The Hunt, Day 3
Fueled by urgency to see as many houses as possible in order to get our minds off the fixer-upper—or to decide definitively that that’s the house we want—Andrew took Friday off and we headed to Maplewood to continue our house hunt.
First we went back to the fixer-upper and looked at it with one question in mind: Could we live with it as it is, for a little while? We were surprised to find that the answer was yes, with the exception of the second-floor bathroom.
Our love for the house renewed, our broker took us to several more houses. The most promising one was a four-bedroom, fully renovated home with all the high-end finishes a home buyer could want. The rooms were quite small, but there was a large finished basement and a decent-sized yard. Beautiful kitchen, wonderful bathrooms, even a master en suite. And…we didn’t like it. It felt airless, suffocating. It was too perfect, too done, just too finished. Our broker said there will likely be a bidding war for his home, but we won’t be a part of it.
The other houses we saw were far, far too small, like little hobbit houses. Nothing even remotely tempting.
We concluded our day with the realization that the fixer-upper just might be The One. Nothing else even comes close. The fixer just seems like us. The perfectly finished homes do not.
We took today off, fearing heavy traffic and chaos from St. Patrick’s Day, and all we did all day was talk intermittently about the house. We’re heading to Montclair tomorrow. If we see something we absolutely love, it’s possible we’ll have to make an offer—things go fast there. If we don’t see something we love, we’re going to have to have a Serious Conversation about whether to put an offer in on the fixer. It’s all very exciting and very overwhelming. I can’t wait to see the houses tomorrow!
First we went back to the fixer-upper and looked at it with one question in mind: Could we live with it as it is, for a little while? We were surprised to find that the answer was yes, with the exception of the second-floor bathroom.
Our love for the house renewed, our broker took us to several more houses. The most promising one was a four-bedroom, fully renovated home with all the high-end finishes a home buyer could want. The rooms were quite small, but there was a large finished basement and a decent-sized yard. Beautiful kitchen, wonderful bathrooms, even a master en suite. And…we didn’t like it. It felt airless, suffocating. It was too perfect, too done, just too finished. Our broker said there will likely be a bidding war for his home, but we won’t be a part of it.
The other houses we saw were far, far too small, like little hobbit houses. Nothing even remotely tempting.
We concluded our day with the realization that the fixer-upper just might be The One. Nothing else even comes close. The fixer just seems like us. The perfectly finished homes do not.
We took today off, fearing heavy traffic and chaos from St. Patrick’s Day, and all we did all day was talk intermittently about the house. We’re heading to Montclair tomorrow. If we see something we absolutely love, it’s possible we’ll have to make an offer—things go fast there. If we don’t see something we love, we’re going to have to have a Serious Conversation about whether to put an offer in on the fixer. It’s all very exciting and very overwhelming. I can’t wait to see the houses tomorrow!
Comments