We got the house! Our offer was counter-offered, but we made things
work out in the end. Lots and lots and lots of synchronicity going
on: a donation covering the exact amount of the difference in price, a
recommendation for a home inspector whose last name is the same as the
name of the street on which we'll be living, and some reassurance from
friends in the area.
The house is a ranch with a full, mostly finished basement. One car garage plus a carport (all I need to defend against snow, really). Three
bedrooms. It was built in 1959. Steve approves of the plumbing, the
windows are on the new side, and I like the water pressure. New roof,
new water heater; brick frame construction, paddle fans in most rooms.
The only thing I could have asked for was a front porch, but it does
have a covered patio in the back overlooking the gorgeous, large, and
privately fenced backyard. There's also a little room on the sides of
the house, and a good sized front yard, for me to figure out where to
best plant things like peppers and cucumbers and maybe lettuce. These
pictures do not do the place justice.
You walk in the front door and the place just feels like home. I have
a spot and a back-up spot for the Christmas tree. In this picture, you
can see a door in the back. That leads to two bedrooms and the main
bath.
The kitchen is spacious, light, and will lots of new and included
appliances.
Keep walking and you reach the dining room, which looks even better
when those blinds are drawn. To the right of the
dining room is the back patio. Between the dining room and the kitchen
on the left is the master bedroom.
Downstairs is Steve's new lair. There's a bar and a couple of extra
storage rooms that are not pictured, but you can see this desk built
into the wall as well as some built in shelves. This is where we will
keep computers, our television, and our gaming systems (okay, we only
have one right now). I love the idea of not having a TV in the main
sitting/receiving room. Oh, there's another full bathroom down in the
finished basement, too. I may never see my husband again!
The house is across the street from the town's middle school. The
school district isn't as good as some of the others we've looked at,
but it's improving, especially in the elementary and high schools. I
figure Steve and I can go tutor middle school kids in math if it will
make the school a better place.
Next:
1. Secure an inspector within a week.
2. Call loan lady and write up the stuff for this specific house so we can get an actual approval.
3. Oh yeah, and I have some homework and a test Monday
Comments (35)
Dear Emily,
I'm the first to comment so I'll tell your readers that they can see the photos a lot better in your Photoblog area.
I'll give you five stars for congratulations. I'm so happy for you and Steve.
And I can't believe the "basement". Looks like full size rooms to me. (We don't have basements in SoCal.)
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
Whoooo! You guys rock. Sounds like you picked a winner. It's absolutely gorgeous. And if the school district isn't up to par you can do what my parents did: crank out enough smart children that your family single handedly improves the school's prestige. AcDec genes will get that done!
It's been forever since I've seen an actual basement. Somehow the hard headed people of Texas at least figured out that they were a bad idea in Houston.
RYC: All crafty people need a craft room!!!
Or heck, maybe you can turn it into a library for yourself. A nice comfy chair. Some bookshelves. A craft station. Yum.
i get a nice feel...nice trees, the kitchen feels good..i like how it enters on to the dining room too.
congrats, emily
*hugs*
auntie sue
It does look like "home." It looks like a house I would buy.
Congratulations to both of you. I'm sure you are happy and feel sick to your stomach all at the same time!
If you need any candles or candle accessories to decorate your home, you know who to contact! Hehe, just kidding! But seriously - don't buy paraffin candles - they emit carcinogens during burning!
Just say NO to cancer!
Perhaps we might have to enable response to this - but perhaps George H. W. Bush (in Iraq) and Bill Clinton (in Bosnia and Kosovo) had the correct instincts. In both of these cases the halt to the genocide was accomplished principally without ground troops - essentially by directly punishing the criminals. That allowed "minimal political redesign" to start. In Iraq the Kurds and southern Shi'a were safe from attack but unable to take revenge. In Bosnia and Kosovo warring factions were separated without governmental solutions being dictated.
I know that doesn't seem perfect. It's not the "liberal American solution." But both cases were surely better than doing nothing - as in Rwanda, or than being "big mama" - as GW Bush has attempted.
Congrats. Gettting the house you wanted is a big step forward in life. I wish you prosperity and tranquility in your new home.