Adventures in househunting

(Get ready for a long post with lots of photos!)

First of all, we are completely grateful that Frank has a start date for his new job, AND that we were able to find a house we like, not very far from where he'll be working. But, wow, what a week we had! We totally underestimated how hard and stressful it would be to search for a house, have an offer accepted, and sign a contract in only a few days.

Luckily, the drive was pretty easy, and the boys were relatively good. Frank and I took turns driving, though he still did most of it, and probably would have done it all if nobody was expecting him to take it easy on his back. We found that having lots of snacks and drinks on hand and going to rest areas worked out much better than stopping for fast food. We went to a little crappy Subway and the boys did nothing but whine and try to run around. At least at the rest areas they could be a bit more free. Once we got into West Virginia the mountain driving was really beautiful, and we were excited to arrive. We would soon find out that driving on the interstate is one thing, and houses squished into hillsides with narrow sloping access roads is quite another.


Some of you have already heard some about our (mis)adventures, but I'm following up with a few more details and the photos. It is ridiculous how few houses there were to choose from, and the one we chose really was the only one we considered. We saw some, shall we say, "less than ideal" homes:

The first one we saw wasn't too bad, until you considered how much work would have to go into un-decorating it. We'd be patching holes and ripping down wallpaper for years to come. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of hauling groceries and kids from the basement garage up to the kitchen, either--we had enough of that at our last house. The yard was probably the biggest and flattest we saw, but needed a lot of work too, and the price tag was even higher than the house we end up picking.


We learned that we are definitely not "old house" people, no matter how beautiful (if quirky) the house looks from photos. Some that we saw online boasted lots of upgrades, but the one we saw smelled funny. When the realtor said she didn't think the whole house had AC, I was out of there. It didn't have a back yard anyway. (An acre, and in this case 0.2 acres, doesn't seem as big as we thought it would.)


Then there was the one near the "institution." We'd known for a few months that there had to be a reason this one house was so big (old house recently added on to) and so cheap. We could tell that it was probably a little strange-looking, but the kitchen and the bedroom looked really nice. We thought maybe it was a bit too far, in a tiny, neighboring town, so that must be the reason, right?

When the realtor gave us the MLS sheets I started studying all the little bits of info that you can't get online, and under "directions" it says to take so-and-so road past so-and-so institution, house is on the left. Wow, what did that mean? This house was literally right next door to a correctional facility, a low- to medium-security men's prison. Plus it was way farther than we'd want to drive to civilization, and even though it was built last year it seriously lacked modernity. What I couldn't get over, though, was that you could hear every loud-speaker prison announcement from inside the house. No way, jose.


There was a nice, relatively new house, and the boys loved running all over its two acres, but it was so far out in the hilly countryside that I was actually feeling some claustrophobia on those little roads. We are talking one-lane gravel, people. What would they be like in the winter?


Frank likes to tell about his "Mrs. Robinson" moment in this other house we saw. Let me preface by saying that for about half of these, the boys stayed in the car. Depending on the timing, they were content to watch videos and snack. I would go look at the house with the realtor, and then sometimes Frank would go have a look. We drove to another that was sort of secluded, and couldn't actually get in (the chain was on), even though the listing agent was from the same company and swore to our agent that he'd called the woman the day before. Supposedly she was there, and our agent knocked and tried different doors and yelled with no luck. This whole time the kids were being good, and Frank was noting how we didn't have any cell reception there. We were about to leave when the lady stuck her head out of the master bedroom sliding door and said that the agent absolutely did not call her, but that we were welcome to come in...she'd just woken up. The house was like a cute little cabin from the outside, but was definitely too dated (70's) for us in the inside. The kitchen was a pleasant surprise, and the yard was substantial (a series of flat-ish areas up the hill). But the rest of the house was way too quirky, the basement was a musty maze of little work rooms and closets, and she admitted that the pool systems were broken. The final thing, the thing that made me go back out to Frank and say "This is not the house for us, but you have to go see it!" was the freestanding shower stall in the master bedroom. And you can't tell from the photos, but there is a toilet in the little closet on the right (complete with vented, hinged, closet door) and the rug around the shower is all torn up. Vinyl flooring squares were scattered around the outside. Talk about weird. When Frank came back through with the realtor, the woman, still in her pajamas and in bed, told him "Don't be shy, come on in," which I'm sure our realtor is still chuckling about.


Obviously we were more than a little stressed about the lack of homes that met our criteria. After our second day of looking, we decided we'd seen the house for us and that we wanted to make an offer. Less than 48 hours later we signed the final contract. We are thrilled about the house and think we're pretty lucky to have found it. We especially love the open floorplan, the four bedrooms--with a huge one for the boys, a formal dining room that'll be perfect for my crafting space, and a finished basement for Frank's office/cave.


The only thing we had to compromise on is the yard. We don't think it's too bad considering everything else we saw. Putting up a fence is going to be our first big project.


So the majority of our week there was not spent househunting, but keeping the kids happy in the hotel. We went to two different McDonald's with play areas, hit the home improvement stores, and drove around some.


Frank leaves to start working in a couple days, and I'll be staying put for the next 5-6 weeks until we close on the house. So my apologies in advance...I'm sure I'll continue to be slow to post anything!