Thursday's Adventure of House Hunting in the Mountains

Happy Saturday Morning!  The cows have gone to another pasture for breakfast, the rooster is crowing and the sun is trying to shine through the clouds.  But the birds are singing and the crickets are cricketing which makes everything seem all right in Alexander this morning.

Wednesday afternoon after unloading the car and getting a brief rest , we headed over to Weaverville to buy groceries.  It is a beautiful drive to go pick up supplies.  When we returned to the cottage we put everything up and unpacked our suitcases and settle in.  It was not a late night for me because we had to be up early Thursday to meet Brian, our real estate agent, at the bagel shop close to the Biltmore.  I was conflicted because a huge part of me wanted to stay around and ease into the day but the bigger part of me and the forward looking part of me knew we needed to head out and begin our search for our home in the mountains.   We love Brian and he had seven homes for us to see on Thursday, one in Canton and everything else in the Waynesville area.  I quickly began to realize as we journeyed to the first home, to have fabulous long range mountain views, one must travel up the mountain...on twisting and turning narrow streets.   The home was beautiful but we quickly realized the floor plan was not workable for how we envision living to be.  But what a view!  The second home we visited was in Canton.  Now there are things one learns while looking at homes and Canton is home to a huge paper mill and paper mills have a distinct odor about them.  For some it is the smell of money but for most it is a hideous and unwelcomed fragrance.  The home we liked in Canton was awesome, with tons of upgrades, an ok view but there lurking in all that beauty is the fragrance of paper being made.  The home had been built by a couple with unlimited funds but they over spent and will not get the value of the home.  This home had started out at $400,000 but the price had dropped over a $105,000.   The third home we saw was out in the country with fabulous views, a finished basement, two guest rooms upstairs, the master and laundry on the main floor, a chicken coup and a rather large building for storage and upgrading.   The gazebo sat on the edge of the ridge for a beautiful pastoral view combined with the long range view.  I had loved this home from the beginning while searching online and this home jumped to the top of the list for Roy.  We would also be able to buy another acre of land to insure our view for a long time.  The next few houses we saw were total busts.  Let's just say someone had a great photographer.  Then adventure time as we drove up and up and up some more to the top of the world it would seem.  Winding, scary paved and gravel roads.  This house truly had the feel of a second home and one would have to be an ardent list follower because you would never want to make a useless trip down the mountain to buy stuff you forgot.  Wonderful view and a little nerve wrecking drive....the fear of driving that road did it for me.  Off the list.   Brian took us to see the last home for the day.  It is a home that had gotten my attention from the first day it was listed.  It is a little outside of Waynesville and very near to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  In fact some of the view is looking over the parkway.  The floor plan was everything we needed it to be and there would just be minor fixes like painting...totally move in ready on the big stuff.   The owner has great taste in the little details as well as the big ones.  It gave me the most room for living with my limited knee mobility  and Roy a man cave, a great deck and small backyard, plenty of room for guests but....the view is moderately good.  There in lies the conflict.  Go with less living room for me for the view or go with the comfort of a well planned home with lots of livability and less of a view.  

Roy and I discussed this all evening as we went about life.  We made dinner with tons of fresh veggies and then decided to go to Wal Mart for a couple of things we had forgotten on our grocery list and also hoping for a wider selection on some items.  Oh.MY. WorD!!!  It has been many years since I have been at Wal Mart yet it seemed as if nothing had changed.  We did not see one person who looked or dressed like us.  It was Appalachia at its finest.   The sound of banjo music played in my head.   Otherwise we found everything we needed and made a quick dash out to the car.  That is mainly due to the time it took to check out and we had Skinny Cow ice cream bars.

Through this process I am learning so much about water wells and septic systems.  Basement verses crawl space.  Propane is the gas of choice which seems strange coming from a natural gas area.  There are a few more areas I would like to explore and will begin the search online once again as we continue to think about where to live.  But for now I will stop.  The tree next to the screened porch is full of birds, wrens, humming birds, robins, mockingbirds and a few other unidentifiable birds.  Thankfully, I have a birding book in my possession.  I am such a nerd.