JenLeoLIVE!: We could buy a house any day now

Well, we could get an offer approved. But it's a step in the right direction. As you know, I jetted down to San Diego at the last minute to check out the rooftop deck house. My brother Jason met me to look at the house with the agent. It wasn't the lemon of all lemons, but it'll be interesting to see who moves in there. The place was littered with crap. Stuff was everywhere and people were sleeping on mattresses in the front room. I told myself - imagine it empty, imagine it empty. Long story short, the house was the rooftop deck. My HGTV mind was trying to figure out how I could fix it up while Jason walked through pointing out hack job craftsmanship on the add ons. But...no buts, Jason was out of there. He's our handyman and he did not want to work on that house. He said you'd be trying to fix other people's mistakes.

However, the house two doors down on the corner of the cul de sac was for sale. And it was vacant, we could have a look. Jason was't even in the house yet and he already loved it. It is a 9,300 sq ft corner lot with a big yard. That's big for this area and price range. Yvonne opened the door and WHOA. Cat piss? Dog piss? Jason had rushed ahead of me while I pushed my two fingers up my nostrils. I couldn't see anything, I could only smell. Jason and Yvonne explored while I trailed behind them. (Note: I don't think the left tree in the picture is there anymore)

The first thing that excited me was the big open kitchen. Big being relative - it wasn't a galley kitchen as so many of these old beach houses can have. It had a long rectangular L-shaped kitchen + dining area with glass doors that let out to the huge yard. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath (tiny baths) and the rooms are all old and small with little closet space. But there are three of them. It's hard to write about this now, because I'm already very excited about it - but at the time, I was still trying to see the potential which Jason and Yvonne saw immediately and were beaming about.

The second thing that excited me was John's lair. There is a living room in the back of the house that has a door from the kitchen and a door to the outside. Point being, it can be closed off and is far from the bedroom, my office, and the future zygote's room. And more importantly, it is big enough to put his desks, poker table, sofa and chairs and future 60 inch TV. A part from the fact that it's not a stand alone building, I think he'll love it. It's far and a way the biggest room in the house.

Still - we were considering east of the 5 because of the ocean view. I was wandering around the house trying to figure out what it would need (how much would it be to put a bathroom in John's lair and have it double as a guest room?) and doubting the whole thing because it didn't have a view. Jason and Yvonne were outside trying to show me a bit more vision. Look, you could add a deck here? Want a view - build one here! Ok, but how much would that cost? We stayed in the house a long while Jason beaming about how much potential the house had, that it would be like working with a new canvas.

Best parts about the house might not be the house. The most exciting part about the house is that it's in Carlsbad - the more affluent neighbor to Oceanside. It's in a decent neighborhood and it's only 2 miles from the beach. That's 3 minutes to where all the shops and restaurants are, 2 minutes to freeway access, and 5 minutes to the beach. It's easy, convenient, and not as far from San Diego as Oceanside. BUT, Oceanside is only 7 minutes away (for the Metrolink to LA) and I could still take the Amtrak from Carlsbad.
Also - it's the cheapest house we've looked at in ages. So the value here is strong.

Ok - I have to cut this short - but we put in an offer yesterday and the listing agent thanked Yvonne for giving her an offer she can work with. It's not a short sale, so they said we should hear back within 48 hours or so.
We see it again on Friday and might have an architect with us who wrote a book on inspecting a house for beginners. I'll take pics and will try to get some sizes down so I can use my grids and play with the new design books I got from Lowe's.

Prop bets? Cross your fingers for us and think good thoughts, but also feel free to make bets on whether or not John can handle the stench when he sees it. Jason said, "Cat piss is like a fart - eventually it goes away."

CURRENT: SAN DIEGO
NEXT: LOS ANGELES (Sat - one afternoon only)