First glances
On Thursday, September 7, we joined our real estate agent, Georgia, to go on a first Look-See of houses in Seattle. She called it the "Good, Bad and Ugly" tour. The purpose of this initial tour was for Georgia to show us what qualified as a good house and what qualified as a bad house in the Seattle market, so that we could get a better grasp on what exactly we should be looking for in a house. Georgia periodically teaches a local first-time home buyers' course, as well as purchases and renovates houses herself, so we trusted her to help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of various "For Sale" homes.
Before our tour, she sent us a list of about 8-9 houses, and links to their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings.
The last house on that list was the ugliest house we'd ever seen. A total time capsule.
It was a standard rambler-style, 970 sq. ft., one-story house.
Built in 1952. And boy, could you tell by looking at the interior decor!
Each room had at least one wall with ugly wood paneling, one with a bright paint color (turquoise, green, blue, salmon), and one wall with coordinating bright floral print wallpaper. The living room/dining room came complete with lovely avocado/brown carpeting.
The bathroom still had its original pink fixtures. Sink, bath and toilet. All very pink.
There was a third bedroom-sized room, but inexplicably, it had a very large oil furnace right in the middle of it.
The kitchen was entirely green. Walls. Ceiling. Cabinets. Countertops. Floor. And had a very odd layout -- why an entire wall with just wall cabinets?
But look at that giant backyard! With a huge garage, with alley access, at the back! Plenty of room for a deck, for a nice garden, and to accommodate smallish dogs. The garden is currently in a state of disrepair, but surely that could be fixed.
Looking past all the cosmetic issues, however, we were standing in a perfect house. Everything was constructed incredibly solidly. The floors were hardwood. The doors and window sills, as well. All the walls were in good shape. There was plenty of storage. Roof was in good shape. The layout made sense. And, most importantly, there had been no substandard repairs made at any point. We were looking at a nearly blank slate.
Returning home from our "Good, Bad and Ugly" tour, it was all Evan and I could do not to gush about the house. All evening, and into the next day, one of us would turn to the other and say, "I really like that house" or "think of all the things we could do with that house!"
And so, after a second visit two days later, we decided to make an offer. Which was accepted.
And that's how we came to be the owners of the ugliest house we've ever seen!
Before our tour, she sent us a list of about 8-9 houses, and links to their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings.
The last house on that list was the ugliest house we'd ever seen. A total time capsule.
It was a standard rambler-style, 970 sq. ft., one-story house.
Built in 1952. And boy, could you tell by looking at the interior decor!
Each room had at least one wall with ugly wood paneling, one with a bright paint color (turquoise, green, blue, salmon), and one wall with coordinating bright floral print wallpaper. The living room/dining room came complete with lovely avocado/brown carpeting.
The bathroom still had its original pink fixtures. Sink, bath and toilet. All very pink.
There was a third bedroom-sized room, but inexplicably, it had a very large oil furnace right in the middle of it.
The kitchen was entirely green. Walls. Ceiling. Cabinets. Countertops. Floor. And had a very odd layout -- why an entire wall with just wall cabinets?
But look at that giant backyard! With a huge garage, with alley access, at the back! Plenty of room for a deck, for a nice garden, and to accommodate smallish dogs. The garden is currently in a state of disrepair, but surely that could be fixed.
Looking past all the cosmetic issues, however, we were standing in a perfect house. Everything was constructed incredibly solidly. The floors were hardwood. The doors and window sills, as well. All the walls were in good shape. There was plenty of storage. Roof was in good shape. The layout made sense. And, most importantly, there had been no substandard repairs made at any point. We were looking at a nearly blank slate.
Returning home from our "Good, Bad and Ugly" tour, it was all Evan and I could do not to gush about the house. All evening, and into the next day, one of us would turn to the other and say, "I really like that house" or "think of all the things we could do with that house!"
And so, after a second visit two days later, we decided to make an offer. Which was accepted.
And that's how we came to be the owners of the ugliest house we've ever seen!
posted by Kristen & Evan | 1:45 PM
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