Friday, August 23, 2002

• A house! (THE house)

  Yesterday I spent a considerable part of the day cruising around Prince William county looking at homes (the rest of the day was spent on the 3+ hours it takes to drive there each way from here).  The realtor had found some homes that were within our price range and minimum requirements(a difficult task, and the main reason other realtors would not bother with us, I think).  She showed us 4 great houses, and we liked the last one so much, we made an offer on it.  We should find out later today whether or not it will be accepted.  I have high hopes, because it has been sitting empty for 3 weeks already, and we are also willing to rent before closing, which would make up the difference between the asking price and our offer.

  As I said before, all the houses we saw were good.  The first one we saw was on the highest property in the neighborhood, in a cul-de-sac that backed up to a state park, and a view you wouldn't believe, and fruit trees planted all over the property, and a hot tub and sauna - but the rooms were small and odd-shaped, and Jim didn't think much of the quality of construction.

  The second home was very tiny, smaller than a comparable townhouse, but in a top-notch neighborhood, and a very short walk to the tran station.  It was incredibly charming and inviting, but Jim did not care at all for the size.

  The third house was a 2 year old home in a sprawling subdivision of nearly identical 2 year old homes.  They were all white, all with identical decks, white carpetting, as neutral as could be, and no trees taller than me anywhere.  It was a good house, with good features, but no personality.  Curiously, the very thing that turned me off about it was exactly what turned Jim on.  To him, it was a blank canvas, ready to paint.  It had no personality of its own, no flavor of other people's dreams, it was a place that he could see as being 100% his.  After I let myself see it the way he did (this is how you tell the good married couples, they can do this), I began to like the house, too.

  (an aside to Trax: the agent for the third house we saw was asian, but then, so were the sellers)

  By this time, it was getting late, and the realtor didn't want to disturb people at night, so we agreed to only look at one more house that day, one that was already vacant.  This was in Montclair.

  As we are driving in, the agent is telling us what a great community Montclair is, with its 108 acre lake, golf course, 2 swimming pools, 3 beaches, tennis and basketball courts, community playgrounds and planned activities (one of these, a teen beach party, was advertised on a marquee near the entrance).  These are minor selling points, but not major influential factors.  Then we pull up to this house:

  

  (okay, it didn't look exactly like this, because azaleas and dogwoods don't bloom in August, but it looked gorgeous anyway)

  And Jim announces, before we even get out of the car, "I like this house best of all!" (he loves the front porch, perfect for swings and/or rockers)

  Then we go inside, and every single room is bigger than its counterpart in the other houses.  There are more rooms (five bedrooms).  The deck is bigger, the yard is bigger (and well-treed), the garage is bigger.  There is a wet bar in the dining room (a wet bar has always been one of Jim's "dream house" features, I've been hearing him wish for one for 15 years).  There are great houses, and then there is THE house.  We knew before we left that this was THE house, but there was some disbelief that we could find THE house on the first day of looking.  So went to dinner (without the realtor), talked about it, and called the realtor to come to the restaurant with contracts.

  I've probably jinxed the deal by blogging about it, haven't I? 

  Anyway, Jim is not pursuing the contract in Charleston, he is taking a contracted consulting position at FAA headquarters.  He will be doing what he does best, designing airspace (I will only describe what that is only if I get requests for it, otherwise I will assume nobody really cares).  He will be starting work in about 2 weeks, so we really need to get things rolling on this house.

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