The Contenders

I promised you guys a post about the top 2 house contenders, and I am coming through for you. Now, these two houses are probably the two best we have seen since the beginning (aside from the one we fell in love with that our financing didn't cover).

House 1: North Fork House

This house is probably my favorite of the two for the following reasons:

• It is close to work. I would be taking all backroads and would be at work in about 7 minutes each morning.
• It's pretty big.
• It has a creek in the backyard.
• The downstairs bathroom has a SAUNA in it.
• Woodburning stove insert... these are my favorite!
• Good open floorplan downstairs
• Upstairs is a whole master suite... bedroom, full bath, walk in closet, and office. And balconies at both ends of the house
• It was built by my dad's childhood best friend. I didn't know that until AFTER I fell in love with the house, so it just added to my love for it.
• New windows, roof, gutters about 4 years ago.

(disclosure: some of these pictures are really blurry, and I don't know why)



Now, the potential downfalls of this house are as follows:

• Possibly flooding from the creek in the back
• Most of the property is in the front yard, not a lot of backyard
• No place to keep the horse(s)

House 2: Issaquah-Hobart House

This is the house that I know Chad will prefer. Here's the pros.

• Very private.
• Already has a designated area for horses
• Cheaper
• Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs
• 2.25 acres
• Really good kitchen with lots of counter and cupboard space.

Now for the bad parts of this house.

• Needs work. The place appears to have had renovations started on it but never finished.
• Smells badly of dogs.
• Stained carpets
• Far from work... my commute would be at least 30 minutes one way
• Slanted ceilings upstairs
• Trees would need to come down (one fell right across the back fence and came about a foot and a half from the house)

So, those are the two in the running right now, although I feel like the Issaquah-Hobart house may be counted out soon. It has too many cons to it, and I don't think Chad wants to put a bunch of work into a house when we first buy it.