We are house hunting. And we are not doing it in a sensible way. Well, a little sensible. You see, we haven’t SOLD our current home yet. The market is certainly not in our favor. We are in a price point where nothing is moving. And we swore up and down to not even look until we had an offer on said current house.

But we have fallen in love a few times. And we’ve come perilously close to buying. The first home was a one hundred year old, classic center hall colonial overlooking the Long Island Sound in lower Westchester. It thrilled my New Englandy, slightly preppy soul. But it was accessed via a rather dodgy neighborhood, shared the side yard with a public park, and needed about a half million dollars of work to bring it up to speed. It scared my husband to death. So despite the picture postcard perfection of a view, we gave it a pass.

And swore we would not look at another house until we sold the current one.

Of course, we broke our oath yet again, when a Gold Coast charmer of a brick colonial next door to my sister in law, over looking Roslyn Harbor, came on the market. Dating from the twenties, it had English country manor appeal, remarkable architecture, it was close to family, it was certainly incredibly elegant with a sunroom cum ballroom, curving staircase, water views. Great bones. Made my mouth water. But it was another house that would eat at least a half million in repairs. The kitchen and bathrooms all needed gut jobs.

My husband refused to go inside.

There have been others. An 1830ish colonial in Roslyn Village-set my imagination on fire. An 1887 Italianate Victorian in Garden City still has me flirting. It’s been totally redone and there are plenty of original features intact. There are also some very gaudy extras that the developer thought might appeal to some aspiring brothel owner that would have to be chipped or hammered off the walls. I’m willing to hold said hammer.

This house is still on my shortlist despite sitting on a very busy street. The fact that I have no attachment to Garden City, or reason to move there, is a strike against it.

We have a tiny cottage on Fire Island that we adore. So we have been exploring all the towns and villages from West Islip to Bellport on the Great South Bay. I’m totally in love with Bellport. There are five houses on the market in the village in our price point. I would gladly take any one of them. Hubby thinks it’s a little far. And you do have to travel through a not so great area to actually get there. I argue it’s only 35 minutes to the ferry (as opposed to the two hours from north Westchester where we currently live). I think I’m losing this argument.

We’ve eyed the north shore of Long Island. It’s a straight thirty minute shot from the ferry. So far, we’ve only flirted but not visited.

Which brings us to Bayshore And more specifically, Brightwaters. We found a fixer upper, that on the surface seemed rather ideal. Definitely under our price point. Built in the fifties in a Nantucket style with cedar shakes and a great floor plan. But our second visit depressed us. The house needed way too much work. Every surface, every appliance, the baseboards , the trim, the exterior, the roof, the AC, the carpentry…..lets just say that deferred maintenance and a visit from Sandy did the beauty in. And it’s a shame, because it’s a charming house on a lovely street.

There was a house around the corner on the inlet that we had saved in our Zillow favorites. It certainly needed work. Definitely needed a paint job on the outside. The colors just didn’t do the house justice. We had asked our realtor for a showing.

Built in 1818, moved from another area by barge 75 years ago, it’s one of the oldest houses in the village. It’s Federal in style with a front porch, likely added after it was moved onto the site. The porch does feel Victorian but it doesn’t appear in the photos of the house being floated across the water.

The light that comes into the house is magical. The view of the inlet and all the various boats moored in their slips makes it so special. Most of the original details are intact. A couple of the bathrooms need work and new kitchen is a must. We made an offer.

It’s a love affair! It also dramatically flunked inspection. The unfinished foundation basement need major work. The house probably needs some additional supports. We withdrew the offer. I was in tears.

But the realtors know when they have a “live one” on the hook. They brought in an architect to look at it to suggest ways to shore the house up. They promised to work on the owner ( who moved out about three years ago) to get money off the initial offer.

So we await feedback on what it would cost to do the work properly. Then we will see if the owner will budge.

Meanwhile, I keep looking….