House Hunting and the Like
Saturday Jim and I decided to try hanging out on the east side. We have been looking at some houses out there, and we thought we needed to see how we felt hanging out there... incase it was going to be our 'hood. We went to a place called Russell St BBQ. Yes... Jim and I are still vegetarian. They have a bbq tofu sandwich. Now don't gag! Its really good. Mom and dad need to go there to try the regular bbq. Their sauces are yummy. We then went in search of excitement, but realized we would need to make our own. The east side neighborhoods were pretty calm. It was not too hopping. We should have expected as much. Portland is not a late night town. There really aren't many 24hr places. Downtown there is more activity later at night. It is nothing at all like San Fran that's for sure! Jim and I still hold that knoxville had more late night activity.
We have seen some really adorable neighborhoods in the course of the great house hunt. There are some amazing houses here, and there are streets and streets of cool old houses - of all sizes. Jim and I get all excited when we find a house listed on the MLS that fits our criteria. We typically go out on the weekend with a half dozen or so that we want to track down. It always starts the same. We find the neighborhood... we say to each other that the neighborhood is really nice. We find the street... we say to each other that the street is okay. Then we start honing in on the house number... we say to each other what the hell? We know when we are close when we find a great area and drive through it until the streets get worse. We know we are looking for something in particular. We want an old house - 1930's or older. It has to have a yard - for the babies. It has to have off street parking - which we have determined is equated to an extra $50k on the house price, which is totally worth it because we have nice cars, and I'd like to keep them that way. We also want a "fixer". Now that word is dangerous. Its definition runs the gambut... needs paint, needs landscaping, needs new windows and roof, needs to be patched up, needs to be gutted, or just needs to be burned to the ground. We are going for the "needs to be patched up" or preferrably "needs to be gutted". Some houses we have found would be great, but they are in an "unfortunate" place. You know... underneath an interstate overpass, across from a school (my own personal version of hell), on the corner of a very busy intersection, terrifying neighbors, etc. I know patience will pay off. Finding a house is kinda like finding a dog... you know 'em when you see 'em.
We have seen some really adorable neighborhoods in the course of the great house hunt. There are some amazing houses here, and there are streets and streets of cool old houses - of all sizes. Jim and I get all excited when we find a house listed on the MLS that fits our criteria. We typically go out on the weekend with a half dozen or so that we want to track down. It always starts the same. We find the neighborhood... we say to each other that the neighborhood is really nice. We find the street... we say to each other that the street is okay. Then we start honing in on the house number... we say to each other what the hell? We know when we are close when we find a great area and drive through it until the streets get worse. We know we are looking for something in particular. We want an old house - 1930's or older. It has to have a yard - for the babies. It has to have off street parking - which we have determined is equated to an extra $50k on the house price, which is totally worth it because we have nice cars, and I'd like to keep them that way. We also want a "fixer". Now that word is dangerous. Its definition runs the gambut... needs paint, needs landscaping, needs new windows and roof, needs to be patched up, needs to be gutted, or just needs to be burned to the ground. We are going for the "needs to be patched up" or preferrably "needs to be gutted". Some houses we have found would be great, but they are in an "unfortunate" place. You know... underneath an interstate overpass, across from a school (my own personal version of hell), on the corner of a very busy intersection, terrifying neighbors, etc. I know patience will pay off. Finding a house is kinda like finding a dog... you know 'em when you see 'em.
posted by Jill at 3:12 PM
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