Rain Man |
01-26-2010 08:03 PM |
So my Realtor and I went and checked this place out today.
Parking is a major problem, and I'm not sure how to fix that. And the building needs $300,000 of stone repairs and probably (my Realtor estimates) $500,000 of work on the inside. It had been redone as offices at some point in the past and a lot of the original woodwork is still there, but there are some areas that aren't in great shape and the kitchen is more or less gone and it was the victim of a cheaply done remodel that would have to be reversed. But it's a really, really cool building, and from a layout perspective could actually work for my office other than the parking. I'm intrigued.
I admit that it was a little scary going down into the basement with the lights off, but no one bothered me. The only thing that was a little odd was that a pigeon had been torn limb from limb in one room of the basement. I wasn't quite sure what that was all about. I had to step over the biggest pieces to open a door, and wasn't quite sure what would happen when I opened it, but it turned out to just be an empty closet.
I had initially thought that the carriage house could be converted back into parking. You could see from the outside that it had been turned into what I thought was a gallery of some sort, with a big curved wall in it. As it turns out, the carriage house is a nice loft/house that's probably 1,500 square feet or more, and with some fixup it would be a really cool space. The second floor of the carriage house has ceilings that have to be 30 feet high at the peak. And oddly, the carriage house had a basement. That's kind of like your garage having a basement.
So I survived and didn't get thrown out any windows like the Dobermans or have any shower curtains thrown at me like the veterinarian.
But here's something unusual, and I will swear 100 percent that this is true. It's so preposterous that you won't believe me, but I swear it's true. This house is in a neighborhood that's kind of funky sometimes, so you'll see some odd things occasionally as you walk through. So I leave the mansion and start walking home, and on the street I see a woman coming toward me. A woman dressed all in black, and kind of gothic in style. As we got closer, I could tell that she was likely doing the goth thing, which is no big deal, but when we passed, I could see that she was wearing either fake vampire teeth, or more likely had filed her teeth to look like vampire teeth. So I'm not sure if it's a sign that I saw a vampire on my way home from touring the haunted mansion.
It was daylight, though, so I don't think she was a real vampire.
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