My Fellow Blog Watchers,
As some of you may know, my family is in the process of looking for a house. We are in no hurry as we have a comfy apartment that is on a monthly lease. We have another family member on his/her way, however, and are thinking that we may be in need of more room. Especially since right now, visitors are stuck sleeping on a couch. This blog is dedicated to my thoughts on the houses that we have looked at. I have named them by their locations. Not by address or anything else. This protects is to protect the innocent...or more likely just because I think it is more fun.
Brady Street Houses (Davenport): We looked at two homes on Brady Street in Davenport. They were old and I guess, in a certain way, charming. I very much disliked their locations and lack of yards. They would also have been difficult to keep up. While some families may love the houses, Pam and I are putting a definite "NO" on these two.
Mall House (Davenport): I really liked the location of this house. It was within about a 2 minute walk of North Park Mall. The neighborhood is clean and seemingly safe. The house was small and while it had three bedrooms, I am not sure you could even fit a bed in one of them. It was cute. Again, I think that this would make a great home for a family of our size, but something about it just didn't feel right. And yes, I DO think that you can and even should base at least some of your opinion of a house based on how you "feel" about it. Anyway, my vote is "No" on this one as well.
Dark House (Davenport): This house was like...eh. I guess I could live in it, but I'm not sure I want to make the biggest purchase of my life thus far on something that I don't totally want. I didn't totally want this house. There was nothing really wrong with it. It was about the same size as the Mall House, it was in another clean and well kept neighborhood. Its location in terms of distance to Eldridge was great. It sits right off of Division Street which runs right into Eldridge. It is about 1 1/2 miles off South of 80 making it about a 7 minute drive to the church office. Alas, I had to vote "NO" to this one as well. I just can't do the Davenport thing. Maybe if we found just the right house. I don't think it has anything to do with Davenport in and of itself. I just haven't seen anything there that I really want.
Cat Pee House (DeWitt): Cat Pee, REALLY weird floor plan, a giant rock with the previous owners name engraved on it, a HUGE living room area, a HUGE dining room area, and still only 2 bedrooms that you could spend days looking for if you didn't know where you were going, ugly carpet, asbestos in the attic, a basement that was caving in, and did I mention cat pee? Anyway, "NO".
Ramp House (DeWitt): This is a hard house for me. I can't say that I hated it. It has a lot of potential. It didn't help that its still occupied so you have to try so hard to see past someone Else's junk. Again this was a house that didn't get me all excited. It had a living space above the basement that could make a killer bedroom and is even supposed to. They apparently have been in the process of making into something. There is so much left to do though. The kitchen is small with no where to open it up. The living room is small. The bathroom is okay. The bedrooms are small. The curb appeal is non-existent. There is wood siding on the garage that needs fixed. I would have to say, while probably better than some of the others that we've looked at, I am still voting "NO".
Ginormo Bush House (DeWitt): I have to say that I could buy this house. It is OLD! VERY OLD! It has so much charm to it though. I am a sucker for original woodwork, built ins, and old homes like this. This house needs a lot of work, but everything points to it being pretty solid as far as foundation, floors, roof, new furnace, etc... Most of the work it needs is cosmetic. The kitchen is butt ugly, but nothing that can't be fixed and taken care of. I can picture us removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room to open it up. I don't know. I can't shake this house. There is so much that needs to be done to it, but so much I think I'd enjoy doing. I think it would be VERY rewarding to work on this house, care for it, and make it beautiful again, as I'm sure it was when it was but a young house. We would have to spend, probably the entire first year tearing down the wall paper. The next year, painting. We would need to replace the bathroom sink, and install a shower almost immediately. The bathroom floor looks like it could use some help too. The bathroom in general would be a project. Oh, and the 10 foot overgrown bushes that surround the house would have to go first thing this spring. I say this house is a "Definite Possibility."
Foreboding Eagle House (Long Grove): So there is no yard. Only because it is filled with bushes, trees, gazebos, statues, foreboding eagle decor, light poles, and rocks. It looks like Narnia threw up. Take all that away and it has a nice sized yard. The house is the oldest one we looked at I think. For its age, it has been pretty well kept. It has a lot of space downstairs with a big kitchen, a family room, a formal dining room, a bedroom, the only bathroom in the house, the laundry/den, a fireplace, and a deck off the den. The upstairs looks like it could fall down tomorrow, but it is still pretty nice. The windows are old. There are three small bedrooms upstairs. I am not sure that the upstairs have really been used for awhile there. Four bedrooms in all. One small bathroom in all. I love the location as it is about 4 minutes away from the office. In fact, I think that even though it is in another town, it probably isn't that much further from the office than Doug's house. It is in Long Grove so if you fix up what needs fixing and make it presentable, your property value is not going down anytime soon. It is an estate. It is still a little higher than we can afford, but we might be able to talk them down into a more reasonable price because it is an estate that needs work. My imagination to what we could do to the house isn't able to run wild like it does with the DeWitt house. I am pretty sure that property taxes in Long Grove are exorbitant. I vote "Maybe" on this one.
Thus ends my thoughts on our quest for a house. Again, we are in no hurry and God will make whatever he wants possible for us. He will lead us to the right one. I'm not worried. If you have any questions about the naming of the houses just ask. I'll expound as requested.
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