Home is...

The Sunday finally came where, with a great, deep breath, we walked into an open house and introduced ourselves as Mr and Mrs Degenerate Scholar, prospective home buyers. Instantly, all our fears and hopes were made flesh. There were questions to answer, forms to fill out, expectations to manage, realities to accept and move on from.

That first Sunday wasn't our first time looking. We had spent a weekend or two doing drive-bys or more like drive-byes. At the risk of sounding like a snob, most things we looked at did not meet expectations. We were not looking at anything fancy, but we both have definite ideas about what we don't want. On that first Sunday, we met a Realtor we felt comfortable with. He knew alot about the places where we mentioned looking at, he discouraged us from some of our high tax follies and he seemed to connect well with Mr. DS, which is no mean feat.

After e-mailing back and forth a couple of times, we agreed to our first "date" to look at a house. I had scoped out a cape in a rural area built in 1963. We arrived early and drove around the area for a few moments. The good news was that I could see Mr. DS was won over by. I sensed he was hesitant about distance from civilization but in reality, we were not far from amenities and I could see he liked the surroundings.

After walking around the property for a few minutes, we entered the house. The Realtor joked that it smelled like grandma. To me it smelled just like my mom's friend T's old house. Not unpleasant, but like old cigarettes and memories. Frankly the charm ended there. The owner had purchased the house in 1990 and it was evident she had not put dime one into modernizing the place. The kitchen was a relic from the 60's, the bathrooms were small and the fixtures had never been modernized. While I am not of the school that you should change and throw away that which is in perfect working order, opening a window, clearing cobwebs and painting go a long way when you are trying to sell a house in a buyers' market. Mr. DS was of the opinion that the fireplace mantle had not been finished and between him and the Realtor, they declared that the lamp wire connecting much of the electrical system was definitely not code. I was imagining what the inspector would say about the septic system. If the electrical was original, what of the septic?

Deep sigh...not the place. It could have been with just a little work from the owner. But between the price she was asking and the updates we would have to make just to bring the place to the sub-par standard we live with now...it would be alot of money and time and contractors. There's a house for us somewhere...