My house is like hell in some ways, or so I'm guessing.

We paid too much for it when we moved to Redmond from a very fine house in Boulder, Colorado. While there is a great view from our back yard/deck (a deck that quickly changed color after the first rain from what appeard to be an well maintained wood, to a deck badly in need of sealing), the interior is, well, a disaster. Now, I don't mind that some things need a little work, but this is absurd. As soon as we moved in there were problems. Ants. Next, we discover that a lot of the things in house are more or less thrown together, some without even so much as a screw. For example, the plate covering the 220 V plug for the dryer was just sitting on the wall - no screws at all. Of course when the plug was pulled out, the metal plate fell on the plug which then arc'd and blew the circuit. Melted parts of the plate. No one was injured. Does that count as a near death experience?

Of course, we were removing the drier so we could pull down pieces of the ceiling where our bathroom shower was leaking through to the bottom floor from every seam. Both showers. $3000 later we find they are still leaking elsewhere up in the wall. The previoius owner installed a bunch of upgrades himself and didn't know how to do it. Of course, no inspector is going to find this stuff. 

Did I mention the floors? There was supposed to be good wood floors under the carpet (which had to go). They are wood allright, but they didn't bother to cover them when the house was painted so they are litterally covered with paint blobs. That helps to obscure the large nails driven into the floor 10-12 at a time. Of course, the water stains are a great touch.

So, right now, I'm wishing for my little house back in Boulder that was very neatly, and correctly upgraded over the years to be quite comfortable. Oh well.