Features
DECEMBER 2020
26
THE YEAR OF THE HOME
// 2 9
THE
PRALINE
LADIES
// 3 2 O N LY T A K E S
HEARTH & HOME
A
LITTLE
BIT OF ROOM
W
E S S AY
Homeowners
AFTER A VERY INDOOR YEAR, THE NEW HOUSE HAS HELD UP Story and photos by Lucie Monk Carter
I
n September 2019, after three years of emailing back and forth listings, driving around Greater Baton Rouge at rush hour, cringing at orange carpets, wincing at price tags, and stopping our toddler from using the toilet at properties where the water had been disconnected, we did it: 26
We bought our first home! I have heard millennials are incapable of buying homes these days, and I will allow that it would not have happened at all if the mortgage company’s website hadn’t been so vibrant, with a fluid and friendly user interface. In the delirious final days of inspections and negotiations,
D E C 2 0 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
I only staggered through thinking of the triumphant Instagram post on the other side. (109 likes, 12 “congratulations”.) The frantic pace of the Baton Rouge real estate market demanded an element of impulse akin to choosing a snack at the grocery checkout, but with a slightly wider price tag. Yes, we knew
we wanted three or four bedrooms, space for a home office, and sure, throw in a couple of bathrooms while you’re at it. But only in a few of the homes we visited (and with our excellent, patient realtor, who is also my aunt, Anne Trapp, we visited several dozen) did I feel the heavy blanket of certainty descend on my shoulders as we walked
