The walk-through (or how I've combatted homesickness all these years and why I don't like perfect houses)

I confess. I love looking at houses. At design blogs, at magazines about houses, at real estate websites, at realtor blogs, at craigslist for finds to put in the houses (if you know anyone in Jersey who would like to part with a pretty little outdoor set, please let me know!), at real furniture stores, old and new...and I love, love, love open houses...getting to go inside someone's house. See how they've done it. How they've decorated and cleaned (or maybe not, and that's okay, too).

With all the moving around we've been doing, it justifies - or sort of justifies - the amount of time I've spent looking at houses and paint and design and furniture stuff. At doorknobs and ceilings and closets and kitchens. And bathrooms. I love bathrooms. Okay, I think it must run in the family. I've been doing this househunting business since I can remember. And I know my mom and stepdad still hop into a into a couple of open houses each month, even though they haven't moved for 20+ years and have no intention of doing so (as far as I know anyway)...

I also have a guilty little addiction to this feature that's been running for the past few years on sfgate called "the walk-through"...and because of the time difference, I'm usually on the page before any of the mean comment-posters get there. The people who leave these comments, it's crazy. 

H likes to dream about a deck with a hot tub, like the
one in this picture from sfgate

Before I go any further, let me tell you, I honestly love the bay area. I've skimmed sfgate website nearly every day for years because of it...Put up with typos, sub par news coverage (the snowstorm that didn't happen has gotten more front page coverage than Libya this week) and all. But I still have a serious soft spot for the paper, because it reminds me of being back in the bay area. So I continue to browse through the pages while I'm drinking my coffee, nearly every morning.  

But these comment-posters - they're the epitome of the bitter, Bay-area, righteousness I've never had much patience for...They all have an opinion. Lots of opinions - and they are experts on everything: That is not a craftsman. You spelled xyz wrong...in the title/in your comment. It's too sterile. Too beige. Too colorful. Too white. Too many pictures of the bathrooms. Why aren't there any pictures of the bathrooms - is there something wrong with them? Too close to the neighbor's house which is really run down. Too expensive. Especially compared to the selling prices in 2006/2003/1997/1991. Yes, dear comment-poster, I'm glad you are using your time so wisely - to do all that hefty research to back up your grouchy comment. Thanks for sharing your skills with us. In German, these types get smacked with the title "Besserwisser"...which roughly translates as "someone who knows it better"...a little like a "know it all", only I think the German term gets even closer to summing up the essence of people like this.

I know, I know, I'm probably even one step worse then these comment-posters (a besser Besserwisser?) for taking the time not only to read their gripes (on a regular basis - there are 2 walk-through articles published most weeks), but then to turn around and rant about it here.

I get it, the houses the paper posts on this feature are not a perfect houses (although I liked the homes they posted this week). And because it's the bay area, the listings usually come with a hefty price tag. Lots of wide angle lens are used to get the shots, it's frustrating, I get it.

In all the househunting I've done over the course of the past few months, I'm yet to see a place that would fair well on this feature (our real estate agent is a very patient woman - I can't even count the number of houses we saw together, but let's just say I'm not exaggerating when I say, the search spanned 5 counties). Anyway, what fun would that be...to have the perfectly perfect house? Nothing to improve or work on...nothing to paint, no doorknobs to change or rooms to redo? Nothing for all those crabby people to complain about on sfgate? Okay, enough about my favorite non-news newspaper feature and the mean comment-posters already.

Back to real life. We have our own real-life walk-through to look forward to next week...in one of the prettiest little towns in New Jersey I've seen yet. Exciting. Nerve-wracking. Our wonderful, imperfect house, with lots of history, loads of quirks...and enough projects to do and dream about for many,many years to come.