One of the major reasons why I haven't been blogging as often is due the fact that my life has gone crazy busy. On top of planning a wedding, Rachel and I have decided to begin the long and tedious search for a house. We have seen a total of six houses so far, and each had serious flaws. A majority of the houses we have looked at our for short sale, which means that the owners of the house owe more than the property is actually worth. Additionally, short sale houses are sold as is, meaning if the ceiling has rotted with water then the new buyer would be responsible for all of the repairs. Two of the homes we looked at were short sales, while the other homes were normal house sales.
Oriental Ave, Glassboro
The first house we looked at was a small cape cod home in Glassboro, that was up for short sale.. From the exterior, the house looked very nice, with a beautiful garden in the front and back yards, plenty of yard space, and lots of shaded areas. As soon as we stepped foot in the house, we were all overwhelmed with the smell of neglected animals. The home smelled as if the previous owners had left all of their pets in the home for some time after they had moved out. There was evidence of this by the numerous spots of animal waste on the carpet in several of the rooms. As we stood in the living room, our Realtor mentioned that the house was her first home, and went on and on about what she had updated in the home in the 1980s.
We then went into the basement, where there were three pools of water in the basement. Additionally, the entire wall was buckling, with a large crack going through the center of the bricks. The basement smelled of mold, sewage, and cat urine. We then headed up to the second floor, which was converted into two very small bedrooms, neither of which actually had doors. I thought the first floor and basement smelled bad, but the second floor had put the smell to shame. I'm pretty sure the previous owners had sacrificed babies in the house and buried their remains in the closets.
Deptford Road, Glassboro
The next property we looked at was on Deptford Road. It was originally a short sale, which was purchased several months ago and flipped. The house was beautiful, but lacked any space for a dining room. Having a dining room is important for Rachel and I, since we don't like the idea of having our children watch television and eat dinner at the same time. Call us picky, but we just don't like the idea. Other than the lack of dining space, the property was beautiful, though a little too high in cost. The walls had been freshly painted, the hardwood floors refinished, and the kitchen updated with all new appliances and cabinets. Even though it lacked a dining area, we did consider the house briefly, coming up with ideas on how to build onto the house when we needed the extra space. In the end, we decided against the property and continued our search.
Truman Ave, Glassboro
When you approach a house and see foreclosure notices from the bank sitting on the front step, this should be your first sign to run the opposite direction. The property was in a very poor section of Glassboro, closely bordering Clayton. Upon entering the house, we quickly realized the house was falling apart. There was a huge black, stain on the ceiling where water had obviously accumulated. The ceiling was beginning to hang down, and looked as if it was going to cave in on us. We then checked out the remainder of the house, where I found a random jar of gravy in the kitchen and tons of weight lifting equipment. We then ventured upstairs, where once again we found another part of the ceiling that was black with mold and appeared to be caving in. We had already decided that there was no way we would purchase this house, but continued to humor ourselves. On top of the caving ceiling, there was space missing from the second floor. There was a closet door that led to this extra space, but the door had been locked from the inside. Upon realizing that the home had come complete with its own crypt, Rachel and I decided to leave immediately.
Baldwin Road, Glassboro
Baldwin Road, the house that pissed me the fuck off. Rachel and I had seen the listing several times in our searches, and heavily debated on whether to view the property or not. The home was a three bedroom rancher with a full basement. The listing price was already pretty low, and the seller had even stated to bring all offers to the table. Upon viewing the house, I had immediately fell in love. It had tons of space, the walls in the basement were made of cement rather than bricks and had no random pools of water. The backyard was a decent size, complete with a small shed. Rachel hated the house as soon as she saw the kitchen, which had cabinets that we crooked and falling apart. Rachel's mother also pointed out random things that I had never even taken into consideration, such as the floors needing to be refinished and the bathroom being too tiny to bath children in. Additionally there was no sub floor, which was apparent when we noticed several spots where there were holes in the floor and we could see directly into the basement.
Sante Fe Road, Mantua
Sante Fe was not a short sale, and would have been a nice home had it not been for the amount of people currently living in the home. The house had four adults, eight children, five cats, and three dogs living under the roof. It was hard to even look at the house, since closet and bedroom doors had been removed to make space in the house. I'm sure the house was very nice at one point, but once the owner of the home allowed her two grown children move back into the home with their pets and children, the house probably went sour from there.
Montgomery Ave, Mantua
Montgomery was a split level home, with a huge cathedral ceiling in the living room, solid oak cabinets, and four bedrooms. The home not only had a living room, but also a family room on the back of the house which led to the back yard. We saw only minor things that needed to be changed, such as the carpets needing to be replaced and the wood paneling on the walls needing to come down. When we went into the back yard, I noticed some damage to the door paneling in the garage, which I thought was termite damage but our Realtor could not confirm or deny. We left the house feeling as if the it was our future home. A few days later, Rachel's parents went to view the house and they did not feel the same way. Rachel's mom, Aimee, has more balls than the two of us combined, and pulled a part of the wood paneling off the wall in the house. After doing so, Aimee found severe termite damage behind the paneling, which obviously meant that we would have to continue our search.
Our house hunt has been briefly put on hold, as we finish our wedding plans. I'm hoping to be in the search again by October, in the hopes that we will quickly find an amazing house and be out of the Langmore before more drama erupts.
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