The House That Got Away

Do you have one house that remains in your memory as being "the perfect house?" Well, my perfect house has come back on the market in Portland, Oregon.  We sold it in 2006 when we moved to the Twin Cities for my husband's job. I was not a happy camper, believe me. However, we were fortunate enough to sell the home for more than we paid for it, and now I see it is on the market for much less than we sold it for. I would say that is karma. The buyers put us through the ringer before finally buying the house.

They must have searched high and low for an inspector with a nasty disposition because at one point they actually made us lift this house 1/2 inch! Yes, the whole house. 1/2 inch!

I was left behind to sell it as my husband moved on to his new job. It took about 75 days, and during that time it had to look like these pictures. (Not my furniture - these are new pictures.) By that I mean, I walked around with a bottle of windex. If you've ever sold a home, you know what I mean. It has to be perfect, or as perfect as you can make it. Even in 2006 the market was getting tight. Our realtor literally walked around with a little box of red tabs that he placed everywhere we needed to touch up. It irritated me at the time, but he did sell the house while others lingered on the market.

I really loved this house, although it is way too big for us now, at the time we still had children living with us on occasion, not to mention nieces. It felt like you were living in the trees. Across from the house was open space that ended in a ravine with a gurgling creek. After moving from the desert, where we have now weirdly returned, it felt like living in a rain forest.

I don't think I could talk my husband into buying it again. If, for no other reason, he had to literally push the garbage uphill to the street to be picked up. Not to mention - we don't live in Portland anymore.

So I hope the next owner loves it as much as I did.

Oh! And I hope they find a good inspector...