This One... Or This One?

I hate eye exams. I hate anything touching, dripping or blowing into my eye. That's why I don't wear contacts. I just can't bring myself to touch my eye. But what I hate the most about eye exams is all the pressure associated with that crazy device they make you look into and decide which one is better. "This one, or this one?"

Well this afternoon, I get to experience the same thing on a much bigger level. My "eye doctor" a.k.a. my wife has narrowed my choices from about 300 houses down to 2 and I get to accompany her and decide which one I like better. (not that my opinion has a whole lot of weight in this decision)

This One:


Or This One:

The one on top is the leading favorite by driving by last night. Bigger back yard, more finished square feet - and as handy as I like to think of myself, I ran the numbers and in this case the difference in price isn't enough to let us finish the basement in the bottom one and still come out even on price.

But it's hard to tell. What gives all the pressure from the eye doc is that third choice of "Or about the same" This is a life altering decision for my future eyesight and I'm supposed to choose "About the same?" Obviously if you have two lenses there has to be some kind of difference, I heard you flip the dial before you asked me the question. They can't be the same... Can they???

It's the same with these houses. The bottom one is in a much nicer neighborhood and is on a cul de sac. Does that make up for the smaller back yard and less living space? Is it the same? We saw a lot of kids out playing in the streets of both neighborhoods last night, but what if the one neighbor kid just had a lot of friends over to visit from out of town and they'll never be back again to play with our boys? And what if the one kid left is a total brat and we wouldn't let our boys play with him anyway because he's a bad influence?

Oh the humanity! Why can't we just get past this part and get on to my favorite part of buying a house - the negotiation of price.