Thursday, March 19, 2009

Random things about house-hunting

1. It is extremely awkward to look at a house when the people who are renting it are home. Especially when they won't move out of your damn way so you can, you know, SEE THE HOUSE.

2. The amount of money you can put down up front makes a HUGE difference in your monthly payments. Amazingly, I am just finding this out. Because I'm an idiot.

3. NO RAILROAD TRACKS. Maybe it's just me, but folks, I read The Dollmaker. Anyone who has ever read The Dollmaker knows what I'm sayin' here. (Long story short: Destitute Kentucky family moves to Detroit; little girl playing on the tracks gets run over by a train; her LEGS are severed in the accident; she bleeds to death in her mother's arms. The End.) NO RAILROAD TRACKS.

4. The mention of the word "plume" needs to send you running in the other direction.

5. You can fix a bad house, but you cannot fix a bad lot.


I've got a million of 'em. How about you?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Regarding #1, I agree completely. That's why, when people first started coming to look at our house, I informed Rich that we should find a way to leave--let's go get breakfast and get out of the house Sunday morning. But, you see, he's never had to sell a house before and he doesn't get the etiquette.

I say, in addition to the RR tracks--location, location, location. We looked a lovely homes too close to the highway, on too much of a slope (hard in the winter), or way out in the middle of nowhere where no one will hear you if you scream. The house we bought? Nothing special, but the location was perfect.

rockygrace said...

Yeah, I hear you on the location - I'm especially wary of being anywhere near water, after the floods of 2006. A lot of the stuff in my price range is "flood houses" - so that eliminates about 50% of the available stock right off the bat.

And it's amazing how many lots are on the sides of steep hills, isn't it? You wonder what people were thinking when they built there - I guess the land was cheap.