So, it’s been 4 months since October 2nd, 2010. If my memory is correct, we should be right at The Nest issue discussing buying our first house. Which is good, because that’s where we are, and we need all the advice we can get!

Here are the latest contenders:

“The Grandma” - (Haven’t toured) Perfect location, ridiculously cheap price, permanently yellow, nice uh, handicap ramp….no inside photos online. Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all. Houses in that neighborhood are generally $100,000+ more than what this house currently is. It’s a block away from a Frank Lloyd Wright house for freak’s sake. What is your malfunction, Grandma House!?

“The Hud” - (Toured) Great location, very cute, lots of character and potential…and a complete money pit. It’s livable, but needs at least $35,000 worth of renovation to be super awesome. It was built in 1920 [by insane people with little feet] and there are still unfinished rooms on the second floor. I also call it the Mini Mansion because it looks teensie but actually has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, a basement, a hunormous walk through closet in the master bedroom and the most random not-quite-bedrooms/sun-porches I’ve ever seen. It’s currently going for $4,000 more than it’s worth, but since it’s a HUD, we can bid lower. However, the general consensus is that it’s a baaad idea since we have 0 money/construction skills.

“The Almost Ghetto” - (Haven’t toured) It’s a little too close to the ghetto for some people’s taste, but it’s so cute and a decent price. I really don’t want to leave my neighborhood, and this isn’t too far away from where we are now. The downside (besides the ghetto part): 1 bathroom. But that color and the hardwood floors make me so happy!


“Stonewashed Jeans!” - (Haven’t toured) It’s a decent price (Cheaper than the HUD, actually), a block away from us and a very nice size. Inside, it’s been 90’s-ized, which is most unfortunate. I call it the Stonewashed Jeans house because the bathroom, while actually fairly nice, is bedecked in tile that looks very much like stonewashed jeans that I find atrocious. I don’t mind the idea of updating old houses that need love, but I really don’t care for trying to fix up houses that are functional but have been made ugly by stupid people with bad taste.

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There are plenty more to look at, but these are the ones we want to check out this weekend. It’s actually been a pretty fun bonding experience for us, looking at houses. The process sparks our creativity and creates a nice mini adventure for winter weekends stuck in town (which is pretty much all of them.) After we viewed the HUD house Tuesday, we even sat down and sketched out its floor plan and played Sherlock Homes (wakka wakka), trying to figure out what the crap happened to that poor house the past 91 years. It was engaging, fun, creative and useful—-all the makings of a perfect (if temporary) hobby for us both.

Because yeah, we don’t have much in common as far as hobbies go, but we do have a love for old houses and history. We like sturdy Craftsman bungalows with nice porches, Japanese influenced art deco and anything inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. This shared love makes house hunting one of the most pleasurable “outside the house” activities we do together, and I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t fine “The One” just yet. (Maybe! I can’t wait to start feathering! Haha.)