It’s time once again for Friday Fictioneers which is brought to you each week by Rochelle at Addicted to Purple.
Thank you, Rochelle!
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~My entry for August 8, 2014 ~
Sight Unseen
House for sale:
Large split level home commands an unobstructed oceanfront view. This 5 bedroom 3 bath home has it all. Large sun deck, big cooks kitchen with a small garden for growing your own herbs and vegetables. Home is situated on 3 lush and beautiful acres. Room for horses in the back!
Hurry, won’t last long at this price!
Lenny and Mary read the ad and couldn’t believe their luck! They had been saving for years and now their dream home was within their grasp. They scheduled the viewing for Saturday, at 9:00AM.
They just knew this was the one!
PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright-Björn Rudberg
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Words: 100
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For some really great takes on this weeks prompt, please look
~ HERE ~
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What will you write?
Try it!
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Life on the Farmlet 
oops.
I hope the price fell as well as the house,
before they arrived!
Randy fun piece.
Caveat emptor. 😉
Thanks, Randy!
so you bought an empty caveat?
Look it up, Randy. 😀
They’re in for a big surprise! Good story, Lynda.
Aren’t they? 😀
Thank you, Karen!
Dear Lynda,
Dream home? Well a nightmare is a dream, you know. Love the form and where it led. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Rochelle,
After purchasing our dream home the story from this prompt just wrote itself!
Thank you!
Lynda
Did you ever see The Money Pit with Tom Hanks? If you haven’t I think you’d really enjoy it.
I did.
We bought one.
It’s an 1840’s cabin/farmhouse/fixerupper on 25 acres. (sigh)
I think there may be a disappointment in store. Still, it’s not overlooked and it’s a big garden. Nice one.
Yes, the perfect first home is always the hardest to find. Thank you, Saundra!
Dear Lynda,
Loved your title and the way you slowly drew us in to their joy and enthusiasm while setting them up for the big let down. Does this really happen in this day and age? Well crafted.
Aloha,
Doug
Yes, Doug, it really happens… even with a house inspection. “Hidden damage.” 😉
Thank you, and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Falling for a house and a falling house are two different things… I expect some sinking feelings here.
And a sinking bank account too, Björn, if they buy the place.
Thank you for providing the inspiration this week!
You know you just set me into a panic – I thought, “FRIDAY???” Oh, thank goodness it’s not!
Love the story. Around here, they advertise “waterfront property” for places that front a drainage ditch. 😉
You are the second person in as many weeks to tell me that, and I even added a reference to Friday’s date! The prompts are always posted on Wednesdays to give us ample time to respond. but if I waited until Friday to post, then there would be a minimum of 100 posts before mine!
They do that here too, Linda. Only here they are swamps and they call them “ponds”. 😀
Oh my, maybe the view is spectacular??? Fun story.
One can only hope!
Glad you liked it!
Those real estate descriptions always leave surprises in store. The drainage basin behind our house was called a ‘rustic creek’. Fun story.
We had one of those in SoCal too. The last fifteen feet of our back yard was a walled off slope that had irrigation run to it to keep the cheesy plants alive that they put out as a ground stabilizer below that was a service road and our ‘rustic creek’. The weeds grew faster than the ground cover and the ground cover died off. There was no access, so we cut off the water supply and used it to run irrigation to the backyard instead. 😉
Just visited your Gavitar bio. Love your satire on the teaching profession!
At the end of the day, between juggling the bureaucracy and trying to put out flaming parents, the kids seemed to make it all worthwhile. I hope it is the same for you!
The kids are what keep me coming back. Here’s a couple posts about it.
classroom graffiti
future architects of america
Thank you for sharing. JD!
Everyone has a different definition of the perfect home, this could very well be what they were looking for…
Well done
After reading your entry, I must agree this is true. Ryl, I loved your interpretation of the prompt!
And it looks like the have a future “open-air” porch – or two. Great little story.
I believe they do!
Thank you, Alicia!
Poor Lenny and Mary.
