suffocated and dying

I have now been actively house hunting for four months - 4! And I've seen quite a few very different houses in a few different neighbourhoods, but last night was different. I saw two houses, only two streets apart from one another and with a $40,000 price tag differential. Both houses were semi-detached, owned by older couples and roughly the same size. But wow, what a difference!

The first house looked like it was dying. Almost as if it was slowly shriveling into nothingness. The screens on the windows were shredded, the garage looked like an abandoned barn, the roof shingles were peeling and the cement around the house was cracking. It looked dead from the outside. We approached the house hoping that we would find life inside, but it wasn't there either. There were a few old portraits on the wall that suggested humans had been there, but those were the only signs that the house had ever been inhabited. It seemed as though time had stood still for this house, like it hadn't been loved in years. I can't imagine that it was ever any one's home.

While, the first house depressed me, the second made me giggle at first. It looked as though my tacky grandfather had decorated it himself. From the plastic swans in the front garden, to the GIANT furniture in a small space, to an entire room filled with leafy plants- my grandpa would've thought it was incredible. Strangely, although this house was overflowing with over sized furniture and nick-nacks, it didn't feel like a home. It felt more like a storage facility for all things unwanted. The objects were suffocating themselves while crying out for a little attention.

When it was all said and done, the first house needed way more renovations than I'm prepared to do and the second floor of the second house was so badly planned, that it too would've needed a major overhaul. I have vision, I can see past cosmetic issues. What I don't have is a bulldozer and unlimited funds.

So, last night's experience taught me that I can afford something between a dying house and a storage facility ... excellent. I guess that means I'd better keep saving my pennies.

more to come....