Not home yet

Three more houses today.

That brings the number of houses we’ve toured in the last three weeks to 21.

Which I’m pretty sure is double the number of houses we looked at during our rookie search in K-Town six years ago. I recalled at least nine homes when I was trying to count them up this afternoon, and that search ran about a month and a half long.

We thought that was a grueling, frustrating search. At least we submitted offers on three of those homes in 2004.

This time, we’ve submitted one offer. It’s still pending, and if it fell into our favor, it’d be a miracle.

Having received some encouraging listings from our realtor late last night, I headed into this morning feeling good. There was a home with some promise available in our targeted neighborhood. Sure, it was another classic ’70s split-level, but it had sort of a colonial facade with tall pillars on the front porch. Looking at the interior pictures, I had hoped some French doors along the back porch, some new paint and a few more updates here and there could do the trick.

I was wrong again.

The current homeowners are smokers, so the house reeked of their stale cigarettes. The back yard also was smaller than I had expected, and it had a tree stump in the middle of it that must have been four feet tall and five feet across … On the bright side, the basement rec room and den area was everything I’d want in our next home. But that dang smoke scent was way too powerful and I knew there was no way we’d be moving in there.

The second home of the day was just built, and it sits in a newer neighborhood … But it was so plain and had such little charm, it was almost unbearable to stand inside. No basement. Tiny yard. The kitchen was huge, but it had just a few cabinets -- and there was carpeting in the kitchen. Who puts carpeting in a kitchen!?

The third house … Why bother. It was among the worst yet.

The day wasn't all bad. I stopped at a secondhand store today and secured a copy of "Juno" for five bucks. Awesome movie, thrilled to add it to my collection.