Parade of homes, version 1
Next week Rusty and I will be venturing out with our Realtor for the first time to go look at houses – as in, actually go inside. I’m very excited and also nervous. We sent her a list of seven houses we narrowed it down to that we want to look at. (What a grammatical nightmare that sentence was; Mrs. Cody would be shaking her head in disgust.) Here are exterior photos of the houses and descriptions of what we liked about each of them. I’m mainly posting this for my own purposes, so I can compare it with my thoughts after actually visiting the houses! If you happen to be interested for whatever reason, read on…
This is a renovation that was looking pretty rough in the Google Street View shot. The interior photos look good so I’m hoping they put as much or more effort into the inside as they did to the outside!
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This house has a full-wall mirror in a room with hardwood floors – perfect for my own personal pole studio! It also has a screened-in back porch for watching the birds and enjoying a nice evening while not getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
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This house looks rather unassuming from the outside, but the interior photos look gorgeous. It has a big kitchen, a new roof, new windows, and an alarm system. It’s been on the market for months and keeps coming down in price. Part of me is thinking, “What’s wrong with it?” but with the economy being how it is, that could be the explanation for why it hasn’t sold.
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This one looks weird. You would think this is photo of the back of the house, wouldn’t you? I did, but then I looked on Google Street View and it is indeed the front of the house. Well, I’m not going to get hung up on what the exterior looks like if the rest of the house is awesome. Based on the photos this one has a huge kitchen with an island – a “chef’s kitchen” as Realtors are wont to say.
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Based on photos alone, this house is my favorite, hands-down (where does that saying come from?) – it’s adorable on the outside, beautiful on the inside, and has a screened-in back porch. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s as nice in real life as it is in the photos. I don’t know what’s going on with that lower-level entryway or how I feel about that; but I’ll find out soon enough.
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This one has a basement full of poles, fer christsake. The caption said, “nothing scary about this great basement.” Heh. It’s also been renovated with energy-efficient systems and appliances – very important.
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Don’t know why this photo was smaller than all the others. I think this house is cute as it can be – but I looked on the map and it’s right by the interstate. (It’s on one of those streets that they cut in half when they built I-20, and based on Google Street View there’s one house between it and the retaining wall.) Maybe that won’t end up being a problem; we won’t know until we see it. So see it we shall!
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I’ve also been ruminating on thoughts about single-family houses vs. higher-density housing. If you had asked me several years ago, I would’ve been dead set that when I was ready to buy a home I’d buy a condo. It’s weird in some ways for me to realize I actually want a house instead. When it comes to living in buildings with lots of other people, I’m over it. And I wonder, is that “selfish” in the bad way, what does that mean, yadda yadda. Because I agree with Joeventures and other people who have written about it that if people are going to move back to urban centers, it’s unreasonable for them to expect to live in single-family homes. It’s just not sustainable and there’s not enough room. Building up instead of out and maximizing space is practical and obvious (to me). Yet here I am looking to buy a single-family home. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m getting hung up with white liberal guilt or something. I just have a bunch of half-formed thoughts that I’m still trying to process and translate into something that makes sense, as far as wondering how future urban development will look.
Of course, without adequate public transportation, higher-density housing doesn’t solve anything. But I’ll stop for now, it’s Christmas eve and I don’t want to go off on a MARTA rant!
Those are all adorable houses. Can’t wait to hear more about your favorites!