept up  properly and by the time they go on the market there are so many repairs, it is beyond my realm of possibility.

We have seen houses with rotting wood, decks falling apart, gutters so full of leaves and debris they are bending, leaky plumbing, holes in walls, houses smelling of cigarettes and overpowering cleaning solutions, filthy carpets, rooms that are architectural nightmares when trying to place furniture, tiny bathrooms, dirty bathrooms. Honestly, the way people live.....  clean your damn house!


We just looked at this place. Kudos to the photographer that posted pics on the realty site. The photos made the house look inviting and a definite possibility. The reality was, the horses were beautiful and friendly, and the barn they lived in was nicer than the house the owners were living in. I could have arranged my furniture in the barn easier than in the house of many angles.


The house was wood, wood and more wood. None of it cared for. You gotta do some maintenance on a house made of wood, I'm sorry, you just do. Wood rots. House fall down.

There was not an easy way to get from here to there in the house either. Nearly every room was on a different level. The stairs going to these levels were intended I feel sure for Hobbits. Winding and narrow and how the hell do you get furniture up them?  Stairs also at every entry so getting the twelve bags of groceries I usually bring home every other week would save me a gym membership for sure. The worst thing for me was the overwhelming smell of cleaning solution. I hate going in these houses that people clean real quick and leave this smell behind. It burns my eyes, makes my head hurt and the smell lingered in my hair on the ride back home reminding me of the house I really did not like.

Staging a house is very important when trying to sell it. Gerry and I worked for weeks and weeks getting our house ready to go on the market. We painted, we cleaned the carpets, we replaced toilet seats, light fixtures, packed away art and clutter, and when we have a showing I simmer cloves and cinnamon on the stove right before we leave. We have had tremendous feedback on the look of our house. The only negatives for us are the master bedroom not being on the first floor, the small size of the bedrooms, the laundry space is dumb, mostly all the things I also don't like about this house. But at least it's clean and presents well. I don't get these people that live in filth and show it off for others.
That farm we went to see a while back was ridiculous and the farmer said "I cleaned up for you", HA! Really?!?!  OMG!

I am convinced that people designing and building houses have never cooked or tried to arrange furniture in a room. When I stand in a kitchen I want to be able to get to my sink while someone else is at the stove and have room to move. I want cabinets that are deep enough that my larger plates fit in them. I don't really want to look at a home improvement showroom of cabinets in a kitchen either. These walls of cabinets are killing me. Then there are the rooms with windows in the oddest places, room configured where the is no space to center a bed, a dresser, a TV..... I gotta have some symmetry and some balance. Builders, what are you thinking !?! And the most frustrating thing is the path you take from car to kitchen with groceries. Does anyone ever give this a thought? I have yet to live in a house where I could get out of my car and walk into my kitchen with heavy bags and not have to sit a rest a bit after unloading my car or change clothes from getting soaked in the rain.

I'm not looking for a palace here. I just need a house that is well cared for, rooms that will hold my great grandmothers furniture, display some prized artwork, a kitchen that is functional, and an entrance that doesn't require good cardiovascular health. I would also like a nice laundry room. The other day my realtor said I should just find a piece of land, put all of my furniture out on it, and build up a house around it all. She might be right!

So, the search continues........ bleh.

10 comments:

Dennis Allen said...

I think that's a great idea. Arrange the furniture in a field and build a nice pole barn around it.

Michèle Hastings said...

Filthy bathrooms... that is the worse thing when house hunting. I don't get it. I may not be the neatest person in the world but the bathroom and kitchen needs to be clean!

cookingwithgas said...

and what color would you like that unicorn? :)

Tracey Broome said...

A purple unicorn in a pole barn with a nice clean bath! Is that so much to ask for?!?!

Debbie said...

We started looking for a house when our youngest graduated high school. She is now one year out of law school, so that's seven plus years. I feel ya. My belief in the "house and job gods" remains firm, but shaken at times. They will get you to the right house or job. I keep telling myself every time one falls through that I want to work, that the right one is only that much better and closer. Hang in there.

cookingwithgas said...

I think I can cover the unicorn.

Vicki said...

I agree. How you present a house for sale is so important.

We always had great comments from the realtors when we sold our previous homes - on how clean and fresh and importantly, homely, they felt.
Always smelling lovely, fresh bunches of flowers, clean, everything tidy and in their place. Dog beds put away - not everyone owns a dog or wants one in their house.
Gardens inviting to walk in.
Etc. etc.

And our homes sold within a couple of weeks of listing.

But, we have been to some places that boggle our minds. Dog shit laying around in multiple piles in the backyards and on pathways! Good god, really?!

Spiderwebs stretched across doorways and clogging window corners - and I'm not talking little webs either.

Dry rot. Rising damp. Mouldy walls. The list goes on.

Lack of home maintenance and sense of pride abounds, even over here, Tracey.

I don't get it.

My heart drops when I look at the listings for small properties within a reasonable distance to my husband's workplace.
And I rail at the prices they're asking - and are getting for them.
People are snapping up the more decent places faster than one can blink.

I'm trying not to be disheartened, but it's hard...

As much as we'd prefer not to, building a wee cottage and finishing it off how we want, is looking more probable for us too.

It's just finding affordable land. That too, here, is being snatched up by those with far more money than us.

Sigh. I hear ya...


Tracey Broome said...

Ahhh Debbie, those house gods! They need to pay attention to what we are going through!
Vicki, it really is the most challenging thing, we have bought and sold a few homes in the past thirty years but have never seen a market like this one. Like you say, the good ones are getting snatched up before you can blink an eye. We can't figure out how to be the ones doing the snatching! Land is also high here and building something is daunting. Oh, what to do!

kjsutcliffe said...

I know where you are coming from - we've been looking for about three years too and have the same issues. What we need and want and what we can afford are miles apart. We have seen houses that even the estate agent won't touch the surfaces and was very reluctant to even touch the door handles to let us in - I had to agree with him, the place was beyond filthy. The owner's lame excuse was that she was a market trader and was too busy to clean the house and needed to store all the stock some where. Which went some way to explain the piles of bags and dirty clothing that were stacked up against most of the walls. The sad thing was, she had a small child and in one room was a small grubby cleared space for toys and a child's chair. We left and felt dirty as we drove home - urgh.

Sandy Miller said...

OMG! It's Friday and I'm doing catch up reading! Can't believe what I just read! Honestly thought you'd be in moving frenzy! Holy flying monkey butts universe! We just looked at a place and the idiots put the kitchen on the second floor!!! I walked in, laughed, turned around and said lets go! It could have been in Glacier National Park or on a private island and I would not have bought that house! Who the hell puts a kitchen on the second floor and at the far end of the house? No gym membership needed, I guess? Oh and the dirt thing...... It's a smell factor for me! I am always mystified at how some of these places sell and who the hell buys them?

Good God, wish you luck, sanity, peace and purple unicorns pooping out cash...... 😘😘