We are crazy
I've periodically been torturing myself by looking at homes in the Vancouver (WA) area to see what is on the market. I try to tell myself that it is market research, but really it is a way to make me feel even more frustrated and caught up in limbo. I looked at one point yesterday, and found a place that seemed neat, but the pictures were pretty bad so it was rather hard to tell. I told Matt about it though, and he took a look and liked it too.
Well, I looked at it again this morning, and the listing agent has put up a bunch of new pictures as well as panorama shots of the inside and outside of the house. What can I say, it really looks great. Kinda Funky, kinda old, with a big lot with some work done and some work left to do. It is a farmhouse style home built in 1920 (I shudder to think what the wiring looks like) on almost a 1/2 acre somewhat close in, with a few fruit trees, and a nice garden area for a garden. They haven't done a lot of landscaping, which is a good thing, and there is more work to be done in the basement and in a mostly finished outbuilding. Yes, we aren't exactly looking for the usual tract home!
So, now Matt and all are all a'twitter and wondering what to do. We're contacting another real estate agent in that area and we'll see what kind of information we can get about the general area and neighborhood. We're not going up there until the 20th, but if things continue to look good, perhaps I'll go up myself and take a look... Like I said, we're crazy! If we did end up buying this place, I figure we wouldn't close until at least mid to late November then we'd get through the baby's birth and Christmas then move in January or February. Yes, paying rent and a mortgage for 2-3 months would not be my first choice, but it bypass the need to rent up there for awhile and also solves the whole what to do with the cats problem. And like Dy recently said in the comments "that baby will never be more portable that it is right now, before it gets here." It is far easier for me to go up there to look at stuff now than it will be once the baby is born...
But still, pretty crazy since we're talking about a city that Matt and I have never been to, and we're developing our views the whole area based on websites and my visits to downtown Portland. Yup, crazy - but Matt's willing to do it and I think I might be too! I'm really looking forward to going up there in a couple weeks!
Well, I looked at it again this morning, and the listing agent has put up a bunch of new pictures as well as panorama shots of the inside and outside of the house. What can I say, it really looks great. Kinda Funky, kinda old, with a big lot with some work done and some work left to do. It is a farmhouse style home built in 1920 (I shudder to think what the wiring looks like) on almost a 1/2 acre somewhat close in, with a few fruit trees, and a nice garden area for a garden. They haven't done a lot of landscaping, which is a good thing, and there is more work to be done in the basement and in a mostly finished outbuilding. Yes, we aren't exactly looking for the usual tract home!
So, now Matt and all are all a'twitter and wondering what to do. We're contacting another real estate agent in that area and we'll see what kind of information we can get about the general area and neighborhood. We're not going up there until the 20th, but if things continue to look good, perhaps I'll go up myself and take a look... Like I said, we're crazy! If we did end up buying this place, I figure we wouldn't close until at least mid to late November then we'd get through the baby's birth and Christmas then move in January or February. Yes, paying rent and a mortgage for 2-3 months would not be my first choice, but it bypass the need to rent up there for awhile and also solves the whole what to do with the cats problem. And like Dy recently said in the comments "that baby will never be more portable that it is right now, before it gets here." It is far easier for me to go up there to look at stuff now than it will be once the baby is born...
But still, pretty crazy since we're talking about a city that Matt and I have never been to, and we're developing our views the whole area based on websites and my visits to downtown Portland. Yup, crazy - but Matt's willing to do it and I think I might be too! I'm really looking forward to going up there in a couple weeks!
posted by Amber at
2:48 PM
4 Comments:
Where is Vancouver, exactly? The North or South end of the state? Or East or West? And why are you interested in that area - family up there or something?
You ARE crazy, but it would be so cool if you'd just stumbled on a perfect home, wouldn't it? :)
By
Emily (Laundry and Lullabies), at 6:00 PM
It is at the far south end of the state, just north across the river from Portland. We feel like it could be a good place for us because it is less urban than Portland, but still nearby so that we can have access to all the museums & such, as well as the airport. Vancouver just seems more suburban and more what we're looking for - it also seems easier to find houses on bigger lots (and they cost less than they do in Portland).
Being in WA is also a plus as far as employment, because the company Matt works for already has several employees in WA, so all the worker's comp and health care stuff is set up for that state already. And WA doesn't have any income tax, which would be a rather nice change from CA! *grin* (yes, they do have sales tax, but at least it is less than it is here - and you can always go across the river and shop in Portland if you were so inclined to avoid it)
So, anyways, all reasonably good logical reasons, but we've both never been there so who knows! The pictures we've seen look nice... as do the google satellite photos... :-)
By
Amber, at 7:07 PM
Oh. Wow. I'm just giddy with excitement for you! Weeee!
Although I will admit that if you close on your place before we close on ours, I might cry. Just a little, and I'll hide in the closet while I do, but yeah, I might cry. ;-)
Enjoy being crazy - as long as you're there together, it's a great thing to be!
Dy
By
Dy, at 6:11 AM
LOL! I was thinking about you when I was trying to come up with a closing estimate... if our experience ends up anything like yours the baby could be born before we close! *grin* Which in our case, isn't really a bad thing since we're not going to move until after then anyways... but still it would be excruciating (like I have to tell you that!!)
By
Amber, at 7:49 AM
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