Kyle and I went and looked at more houses yesterday morning since he had the day off for a couple of doctor’s appointments and had a gap in between appointment #1 and me going to work. Our Realtor figured we could fit all seven houses before I had to go to work. SEVEN! (Yeah, we’re a little curious about real estate, so we just want to get a good grasp on what’s out there! )

So, how did Round 2 go? Well let me tell you!

House #1: It’s been on the market for quite some time and just recently went down in price, so we’d figured it was worth a peek. It wasn’t so bad but needed work: new roof, finish the loft area, etc. And the bathroom was bizarre! It was just a shower but with no separator except for a curtain. Essentially, you could go to the bath room AND shower at the same time. Verdict? Nope!

House #2: It was just down the road from the first one and looked absolutely amazing. It looked like “Grandma and Grandpa” lived there with the fancy throw-rug and French-style furniture. It had a xerioscaped yard which wasn’t so great and a loft area like the first place but finished. Verdict? It was gorgeous, but a little out of our range. The loft wasn’t really usable and there was no Central Air. And I didn’t really like the xerioscaped yard.

House #3: Right off the bat we got a funny vibe from it. It had a funky smell and needed some work. The basement had a horrible mural painted on one wall and we’re pretty sure it was used to grow marijuana at some points due to some random horrible wiring. Oh, and heavy-duty dead bolts everywhere! There was also a huge decked above-ground pool in the back, which is a no-sell for us. We don’t want the hassle of taking care of a pool. Verdict? Hell no!

House #4: Number 4 is actually a townhouse in the same complex as the first one we looked at last week, but across the driveway. It was GORGEOUS. The flooring upstairs was brand-new bamboo laminate and the paint was really nice. A downer though was that it doesn’t have AC or any grass in the patio area, and the furnace and hot water tank was a little on the old side. Verdict? It made the short list/Top 3.

Houses #5, 6, & 7: The last three were all in a bareland strata complex not far from where we currently live. They were rancher-style homes and for the most part were really nice. The first place I think was my favourite, but was priced a little high for a modular house. It did have a decent-sized yard and AC though. The second place didn’t have as nice of a layout as the first one and the yard was not as nice. It didn’t have AC and there was a hot tub in the backyard, which is a bacteria pool if not taken care of. The last one was absolutely horrible. It looked like a double-wide trailer and was white and horrible blue inside. Yuck! We ran away from that one. Verdict? They want a little too much for so little house.

Now that we’re at the end of Round 2, we’ve finally started to make some tough decisions. I’m going to make a call to the strata group that manages the townhouse complex to ask a few questions about the rules. I think we’re getting REALLY close to picking our first home! It’s still amazingly frightening and exciting at the same time.