So, although we officially became homeowners on the 5th, we have learned that we won’t get keys until the 16th. So while we wait, I thought I’d kill some time with some of the photos we took looking at other houses over the past year!

This first one was an interesting rabbit warren of remodels. The workshop in the basement was pretty amazing, gorgeous stone work… but the land had previously been a chop shop for old vehicles, and there were years worth of shattered glass and metal shards — not what wanted to be picking through while trying to garden!

The owner of this place just skipped town and left a ridiculous mess behind… furniture, food in the panty, dishes everywhere, clothes everywhere – an entire wardrobe in the master bedroom closet! It was spectacular. Unfortunately, although the land was pretty and the house pretty decent, the road into the property was pretty sketchy. We decided against risking being snowed in permanently if the weather got bad.

Honestly, this one broke our hearts. We really liked the place, but couldn’t get a response to our offer from the seller. It had such a beautiful view… very convenient to McMinnville and Portland. It was taken off the market and I don’t think it’s back yet.

This one was too expensive when we first saw it, and although we weren’t interested (far too steep to be useful land, unfortunately, and a long way down a dusty gravel road for what we were getting). But while we kept an eye on it, it dropped like a rock! Some days we talked about buying it just to put it out of it’s misery… but in the end, it just wasn’t enough to be worth it, even at the crazy low prices.

Two photos from this next place, because it was pretty amazing inside. The linoleum “carpet” print! The amazing 5′ long kitchen sink! We loved it, and the land was lovely… but the location wasn’t great, and unfortunately the well was broken, and the cost of a new well put the price too far out of our price range (and although the house had some neat components, it would have required an entire rebuild to be livable).

Sometimes I daydream about going back there and stealing this sink.

This is just a good example of the stuff we saw out there – dirt floors in basements and shops, huge gaps in walls and windows.

Looking back, even though we ended up paying more than we wanted up front, our new house is perfectly livable with just a few easy modifications – no rebuild required! Considering what we could have had.. we got a pretty good deal.