Seriously?

Myself and Mr S went around having a look at three possible rentals yesterday. None of them were through a letting agency or anything, it's word of mouth and knowing someone who knows someone who has a house for let. God forbid should we actually do this in an official and effective manner.

House #1
   Pros

• Available right now
• Nice landlord
• Cheap rent

   Cons

• Mouldy ceiling in the kitchen
• A huge dip in the floor in the living room
• Threadbare carpet in the bedroom
• Fully furnished (with furniture that had obviously come from a skip)

House #2

   Pros

• Three big bedrooms
• Beautiful views
• Very remote location
• Brand new everything

   Cons

• Not painted inside or out
• No floors in yet
• No kitchen yet
• Basically, it's still being built

House #3

   Pros

• Loads of room
• Lovely neighbours
• We know the landlord
• Cat-friendly
• In a village

   Cons

• Possibly too much room
• No idea how much the rent will be
• Too close to the pub (!!)
• Driveway possible blocked every Sunday because it's across the road from the church

Basically we gave up on the first one as soon as we set foot in it. Come on, you cannot possibly expect to find a tenant for a place that looks like something from The Hills Have Eyes 3: The Beginning. It was truly horrendous, and  when Mr S went in to tell the man it wasn't what we were looking for, the owner had hinted that he'd thought I looked a bit high maintenance and hadn't thought I'd go for the shack he had to offer. Just for the record, I don't consider that being high maintenance, I call it having standards! The owner had also "decorated" the surroundings of the house with "No Parking" signs everywhere. Not just eccentric, but a bit disturbing, too.

The same man owns House #2, he was originally building it for his daughter who then decided to move to Cork and now the house is nearly finished, and he's not entirely sure what to do with it. Daughter apparently doesn't want to rent it out because she might want to use it for a about two weeks a year. It is lovely, I must say but if he doesn't know whether or not he can rent it out, I think we'll give it a miss.

House #3 is lovely, but I don't know if we'd need 4 bedrooms. I suppose we could always give the cats a room each and that would still leave one room spare. Unless Mr S and I start sleeping in separate rooms. Which is not going to happen any time soon. It's a relatively new house, the landlord is a friend of Mr S's and the neighbours are lovely, but it is bang in the middle of the village, which means more noise and less privacy. I think I'm being too fussy...am I? 

Lucky we're not in a rush. or we just might find ourselves treading the charmingly sticky lino floor or shack number 1. *shudder* Honestly, I'd rather live here...

With this delightful gentleman as a neighbour