How I Met My House

This is a wonderful and very original idea of AnNicole at Our Suburban Cottage .

Write up YOUR story and head on over there... sounds like a lot of fun!

How I Met My House

(or 'Sabotage' at it's finest)

When I bought my current house, I was in the market for something very specific.  I wanted to find a home with a completely finished basement, complete with a kitchen and a bedroom. I had my nephew staying with me after my sister passed away and I needed more room

I constantly scouted  homes on the internet. Daily I would drive down the streets where I wanted to live.  I found the perfect house, on the perfect street, with the perfect little apartment in the basement!  Perfect!  Or so I thought.  

I called my agent and told her I wanted to get in there as fast as I could.  This happened to be on the very same day that they had a scheduled open house for later that afternoon.  I wanted my viewing before then.   I got in.. and immediately knew this was the one. 

Perfect? Not so much.  Although this house had great potential, it  was VERY lived in.  The owners had two massive dogs who used the backyard as one big toilet. The parquet wood floors were so scuffed and scratched that there was no finish left on them. The shed roof was falling off. The sprinkler system was leaking. The concrete driveway was cracked, (ok that's still cracked.. hehe) . The kitchen cupboards were  replaced with homemade plywood ones.  I've lived there 3 years and I STILL cant figure out the light switches. It wasn't a show stopper by any means, but I loved it. 

I just had to convince everyone else to hate it.

Thankfully the house was priced accordingly.  Had this house been kept up, it would have been way out of my price range.  Immediately I put in an offer. But I had a plan.  With four offers pending even before the open house, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have anymore competition. 

I showed up at the open house, (along with about 50 other people)

I walked around the house with Mr. Charming, and in my best whisper voice, I was heard to say "Wow, these floors are in terrible shape, they'll all have to be replaced"... or how about.."The entire banister is loose"..... or even..."This house needs a LOT of work".  Couple those comments with the odd...  "all the sod needs to be replaced"  and  "This is highly overpriced for all the work it needs"   and mission accomplished. 

In all fairness, I must add that between the original 4 offers and the bidding war that ensued I ultimately did go in a couple of thousand over the asking price so the owners were thrilled and I got the house. 

It all worked out in the end.  Slowly the house is turning into something beautiful.

  ::heavy sigh:::   I just love my money pit!

(For a peek inside, view a couple of pictures here.)