My husband and I have stepped up our house hunt over the last few weeks and now find that most of our evenings are devoted to checking out houses, experiencing neighborhoods and hassling potential neighbors. After months of research, we are as prepared as first time home buyers can be.

Let’s face it, as twenty-somethings in the Philadelphia suburbs, our pickings are slim. If we were ready for a half million dollar home, our options would be bountiful. But since we are looking for a handy man’s special that is correctly priced, there are currently 12 properties available in our county. Our realtor keeps telling us that this is the best time for us to buy a house.

Last night, we may have found “the one” – that magically property that is one part money pit, one part hotbed of potential and one part “hey, we could actually afford this”. I’m trying not to get my hopes up but last night I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep.

But before we found “the one”, there were a lot of duds. House hunting isn’t all that different from dating – if you don’t know right away that it could work, no amount of time standing around will make it work. I was also surprised at the lack of care many people had for the homes they were selling. Below are a few of my *ahem* favorite observations.

Underwear – There is nothing like walking into the master bedroom and seeing a thong lying on the floor. And not an “I fell out of the laundry pile when I was being put away” type of situation. Someone wore this thong and decided that letting it sitting in the middle of the floor would be a good idea while they had their home viewed.

Dirty dishes – Why in the world would someone leave filthy dishes sitting in the sink when a potential home buyer was knocking on the door? Ew. And honestly, it looked like those dishes had been there for at least a week.

Poorly Planned Additions – Brian likes to call these places “Wacky Shacks” and I discovered this past week how accurate that term can be. It’s not a good sign if you realize that an addition was placed on top of a porch. It is really a bad sign if your realtor steps out onto the addition and then stops you from following him. I think my favorite part of that particular addition was that the addition in question was modeled like a bathroom but had no plumbing or electric.

Cigarette Butts – I’m not someone who gets too worked up over smoking. I smoked for years and while I’m nicotine free now, I’m not going to get frustrated with anyone for continuing to smoke. There are far worse vices out there and I have bigger fish to fry. But when I’m wandering through a potential home and every room in the house (including the room decorated as a nursery) has a filled and dirty ash tray in the house, I begin to wonder just how much work it will take to get the smell of smoke out of the house.

Home owners – For the love of God, just leave the house when the real estate agent has a potential buyer walking through the property. I don’t want to make comments to my husband about what I would want him to remodel while you are sitting on the couch watching. And while its great that some of these home owners have verbal diarrhea and have told me all of the work that would be required (let me tell you, it can be better than a seller’s disclosure), it is not going to help you while we negotiate a price. Escape your house for a little bit, go to the park, go to the mall, do something. But don’t just sit there and watch me.