Finding a Home - House Hunters Style!
Ahh, Zillow.
The fun little home search app on your phone. It’s so simple to use and can easily become your best friend. Or an endless black hole of possibilities that sucks you in for hours, days, even months until you find the home of your dreams. Not the home you can afford, but the home of your dreams which checks everything off your wish list and is waaaay out of your budget. Depression quickly ensues when you realize that perfect house with the perfect yard, and the perfect location at the perfect price just doesn’t exist. So, you kick the habit for a few days out of spite (or rage). You even go as far as deleting the app from your phone. But, let’s be honest with ourselves, that doesn’t ever last long because you start craving the hunt. And just in case the perfect house does pop up, you don’t want to miss out. So, you start the whole vicious cycle over again.
I fall victim to this trap more often than I’d care to admit!
For the past year or so I’ve been casually browsing Zillow for that perfect house. My fiancé would probably describe it more like obsessively fixating on it since he can always guess that whenever I am scrolling through my phone, I’m always looking at houses. Oh – for those of you who don’t know Michael, this is him. And I'm sure, some of you don't know me either. I'm Lila, and the cute little one in the photos is my daughter, Kennedy.
Michael and I have been friends and coworkers for a long time, kinda like Jim and Pam from The Office, and we just recently got engaged in April of this year. Right about now I would be planning our wedding, but because of the state of the world our wedding plans are put on hold until things start getting back to normal. Safety first.
So, my attention lately has been on finding us a home. We currently live in a 3-bdrm apartment with three rotten cats - Olive, Jewels and Hazel.
When we started our house hunting journey, we went into it with a clear head. We told ourselves that we can’t get attached to ANY home we see because in this housing market, there will be multiple bids and there's a good chance we might lose. That’s hard for me to do because as soon as I see a home that I love, I start to imagine myself living there and its all over at that point. I start to imagine paint colors and where I’d place furniture. Then I’d think about Christmases, cooking and entertaining dinner parties and birthdays… then I would start imagining future plans like kids and pets… and then there you have it, I’m attached. That happened to me on three homes so far.
I should also mention that I love shows on HGTV like House Hunters, Love it or List it, and Fixer Upper. So, I’ll take you through our home search journey, House Hunters style!
Let the house hunting begin!
House #1: The English Cottage
The first house that caught our eye on Zillow was a beautiful historic English Cottage that looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale. I half expected to be greeted by Little Red Riding Hood's granny, or three little fluttering fairy god mothers, or singing birds and mice. Every inch of this house was vomiting charm. We absolutely fell in love with the exterior details and the historic character.
It was built in 1932 by Roy and Iva McCurdy for a grand total of $8000. It is registered as the McCurdy House, but is locally known as "The Storybook House." I can see why!
It had a nice yard size, three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. And the added bonus of this house was that it had an unfinished basement which would give us a ton more space to work with. Everything about the house made our imagination go crazy from the arched Honduran mahogany doorways, to the original leaded glass windows. It was already fixed with an updated kitchen and the attic style bedroom space upstairs was just screaming to be converted into a master suite.
Some of the concerns that we had about this home were that apart from the upgraded kitchen, the rest of the home and property had seen very little to no maintenance for at least a decade. The yard was neglected and overgrown, which was causing the fence to fall over. We noticed a leak in the basement which was due to a downspout that was just pouring water into the foundation. And here in Oregon, we get A LOT of rain. It was close to the historic downtown which was a plus, but located directly across the street was a construction site with new apartments. Not the best view from the front window. The basement was a huge bonus, but it would be a large investment to finish it out.
This house is so unique and charming though. It is a major contender for sure!
House #2: The Move-In-Ready Ranch
The second home that we fell in love with was this very beautiful newly updated Ranch style home. As soon as we opened the door, our faces just lit up with how beautiful it was. It was almost like the contractor who renovated this house knew exactly what we wanted!
This house was built in 1982 and came with a large Master Suite and three additional bedrooms. It had 2.5 bathrooms, a beautifully manicured yard, and the most beautiful kitchen I have ever seen! We wouldn't need to change one single thing in this house, and the price was right within our budget. I was blown away by the simple details that really made this house stand out like the ceiling beams, the marble waterfall edge island, and the lovely wainscoting in the dining room.
The bummer about this house was that it wasn't quite the style we were looking for. Our taste is really more drawn to historic character like those beautiful craftsman style homes with the huge front porch. This house was a basic 1980s ranch, but it was very beautifully updated. It’s located in a pretty nice neighborhood. Everything in the backyard was new, so there were no mature trees, and little privacy from the two story homes next door. The living space was beautiful, but a little on the small side. And unfortunately no wood burning fireplace for Michael and no entryway for Lila. But, it's impossible to say "no" to this gorgeous home!
House #3: The Colonial Fixer
The third house that we wanted to see was a 1979 Colonial style home that was only a few streets down from the Ranch home the we toured. This house didn't impress me from the photos on Zillow. It looked old, and I could tell that it needed a lot of updating. But, it sat on a large 1/3 acre lot and there was just something intriguing about the layout, so we decided to give it a try.
This house is almost 2700 sqft. It has three bedrooms and a huge bonus room over the garage. What I liked about the house was the entryway. Even though it felt a little closed in with walls on both sides, I was impressed with the high ceilings. There were not one, but two wood burning fireplaces in this house! And although the back yard needed a lot of love, it was a great size and came with an apple tree and pear tree that will be ready to harvest in a couple of months!
Oooh - but that drop ceiling and fluorescent lighting in the dingy kitchen! And the absolutely revolting 70s wallpaper… everywhere! The issues we have with this house is that it’s VERY ugly. Every inch of it needs to be updated. Essentially it is a major renovation! All of the floors need to be replaced, a lot of dry walling, new kitchen, and new bathrooms. Taking on a huge project like this will be exciting, but it will also be scary, exhausting and pricey. Also, the siding on the garage and south side of the house is rotted and needs to be replaced. Who knows what other surprises are lurking behind the walls. Although this house needs A LOT of love and creativity, it is a huge house on a huge lot. It gives us plenty of space to work and play at home - and the big back yard is a nice selling point.
So...
What should we do? As they say on House Hunters... Which house will they choose?
Our real estate agent and dear friend Randy Guerber was so great showing us all three homes, and giving us a lot to think about.
We won't reveal which one we're choosing because this is too much fun to keep you all in suspense! And those of you who already know, please don't spoil it for the rest of us. We will post our decision next week when we close, but we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Which one is your favorite?
Happy house hunting!
Lila and Michael