My house hunting adventure

Oh my goodness, who ever said house hunting is fun?? To an extent, it is fun to go in and envision what you might do. But, truly, there's frustration, too. Here's a short account of what happened yesterday:

House #1: This one had dirt all over the place, old appliances in the kitchen, no fridge, very small bedrooms, closets barely wide enough to fit a stand-up vacuum, tiny bathrooms, barren backyard. It was at the top of my price range and my realtor told me it would be the best one I'd see that day. She wasn't kidding.

House #2: This is a short-sale, but the renters were there when we came in. They huddled the kids on the couch and watched us as we moved from room to room. I felt like I was stealing their home! There was a statue of Jesus on the cross on the wall the size of a bulletin board and it felt like it was watching me in every room, too! The cabinets didn't close all the way, they look like the originals from the 50's, the backyard had graffiti on it (a sign that maybe the neighborhood wasn't the best), and it smelled.

House #3: Cute, but no garage, on a very busy street that takes an easy 5-minutes to pull out of when there's no traffic, no washer/dryer hookups or place to do laundry, no appliances in the tiny kitchen.

House #4: Sold while we were on the road, so went on to the next.

House #5: Only made it through the front gate because no one would answer the door - the tenants were home, cars in the garage, but no one would come out. I wasn't crazy about it from the outside, so maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

House #6: We drove to the address, but the house sitting on the land was nowhere near the picture we had and it didn't have a sign outside. We moved on.

House #7: We were only allowed to do a drive by, not showing until Tuesday. Cute from the outside I guess.

House #8: OMG, a total nightmare. The house had bugs crawling, cobwebs several inches thick, an unpermitted extra room that would have to be torn down, the one bathroom would never be something I'd walk in with shoes on let alone take a shower in, hardwood floors creaked and were spongy as you walked on them. Next.

House #9: Funny one ... we pulled up and someone else was looking at the property. An agent pulled in behind us and then we found out, before we even walked in the door, that 57 offers were already on the table. We piled back in the car and zoomed out of there.

House #10: This one probably had 10-15 people living there. The tenants, who only spoke another language, were there when we came in. Bunk beds, single beds, couches were piled in the front room. It was obvious many people slept there. We couldn't go into all the rooms because people were sleeping. The kitchen counters all needed to be replaced - cracked tiles, discolored. The stove top was old and crusty. The pool was green, and I'm sure it was not meant to be that color.

However, today I found two great gems when I decided to open my search up to condos/townhomes that didn't have neighbors above or below me. In fact, I walked into these two places and knew right away that I had to put an offer in so that's what I'm doing for both. They are short sales, with prices more than half the cost of the original purchase price. Gated community, granite countertops, stainless steel, alarm system, travertine floors, little backyard, just beautiful. Through all of this, I am staying positive. I know that if it is meant to be, it will be. Of course, I'm doing my footwork, but the results are truly up to God. Thank you, OA, for constantly reminding me of that.