As a fan of TLC and their real estate shows in particular, I have a whole new appreciation for what the people on the show go through on their really short house hunting tours. The premise of the show is that the people fly in to exotic locales (which have included Bangalore on occasion), spend a few days in the area, view many houses, and choose from three houses that may or may not meet their specifications.  

This was my life this week!  In a period of a day and a half this week, Willy and I went through twenty-seven houses, spread all over the Whitefield area of Bangalore.  It was a whirlwind.  We went to see reallllly nice houses, not so nice houses, houses that exceeded our budget, houses that were way under budget, some too big or small, and some that were perfect.  

All during this process, I was frantically trying to take notes for me, notes for the relocation person (which they need for their files), and photograph the houses before they blurred into one gigantic house.  From that list of twenty-seven, we pared it down to five.  Some were really easy to eliminate, like the one that my only comment for was “ick”.   Others were really hard, like the one that was stunning and huge, had a pool, but meant a thirty minute bus for the lils to get to school (I was sad to say no to that one). 

Five houses were revisited this morning, and we quickly eliminated three and tried to decide between two very different houses in the same community.  It was the community that really won us over here, one with parks, a pool, playgrounds and lots of children. The park space was the clincher, something missing in all other communities.  It helps that the houses are both nice too.  

We have but four hours to choose a house and are both torn.  I hope that we make the right decision, but feel that we will be happy here regardless.  I’ll post some pictures when we get home and know what house it will be.

This whole process has completely satisfied my need for real-estate porn.  I am pretty sure that it will be a while before I need to watch any of those TLC shows, although I do note that it is available on cable here.  I can’t believe that there are people (like our guide) who do this for a living!  I’ll gladly take my one house with it’s just right number of beds and baths, or our soon to be house in Bangalore, and be happy to never have to look critically at another house again!