House Hunting

Jared and I are currently looking for homes to buy. This has been an interesting experience so far. Wednesday night I looked at 4 houses with my realtor, Gail, which most of you know because she sold you your house, too. Gail promises me she is not going to allow us to buy a home that we shouldn't be buying, because she cares about us and loves our group of friends. She likes hanging out with us because we are a scream. Gail shows me 4 houses out of 7 I had asked her about. The first, is a rather nice home - 4 bedroom ranch freshly remodeled. It's in a a terrible part of town and has the smallest, saddest yard you've ever seen. No thank you. The second is a "chalet" outside of town. It is literally falling apart. I wasn't sure I could make it up the steps without them caving beneath me. There are 4-5 decaying vehicles in the side yard that have probably been rotting there for 20 years. No thank you, part II. The third home is down the road from Mike and Jess and I hope there is promise in this house. Sadly the front porch is caving in, I don't think Jared would even fit in the half bath, and the kitchen is so poorly and bizarrely laid out I don't understand how you can put a table in there. There are also 2 front doors, which I do not understand. No thank you, part III. The third home is in a good neighborhood, and I again hope there is promise in this house. However, I knew it was going to be bad when Gail tells me there is no lock on the door, you just walk in. And when you walk in the door, you are hit with the worst animal smell in the world. Like the family that lived here was actually a family of dogs, and there were no human inhabitants. The carpet is so gross I don't really want to walk on it with my new shoes, and then I discover there are still clothes in the closets, which kind of creeps me out a bit. The house is in terrible shape, and we don't have the money to fix it up. And even if we did, I'm not sure we could ever get rid of that terrible smell. No thank you, part IV. Well, what an evening - 1 good house where I could get shot walking to my mailbox and 3 disasters. Gail was right when she told me I didn't want to buy any of these houses. Thank you, Gail. I can't wait to see what is next.