The first house we saw was 36 miles southeast of DC in Huntington, MD. It was on a very nice acre of land, but the house itself, while offering a nice second cottage we could use as a granny apartment, was very small.

The second house (pictured here), about 20 miles out in Dunkirk, MD, was much better with 5 bedrooms and 9-foot high ceilings on the first floor and basement. The big minus was the incredibly long and steep driveway. Our agent quipped that it would rate as a "black diamond" slope in the winter.

The unqiue driveway explains why an otherwise fine vintage 2001 house has been on the market for 42 days. Price, by the way, was a real "deal" at $550,000. This house--without the funky driveway--would go for closer to a million in or around the beltway. That's way, way out of our range.

Now north to Silver Spring.

- mike lee -