My Barbie Dream House

So about 2 years ago my husband and I were (thankfully!) coming to the end of a nine month search for a new house. Long story short, we had sold our first house and did not have a new one to go to. We rented a house in, what I did not realize at the time, was the ghetto! Again with the short story...people carrying guns around nonchalantly outside, prostitutes propositioning my husband in our driveway, tenants leaving their homes in the middle of the night...all of these things happened, I am not even slightly exaggerating. All of this with a one year old in the house. THE-LONGEST-NINE-MONTHS-OF-MY-LIFE. Yes, longer than being preggo. So, right before we found (and purchased) the house we currently own, we came upon what I like to call "My 1970's Mansion" (aka My Barbie Dream House).


It was a spectacular mid-century modern home. Architecturally interesting with a pool and a WHOLE LOTTA POTENTIAL. And by potential, I mean a whole lotta work. We made an offer that was (thankfully) not accepted because I would have to still be working in order to pay my share of the mortgage that I happily agreed to pay in order to call this atomic ranch my own! As far as the work, I figure "No Problem." The hubby is handy and I am no slouch myself. We could get this done! Well, back to the part of our offer not being accepted. So we moved on, put an offer in our wonderful home and it was accepted. Of course while we were in escrow, we saw that the Barbie Dream house was re-listed at THE PRICE WE HAD OFFERED! Maddening, but we were in escrow by then, happy with our choice and my husband was not about to lose our substantial deposit on the house. So...moving on.

The 1970's Mansion was sold and we were happy in our new house, only wondering every once in awhile if the new owners were doing any of the fabulous things we had planned to do with the property. And then it went into foreclosure. I found it two nights ago on the internet - for $200,000.00 less than what we had originally offered!...(why was I looking a real estate online, you ask? Because I am obsessed with it. If I had the cash flow to support a couple of mortgages and pay construction crews I would be like that crazy Jeff Lewis guy on Flipping Out, except for the crazy coffee temperature thing - LOVE HIM!) And God bless my husband, when I showed him the treasure I had found on the interweb...he didn't call me crazy, he didn't say NO!, he jumped right on my Barbie Dream House bandwagon and we started to come up with ways to get out of our house without losing any money and remodeling My (ahem, I mean OUR) 1970's Mansion in our heads.

So to answer your questions, no the owners did not do anything fabulous to the house. Yes, calls have been made to the realtor - who I know has missed us the last two years. Yes, calls and emails have been sent to people who may or may not be interested in buying our house. Yes, calls have been made to the mortgage guy to see what we can do in light of the new difficulties placed on those of us who are self-employed and try to get a mortgage. And with all of the turmoil and roller-coasted riding in this thing we call life, we can't complain because the hubby and I DO-IT-TO-OURSELVES!

We made a list last night of everything that would eventually need to be done to the house...it is extensive. We prioritized:

1. what would have to be done right away (a.k.a. the SHORT list)
2. what we would just have to live with for awhile (a.k.a. the LONG list)

More to come on the possible uprooting of the O family from comfortableness to living in a construction zone...and if you know anyone who might want to buy a pretty cool house with a great backyard...send them my way :).