Wednesday, October 18, 2006

FYI

For now, I'm posting over here. I don't yet if it's a permanent move. There are things I like and dislike about vox, so we'll see how it goes.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Fer Reals?

It looks like our search for a home is finally complete.

The property is half of a duplex that we saw this weekend for the second time. There was an offer ahead of us with a 48 hour contingency (meaning the potential buyers had to sell their house within 48 hours of the owners giving them notice that they had accepted a back-up offer). The other buyers weren't able to sell, so we moved into first place. Our only conditions were/are financing and a property inspection. Our mortgage broker just let the mister know that financing is in place. The property inspection has to be done and approved by us by October 11. There shouldn't be a problem with getting the inspection scheduled and I don't believe there's anything wrong with the property.

The details:
As mentioned, it's half of a duplex. There are two bedrooms and a den, one bath (with room to add a half bath at some point), a large living room with a nice stone-faced wood burning fireplace, a kitchen that has plenty of storage/counterspace and a dishwasher, a laundry room, tons of storage, a garage and a gorgeous backyard with a natural looking fish pond and three fruit trees (apple, pear & plum). It's in a nice, quiet, established neighborhood with lots of big trees. It's much closer to shopping than we are here and it's about 15 minutes to the commuter train. All the appliances are included and, although older, in pristine condition (fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer & dryer). The current owners are an older couple who have kept the place immaculate and the husband is a handyman who has done some nice tweaks to the place. He's hinted that he's leaving all the garden tools (including the lawnmower) in the cute little shed in the backyard. If not, we'll deal with it.

Lest you think the place is perfect, there is some updating to be done. The place needs paint and flooring, but not because it's in bad shape, it's just really dated. The current owners have owned and lived in the place for 16 years and they updated then but nothing since. Plus, as I said, they're an older couple - our tastes do not converge in any way that I can see.

I'm so glad we ended up in a house. No strata rules - I can be a crazy cat lady if I want (just kidding, but I'd like one more), we can have birdfeeders (the first place we offered on said no birdfeeders - wtf?), we can get another dog (although I doubt we will), I can put whatever plants I want wherever I want!

Photographs will be posted as soon as I can take some.

Two more cats?