I met with the realtor on Saturday and we set off on a whirlwind tour of houses. I think we saw about 22 or so in Canton and North Canton. Highlights:
1. The first one we looked at was 3 doors away from my room-mate’s elderly aunt. I get along with her well, but she’s a talker. And that might be a little bit too close by.
2. I fell in love with an amazing house. It had a fish pond, an amazing back yard, beautiful interiors, well maintained – just awesome. But the realtor pointed out the original doors and windows and concerns about security and heating costs. She really slammed it and we headed out. I agreed with her assessment – mostly – but that didn’t stop me from taking the handouts from the table with extra pictures. And I guess I can dig my own pond.
3. There were a couple of places we just drove past – zero curb appeal.
4. There were 3 or 4 that I liked. A little pricey, but still in my range.
5. The first few places we went through I felt a little rushed, but then I got into the grove. We didn’t agree on everything, but I trusted her judgement. And there were a couple of times that I slowed down and made her wait for me to look something over.
We stopped back at her office at the end of the day and she printed out a bunch more listings for me to look at. I got through about 140 of them last night (not quite halfway) – just narrowing it down by the “show-stopper” criteria. My head started to hurt and I took a break for the evening. I’ll hit it again tonight.
Once I’ve got it narrowed down again, we’ll go out and check out a few more places.