I must have a juniper fetish!

It occurred to me, as Steve and I were hacking and hauling away the remains of the seven juniper trees and bushes, that I must have some kind of sick juniper fetish when it comes to buying a house.  To me, a house smothered in overgrown junipers means that the same owners must have lived there for quite some time, they are probably on the older side, and the place might be ripe for some remodeling and deal making.

{Aren't those pruned juniper beauties too good to pass by?!}

In the two home buying experiences we’ve had, that was exactly the case.  In our Denver house (built in 1955), we learned from the delightful previous owners, Gus and Lucille, that they had lived there for 33 years and bought the house from the original owners.  In the Chicago burbs, we bought the home (built in 1942) from the original owners.  This information is both good and bad.  It seems that houses with few owners have less wear and tear, fewer goofy remodeling kinks, and are generally well cared for; these are all good things.  The bad news is that the junipers in both homes were decades older than we were, and man, those roots grow deep!

{Don't they look so much better on our driveway?!}