Back from Florida House Hunting

Shane and I just got back from another trip to Florida. We were house hunting again. We went down certain that we were going to put a bid in on one house and came back bidding on another.

Both houses are in Punta Gorda, FL -- about 2 hours south of Tampa. The house in which we were first interested was in the Historic District of Punta Gorda. It was built in 1927 (or 1930) and was on a residential street about three blocks from Charlotte Harbor and a beautiful park with free tennis courts. The house is a Key West-style house with a fireplace, beautiful wood floors, a beautiful front lanai, and two "Florida Rooms" in the rear. It also has drop ceilings, a bouncy kitchen floor and a really ugly kitchen. We loved it mostly for the location. We could walk to great restaurants, galleries and that park with the tennis courts.

The House in Town

We were all set to make an offer on the in-town house, but the Realtors took us to another house. It is in another part of Punta Gorda, further south. I walked into the living room and saw the view out the lanai and said "Oh My God!"

We all but forgot about the other house and wanted to make an offer on this one with a salt water canal. The house is a foreclosure (more than $500K was owed on it). It was built in 1980 and is in pretty good shape. The bathrooms are nothing to write home about, but who cares with that view? The photo of the view above does not do it justice. It looks out over a mangrove (who doesn't love a mangrove?) that can never be built on. That view will always be there. The sun sets over the water behind the mangrove. It is a dream house nearly in our price range. The house is surround by big beautiful homes, many with pools. It is by far the worst house in the neighborhood.

We would have been perfectly happy in the old house in town, but now this house has ruined it for us. We put an offer in, hoping against hope, but we know deep in our hearts it is a long shot. Though the listing price is relatively low and its only been on the market a few days, we know there are other offers already in. We put in the highest and best offer we could -- far more than we were planning on spending. We are half terrified that we'll lose this house and half terrified that our offer might be accepted.

Look at that view! How could we resist?