Ol' Kentucky Home Question-Buy or Rent?

Now I know what the song is talking about. We drove up to Louisville, Kentucky area this weekend to go house-hunting and were treated to the area's specialities!

Positives: beautiful mountains, beautiful valleys, friendly people, less humidity/heat than Georgia, White Castle food, time spent with friends!

Negatives: trailers. lots of trailers. lots of 30 year old trailers. lots of "older than grandma's grandma" trailers in large overgrown parks.

Now I'm not biased against trailers, really. I lived in one as a kid. Some can be cute, when the yards are taken care of and the interior walls are still intact. But these Kentucky trailers are not "those" ones. I should have taken some pictures. I felt a little like I did driving through parts of Pakistan and seeing the gypsy camps made entirely of rags, poles and piles of trash. "People live here?" is what went through my mind. And then Lou pointed out that starting life in a trailer is a perfectly acceptable thing, its just not necessarily where you want to end your days. People in parts of the valley don't throw away their trash, I'm convinced they stack it around the outside of their houses to use it for insulation,fire starting material, or for when the "American Pickers" happen to drop by their place searching for antiques.

We set off towards Fort Knox country-which is located about an hour south of Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday. We were fortunate enough to catch Daniel (my brother) in between ROTC classes in Murfreesboro, TN on our way north and got to eat a wonderful lunch at O'Charleys in the middle of our 8 hour trip. We finally made it to Shepherdsville, and dragged our luggage and selves into Ryan and Carrie's apt. for some sleep! They live about 35 minutes from the fort, in a cute little apartment block that borders a "prettyish kind of wilderness" in the front. There is some speculatation about their neighbors in the tiny house at the street's end, who appear to either run a 24 hour food pantry, or sell drugs. The jury is still out. In spite of the drug/food pantry dealers, we had a great time!

Saturday we started out looking at housing in the area. We spent some time in Brandenburg which is a lovely little town on the Ohio River. Views are amazing. River and bridges and train tracks and trees, ah! Drive to both Fort Knox and Lousville- 30-40 minutes easily. Not so good. Plus, the only nice rental we found was 700 sq. feet.

We did find this wonder along the road-duplex converted to an office and now "ready to rent" prior to being converted back to the duplex. The owner was unsure exactly just how it would turn out, since none of the interior construction had been started. We were more than welcome though to plunk down some money to save a place in the new "1-2 bedroom, now as unfinished and unsure of what to do with it" design! :)

Next door (20 feet away)-the Irish pub. Quaint and very convenient for evenings I didn't feel like cooking, lol.  So, we continued on our way to Radcliff, which is right outside the fort. I've been told its the "Victory Drive" of Fort Knox, but I had to believe it for myself. We were scheduled to see rentals at 1, but it was just 11 so I suggested Lou that maybe we could drive down this "adorable country side road" that reminded me of home..and he, being the beneficent husband that he is, indulged me. Poor Lou is always the victim of my imagination and "great ideas" and he usually humors me in them, even if there is a little sighing first! I love this man of mine! So, we started down the country road and were in the process of deciding "left or right" at a crossroads when we decided to follow the two "for sale" signs and go right. We saw the first house, a little brick ranch, nice but no different from the other thousands of ranch homes in Meade Co. KY. Then, we saw the house after it. And it spoke to us.

So loudly that we had to get out of the car and go snoop. We looked inside the windows and it looked good...which usually means that there was no shag carpet, less than 10 layers of paint, and all the floor tile was intact. But, in this case it meant more. Sure, the place was dated-way too much wallpaper and 90s Americana theme.

But the wonderfully level floors, smooth ceilings and well trimmed rooms sang "potential" to us. And this floor? Who wouldn't love this floor?

We called the realtor and she said,"Its under contract" and "I'm at my sister's wedding" but followed up with "The contract is falling through" and "I'll see if I can get another realtor to show you the place". And she did! And we went inside and fell in love with it.....and are still in love with it.

And after we went on looking at rentals in southern Louisville, Radcliff, and Valley Station....we were even more in love with it. Its a wonderful place, and we are waiting to hear if the contract has fallen through so we can make it ours! Its 15 minutes from post and 35 from Louisville.

 Its in a beautiful farmy-land place that reminds me of Riner, Virginia. Its on 7/10 acre of land with trees and grass. It has so much to offer and I have to stop talking about it now before you all get nauseous!

 The master bath clinched it: Who wouldn't want a totally rubber ducky master bath? :) It needs a little wallpaper demolition, doors replaced and painting... but I still am hoping its meant to be. Update coming soon!