I think I found my new home!

[frau kaleun]

So, went out today with my realtor friend/co-worker and another friend and looked at half a dozen places, and I think I'm gonna make an offer on one of them. I'll do another walkthrough with my sister and her Mr. Fix-It husband just to get a second opinion on things that might need to be fixed or replaced... which will probably not be much, from what we could tell today. Everything seems to be functional, all appliances are included except a microwave which I've already got, so replacements can probably be elective over time because I want something different, instead of being based on the fact that OMG I DON'T HAVE A REFRIGERATOR?

Really nice condo with an attached garage (YAY!) that is an end unit (YAY!) in a nice community very close to both the major N/S and E/W highways, also a bit closer to my office than where I live now, also very convenient to major local shopping areas, restaurants, and all that stuff.

It was already my favorite of all the ones I'd seen so far, just from what I saw online, but it turned out to be a lot more spacious than was obvious from the pictures, and there were three rooms that weren't IN the pictures and one of them wasn't even mentioned in the listing.

Living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen, den/study and half bath on lower level. Three bedrooms and two full bathrooms on upper level. The two "spare" rooms upstairs are smallish but I probably wouldn't do a full second bedroom in either one of them anyway... because, you know, if you have a guest room, it just encourages people.

Anyhoo - it's more than 20K below the top of my price range at the listed price, and in much better shape and nicer and bigger and more "homey" than any of the more expensive places I've looked at - and the cheaper ones are cheap for a reason that often involves having been abandoned after a foreclosure and pretty well trashed, or else the persistent odor of cat pee which drove us out of one place before we even got past the front hall, or else they are just butt ugly and cramped and badly laid out on the inside. In many cases they are just glorified versions of the apartments that are ubiquitous in this area and look like where I live now with a couple small extra rooms and slightly more storage space. No thanks.

This place I like - it looks more like a home inside.

So - gonna talk to my lender guy to see if I can get a ballpark figure on what the monthly payments would be, and talk to the electric co. to see if I can get an idea of what the average bill is there when occupied, and then make an offer unless some kind of dealbreaker presents itself at the next showing.

Wish me luck! I'm excited!

[Reece]

I wish you luck and hope it is all you are looking for!
Is it your first home buy?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Reece

I wish you luck and hope it is all you are looking for!

Thanks!

Is it your first home buy?

Yep. And hopefully my last.

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Thanks!



Yep. And hopefully my last.

That's what I thought when I bought my first town house. Then, Life threw some changes at me that were beyond my control and I discovered about something called equity. Then, all of a sudden, one thing lead to another and I found myself buying another house in an area I thought I'd never live in.

[CaptainHaplo]

Blast - my bid on one place just got sidetracked - it was a backup but the deal went through with the original buyers.

Still looking for mine. Modular on land (and a basement) looks better and better....

[frau kaleun]

Okay guys when do I stop feeling tired?

I had a dentist appt early this afternoon up in Hamiton so I decided that since I would be in the neighborhood I would drop the carpet cleaner off at my sister's afterwards and then go shopping with my Menards gift card since the only location nearby is up that way as well.

Was mostly looking for a lamp for the office but couldn't find anything I liked so since there was also a Target up there I took my Target gift card over there but couldn't find anything I wanted in there either.

Then since there was a Panera next door and I also had a Panera gift card I stopped in there to get some takeout for dinner. When I was getting back in the car I noticed that my left front tire looked low, which I'd noticed last week as well but just kinda forgot about with everything else going on. So I decided to swing by my Tires Plus on the way home to have them check the air.

Well, the mech right away noticed that I had a nail in that tire, lol, which certainly explained why I kept thinking it looked low, cuz the air was very slowly leaking out and probably had been for a couple weeks or who knows how long. They were about a half hour from closing with no other customers and he said he could get it all patched up right then if I wanted to wait... so I ate my dinner in the Tires Plus waiting room. Didn't take him very long and I know it was good that I stopped because it did turn out there was a problem but, man, by the time I walked out of there I was just dead. I think I would've been LESS tired if I'd stayed home all day unpacking boxes.

Anyhow the day wasn't a total loss shopping-wise, as I did find a couple things at Menards to use my gift card on:



On the left, some snips to snip off the little bit of my outside range hood vent flap that is getting blocked by a brick and thus not allowing it to flap open all the way to vent the fan in the kitchen. At least I *hope* those will do the job, as my BiL said a pair of tin snips is all it would take and the label says "Tinner Snips" but what do I know, lol. Anyway they are supposed to cut sheet metal so they should get the job done whenever I can be arsed to drag the stepladder out there and do it.

The items on the right were the find of the day, as they change one of the banes of my existence - namely, this:



the unwieldy, uncooperative coaxial cable outlet and accompanying cable that insists on sticking several inches out from the wall - into this:



The other and much bigger accomplishment of the past 24 hours is that I started unpacking books and piling them on the two cases I've already got, which has freed up space in the living room considerably.

Around noon today I was this far along:



And after I got home and recovered a bit I buckled down and started again and got to here:



That's about 21 boxes unpacked so far. They're deep cases so the books are shoved in three deep in places and they are still completely unsorted, but at least they're out of boxes and off the floor and the boxes have been broken down and can be stored flat somewhere for the time being.

Also put a couple small temporary old cases in place to stack DVDs, once I get to them (they're somewhere behind the boxes of books, lol) until I get some permanent storage in place:



And now I'm gonna get caught up on "Mad Men" and then... I don't know what, but collapsing into bed sounds like a good idea.

[Cybermat47]

Good luck with it! Although I don't understand most of the financial terms. The innocence of youth

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Although I don't understand most of the financial terms.

Neither do I. The ignorance of single, childless middle age.

[GT182]

Congrats Frau Kaleun! Enjoy the space and quiet.

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

The ignorance of single, childless middle age.

That is not always a bad thing. If you had kids now you might not be able to afford that condo. Kids are more expensive than any thing I've ever seen in all my years.

And no, I have none of my own either. Just step kids all grown and their animals. That's bad enough. I'd rather play in a pool full of leaches.

My 'kid' is my 66 GTO. Always treats me with respect. Never bothers anyone nor does it get in trouble. And I only have to feed and clean it every-so-often.

[Jimbuna]

Good luck in your new place of abode...ivite me over for the housewarming and I'll bring a bottle

[Red October1984]

Hey frau kaleun! That sounds great!

Good luck with it! Hope it all goes well!

Good luck Frau.
Just a couple of things.
Double check on your surveyors report.
Get local information from two good sources, the police(of course), the mailman(an often untapped source of indepth knowledge of the neighbourhood and its properties).

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

the mailman(an often untapped source of indepth knowledge of the neighbourhood and its properties).

He also knows which houses have dogs

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

This neighborhood was not like this when I moved here many years ago. Slowly but surely, this is what it's turning into.

I can only see one common factor. :p

[Wolferz]

To Haus Frau Kaleun?