First things first, why disturb an insanely busy life with a big housing change? 1.We need to move closer to the church and where the bulk of the believers live. Convenient for us, but most importantly, convenient for them to stop by when ever they wish. 2.Transportation costs continue to grow, living an extra 10 minutes away from your work zone does increase cost. If we found something close enough for us to walk to meetings, the grocery store, and other offices that we frequent that would be a big boon to the pocket book and the exercise regimen. 3.At our current house the rent is pretty steep. When we moved here, the market did not present any other alternatives. The house is worth it, but it just draws too much from the economy right now.
Our hunting adventure has been interesting. We have looked at some situations that would make living in a tree look more attractive. Almost every house has what I call the "childrens toy box" architecture features. Just look in any childs toybox and you will get the idea; disorder, things haphazardly thrown in without much thought, home features that appear upside down, doorways too small or crooked for an erect homo sapien to walk through, stairways that sneak up on you as you are watching the precarious steps below, suddenly you hit your head on the inadequately cut cement opening above.
Number 1: Four BR, 2 1/2 bath, lots of fenced parking, very secure, patio & yard space.
The first house we looked at had most of the features that we wanted, except that it had a bizarre ownership situation. We would rent from the 'legal' owner, but the other owner (illegal?) may show up at any time and might not be too pleased with strangers occupying his hideout. Um, cant really say more about that one, yeah. The BAD, living with feelings of being a perpetual trespasser.
Number 2: Three BR, 3 bath, 2 kitchens (one burnt), very small secure patio, parking for 2 1/2 cars- if you can get them out or in!
The second house had a completely normal down stairs with 3 bedrooms, the owners attend the down town church and we are good friends so that made it more appealing. The price was tremendous, but, the upstairs has a totally weird layout with an external stairway only, and it was partially repaired after a fire in it's second (?) kitchen. It is located on a very busy 2 lane street that should have 4 lanes. Every time that we have driven by in the past week, people were 'popping' into the stores on either side of the house, and parking their cars right in front blocking the gated drive way. This is something that really burns my cookies. These same people would kill us if we even dared to cover up 5 inches of their driveway making their exodus a little difficult, but they come, and block a driveway completely and smile and give the "don't worry, I'll be righty back" sheepish smile. The traffic noise was intense, even as we were looking at the back bedrooms I wondered how we would survive so much noise. The GOOD, price The BAD, still far from the church, NOISE, vehicle access
Number 3: Four BR, 5 bathrooms, studio apt., very secure patio/parking for 3-4 cars, luxurious (not what were looking for), close to church.
Then there is the Hollywood Mansion. Here is one of those houses that we would not even look at, except for the fact that one of the believers from our church has an arrangement with a friend and has obtained this place and wants to rent it to us, at an insane price. The owner does not care to make money, he just wants to keep it occupied so that vagrants, squatters and other undesirables don't break in and dismantle the walls to get out copper wire and copper tubing. Some vacant houses here have had illegal pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises move in. When the federal government raids one of these homes, whether it is rented legally or not, the government will take the property from the owner with out hesitation or recourse; often the government will bring co-conspirator charges against the owner of a property used for these purposes.
The GOOD, confidence with owner, good price, quiet neighborhood, very adequate for our massive entertaining activities, walking distance from church, grocery store, mail service, live in same neighborhood of about 1/2 of the believers from the church.
We advised the office that handles the rental of our current house that we will be leaving in the next couple of months. We are praying that the disengagement from them will be favorable and without problems.
This is an ongoing story, will add as things progress.
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