House Search: Day 2

We're house hunting in an area that doesn't have a huge population so the number of houses on the market at any one time is small. Yesterday was an off day while our realtor, Tracey, regrouped and got ready for today.

We went out yesterday with Briar and showed her our two top choices, both of which have been pretty much eliminated at this point.

One of the two seemed perfect in many ways. The owner was one of the local builders who has completely redone the house in preparation for the sale. The problems? Some of his design choices are questionable and would have to be immediately redone. Also, it's on a 5 acre strip that is about 100 ft. wide. One acre is usable and 4 are impenetrable woods. The bigger problem is that a high tension line with a wide clear cut strip underneath follows the entire, long, property line. Not only that but the part of the house with the cathedral ceiling and huge windows looks right out at the power lines.

The other had some strange features. The master and one other bedroom are on the first floor with 2 additional bedrooms and a bath upstairs (I kind of liked this). There's at least one room that's completely random and of questionable purpose (no windows, it's own door into the master bath and kitchen, etc.). There are two front doors, one of which opens directly into the dining room and one into the living room (i.e., no formal entry). Also, what had been the back deck had been converted to a wonderful sun room with sliding glass doors all around. The problem was that we would need to add another deck off of the sun room so that we'd have a place to sit outdoors, bar-b-q.

Today, Tracey showed us 3 more houses. One had a beautiful kitchen but the rest of the house would have needed to be redone. One was just odd. The third, in the town of Paxton, is a real contender. Very nice neighborhood, 2.5 acres, long sweeping lawn down to a quiet road, etc. There's a lot that we'd need to do to bring it up to date (refinish floors, recarpet bedrooms, redo kitchen) but it could all be done within our budget.

That last one may be the winner but there's one more that we just have to see first. Our trailer is in the Town of Oakham. The principal at Niko and Maya's school is selling her home in Oakham. It's an 1830's house that was stripped to the studs and completely redone in 2006. It's just several houses away from Oakham's town center which has no businesses at all but is just as charming as can be. The town square has concerts in the summer, the library is right there and there's even a local baseball field and team. We've looked at the outside of the house and it's beautiful. Her realtor insist on being there for showings and has been tough to pin down. Tomorrow morning, we get to see it.

I'm very hopeful that we'll reach a decision tomorrow.

Now that the rain has stopped, the skies have cleared and the temperatures have climbed out of the 40's (actually, into the high 60's today), we've had a chance to explore our campground. We are on the side of a very pretty lake. The signs indicate that the lake has recently been treated to control the aquatic plants but, as you can see in the following pictures, the plants seem to be thriving.

-JC-