Looking for home in all the wrong places

The business end of unmarrying (which is the aspect I'm choosing to focus on at the moment, as I am still waylaid when the relationship or family part confronts me) continues. The house has listed and shown a couple times, which is encouraging with this being a holiday weekend at all. Fingers crossed someone will fall in love with her quickly and want her as bad as I did. I'm sorry, but I need it to be owned by someone who cares about appearances and has good taste. Fingers crossed so tight your knuckles turn white that the Godiverse sends me through the door of my future home soon.

We fell in love with this one, and it sold days later. Two others in the complex have become available, and sold quickly. Currently there are NO townhouses open there. The townhouse complex next door has some promise, but we'll get to that directly. I looked at three townhomes this weekend, and we'll walk through the Good, the HUD and the Ugly. This feels like House Hunters.

The first one I looked at this weekend, the HUD, was a foreclosure, priced at $85K, about $40K less than updated units in the complex sell for. It was gated, with a giant yard in the middle. There was a good sized concrete patio, and the front had an adorable bay window in the kitchen. This ends the positivity that can be attributed to this unit. I wanted to look at it because I was excited about the prospect of buying something and making all of it just like I wanted it, with the floors, fixtures, cabinets, tubs, appliances, colors, etc. exactly as I would pick them out. We would have to live in it while it was being renovated, which is something to think about when considering the purchase.

Y'all, I'm not certain someone did not die in here. It was an atrocity. I asked my realtor if all foreclosures are in this condition, and she said not necessarily. There's no way anyone had lived in here for a long time. Beyond the general condition, it was completely uninhabitable. They layout did not allow for my dining room furniture, and I need somewhere to feed and eat with my children. Most of the doorjambs were rotted. There were holes in the walls. The front door appeared to have been destroyed. The boxes for the light fixtures were in odd places. There were puzzling-colored stains on ALL the carpeting. I could not imagine that an owner-occupant would be able to justify the investment. God be with the person who buys that one. I needed a shower when I left.



Charming outdoor, yes?

Dirtiest kitchen cabinets I've ever seen.

One of the bedrooms. Curiosities in the walls. Blood-colored stains on the carpet.

The second townhome I looked at was decent. It was off a main highway, and very quiet. The grounds were well-kept. My mother always looks at the cars parked in the unit, and all the cars were nice and appeared to be in working condition. Green space for the kids to play. Nice size patio with a good deck.

The living room was smallish. The kitchen was great, and would have been excellent with some paint. The master bedroom upstairs, which I would give to the boys, was huge, with a pitched ceiling. The other bedroom, mine, was tee-ninesy. I couldn't imagine any of my stuff anywhere in here. Plus the walls and trim in the entire unit needing painting. And there was a wetbar in the dining room I wanted ripped out. In the end, this one loses because it is not eligible for the type of financing I want.

I forgot my camera in the car, but you can tour it here.

This afternoon the boys and I took a tour of an adorable townhouse in a neighborhood we lived in when we rented before we bought our house. The complex is next door to that first townhouse we looked at in that incredible unit. This one is owned by a young couple, and was precious. The grounds are landscaped and amazing. The living room had stained concrete floors, which I have always wanted. The dining area was separate from the living room, which was sized to have a separate seating are or office. The stairs and upstairs were hard wood floors. There was a full bath downstairs, and a full bath and extra vanity upstairs.

Unfortunately, there was very little patio. The front door opened practically on the sidewalk in front of all the units. There was no green space to walk an animal or send children out to play. So, this one does not win, either. But it was a good try.

Adorable galley kitchen. Laundry is in the nook before the door, which leads to the back patio and parking spaces.

Jake and Landen can make themselves at home anywhere.

This was a Jack and Jill vanity. Off the vanity was a full bathroom. Two extra sinks upstairs would be nice.

None of these worked for us. But we decided to go by a final property, a house, on our way back home. You know that feeling you get when you have been searching and searching for something and lots of things could work, but then you find the one thing and you can SEE yourself with it? That happened. I'm not going to show it to you yet, because I believe in jinxes. It is completely livable but a total project, and it reminds me of some of my favorite houses I spent my childhood in. There are components of my grandmother's tiny house, my godmother's tiny house, and another aunt's house - all places where I spent almost every weekend of my childhood.

Send me good energy, because I want this to be the house Baby Jesus has planned for the boys and me.