Wednesday we went to see the original house on Oak Street that brought us to this neck of the woods and to see a place on Alberta Street as well. It was a rather hurried and crazy afternoon after lounging at The ‘Rents as a break from the cave at the 6.
Oak Street is a renter’s hell, the owner clearly doesn’t care about it and the poor house needs so much TLC but had a lot of potential. We went to see it because after initially ruling it out because of the super tiny lot, I learned it came the small lot to the left of the house which made it a much more appealing property. There is an extended family set up inhabiting the house and it was a total pigsty. According to the daughter the front parlor room is the nicest room, which they kindly let us see even though it is clearly where her parents “live”. If this is what she considered the best space of the house, well, dayum! Awful fake wood paneling and a cloud of cigarette smoke hung in the space while grandma and grandpa lounging in their underwear with a table top filled with pill bottles next to the bed.
From there we went over to the next property. On the way Holly introduced us to Galen, the neighborhood cat rescuer with some of the most gorgeous cats I have ever seen. I’ve seen and had a lot of cats so that’s really saying something. Anyway, she introduced us as his “new neighbors but we just don’t know which house”. This place is just gathering us into it’s arms, you know?
Alberta was a couple's attempt at a flip and boy did they screw it up! It didn’t work out the way they wanted so they turned it into a rental. Tenants had done nothing to improve the property, which is putting it kindly. The owners had turned a closet (at least I think it was originally a closet) in the front parlor into a bathroom so they could call it a "master bedroom", one which if the lights are on at night and the bathroom door is open one can see the toilet from the street. Galen let us in on this tidbit.
In the end we decided to make an offer of Oak Street. Yeah it was a rush decision in some ways but we liked the house, saw it’s potential. Holly and others (Theresa in particular) would love to see this house rescued. In a flurry of signatures I had officially said, Yes I want this house! We asked for the owner to get back to us in 48 hours.
Friday morning we moved to a better location since the Cave 6 room was getting to us. Tiny, dark, irregular internet connection and no way to save money on food. Extended Stay Amerika offered us a much larger space, a dresser, a microwave and fridge along with consistent wireless access which was important for home searching.
Forty-eight hours, Friday afternoon, later there was no response, which surprised none of us. Holly once again said she wanted to hook us up with Karin, who she claimed knew everyone and would be a great resource. A few hours later my phone rang – it was Karin. We had a great conversation about our needs, her knowledge, and some of her properties. The connections we were making in this area were amazing and we felt unbelievably welcome and accepted. It was huge surprise to both of us. Back in August when TGF was expressing doubts about going back to Dayton and worrying over how it would feel, I promised to show her a Dayton she didn’t know existed. Barely here and I was accomplishing my mission, much to our great happiness.
1 comment:
That's great! Have you heard anything yet?
Post a Comment