Almost bought a house ....

I have been looking. Not LOOKING, but I have a nice realtor here in town who knows what I want. I want a little house, a bungalow. I don't want a lot of space, a lot of yard or a lot of work.
Oddly enough, most of what comes available for sale in this small town is bigger houses; three bedrooms, two baths, big yards. Needless to say I also have a specific price point over which I do not go.

So, a house became available, two bedroom and one bath, nice fenced back yard. I looked at it twice. I checked on my financeability and passed. I even qualify for a no down payment rural loan.

And I almost had myself talked into it. This house was not ugly. The interior needed paint in every room partly because every inch of every wall had something hanging on it, photos and doodads. I would need a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, some furniture and a lot of paint and elbow grease to make it my own and suitable. I even told her to draw up an offer.

I couldn't sleep that night. I'd look around my spacious, airy loft apartment that I enjoy living in and envision the small living room (with paneling) and an even smaller kitchen. Why would one design a house with two spacious bedrooms and miniscule living room and kitchen? Personally, I spend my living time in those spaces.

First thing next morning I called my agent and told her I just couldn't buy and work for weeks on a house I was not going to love. She was very kind and understanding and said she'd keep looking for one I could love. One of the perks of small town living, she doesn't want to run into me regularly only to hear that I hate the house.

Maybe I will find the bungalow of my ideas. Maybe I won't. I am glad to know that if I do and it is in my price range, I'm already pre-qualified for a loan. There are days of climbing up and down the stairs with arms full, when a single story dwelling sounds like a great idea. There are nights when I have lousy cable and even lousier internet connection that I think I'd like to be in a position to complain and/or negotiate the service. There are a lot of pretty days when I would like to have a yard with trees and flowers and birds and those damn squirrels.

At least I contemplated it and weighed the positives and negatives before jumping to any conclusion. For today I'm still a downtown apartment dweller just a block away from my office and a block away in another direction from the new office.