Gross, yuck, and unclean...
Sep. 8th, 2003 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
littleheavenEwwwwww.
My little sis and I went 'open-homing' on the weekend. She's looking to buy a house, so we spent all week assembling a list of the properties in her very generous price range, and off we went.
Now, I have to say, I bought my house in the middle of a price boom, and it's well below what she can afford. But, hell, you should have seen the sort of utter crap people were trying to sell for $60,000 more than what I paid for my place (which is a decent size, has some gardens, and is in a nice street).
The first place was in a revolting road, down a long, muddy driveway that smelled like it had been watered with wastewater (ugh). It looked quite nice from outside, but inside it was dirty, smelly, and it was on a tiny postage stamp of grass, and quite obviously had some dampness problems (one of the advangtages of looking at houses after a wet winter!!).
The second looked like someone had been throwing knives around inside. Big chunks of paint and plaster missing from every wall and skirting, and it was dirty as well. And on the side of a hill that a mountain goat would struggle to get up.
The third one the real estate agent never showed up to.
The fourth - well, we wandered into something about $60,000 over sis' price range, just for a point of comparison. It was beautiful! Clean, tastefully decorated, a deck that sat out into the treetops of the bush below. There was definitely more than $60,000 difference in quality - so the others were obviously waaaaaay overpriced (duh!). As we came out the neighbour called to us - it was someone sis had worked with and absolutely despised. We ran away.
Place five looked promising on the outside. On the inside every wallboard was cracked, and the place was dirty and smelled of cat food.
Place six was old, poky, and smelled of mothballs. We gave up and went plant shopping at that point. I wanted to run home, take a shower, and throw every item of clothing in the wash.
The good points about the weekend? I now appreciate how nice my house is, and realise that my own housekeeping skills are a lot better than I thought. I've always been measuring myself against my mother's high standards. While I'm not up to those, I am better than a lot of people!
Also, hubby bought my Birthday present. It's not til next Saturday, but he couldn't wait to give it to me. It's a 9ct gold claddagh ring. I was blown away. Normally I don't get anything! We tend to just say 'oh, don't worry about a present' because we buy ourselves treats quite often. It's getting sized so I can have it in time for the big day.
My little sis and I went 'open-homing' on the weekend. She's looking to buy a house, so we spent all week assembling a list of the properties in her very generous price range, and off we went.
Now, I have to say, I bought my house in the middle of a price boom, and it's well below what she can afford. But, hell, you should have seen the sort of utter crap people were trying to sell for $60,000 more than what I paid for my place (which is a decent size, has some gardens, and is in a nice street).
The first place was in a revolting road, down a long, muddy driveway that smelled like it had been watered with wastewater (ugh). It looked quite nice from outside, but inside it was dirty, smelly, and it was on a tiny postage stamp of grass, and quite obviously had some dampness problems (one of the advangtages of looking at houses after a wet winter!!).
The second looked like someone had been throwing knives around inside. Big chunks of paint and plaster missing from every wall and skirting, and it was dirty as well. And on the side of a hill that a mountain goat would struggle to get up.
The third one the real estate agent never showed up to.
The fourth - well, we wandered into something about $60,000 over sis' price range, just for a point of comparison. It was beautiful! Clean, tastefully decorated, a deck that sat out into the treetops of the bush below. There was definitely more than $60,000 difference in quality - so the others were obviously waaaaaay overpriced (duh!). As we came out the neighbour called to us - it was someone sis had worked with and absolutely despised. We ran away.
Place five looked promising on the outside. On the inside every wallboard was cracked, and the place was dirty and smelled of cat food.
Place six was old, poky, and smelled of mothballs. We gave up and went plant shopping at that point. I wanted to run home, take a shower, and throw every item of clothing in the wash.
The good points about the weekend? I now appreciate how nice my house is, and realise that my own housekeeping skills are a lot better than I thought. I've always been measuring myself against my mother's high standards. While I'm not up to those, I am better than a lot of people!
Also, hubby bought my Birthday present. It's not til next Saturday, but he couldn't wait to give it to me. It's a 9ct gold claddagh ring. I was blown away. Normally I don't get anything! We tend to just say 'oh, don't worry about a present' because we buy ourselves treats quite often. It's getting sized so I can have it in time for the big day.
