We closed on Thursday afternoon, got the keys on Friday afternoon, and went over to check it out again today.
Remember we mentioned that the previous owners had tax liens against them? Quite a lot? Well, turns out the electricity was cut off, in addition to the water, because they didn’t pay their bill. (Not a big deal for us, we’ve already called and taken care of it.)
But when we arrived today, we found collection notices on the door. Fun. I’m waiting for the day, when I’m home during the afternoon, and I have to explain to some collection officer that I’m not who they’re looking for & I’ve no idea where the previous owners are.
Then we looked out in the backyard and MAN, was I peeved. Part of the contract was that they had to finish clearing all their shit out of the house & the garage. Weird little odds ‘n ends they’d left in bathroom drawers, piles of crap in closets, a spare fridge and the overflowing piles of junk in the garage. I’m thinking that, considering how close to foreclosure they were, they weren’t in the best of moods, plus probably a little angry that we paid them $20k less than they asked for – but that was only fair, considering the house needs a whole new roof & a bunch of cosmetic work.
Well. They cleaned out the garage, the closets, and the drawers, but…
Click on the image to zoom in. Or not. Can you see all the little colored spots all over the yard?
“What’s with all the fucking balls?” Chris said.
Balls.
Balls!
Somehow, they’d managed to leave balls all over the backyard. Footballs, soccerballs, kickballs. 10-15 of them.
Were they trying to make some kind of statement? In all the clearing out they were doing, how could they not take 2 minutes to round up a few balls? Seriously?
We’re cracking up about it, and it’s pretty damn funny, but I’m also kind of pissed off. I mean, come on. BALLS?
The balls, to me, say “Make sure you have the locks changed.”
So here’s my new kitchen, the kitchen that I fell madly in love with. They put a bit of money into the kitchen, it’s pretty new – double oven, built in microwave, relatively new refrigerator, shelves that slide out in one of the cabinets and a LAZY SUSAN for spices! Sigh.
One of the bathrooms has this absolutely hideous countertop. When I first saw it, I thought they’d splattered mud or something all over it, but it was just the pattern. It will be replaced eventually, but it’s not a priority.
Then there was one of the downstairs, kid’s bedrooms – we had a lot of fun speculating on the holes:
So, like… angry teenager? Drunk wife? Someone kicking BALLS! around in the house?
There’s a great little deck upstairs, off the kitchen. I’d like to get another dog again some day – the deck is perfect for, say, wet days when you want to leave the dog outside until his paws are dry?
And there’s a treehouse in the backyard. It needs some work, but I figure we’ll just tear it down and build a brand new one for when Felix is old enough.
The downstairs “rec room” is awesome. The one half will be left open, as a space for me to do yoga in. When I’m not doing yoga, there will also be a projector on the wall, on that side, for video game playing & such.
And there’s a decked off area in the backyard, also – perfect for barbecues, playing with Felix, or just hanging out.
Oh – and in addition to the balls… the cleaned the freezer out, but really, we should just toss the whole fridge. The freezer smells like they put something dead in there and forgot about it for… oh, about 10 years. Bleh.
It’s a shame, for their situation. This house has TONS of potential and they barely scratched the surface.
As for us, it’ll just be SO NICE to unpack and not have to move again for quite some time.
