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House Hunting

I've been house hunting for a while and I have to say that it is not easy. Western Washington is not the greatest place to look for a place to live - especially outside of the Seattle Metro area. Most of the time I'm driving by house that appear to crack dens. What's the point of looking inside. Today I went to look inside - it was in a good neighborhood and didn't appear to be on the verge of falling down. Of course, the friend who went with me immediately pointed out that the chimney seemed to be tilting towards the roof... maybe that "falling down" comment was a little hasty.

The hysterical thing about touring the house - I'm mentalling making price lists in my head, like the project estimators on Flip this House. Switch fireplace to gas - $400; house value increase - $1000. Remove 50 years worth of pain - $100 (and every free moment until June); value increase $5000... there's a shitload of paint, but it's gorgeous underneath. Sadly, as the tour went on, the list just kept growing. Retiling the entire bathroom (and figuring out what the hell is currently on the wall); refinishing all the wood floors; new countertops in kitchen; probably rewiring; plastering the walls; new front porch; tearing down the garage and who knows what else. Photos are to the right ->

Comments

Megan said…
Man, this sounds like SoCal. And the crap houses are super expensive. I lucked out with the house I bought this year; my mom was able to see the "good bones" of the house, despite the fact that it had never been cleaned by the previous owner. It really is looking at things and judging what you can manage. I wish you lots of luck in your house hunting!

(Wait, are you a single teacher buying a house by yourself, too? Awesome!)
10:47 AM
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