How many houses did you look at til you found yours?

Just wondering.

we are still looking

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135 - bid on 8 and finally got number 9!

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I thought we were the only people that looked at 100+ houses before we finally found ours!
We bid on 3 others before we found ours.

eeek

this is scary

OOOwwfff!! I've been looking on my own since I was 18. On my own, I've looked at about 75, collectively with husband, double that. Even at 2000 prices, you were buying a starter home (meaning, where did you start?!?) at $160,000+. You can't even begin to imagine some of the horror shows I've seen. I'll recap some of the most memorable:

Central Islip: Home value $40,000. Taxes $1,500. The house was very small and the yard was beyond disgrace. There was an old abandoned boat in the backyard and a closed refridgerator in the middle of the yard. I didn't dare question what was inside of it. When we got in to 'see' the house, it looked like the former occupants left in a hurry because dinner was still sitting on the table, in the pots on the stove, etc. The house had not been lived in for WEEKS. In the center of the living room, it looked like someone blasted a 3' hole into the basement. Must be those new fangled laundry chutes or something. The bathroom looked like it was straight from a Beavis and Butthead episode. Crap (literally) on the floor, wall, all over the toliet, in the sink (yes someone had doodied in the sink). I just shut the door before I threw up. The bedrooms still had ALL of their personal possessions, including clothing, etc. It was probably the worst I've ever seen....

Mastic: Value $35,000. The house was tiny, tiny but that wasn't so much the problem. The bathroom was an afterthought, so they incorporated it on the back of the house where the stairwell was for both the upstairs and downstairs. Could you imagine using the throne and having the meter reader coming up from the basement or someone heading up to their bedroom? Just plain weird.

Selden: Value $140,000. Huge high ranch in terrible condition. When I first walked in, the blinds were drawn and the house was DARK (this was during the day). I noticed there was 'patterned' wallpaper on the walls, but yet it seemed to be moving. Upon closer look, I realized it was ROACHES!!! The house was beyond infested. I freaked on the realtor and said 'I'm outta here!'. He was like 'No, it's rude to the homeowner' who was standing nearby. I was crawling out of my skin as we toured the rest of the house. We went into the kitchen where the old style sticky tiles were on the floor. Most of them were peeling up, etc. I stepped on one with all the corners curled and about 9 roaches came crawling out of the corners. I screamed 'F this, I don't care if it's rude or not!!' and ran out of the house!! I had nightmares of the original Creepshow movie for the rest of the day and I could swear they were all over me.

My house wasn't much better but you would never believe it if you saw it today...

Went to about 50+ Only bid on 1, the last one (well actually we looked at 1 after we foudn ours..long story)
Shamee I can tell you a great story...we went to this hour in Lake Grove, cute little cape, that needed work. WEll boy did it need work, the kitchen was in what used to be the front porch, so as you sat at the table and looked at the wall, you were actually looking at exterior shingles! In the living room, there was a hole in the wall going to the bath room, why you ask? SO the cat could get to the litter box easily. Next, in the bathroom there was a door to the back yard. Upstairs at 5’4 I could barely move around it was so tiny. But the piece d’resistance! The man who lived there was an ORIGINAL to say the least! The stairs to go up were not your normal stairs but what this man did was take the stair case, cut it in half down the middle from the top donw, and then he staggered the stairs. So each foot had its own stair at different levels!
I am not doing this house justice, it was a disaster and they were asking $280,000!!!

Kelly Wow! Great story! You can't believe how some people live and what they can do to a house. Staggered stairs??? Sounds like an engineering nightmare

Did you ever walk into a house where the sheerock was so goobered and crusty, you could practically read braile off of it? One house had so many coats of paint on the walls (complete with embedded hair, dirt and bugs) you could swear in braile it said 'This house sucks!!'. For that mansion? $390,000.

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Posted by Shamee

I don't know what to say about that. All I know is one day you will walk into the home of your dreams and go 'ahhhhhhhh, welcome home!!'. Keep your chin up and your mind open. A coat of paint and new carpeting can do wonders. Structurally sound is everything!!

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Sharon, very true. I loved loved loved this colonial we bid on but when we found out it wasnt in the greatest shape it could be, my DH and I decided to bid on a ranch. Now, a ranch is not my favorite but it is structurally sound and I know we could fix it up, paint, etc our way. So now I am excited and waiting to hear!

So far it's about 30+ and we're still looking