Today is Tuesday, the day realtors host open houses for other realtors.  I picked out 2 that looked promising.  I entered the address of each into my phone and set out.  The first house was listed on the open house tour, but it was locked up tight.  I thought about calling the agent and say “Where are you?”, but decided to let it go.  I dont’ want to give myself any excess stress?

At the turn-off to the next house I saw a sign that said “realtor lunch”.  Hmm.  Looks promising.  This one was truly open for showing.  It’s listed for $189,000.  The flyer says it “would be a good “starter home”.

The good
The floor plan is an atrium split.  This is gives the feeling of a lot of open space.  The trade off is that it’s got lots of levels.  It’s been well kept and is decorated nicely.  It shows well.  There’s a finshed lower level that looks to be used as a play area.  The bedrooms are on the upper level.  They’re average size.

The Bad
The agent made a point to tell me that it “has neutral colors”.  This is true.  The paint is in good shape and looks fresh.  There were places, however, that should have been repaired before the paint went on.  The bad thing about the paint is that these neutral colors look dead.  Because of my life with Brenda I know that choosing the right paint color is important.  In this case I can really tell the lack of emotional impact because the colors–although pleasing–are lifeless.  They were too gray.  They weren’t awful.  But I’m listing this as a “bad” because they are a long way from “good”.

The Ugly
The floors in the living, kitchen and dining area are all laminate flooring.  It’s starting to wear, but the thing I don’t like is that it sounds hollow when you walk.  All laminate sounds like this so I’m not surprised.  But the real ugly comes from a straight seam in the floor right in front of the back door.  Maybe there had been carpet or tile and they just put in more laminate–too lazy to do it right.  Maybe the crew had a new guy on the job.  Maybe I’m too picky about some of these things.  Many may not be concerned about this ugly part of the floor, but in my not so humble opinion,  it’s still ugly.