Open House
Watching House Hunters, Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, and any HGTV home improvement program with my mom, made my daughter an aficionado of home renovation shows.
Her infatuation with architecture, aesthetics, and if they have a pool or not is about on par with the rest of us. The only difference is that she is 7 and can argue the merits of quartz vs. granite with any savvy homebuyer.
Some common questions she now asks-
“What’s your budget for your dream house? Would you want a three-car garage?”
“ Don’t you want a double sink in your master bath? Ohh, you do. It’s much more convenient.”
“ When can you buy your own house? I can’t wait to. I got a lot of money in my piggy bank!”
She might be right actually--she might be able to buy her own house sooner than not. She is vaguely similar to the clients on the HGTV shows.
---Single ---- Unemployed ---- no car, but wants a four car garage
----prefers a Craftsman style house, with modern updates and a pool
---Budget: 1.2 million
She went bonkers when she saw her grandma’s newly remodeled kitchen and gushed over the countertops. She ran around our condo in Florida, analyzing every nook and cranny, letting me know the upstairs bathrooms weren’t a good use of space, but the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom was pretty cool.
Completely obsessed.
So when she heard my husband say there was an ‘Open House’ down the block from us, she lit up like a Christmas tree, unable to hide her joy.
Begging to go, the kids and my husband walked down to the Open House after lunch and checked it out. It had a similar floor plan to our home, but the basement was completely renovated, with a movie room to boot. The kitchen also had an ‘amazing’ backsplash and one of the bedrooms was painted pink--she very impressed. However, she was hoping for a two-car garage, but to no avail. When my husband explained how older homes and lots don’t have a ton of space for two-car garages, she just scoffed and proceeded down the stairs. As my family left, she asked my husband how much they were trying the sell the house for.
When he answered, she promptly rebutted, “What?! They aren’t going to get that! This house is WAY overpriced. They are never going to sell it.” When he turned to quiet her, he realized the listing agent was right behind them---and heard their entire conversation.
Walking home, my husband explained the social mores of what to say and not what to say when visiting an open house. A bit red-faced, she just giggled and nodded her head. She then responded, “ So, I can think those things, but don’t say them, right? But, on House Hunters, they always say how overpriced the houses are. And, they say it loudly too.”
(Actually, they say it into the microphone, while looking directly at the camera, but I get your point.)
A couple weeks later, walking to school, she noticed the ‘For Sale’ sign was gone in front of the house she looked at. I casually mentioned they probably just took it off the market and would try to sell at a later time.
“See, I told you. Definitely overpriced. No one’s going to spend that kind of money without a two-car garage.”
