ADVENTURES IN HOUSE HUNTING

Recently, my husband and I discovered that in the ailing economy, it has become more realistic that we may able to afford a house in the country. After doing some research, we came across a very reasonably priced house not too far from what would be considered a reasonable driving distance. So, we called our realtor and set up a showing. He did, and as we were driving out to view the house, he mentioned that the other realtor had said it was a little rough. We should have turned around then. Or if not then, we should have turned around when we went to pull in the driveway and couldn't because there was what could reasonably be considered a small cistern. OR if not then, when we were greeted by a dead possum! And no, it was not playing dead. Below is a summary of our visit as related in an email to both sets of our parents.

Anyway, the house. Let's just say we will not be pursuing that house any further. We prayed that the Lord would help up to have a clear yes or no. You know how Kev's one thing he can't handle is the pets in and all over the house? They had a total of 6 dogs, and several cats in the house. The lady wanted us to wait to go in so she could sweep some "presents" the dogs had left off of the screened in porch. It was fairly disgusting. She had locked cats in the basement without a litterbox, so you can imagine what that was like. You had to watch where you stepped. They had "new" carpet, however, I think you would basically have to replace it all.

Even before that though, we went to pull in the driveway and discovered there was a 1 1/2 ft deep washout in the driveway entrance. The realtor had to park at the end of the driveway because you couldn't go any further or you would fall in the abyss.

And to top that off, when we walked up to the house, there was a dead possum in right by the front door! They were like "uh, yeah, the dog killed that last night and we haven't got rid of it yet." Really we should have left at that point.

There were several windows in the house that were broken out that were covered with plastic and duct tape, several of the extra bedrooms were filled with "stuff," the only bathroom they had had a "shower" that Kev wouldn't have been able to stand up in, it angled down toward the back.

Kev said if it wouldn't have been for the pets he would've thought about it more, but that's the one thing that he really can't stand. And I can't stand possums, so we figure that's a pretty clear way for the Lord to tell us that is not the place for us. The only way we could've worked with it was to live somewhere else while it got fixed up.

So, we will keep looking.