No house, then house.

Have I ever said that I hate house-hunting? The short of it is I pulled our offer on the previous bungalow after the city housing inspection left me queasy. That, and a big stretch of recurrent stagnant water in the central part of the yard which defied easy remediation. I pulled it and felt much better, as those who Facebook know.

So, we kept looking. And found another bungalow. Only bigger (1700+ sq. ft). And in better overall condition, everywhere--save an ancient (if functional) furnace, which gives me pause. But it's a beaut, and the fourth bedroom is ideal. The downside--and mostly from the reaction standpoint--is that it's north of, but mighty close to, Eight Mile, though you'd never be able to tell from driving about. We're within easy reach of Harper Woods, if that helps with the coordinates. Then again, because it is close to 8M, that means you get a lot of house. Moreover, this isn't a "bars on the windows" neighborhood--far from it. Kids are riding their bikes around, the elderly (including the seller) move about unmolested and so forth.

With our price (no pun intended) range, it's big house close to 8 as opposed to little house with big(ger and bigger) problems the further north you go. The tradeoffs are a zero sum game, as has become painfully evident. We need big. We're going big. Here's hoping it passes the inspection, because it's a really, really nice one.