Every House Has a Secret – 4

 

When they were back in the car, Rand said, "We'll have to invest a lot of sweat equity in it, but I think it'll be worth it. Sure, it's not in as good a shape as the other place, but I really like it. And it doesn't have God-awful wall paper we'd have to strip off."

 

Brady chuckled. "You don't like pine trees, and pink peonies, and yellow and orange paisley?"

 

"Not even. Dayum. And the mirrored wall in the one bedroom?" He gave a mock shiver. "Was the distressing planned or were the mirrors disintegrating?"

 

"No clue, but they would definitely have to go, which would be a big job."

 

"Yeah. I'd rather spend hours painting, here—instead of taking down mirrors and removing wallpaper at the other one, and then having to paint anyway after we had."

 

When they returned to their apartment, they sat down and went over all the pros and cons of both houses, and how much work they could do themselves without hiring contractors to turn either of them into a place they'd be proud to own.

 

"One more thing about the second house," Rand said. "Even if she can't get the owner to lower the price, it's still a lot cheaper than the first one."

 

"Almost a fire sale, although obviously that hasn't happened." Brady looked at the pictures on the realtor's website again. "About the only thing that hasn't," he said wryly. "Still, why would someone walk away from it?"

 

"Personal reasons, according to the realtor," Rand replied. "Maybe it holds bad memories. Maybe they, or their father, let things go for so long they decided they couldn't afford the repairs even though they got the house for free. Maybe they decided to move to Outer Mongolia and just walked away."

 

"I want to see anyone walk to Outer Mongolia."

 

"Oh, shush," Rand replied, smacking Brady's arm. "You know what I meant."

 

Brady grinned, giving him a quick kiss. "I did. Whatever the reason, I think it was good for us. We both like the place, even if it will take us forever to get it back in shape."

 

"As long as the inspector doesn't find something horribly wrong with it."

 

"Let's hope not."