Today, I looked at four possible housing units. Jessie and I walked to the first one. The fact that it was in walking distance of my sister's house was the only good thing about it. Ohmigod, it was such a HOLE.

Let me describe the loveliness: It was a detached "cottage," separated from the main house by about four feet of dirt (the landlady did say she was going to be putting sod down, but for right now, dirt). I don't think there was actually a step down into the "living room," but even if there wasn't, it had that feel, of stepping down into a basement. The ceiling was really low, the "living room" was tiny, considerably smaller than the bedroom I'm sleeping in now, which isn't big. The "bedroom," which for some inexplicable reason was separated by a three-quarter length wall from the living room (it would have been much better as a studio) was even smaller. Honestly, I don't think my queen sized bed would have fit in the room. Okay, maybe just barely, but there would definitely NOT have been room to actually walk around it. I think there was a tiny window in the bedroom and a tiny window in the living room. I suppose you could always leave the door open for light. There was a step up from the living room into the kitchen, which was beyond awful -- funky and mildewy and dark and cramped. I would guess the kitchen floor (excluding the appliances) was about six square feet. Maybe eight. The bathroom was even smaller, naturally; it had a tiny, tiny window and messed up linoleum floors and a funky little shower stall. I was afraid to go in to look at in any closer.

The landlady is asking $1,000 a month, no lease (because she's putting the whole property on the market in July). We wished her good luck and escaped. She seemed friendly enough, but somewhat misguided.

The good news about that place was that everything else after it was bound to look pretty good.

I had fallen in love with a place I saw pics of on craigslist -- just my kind of place: high ceilings, a loft, open floor plan, hardwood floors, an extra room to be a second bedroom or sewing room... but it was too much for me ($1500/month). So I thought I'd drive by to the open house today and see if there wasn't something bad about it so I could let it go more easily. I'm glad I did. It wasn't awful like the cave was, but it wasn't fabulous. It certainly wasn't as nice as the pictures had implied. The best thing going for that place, I think, besides the high ceilings (which I love), was the cute guy who lived next door. I'm thinking about driving back over there to check him out again. He had a really nice smile. :)

Ahem. I digress. This afternoon Jessie and I walked to check out another place. It was MUCH nicer than the places I'd seen before, although on the small side. A one bedroom cottage next to a bigger house, almost no yard, but the place itself was very sweet. Clean, new kitchen counters and cupboards and sink. Gas stove. New shower stall, clean bathroom, lots of light. Small living room, but it was open over a half-wall divider to the kitchen. Small bedroom, too, but it had a decent sized closet. Not huge, but it would fit my clothes. Oh, also, the landlord was a thirty-something-ish guy who seemed pretty mellow and straightforward, not creepy or spastic at all. Just a regular ol' geologist dude.

There were only two main problems with that place. 1) the floor was concrete slab with just a very thin carpet glued down on it (ouch, my aching back and feet!) and 2) there clearly wouldn't be room for my dining room table, unless I wanted to give up having a living room. Which basically means I'd have to choose between my table (Norwegian, I think, and I just LOVE it, plus I use it for sewing, not to mention eating) or my big-screen TV. I mean, I can't be completely without a TV, and there wouldn't be room for it in the bedroom along with my bed. Sigh.

So the search continues. I did pick up an application for that last place, but when I realized I'd have to give up my table, I became less thrilled about it.

The fourth place we went to was a house and property for sale. I have this other idea, which Jessie suggested, which is to try to purchase a house that has a separate cottage, and live in the cottage and rent out the main house. This house was pretty big, and in really good shape, and on a big lot, with two rental units, one attached, one detached, and a couple of other outbuildings and a hot tub and a pretty patio and yards. Too bad they were asking $1.4 million for it. I ran the numbers through a mortgage calculator, and I'd have a monthly mortgage payment of about $8,300. I don't think I could rent the main house and the detached unit for that much. Maybe $3K altogether. So I think that's out.

Well, there are more places available that I haven't looked at yet, and nobody's kicking me out of here, so I have time to find the right place.