Another way in which you know we are huge geeks

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Yes, we are big geeks. I mean that in the nicest, most quirky and odd sense. I was just re-realizing that as I pondered our house hunt.

We have a spreadsheet. Not so odd, you say, it's one way to keep your thoughts and information organized.

Our spreadsheet has multiple pages, one for each house on our short list. (More on that later.) We have a list of criteria - both tangible like number of bedrooms and intangible like character - that we each rate on a scale of one to ten for each house.

But what reminded me we were geeks was the fact that we also have weights for each criteria. First we came up with our criteria, then we each rated the criteria on a scale of one to ten as to its importance to us. So since Mr. Kluges' most important criteria were garden space, outdoor play space, bathrooms, kitchen, and curb appeal, and mine were outdoor play space, bathrooms, kitchen, and bedroom location, we ended up with outdoor play space, bathrooms and kitchen having a heavy weight in our criteria. Brewing space, other storage, and closet space, while things we think about, are given less weight and consideration.


So yeah. We've got spreadsheets that average our scores for each criteria, then multiply that average by the weight, then total it all up. Not that we're going to just pick the one with the biggest number, but it does help us discuss the pros and cons of each.

(And we've also graphed out where their point totals fall in comparison to their respective prices. Geeks. But thorough geeks.)


And that's helped us how? Well, not so much yet because all the houses but one that were on our short list before we sold our own house are gone. Yeah, gone. 3 sold, one we took off 'cuz it was too suburban for Mr. Kluges, one we removed 'cuz I hated the traffic flow through the kitchen when we looked at it again*, and one's left.

(* You had to go through the kitchen to 1) get to the only bathroom on the main floor, which also had the laundry, 2) go upstairs where all 3 bedrooms were, 3) get to the basement stairs, and 4) get to the backyard and garage. And it wasn't very huge, either.)

And that one sole short list survivor deserves a whole post of its own. Lots of attractive features, but oh, so many concerns/potential problems, too. But oh, so cute... and spacious... and huge yard... but knob-and-tube wiring... and cement-asbestos shingles... and only 100 amp service... but wonderful little sunporch... and 4 bedrooms (so we've got a guest room) upstairs plus one downstairs to be an office/playroom... and large kitchen with tons of cupboard space... but higher priced than anything in the neighborhood... and what about resale... but incredible curb appeal... and new 3 car garage that suits it aesthetically... but only one bathroom... but we could take out the maid stair (maid stair!) and put a 1/2 or 3/4 one... well, you get my drift.

So we're going to be looking at 4 more houses tomorrow. We'll see if any make it to the short list or even if we fall in love and want to make an offer.

But to let you have some idea of the attraction of this solo short list survivor, here's the picture of the front, uh, borrowed from the listing page.

See?!