Josh and I have been looking for a house for quite some time, but it seems that everything in our price range (which I'm not going to mention) is either:
a) too small
b) too much needs to be done to it
c) or they've been raising monkeys in the basement
We've been looking for well over a year, I guess we're spoiled by the apartment that we live in. It's HUGE and in a great neighbourhood. The majority of the tenants are elderly so it's a nice, quiet building. Our main problem is finding a house that is comparable to our current master bedroom (which is 17' X 12' give or take). We've seen master bedrooms that are 10' X 10' (which is ok, but we have large furniture and a king size bed) or ones purported to be 20' X 13' but they didn't mention in the ad that the room was irregular and was actually L-shaped. Talk about disappointing!
We were in one house last year where there was obvious flood damage...you could see the markings and mold along the lower part of the walls. Another house we were in had a big hill in the backyard, which is ok, until you realize that the house was at the bottom of that hill...can anyone say "flooded basement"? When I looked at the basement window and there were black markings around the seal of it, I kinda decided that wasn't the house for us. I should have known at that point that we needed to switch agents when he explained it as "that's not mold, that's just stray spray from the stucco ceiling". Umm, stucco is white...this is black.
We've been in houses that had stained floors (not in a good way) which were described as "rustic". They literally looked like someone had used a magic marker to draw lines on, or someone had run a floor sander over it on too high a setting. The floor was ANYTHING but rustic looking.
We've been in houses that claim to have finished basements, but the insulation was hanging down, or disparate wires are hanging down.
We were in one house last summer where the owner of the house left his collection of porn magazines on his desk, so when we walked into the office, one woman's bits and pieces were splayed out before us.
We were also in one house where none of the light switches worked. We literally walked in, flicked the switch and nothing happened...nada, zero, zip.
We're now on to our third realtor who claims that it's "no problem" to find a place in our range and with our specs...we'll see. We'll give him until the end of the summer. I really want to move and be settled in our new house before "Little Maple" comes along. The last thing I want to do is uproot her X number of months after bringing her home.
***To answer Michelle's question, we're looking in the Thornhill or Richmond Hill area. For those non-Ontarians out there, that's just north of Toronto.***
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15 comments:
Good Luck - My parent's have been selling their house for over a year and it's a nice house. The market is just not good.
As it so happens...there is a house for sale just four houses down from ours. You would LOVE our neighbourhood and the GO is just 10 minutes away. Little Maple and K. could be the best of friends!
It is amazing what some people put on the house market. I would be so embarrased if were selling a house with mold, not to mention the 'magazines'. :)
Good Luck with the house hunt!
Our house is for sale--wanna commute to Pennsylvania? :)
It is a frustrating thing looking for houses. We went to one where the owners were actually still there when we were viewing it, and they stared at us the whole time. Our realtor and us were silent!
The perfect house will come along. I'm sure of it!
I'm sorry. That really is pretty pathetic but the way you tell it I am cracking up.
'bits and pieces'..oh wow!
Good luck with this realtor, maybe third time is the charm.
We are doing the same thing out here - in the most expensive housing market in Canada!!! Problem is, our condo is bigger than some of the houses and our area is great too!!!! Our first house in Ont. had a leaky basement and we NEVER want to go through that again. Good luck!!!
Good luck with the house hunt. We too went through two agents before the third one finally worked out. Just stick your guns and you'll find the right place.
Market is just garbage right now. Glad I am now out of RE. Your agent should be giving you details on new houses on the market every week by e-mail or mail. It is actually a good time to buy right now. If your agent is any good they should know what houses that are "a bit overpriced" would be amenable to coming down in price. Sellers should be a bit panicky by now if the house hasn't sold in the past 6 mos. Especially if they bought in the last 3-4 years. I'll shut up now.
When you mentioned about the size of a bedroom, I had to go and measure ours, just to see what size it was...(11 1/2 x 13 1/2).
There is a house here that is available - the TOTAL opposite side of the city that Kathy mentioned...Pumpkin and Little Maple could be friends - I am sure they will be either way!!
I know what you mean about too much work to do, I HATE living through renovations!!
Good luck to you - what area are you looking in?
House hunting bites! We looked at a house that was blue inside and out. The paint, carpet, furniture, tiles, counters, toilets, sinks, carpet on patio (YUCK!), and siding. Everything! The woman who owned it was also wearing blue!!! She even had a blue car. Unbelievable!
pretty blog!! i´m house hunting
too...good luck :)
Ooh, I'm sorry to hear you're having such a hard time finding the right home. I'm sure "it" will come along and wouldn't it be great if it's move in ready? Good luck!
I hope this agent is the one for you and you find a house. It is HARD. We spent a ton of time looking and looking. But we found one. And so will you!
Keep smilin!
Know the feeling.....
We too have been looking North of the city, and since we could not find anything we are now looking in the Beeton area, where it is a little more 'realistic'.
Good luck.....
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