House Porn, the Beginning
Tomorrow I begin the hunt for a house. The on-foot, via-auto, in-person part, because I've been scouring stlpropertysearch.com (Thanks, JO) all week. We (that's me and the realtor, who is Tom's cousin -- Tom will be in Jeff City at the BBQ Contest) have about 6 or so properties scheduled between Fox Park and some place beyond Carondelet, almost to the county (simply because I was intrigued by the picture of the front porch). I found a house with a kitchen, the pictures of which made me wet my pants and say to my mother: the rest of the house could be crap, because I could LIVE in this kitchen. The downside is that I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I am with the neighborhood. I have no problems with 'hoods in transition, I'm just not sure how transitional this particular part of this particular neighborhood is.
Just like with wedding planning, and unlike with any other area of my life, I'm all uber-organized, with my listing print-outs, a spreadsheet for future comparison ease, and handy info sheets for each house, so that I can scribble notes and track other information. My notebook will eventually contain financial information and loan paperwork. (Give me a 3-ring binder and a 3-hole punch and I can organize ANYTHING). Probably, just like with wedding planning, I'll probably wind up doing most of the legwork myself, bringing in others (including Tom) only for company, objective input and, in the case of Tom, final decision making.
Cha-cha-cha.
Have fun....at least it's my idea of fun