House #7: The Lakeside Contemporary

After looking at House #5, the Carmel Contemporary, we decided to give more contemporary homes a try. Eric and I both work in Carmel, and there are more contemporary homes in Carmel than mid-century moderns. There are some MCM style homes of course (including the amazing Thornhurst Addition designed by Avriel Shull), but there are far more contemporaries.  And since contemporary borrows a lot of inspiration from modern (to the extent there are articles all around the internet about “Is it Modern or Contemporary“), I can make a contemporary have a modern feel.

With our search opened up, we went to another contemporary home located on one of the small lakes in Carmel.

You guessed it, it was the windows that drew me in.

There isn’t room for a pool at this house, but we could have a pontoon boat. Plus we could swim in the lake. While we do prefer the clean water of a pool, being lakeside was an attractive option as well. Until we realized our access to the water was a tiny little sliver, and looking down either way was everyone else’s yard. The house itself wasn’t anything near what we wanted. The layout wasn’t good for entertaining, and the flow just felt off.

Looking at this house was incredibly awkward as well. Its a For Sale by Owner. People, don’t do this. It’s a mistake. It’s odd walking around someone’s house with them following you. You can’t really be honest, and you feel the need to speak in hushed tones. I’m not sure how the sellers got any honest feedback.

It was also weird hearing the owners say they didn’t upgrade the kitchen because it was “too expensive.” While Eric and I have a good idea of what a new kitchen costs (we redid ours after all) I’m sure most people don’t want to hear about extra costs they’re going to take on.

After looking at this place, I’ll never look at a For Sale by Owner house again. It’s weird and I don’t like it. Don’t be cheap. Pay a Realtor and get it done right.