I know! Let’s hope they aren’t wearing rose colored glasses on Saturday. 😀
Great write up Lynda! Ever thought about getting into Real Estate?; )
Seriously though; to buy anything “sight unseen” – well, “a fool and his money…”, as the saying goes.
Truthfully, I think that this house was built “en place” and the lot was probably a real steal; but it definitely has fallen (into disrepair; )
Emphasis on the word ‘fallen’? 😉
No, seriously! I don’t see anything that has fallen – it looks to me as though this house was PURPOSELY built on the side of a cliff! People will go to extremes to have their own home, right?
Deb, I was trying to make a joke. I guess I failed.
And yes, people will go to extremes to get what they want/need. 😉
Sorry Lynda, I just get a little defensive when, so often these days, culling seems to be all the rage; people fail to see the good in “old” things and treat them like junk to be cast off & thrown away…
Although, knowing your background, that’s obviously NOT the case here (guess I’ll always be the champion of the underdog; )
I saw that photo and thought, “EGAD! Who would want that?” And of course it does exist so someone fashioned it that way, and actually chose that location. Goodness… money pit in the comments does seem appropriate!! 😀
Lori, I read another entry at Ryl’s Rostrum for this prompt that rather put it into perspective. 🙂
You may enjoy it:
http://ladyryl.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/626/
And yes, to the new buyer money pit is appropriate as a descriptor! 😉
Loved this one it made me smile and cringe at the same time. Perfect title as well.
Thank you, Maree, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Indeed we were on the same track this week. Only thing is I actually bought the dump! Well, there is an unobstructed ocean front view, all right.. In fact it would be hard to get any closer to an ocean front view!
Great minds, Perry? Or are you truly speaking from experience?
You sure got this one right! Loved your take on the photo (oh my!) and the comments were entertaining as well.
This really was a fun prompt, Laurie. I am finding it easier and easier to write on them each week. I think it is good exercise for my gray matter. 😀
Make an offer… this may be a steal! Very clever, Lynda.
HA! We already did on a house that is 175 years old! We had the inspection too, but it didn’t reveal the 7 layers of moldy, antique wallpaper under the paneling covering all the walls, nor did it find the extensive rot and subterranean termite damage within the walls! 😛 It is an antique house with many flaws sitting on 25 acres. Currently, we are only working on grounds keeping and hope to get back to working on restoration when the weather cools in fall. (There is no air conditioning and this is the deep south with 99% humidity at the moment!) We hope to have it in a livable condition by the time Bob retires…
We’ll see about that. In the meantime we enjoy being able to pet the land and walk the dogs on the property every two weeks. 😉
Wow! I love that there’s some truth to this wonderful story! It’s strange to me, what they miss and what they find in inspections. Frankly, some of those things seem like things they might have found! Either way, it sounds like a very special find… and wonderful way to spend some time! Mazel Tov, Lynda! 🙂
Truthfully, they did find a lot, and we were generously compensated on the price for the plumbing, electrical, new roof, etc. However, unless the inspector had x-ray vision there was no way to know what was buried under the seven layers over those walls. 😛 It is a special find and we hope to get it all done and moved in before Bob’s retirement. 😀
Lynda, Humorous and well written. You have to really find a building inspector you trust. We had a house we bought inspected, but that didn’t keep the water from pouring in from the break that appeared in the roof. Well done. 🙂 —Susan
Thank you!
I feel your pain, Susan. We have bought two homes here in Alabama and in both instances we had an inspection (2 different companies). Both homes had issues that were not found in the inspection!
Dear Lynda, Ha ha, good real estate ad! They always seem to exaggerate don’t they. Great job and thanks for the laugh! Nan 🙂
Yes they do! Glad you liked it, Nan. 😀
I’ll need some landscaping work…this was an enjoyable read, Lynda.
Ellespeth
It most assuredly will! Glad you liked it, Ellespeth. 🙂
I think the “room for horses in the back” might have been an exaggeration.
Dawn, the acreage back behind the road goes with the property in the front… you just have to figure out how to get the horses up there. 😉