One fine day on Forclosure Central St.

Finally! A beautiful day in Michigan, and a Saturday to boot! We celebrated this momentous occasion with a trip to the park. The pics look pretty much the same as they did last September, LOL. Above, John is looking a bit pensive on the merry-go-round.
Here he's laughing at me as I swung in time on the big kid swing.
Swingin's where it's at!
I think he's thinking "Daddy, push already, push!"
"Hey good lookin', save a spot on the merry-go-round for me."

Yes, my photographic skills suck but at least I tried. After leaving the park, Bill went home, and John & I took a tour of Foreclosure St., which is actually the street we live on. So sad. We'll be listing our house soon, and with all the forclosures, I wanted to check out the competition, which I'm sure will drive down the price of mine :-(

Several of the houses had been for sale, and I always watch prices. I'm not sure why a couple didn't sell as the prices were good, or so I thought. We checked out 5 on my street alone (in 2 blocks), and 1 on the next street. The good news? The one house dump had been for sale after foreclosure for $34,000, with the realtor's listing saying outright that the only thing good about the house was the price. It never sold. We checked out the signage today, and there was something from the city about a hearing on dangerous property, thank goodness. Knock that bad boy down!

The house next to the dump was also a mini-dump, although it's not yet for sale. For some reason, they blocked off all the windows, which is unusual for foreclosures. This makes me assume it's bad.

We continued down the street to a house that formerly had been for sale. Knowing we were going to be selling, I had checked out the virtual tour a while back when the owner was trying to sell. While small, it was a cute house. I peeked in the living room, and while it has funky wallpaper, it looks clean and in good shape.

We strolled further down the street to look at a couple more. I figured they would be trashed, but from what I could see they were not. Here's what really scares me - these houses will be coming on the market soon, and they have updated kitchens.

My house, while having mostly natural woodwork, a big corner lot, new windows, wood blinds and 2 car garage (unusual in this neighborhood) has a HUGE flaw.

At some point in the '70's the old owner decided to rip out the stained pine built-in cabinets and replace them with faux-wood laminate. I know this because some of the old cabinetry is in the basement. It's far nicer and better looking than what's now in the kitchen. The small, pretty-much unfunctional kitchen we have now is the major detraction from this house. I'm sure buyers will want to know why a good size kitchen has so few cabinets and only 3' of functional counter space............

When I bought this place, it was not with the intention of staying forever. It wasn't even with the intention of staying 10 years, which is how long we've been here, which is why spending boucoup bucks updating the kitchen was not an option. I've had some friends inquire on how bad my kitchen is..........so I'm posting a picture. This is the one we submitted with our adoption dossier, so keep in mind that there was none of the clutter that used to exist pre-baby was present, since things had to look perfect. Actually, the clutter has grown exponetially (sp?) with the new addition to the family - there is no place for the new stuff in the cupboards. All I can say is thank goodness for our new house with it's new kitchen (pic's to be revealed as soon as the painter is done).