Magnolia

My husband and I drove up to the town of Magnolia this morning. That's the town where we stayed during last year's evacuation during Hurricane Rita. Lovely up there, with lots of rural subdivisions filled with small lakes.

Using the Internet last night, my husband found half a dozen lake-front homes, and off we went on another adventure. We didn't contact a realtor up there... my husband got the directions and maps from the Internet sites, and we acted as our own real estate agents, which is legal in this state. We figured that with only six homes to choose from, the trip would be quick and easy, which it was.

At one of the first houses, wouldn't you know we found an adorable little stray kitten in the front yard--- and we left it there, sad to say. I think it was a little female, which I would've named Magnolia, of course. But I quickly came to my senses--- right at the moment when my husband suggested that I not pick it up. "Once you pick it up and hold her, it's all over." And of course he was right. Besides, we were up there to look at lake-front properties, not kittens.... and don't we have enough cats in this house already. (What on earth was I thinking?)

Four of the houses we went up to see were empty and locked, but we were able to look through the windows and get an idea of the houses (none of which we liked anyway).... and two of them were so bad from the outside that we didn't even get close enough for a good look.

One house was on a small private lake, and the side door was unlocked so we went right on in and quickly looked around--- the house was unfurnished, totally empty and not lived-in.... we wouldn't have done that had it been furnished and clearly someone's home. We crossed that house off of our list because it was too close to the neighbors on both sides, and both of those neighbors had very neglected property and homes.

The best house was on a very, very small lake--- I swear, it reminded us both of the house in the movie "On Golden Pond." The owner of that home was mowing the yard with a riding-mower, and he graciously gave us the tour of his house. Beautiful, well-cared for home, complete with screen-porch, outdoor jacuzi-spa, hammock between two of the trees, wonderful cozy rooms--- everything had a comfortable cottage look and we could find not one fault with either the house or the property. Best of all, the owner was selling not only the property that the house was sitting on, but both properties on either side of the house...... three large lots, all with beautiful shade trees, and a fantastic wide view of the picture-postcard lake.

Of course, there's always a glitch with the most perfect of houses-- the lake was just so small..... more like a very, very large pond than a lake. Even though my husband and I both loved that home, my husband felt that he would soon tire of that small lake. We had asked the owner where he was moving to, and he said he and his wife would be looking at lake-front homes in (of all places!) Lake Livingston.

We drove home afterwards, talking about all the lake-front choices we've seen in the past few weeks (months?). I told my husband that I would be happy with the tri-level blue house on the big cove of Lake Livingston, or the cottage-y home on the small lake (Mink Lake) in Magnolia, or the one-level lake-style house on the large and secluded shade-tree property of Lake Livingston's wide open-water.

Final decision must be his, being that he's the one who will be using the water. And if you're going to invest in a lake property, then you'd better be investing in the "best water." I'm not the water-person..... he is. I will be the one sitting on the dock, feeding the ducks and reading books and making the house a home.

One thing is for sure..... I think we're at the point where we've looked at enough houses in enough areas...... my husband has done plenty of research on the towns, and he knows the tax-bases and the deed restrictions and the prime areas of the lakes that we've looked at. With all of that said, a decision can't be too far away.