After our second visit into the house, we all had mild headaches, Tom the realtor and myself. That was a little scary as we hadn't been in the house that long.
Tom didn't like my other choice,too small and chopped up at 2700 square feet, built in the 1980's, which left his first choice, contemporary, 4000 square feet with another 1000 in unfinished basement. You get to the unfinished part through the garage. It was a similar design to what we have but the bonus room over the garage was huge. Two pool tables could easily have fit with room to spare.
Once home, I lay in bed trying to figure out how I could improve the number one house for us. Its missing the double closets we have now. One of us could fit his clothes in it. Only three bedrooms on the second floor and one of the boys will have a smaller space. By the front door is a guest room, easily accessible for someone who can't do stairs. That was a plus. A shower is in the bathroom across the hall on the main floor. This is the bathroom everyone would need to use for the bonus room, clear at the other end of the house. There may be a view once the blackberries and scrub trees are cut back. The hot tub on the deck has been vandalized, missing its engine. So it needs some love, just not as much as some others I have seen. The neighborhood is full of lovely homes, which is a plus. Probably nicer homes than the first neighborhood with the drug/mold house. We just can't do that mold.
The bank will be lucky if they sell mold house at all. The power had been off and the cleaning crew missed cleaning out the refrigerator. So the odd smell was not just the mold but months of rotting food. There had been a hole cut in the living room floor. We guessed to hide money or something. You could see all the way down to the downstairs through the hole. Downstairs, hooks hung on the walls and ceiling that had been used to keep the plants upright. Outside was a big pile of potting soil, at least a cubic yard, by the sliding doors. Some one with more money than us needs to take on that project. We did the math in the car, new roof, new floors and all the dry wall replaced, plus the windows were old aluminum needing replacing. I sighed and passed on the house.
So we look at this funky contemporary with a great above the garage party room. I don't know if I want it or not. My mom says to picture your furniture in it. Well, the resistance trainer will fit and the pool table. But all my antiques I just couldn't see it. I don't know where Tom plans to set up his office or mine either. Its a very open floor plan in some ways. I think we may have to tackle the unfinished addition sooner rather than later so the boys and I have spaces also.
There is a back garage downstairs in the unfinished area. I thought about getting a goat for the blackberries. The space would make a great animal manger . There are no CCRs. But its a very up scale neighborhood. I doubt having animals will make me popular with the neighbors. But first we need to see what the overgrown back yard space looks like without the blackberries climbing up the deck. Perhaps if we get it I can borrow some ones goat for a short time.
The other portion could be turned into a lovely office with a back door exit. Or perhaps for all my clothes that will not fit in the closet in our master bedroom. I could have one of those dream closet set ups with room and planning. The only problem is there is no easy way to get to the basement. I can see opening up the wall in the laundry area/ sun room to get to the stairs more efficiently for traffic flow.
It has that open living room lofted to the second floor bedroom balconies, like we have now, that costs so much to heat. I don't remember a fireplace. No spare office off the master. Tom was so enamoured with the bonus space, he didn't care about the other issues. I don't know if it had a heat pump or air conditioning with all those windows. I do know the furnace in the basement is right in the middle of where I want to put my new room.
I didn't like his second choice. Another contemporary with a great view. The wrap around deck was great. He loved it for the wrap around deck, but eventually you have to go inside and it was laid out with the laundry in the basement and the master was poorly designed on the third flight of stairs away from the laundry. Lots of useless wasted nooks on the master floor. I didn't like the spaces. Honestly, none of the houses popped out at me, but that is what you get in our circumstances and budget. Its all about compromises.
So we will see what happens. Hours after seeing the mold house I still had a headache. We were at the club trying to decide what to do. Friends were there to assist. It was so good to see all those familiar faces. They all had tales of whoa regarding black mold. The mild headache was really what killed the deal on the drug house. I ended up in the bathroom vomiting. Luckily no one else came in. I felt miserable. Now, it could have been Trevor's vomit bug from the weekend compounded with the head ache. I called Tom on his cell to interrupt him from talking to his friends at the bar, telling him it was time to get me home. All I had was 7 up with lemon wedge to drink because I wanted to keep my head while making these life changing decisions, thank goodness. It came up easy. But I still felt miserable on the hour ride home.
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