The Listing

We happened upon this house through an internet listing at the very beginning of our search. It met the criteria as far as bedrooms and bathrooms, and it had a full basement and a garage but wasn't as huge as some in our 'target' neighborhood. It was obvious right away that there would be some issues; namely, the absence of any pictures of the kitchen or the bathrooms was a big red flag. Of course the house was listed at a highly unrealistic price. But we knew the park, and we loved the park, and I somehow managed to convince the Mr. that it was worth a look based on the location. This was the really the picture that convinced me to set up a showing:

This is the view of the park from the front steps. No neighbors across the street. No teenagers sitting in cars with teeth-rattling bass, no ZZ Top impersonators sitting shirtless on motorcycles on the sidewalk, no toddlers melting down in the middle of the street at 1:30 a.m. Heaven. 

I also loved that it was brick, historic and had copper gutters. 

This picture of the built ins upstairs made me think it might really have some nice details:

But then there was this expanse of orange shag carpet: 

 Followed by this 'party carpet':

And this very generous wheelchair ramp in back: 

These were the pictures good enough to market?!? My imagination conjured up the worst possible kitchen and bath scenarios. For once in my life, I approached the showing with low expectations. It seemed like it could have a lot of potential, but it was going to be a real long shot given the amount of work that would have to be done and the sky high listing price. On top of all that, the Mr. had sworn not to buy a fixer upper. 

Yeah, about that...