Tally Ho We Househunt

We have been out of the housing market for 7 months. Seven months of no mortgage, no yard care, no ownership. It's been lovely! However, we have all our worldly goods in storage and it is getting costly so we have ventured into the world of the crashing and burning housing market--as buyers. What one reads in the paper about the housing crisis and what encounters in The Real World are two different things.


Here in SeniorLand the supply of properties coming on the market is guaranteed--people get sick and people die. Most of the time the decision to sell one's house is not optional. Now the owners here who sell on their own volition are savvy--this is not their first rodeo. Unfortunately, too many of them still think their properties are worth about $200,000 more than today's market will bear. This is difficult--especially in a market that is predicted to fall 15% more before this time next year.



Nevertheless, the gathering of housing INTEL has begun. The average househunter will look at 15 properties before buying. These buyers must be hasty folk indeed! I have been haunting realtor.com and Zillow.comfor 6 months now. These are my 2 main tools. I also rely on the real estate section of the local left-wing rag--online, of course. I would never pay for that socialist cageliner to come in our home! Armed with that info, we hit the Open Houses every Sunday afternoon. The 15 house mark was passed a week ago.



House #1 was very tempting. It was move-in ready and had the views and high ceilings we both want. But when we actually measured it out, it was several square feet short of an acceptable dwelling.

But House #2 quickly came on the radar--and we fell for it hard! It was the perfect floor plan, fantastic views, private and nestled in the woods--I mean WE COULD SEE US LIVING THERE!


On our second walk through, however, we discovered some flaws--can we say toilet overflowed, baby??



How about finding the paperwork for a
"Submersible Sewage Ejector Pump"
that was installed just last year??? Is that a big enough hint??





Wood rot so bad that the front stair railing came off in our hands? It had rusted off the steps! And there's no need to mention the dead rat across the threshold of the opening to the basement.

Aloha former dreamhouse.

House #3 seemed ideal. It had the views, the floor plan, the "feeling" we were looking for. An extra bonus was that the sellers had dropped the price by a good chunk just yesterday. But before we could get our offer written up and submitted, someone else got their offer in and the sellers accepted it!

We are batting 0 for 3 and that's just over one week-end. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, would burying the St. Joseph statue help us find a house? It sure worked great for selling.