Ready to tour

I made a little chart with the four homes at the top of my list and mapped out the pros and cons of each. Here's what I came up with:

House A (Big Porch)

• (+) Nice curb appeal. The porch steps go straight to the sidewalk, and the porch itself wraps around two sides of the house. It's on a corner lot.
• (+) Good shape. From the Internet photos, the house looked to be in good shape. The siding was crisp and clean, and the windows looked relatively new. Photos of the inside looked good as well.
• (-) Bad view. I got directions and drove by the house to see the neighborhood and how it looked in person. It was then that I found out the beautiful porch overlooks the railroad tracks.
• (-) Questionable neighborhood. As I drove down the road, it looked as if this was the nicest house in the neighborhood (something my house hunting Google searches told me not to do).

House B (the Colonial)

• (+) Lots of space. The square footage alone attracted me to this property.
• (+) Nice yard and curb appeal. This house looked good from the photos posted on the real estate site. The yard was larger than the others, and it was well manicured.
• (+) Close to work. After mapping out where the house was, I found out I drive by it every day on my commute.
• (-) On a busy street. Since I drive by it every day on the way to and from work, I realized the street may have too much traffic for me to handle on a daily basis.
• (-) Needs lots of work. I did (once again) a Google search of the address and found an appraisal done by the sellers on the Internet. With it was more photos and a property report. It was in need of many repairs, including a new roof. I didn't want to get myself in too deeply.

House C (Hardwoods)

• (+) Space. It didn't quite look like a two-story house, but it had two floors. It also offered a lot of square footage.
• (+) Charm. It is an older house with lots of little details, like a clawfoot tub, architectural windows and restored hardwood floors. There are several beautiful old homes around it, some under renovation.
• (-) Outdoor space. After finding the house, I found a very small driveway shared by neighbors. It would be hard to navigate our cars in and out of it. The driveway was also gravel. The yard was not manicured, and the back of the house looked more like a rural farmhouse than my mental picture.
• (-) Neighborhood. The house is on a busy street near an industrial area.
• (-) Appraisal to listing price. After (yep, you guessed it) Googling the home I found an Iredell County Web site with tax rates and appraisal cards. When I entered the address, I found that the tax value of the home was almost half the asking price. That made the imp in my belly kick me again.

House D (Suburban)

• (+) Newer home. Of all the homes on my list, this was by far the newest.
• (+) Cute neighborhood. Because it is what I call a slash-and-build, the neighborhood is full of equally cute, new homes.
• (+) Great location. It is off a major thoroughfare, but close enough to shop and get to work in under 5 minutes.
• (-) Slash-and-Build. The neighborhood has almost no trees. It looks as if a builder cleared a huge field and built houses on it. No trees means no privacy, and also no shade. The recent drought also took a toll on the yard, which was in desperate need of water and seeding.
• (?) Foreclosure. When I first found out it was a foreclosure, I didn't know what to think. The vinyl flooring left much to be desired, and all the carpet had been removed. But HUD (The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was selling the home) offered money in an escrow account to replace the carpet. What is escrow anyway? But other than a few simple fixes, the home was in great shape.