stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-05-17 12:46 am
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-05-17 12:46 am
Entry tags:
The Plague Diaries: Hunting a Unicorn
How did Max and I occupy ourselves while people were viewing our house? We looked at other people's houses, of course!
Jim hooked us up with Michael, one of his agents, and I sent him the list of houses we wanted to see. He agreed to meet us at the first one during the time when lots of people would be tramping through our house.
Darwin had to be in Albion for work, so he couldn't come with us. He said he trusted my judgement and would accept any decision I made. I didn't like this. It was a terrible pressure because I would have to accept a house based on my PERCEPTION of his judgement AND somehow stay under $XX. It added to the stress I was already under--the ticking clock, finding a house that =I= could live with, and the constant, crushing presence of COVID 19.
The current requirements say you can view houses for sale BUT: 1) no open houses; 2) everyone must be masked; 3) no more than four people in the house at a time; 4) showings may last no more than 15 minutes. Additionally, we knew we should sanitize after every house. More stress. What if we forgot to do something? What if we picked up the virus somewhere? But we forged ahead.
This was also the first time Max had been involved in house-hunting. I was a little surprised that he wanted to be. When we were looking for our current house, Max was adamant that he wanted nothing to do with it. When we announced that we were selling this house, Max shrugged and said, "Whatever." So it was a bit of a start that he wanted to hunt with me.
We met Michael at the first house on the list. He turned out to be slim and very young (younger than Sasha, who is 27), with a penchant for exclaiming, "Perfect!" to nearly everything. Max and I chose to find it endearing.
The first house Max and I saw was on a lake, but was in scary-rotten shape. Bad floors, bad walls, scary-ass bathroom. It was a terrible pity, because the lake was fantastic. Really, the place was a tear-down. Next.
The second house looked promising. It didn't have a basement, but it did have a sun room where the treadmill could go. But it was very small, a converted vacation cottage with an odd layout. We put it in the maybe pile.
Max and I toured more houses with Michael. Some we rejected outright, others we put in the same maybe pile. Max pointed out flaws I'd overlooked in some and pluses in others. None of them made us sit up and bark. Hmm . . .
That evening, I talked to Darwin and laid it out for him. We couldn't find a suitable house for $XX. Not within half an hour of my job. We needed to increase to at least $XX+YY, or we'd be homeless. Reluctantly, Darwin agreed.
With this expanded parameter, I searched again. This time, I came across several houses that looked much more suitable, including an historical farmhouse within walking distance of my job, a teeny-but-nice condo 15 minutes away from Wherever, a condo on a lake, and a half a dozen houses. I sent the list to Michael, who said we could start touring them Saturday afternoon. This time, Darwin would be there, too.
To my disappointment, Darwin didn't like the farmhouse at all. We got into . . . not quite a fight, but a protracted discussion about it. We both liked the teeny-but-nice condo (three bedrooms and an arrestingly large basement), though it would be too small to have people over and there seemed to be a lengthy application process. We saw a bunch of houses that were, frankly, disgusting or even scary. ("Need some TLC," says the listing. TRANSLATION: "You'll have to gut the place, and it'll take months.") One unoccupied house had a bathroom that looked like something you'd find in a condemned gas station.
When we got to the condo on the lake, Michael said, "I don't want to show you this one." When we asked why not, he explained, "It's a second-story unit and it has no basement. Based on what you've been telling me, it sounds like it won't meet your needs."
Darwin wanted to see it anyway, and I thought it was worth having at least a quick look, since it was close to the last two houses we were going to see. So we went.
The condo was . . . pretty awesome! Yeah, it's second-floor, but one entire wall of both the living room and master bedroom look out on the lake. Big, open floor plan. (I know open floor plans have their critics, but Darwin and I like them very much.) Balcony overlooking the lake for my writing porch. An oddly-built bathroom with an empty space opposite the sinks literally big enough for my treadmill. A walk-in closet the size of a bedroom. A ginormous master bedroom big enough to accommodate our desks so we can have a lake view while we're working and keep the third bedroom as a guest room. Big enough to have people over. Monthly dues under $300. And within our budget.
The only problem with it was the seller's information stated there had been "settling or flooding." Couldn't be flooding, so it had be settling. We did notice some uneven flooring in the entryway, and a settling crack in the ceiling. When we asked about this (through appropriate channels), we were told that there was indeed settling in the main structure of the building, but the condo association had re-buttressed the foundations and stopped it. We were cautiously reassured, though of course, it needs to be inspected.
We looked at the next house. It needed TLC. The final house canceled on us.
So we put an offer in on the lake condo.
