Part 5: There's gotta be a better way

As our hunt continued we real got into those HGTV shows; the house hunting ones, the renovation ones, etc. I think we both felt that soon those people in those shows would be us. It would be us getting those keys to a new house. It would be us tearing out an old kitchen counter and replacing it with shiny new granite. Soon, very soon.

Well, we saw the prices in Glendale and Pasadena (south of the 210) and Burbank wouldn't allow us to get the house we wanted, hell, the prices wouldn't allow us to get the house we didn't want either, so, we expanded our search. I remembered that we had seen a nice house in what seemed a nice neighborhood in the Lakewood Terrace neighborhood of Sylmar, so I suggested we take another drive through and get a better feel for the area. Renata agreed.

The following Saturday I rose early, as I tend to do, fixed a cup of coffee and hit the real estate websites. I hunted around and plugged in our maximum price and plugged in our minimum bedrooms and jotted down addresses and then google mapped our route. Our journey would take up in a clockwise loop through the main part of Sylmar and end in the target Lakewood Terrace area.

The first two houses and neighborhoods were just awful. On either side of the first one the driveways were crammed with at least 6 or 8 cars. That's a lot of cars for a two bedroom house. At the second one there was a house a few doors down with yellow police tape still fluttering in the wind and the house right next door had a dirt pit for a lawn due to the two large pitbulls furiously yelping and any and all cars that past...didn't even get out of the car at this one as I thought $325,000 was a lot to live next to Mike Vick's new house and dog fighting emporium.

The furthest part of the loop brought us to the KB Homes development where the 5 and the 210 meet. The units were quite gorgeous and my wife fell in love. I, however, was less impressed. The price was ok, but the units we were looking at had all the available upgrades and were staged by professionals. Besides that, the HOA fees, (home owners association) were conveniently not disclosed and the whole community had a massive set of powerlines strung out overhead. Now, I know on the logical side of my brain that a correlation to powerlines and two headed babies had not been found, but I didn't want to take that chance. We continued on.

Next up was an area called Gavina Ave that touted lovely houses for less than a hundred thousand. We passed on this neighborhood because although the houses were cute, you only owned the actual house. You had to lease the land for $1,000 or more a month. Yeah, that's a bargain, take out a loan for a hundred grand and still have to pay rent.

Shirking the speed limit laws we sped away from Gavina ave and finally ended up near Lakewood Terrace. There was one place on our list here and it was the scariest one in the neighborhood. While all the other houses around were bight and filled with sunlight, the place on Terra Vista seemed covered in dark shadow, ominously staring us down. Drat, what a disappointment.

Wait, what was that? An open house sign pointing us, nay, luring us down that cute tree lined street? Kagel Canyon road, ah, now that sounded nice. So, so woodsy. Off we went. We followed the signs up a hill and then around a tight corner, then past a cute little community bulletin board, but I didn't see it. Where'd it go? There's a sign, but no house. Oh, there it was, down the hill near that cute little creek. I was in love. Nestled into the side of the hill, well below the street above, was an adorable little cottage, the color of new spring leaves, with a big deck and new windows. The inside had been completely redone and was just the style I wanted. The listing agent told us it was a two bed, one and a half baths with 4,000 sf of land, and the owner, she said to us as if she was about to pass state secrets, was an actor. (I found out later he was some bit actor on a 1980's fantasy sword and sandal series)

Two bed? Please. The first "bedroom" was just at the bottom of the stairs, had no door or closet and you had to pass through it to get to the only real bedroom. You know what? I didn't care. It was a great house and it was a regular sale and though $349,000 was at the top of our price point it was a regular sale so we could actually negotiate, right? So we had Gayle write up the offer for $320. I was pumped.

Well, we heard back pretty darn fast, just a couple of days. The owner didn't want to pay a penny in closing costs and refused to deal with FHA loans. SON OF A Biscuit!! What the hell was wrong with FHA loans? Money is money. What the hell does he care? To hell with him.

A bit of solace came when I found out that he couldn't get the price he wanted and took it off the market. Great, hope he eats it. We saw it come back on the market recently and then get taken right back off a day or two later. Whatever.

And so we continued on, marching into the fight with another tidbit of information; sellers don't like FHA loans.

Next up; What do you think of Santa Clarita?