House Shopping - Part 1

I think it's important to start this story by saying, I didn't *need* a house.  Looking at houses was just something to do to make the weekends more interesting. 

This summer was my second summer in Maine and my 10th (ish?) summer living in a furnished apartment.  I was starting to feel like I should buy my own place so I could be annoyed at myself instead of a landlord for things like poorly cleaned carpets and unlit exterior walkways.  And since I did the tourist thing last summer, I wanted this summer to be a bit more educational.  It seemed reasonable to start window shopping locally to at least get an idea of property prices and the home buying process and what I actually like in houses.  When you don't *have* to buy, you have the luxury of shopping for what you want.  If you know what you want, that is.

I browsed through the local Zillow listings and found a big old fixer-upper that appealed to me.  A Bangor friend recommended an agent.  A visit was arranged.  And as I wandered through room after room of this three story house, I thought... you could house a lot of people in a place like this.  Or a lot of greyhounds, which is, I confess, an idea which appealed to me. 

As it happened, my freshman year college roommate was in town with her husband that weekend.  He's what you might call "competent with tools" and he has the resume and photos to prove it.  They had just finished several years of challenging church ministry and were looking for a change of pace and a new home for their 3 boys. 

"Come with me to look at this humongous house," I said.  "I could fill it with dogs and let it fall down around my ears, or you could all move in and help me fix the place up."

They came.  We opened doors.  We tapped on walls.  We looked for the source of water stains. We tilted our heads at the interesting renovation choices of the previous owners. We discussed at length. And we finally decided against this particular house.  (I gave up these drawer pulls.  Sad, but true.)

But we agreed to pursue the general idea of joint living, so I called my agent, and the next weekend we were out tapping on walls again.

To be continued...