This touched off, of course, a lot of phone conversations and emails and electronic document signing. And now we're waiting for a response.
Jim hooked us up with Michael, one of his agents, and I sent him the list of houses we wanted to see. He agreed to meet us at the first one during the time when lots of people would be tramping through our house.
Darwin had to be in Albion for work, so he couldn't come with us. He said he trusted my judgement and would accept any decision I made. I didn't like this. It was a terrible pressure because I would have to accept a house based on my PERCEPTION of his judgement AND somehow stay under $XX. It added to the stress I was already under--the ticking clock, finding a house that =I= could live with, and the constant, crushing presence of COVID 19.
The current requirements say you can view houses for sale BUT: 1) no open houses; 2) everyone must be masked; 3) no more than four people in the house at a time; 4) showings may last no more than 15 minutes. Additionally, we knew we should sanitize after every house. More stress. What if we forgot to do something? What if we picked up the virus somewhere? But we forged ahead.
This was also the first time Max had been involved in house-hunting. I was a little surprised that he wanted to be. When we were looking for our current house, Max was adamant that he wanted nothing to do with it. When we announced that we were selling this house, Max shrugged and said, "Whatever." So it was a bit of a start that he wanted to hunt with me.
We met Michael at the first house on the list. He turned out to be slim and very young (younger than Sasha, who is 27), with a penchant for exclaiming, "Perfect!" to nearly everything. Max and I chose to find it endearing.
The first house Max and I saw was on a lake, but was in scary-rotten shape. Bad floors, bad walls, scary-ass bathroom. It was a terrible pity, because the lake was fantastic. Really, the place was a tear-down. Next.
The second house looked promising. It didn't have a basement, but it did have a sun room where the treadmill could go. But it was very small, a converted vacation cottage with an odd layout. We put it in the maybe pile.
Max and I toured more houses with Michael. Some we rejected outright, others we put in the same maybe pile. Max pointed out flaws I'd overlooked in some and pluses in others. None of them made us sit up and bark. Hmm . . .
That evening, I talked to Darwin and laid it out for him. We couldn't find a suitable house for $XX. Not within half an hour of my job. We needed to increase to at least $XX+YY, or we'd be homeless. Reluctantly, Darwin agreed.
With this expanded parameter, I searched again. This time, I came across several houses that looked much more suitable, including an historical farmhouse within walking distance of my job, a teeny-but-nice condo 15 minutes away from Wherever, a condo on a lake, and a half a dozen houses. I sent the list to Michael, who said we could start touring them Saturday afternoon. This time, Darwin would be there, too.
To my disappointment, Darwin didn't like the farmhouse at all. We got into . . . not quite a fight, but a protracted discussion about it. We both liked the teeny-but-nice condo (three bedrooms and an arrestingly large basement), though it would be too small to have people over and there seemed to be a lengthy application process. We saw a bunch of houses that were, frankly, disgusting or even scary. ("Need some TLC," says the listing. TRANSLATION: "You'll have to gut the place, and it'll take months.") One unoccupied house had a bathroom that looked like something you'd find in a condemned gas station.
When we got to the condo on the lake, Michael said, "I don't want to show you this one." When we asked why not, he explained, "It's a second-story unit and it has no basement. Based on what you've been telling me, it sounds like it won't meet your needs."
Darwin wanted to see it anyway, and I thought it was worth having at least a quick look, since it was close to the last two houses we were going to see. So we went.
The condo was . . . pretty awesome! Yeah, it's second-floor, but one entire wall of both the living room and master bedroom look out on the lake. Big, open floor plan. (I know open floor plans have their critics, but Darwin and I like them very much.) Balcony overlooking the lake for my writing porch. An oddly-built bathroom with an empty space opposite the sinks literally big enough for my treadmill. A walk-in closet the size of a bedroom. A ginormous master bedroom big enough to accommodate our desks so we can have a lake view while we're working and keep the third bedroom as a guest room. Big enough to have people over. Monthly dues under $300. And within our budget.
The only problem with it was the seller's information stated there had been "settling or flooding." Couldn't be flooding, so it had be settling. We did notice some uneven flooring in the entryway, and a settling crack in the ceiling. When we asked about this (through appropriate channels), we were told that there was indeed settling in the main structure of the building, but the condo association had re-buttressed the foundations and stopped it. We were cautiously reassured, though of course, it needs to be inspected.
We looked at the next house. It needed TLC. The final house canceled on us.
So we put an offer in on the lake condo.
This touched off, of course, a lot of phone conversations and emails and electronic document signing. And now we're waiting for a response.