House Hunting - Part 1

So, Saturday kicked off with a house viewing at 10:00am. It was a nice house in a nice area but we noticed that it needed a lot of work done. Even the Estate Agent was pointing out what he would do to the house. Slightly off-putting... If he's not enthusiastic about the house then we certainly won't be.

We were also under the impression that there was a canal at the back of the house. A lovely notion that made the house seem very pleasant. However, there was no canal, so we just had a house that needed lots of work. Not a great start but things can only get better...right?

Our next viewing was not until 1:00pm so we went back to mine for some breakfast. The post arrived and I was greeted with some property information. We sifted through them and spotted our 1:00pm house in the pile. We both just looked at each other. We didn't like the look of it at all. Was it too late to cancel the viewing? It was 11:15am. I didn't have the heart to call them. Instead, I phoned the Estate Agent and enquired about two of the other houses from the pile.

Next thing I know, we're making our way to one of the houses with a viewing at 12:00pm, followed by another at 12:30pm. It was all happening so fast.

This house would be shown to us by the owner's daughter. We were a little apprehensive about not being shown round the house by the EA. At least we could be brutally honest with them.

We rang the doorbell, our hearts beating ten to the dozen. A lady opened the door and invited us in. She showed us each room with such consideration, offering an insight into the previous owner's care for the house. It was a lovely house, and a lovely owner. The garden was striking too. Very spacious. I could vividly picture the BBQ parties we could have there.

Upstairs was possibly the downfall of the house. Don't get me wrong, it was in lovely condition and we could certainly picture ourselves living there. We just found the rooms to be slightly smaller than we would perhaps have liked them to be.

However, it's not ruled out just yet and it is certainly a strong contender...

At 12:30pm, we moved on to the next house. From the outside it looked huge. We were very excited about looking inside.

We rang the doorbell and a gentleman opened the door. "Hello!" I beamed. He walked away and left the door open. He'd gone into the kitchen. What do we do? We entered the house and stood in the hallway. His wife came out to us and stared at us as if we were unwelcome aliens. It was very awkward.

We said that we'd come to view the house. She just shrugged her shoulders at us, pointed to the door on our right and said "well there's the living room".

Were we supposed to show ourselves round? Is that what usually happens at viewings? Was our first viewing just a very fortunate one with the friendly owner?

Luckily, the woman showed us the rest of the house. There was not much conversation between us and I had to avoid any eye-contact with Rob in case I got a mad case of the giggles. An act that could have led us to never leaving that house again...

Now, I know I was slightly put off by the EA from the first house telling us of the amendments he would make to the house, but this woman actually told us that she hated the house. It didn't fill us with much confidence, even if it was a beautiful house.

When Rob and I finally escaped we were filled with a great sense of relief and deflation. Perhaps we had just struck lucky with the friendly owner at our second house. Now, at 1:00pm, we had to go and view the house that we didn't want to view anymore.

We pulled up a few yards away from the house. It was clear that Rob didn't want to go in. It was only when I pointed out that it would take just 30 mins from our lives to view it, then we could leave and forget all about it.

Walking up the driveway, the owner came out to greet us. Very promising. She took us through to the kitchen and detailed everything that was necessary. The owner was very enthusiastic and even interested in us too. Faith had been restored.

When Rob and I had a little wander round the house by ourselves we felt very comfortable with the house and could picture ourselves living there. There would indeed need to be a lot of work done to make it our own but it had so much potential and it was the first house that we felt very enthusiastic, and excited, about.

We didn't want to leave it!

We have more houses to view this week and we're still not sure we've found our perfect house yet. I'll certainly keep you updated.

Many people have told us about the "feeling" you get when you find your perfect house. I'm not sure if we've felt that yet but I definitely think we will. If we were excited about a house that is not the perfect one, I'm sure we will know when it is...


- Loulabella posting from her iPhone