It might be time to vote on a home

Okay, today I looked at 4 properties and felt like I could live in any one of them. They all have pros and cons. I will describe and provide links to the real estate page. Then you can give me your 2 cents worth!

First, an orientation map so that you can see where work is relative to these properties:
Houston Homes
Work is at Westlake way on the west side of the map.

The first 3 properties are within a few blocks of each other in the area east of Memorial Park. Memorial Park is a giant park where people go biking, running, picnicing, etc. Kinda like Fish Creek, but more square shaped. In this neighbourhood, you actually see people riding bikes and walking dogs. It's also close to Washington Ave where there are a lot of good restaurants. This area is also pretty close to the I-10 which means my commute to work would be 15-20 minutes on the freeway.

1. Blossom http://www.har.com/90138542
This is my favourite. It has a pretty little garden in the front, 2 little balconies, a nice open floor plan so that the kitchen, dining room, and living room are all one room. For the single host, this is a great feature as you can actually talk to your guests while preparing dinner. It is cater corner from West End Bikes. It also has a large driveway in front of the double garage (streets are narrow here, folks, guest parking is an issue!) The downside? Berber carpets upstairs that haven't worn well and it is below my ConocoPhillips rent budget. Oh, and it doesn't have a rooftop patio (see house #2)

2. 5507 Rose (this listing is gone now - I wonder if someone leased it?)
This is the kind of place that looks cool online, but is kinda weird in real life. I fell in love with 1505 Utah st's online listing, partly because it has an awesome rooftop deck, but the realtor didn't recommend living within 3 blocks of the railroad tracks. Good point. And then I saw Rose- a pretty rooftop patio with awesome views and a spiral staircase up to more roof with higher views.  The layout is a little awkward, and they spent a lot of money on tiles which are a bit loud. The staircases are pretty, but very narrow. Like to the point that I worry Calgary's broad shouldered Mayor might not be able to talk with his hands while coming up the stairs. How does one fit furniture into this house? There is no evidence anyone has! And there are a lot of stairs. There appear to be issues with the quality of the construction (largish cracks in exterior walls) so the realtor doesn't recommend buying this one but thinks leasing is fine. This one would be a cool party pad (at least in the winter when you might actually use the rooftop patio). Parking would be okay here too. It's tempting, but why can't it be perfect?

3. 209 Knox http://www.har.com/47773185
TJ describes this sort of development as the "urban trailer park". It's this weird thing they do all over the place in Houston for infill developments. Build a group of townhouses off a tiny lane. Getting a car in and out is a bit tight and you are close to your neighbors on all 4 sides! Inside, this home was also perfect. Except for the berber carpets upstairs that are much worse than Blossom - these ones have waves that need pulled out. This one backs onto Westcott, which is a busy main street, and overlooks a law office. I think I can rule this one out because I like Blossom better.

The fourth property is in a completely different neighborhood. I think it's in Montrose, but it's hard to really find out which area is called what exactly. This is closer to downtown and about 10-15 minutes further from work. It's also far from Memorial Park, but just as close to Buffalo Bayou as the first 3 properties. This neighborhood feels a bit fancy pants. While this neighborhood appears walkable, you don't actually see people walking (there is sense in this - it's too hot! Those cyclists near Memorial Park are crazy!).

4. 2023 Park http://www.har.com/95040049
This place is HUGE. While it sounds nice to consider that my parents could spend the winter in a nice large room on the ground floor and almost never run into me, the reality is that most of the time I would need my scooter to get around this empty house and that would wreck those beautiful hardwood floors. And it is urban trailer park - although this is fancy pants "gated" urban trailer park. It's a nice house with at least 3 rooms that could be the living room. It's not as open as Blossom. This one has a HUGE kitchen, but it is tucked in a corner with view of the smallest potential living room (or a second dining room?). Realtor thinks I should take this one quick, but that's mostly because it would max out my ConocoPhillips budget and her commission. I'm concerned about being further from the park (think bike trails after work) and losing an extra daily half hour of my life to the commute (I will run out of Coffee Break French Podcasts!).