Decisions

I did make a decision, which seems particularly appropriate today.  Today the house with the view sold to another person, not me, which doesn't feel so bad because I have now chosen another house, not it.  Sure, I would still have loved to buy it but I now understand, not just intellectually but even emotionally, that it just wasn't possible.  It seemed perfect but, in fact, was not.  The buyers got it for $485K (cash!), which is significantly less than the price I had agreed to pay ($535K), but still above the appraised valued ($460K), which was realistically, given my financial constraints and common sense, as low as I could go.  So good for the buyers, the elderly artists who I never met -- may they go on to have long, colorful, lives punctuated with electricity-free chandeliers and bathtubs in the middle of their bathrooms in their new home, and let's hope the new owners of their gorgeous old home have the bank account and wherewithal to bring it back to snuff.

In the meantime, back in my little real estate world, I've decided to buy the red house.  I did go look at the condo on Park Street on Monday and liked it a lot -- good location, great yard and pool, nicely renovated, enough room for the two of us, a bit of a view off the master bedroom deck.  But I liked it a lot for someone else other than us -- it seemed to me perfect for an older couple like the people who were selling it.  For us, it wouldn't work -- the second bedroom was too small for Kanha to have space for her bed and her desk and her stuffed animals and her arts and crafts supplies and her visiting friends, there was no outdoor space close-by big enough for us to eat dinners outside, and no other kids live there for Kanha to make some friends and me to feel like we fit. 

With the red house, we'll be able to put our stamp on it -- choose the floors and paint colors for the third floor, add a window or two, design a fancy shower, redesign the kitchen, relandscape the front yard for a little more privacy.  As they say, "the bones" are good, and the unfun renovation work has been done -- now we can make it our own.  

Hopefully I'll hear from the sellers tomorrow -- they've been away for her brother's funeral, sadly, therefore the delay -- and we'll be able to sign a contract by the weekend and I can get all the details -- the inspection, insurance, mortgage application --  in motion again.  I'm also hoping for good news about a move-in date;  if the tenants -- the mom and her two little little kids --  in the big part of the house liked the apartment they visited this weekend, they may be moving as soon as two weeks from now, and perhaps (!) we'll be able to move in soon after (as short-term tenants ourselves) even before we close.  A major step forward in simplifying my life.  

I'm not swinging from the rafters like I probably would have been if things were moving forward on the house with the view -- which of course would have left me flat on my butt on the floor because the rafters would have come crashing down after thirty years of no upkeep.  So better to be feeling relieved and serene and hopeful.  We should have a new home soon.  

Love Affairs

Kanha and I, along with contractor Nick, went to see the red house last week and they both liked it a lot -- he because the present owner did an excellent job of improving the infrastructure and systems of a very old New England house (they made all the unexciting updates that the artist owners of the "house with a view" skipped), she because it's a house, not a tiny one bedroom apartment where she has to share a room with her mom.  I think they both had very intelligent analyses of the situation.

I liked it too:  the space is good for us -- not too small, not too big, the yard big enough to play catch with the dog but not too much to mow and can be made more private with some strategically placed trees, it doesn't need a huge amount of work -- is, in fact, livable as is -- but has places where we can make our mark -- finishing the top floor, opening up the kitchen.  The biggest negative to me at this point is its location -- it's not quite in a neighborhood like our old house in Cambridge -- it's unlikely Kanha will be running back and forth to the house next door because there essentially isn't one.  In addition, there's a day program for the mentally ill around the corner called Amistad that attracts a slightly unkempt and sometimes rowdy crowd to the neighborhood, Monday through Friday, 9-5.   But as Stephanie, my guru/therapist, pointed out to me, Kanha, just ten and growing older by the minute, will soon have little interest in running next door compared to her excitement about being able to run around town, which this house will certainly afford.  And I've been by the house at many times of day and seen little from the activity at Amstad that looks much different than average city living, and after all, the red house is in the city.  

I wish I felt swept away by it, like I did with the house with the view.  But perhaps it's like a love affair -- since I'm planning on making this a long term thing -- ten years or perhaps longer -- it's probably better for my feelings to begin slow and steady, with affectionate and a sense of potential, rather than explode in an intense passion that, sadly, had to be set aside once the realities of the challenge ahead were brought into full view.  In any case, I've drafted my offer letter and am getting ready to press "send."

Before pressing "send," I decided to take one more breeze through the New England Moves website and, of course, found something of interest -- a cool looking row house on Park Street -- very shishi address (is that how you spell it??) -- for a reasonable price ($380K), all fixed up, with enough space, a large (shared) yard and... a shared pool (yikes -- this might be better than the yard for the dog from Kanha's POV), on top of views of Portland Harbor from the highest floor.  I guess it was preordained -- something had to tip me off my even-keeled perch one last time.  I emailed Nikki about it, but am not so sure I even want to go to see it.  It seems fabulous in a way, but on the other hand, it's not as financially attractive as the red house due to the lack of tenant income, there's no place to easily have dinner outside (the kitchen is 2 floors away from the deck), and it's in a condo association with all the related difficulties that brings.  But it makes one think....

Decision will have been made by the next time I write.  I promise.

The Red House?

Yesterday I found out that the house with a view is under contract with someone new, someone not me.  Oddly, the news was kind of anti-climactic.  I found out through my on-line real estate service that sends an email any time a favorite property has a "change in status" -- I had a feeling even before I opened the email that this time it would be that house.  It's not that I'm not sad and disappointed but apparently reality has caught up with me.  I need to buy a house that isn't going to break me, and that house isn't it.  I wish I was the person who could live in the house with the amazing view, and gardens, and layout, and artists' decorations, and... massive repair and renovation and legal challenges, but it's just not possible, at least in this phase of my life.  

I did look at another place this week -- this morning in fact -- which also is a house with a view.  But while it's lovely, it has nowhere near the draw of the old rambling place -- it's a row house, tall and skinny, with the owner's apartment at the very top, meaning I would have to haul my groceries up 4 (!) stories.  My arms are already straining.  And as Kanha says, the yard -- as lovely as it is from my point of view, with a mix of low-lying bushes and wildflowers, not dissimilar to "my" other house -- is simply not big enough to play catch with the (still-to-be-bought) dog.  The view from the deck off the top floor is stunning, almost as amazing as from the door in the roof at the other house, but it competes in no other way.  And they're asking nearly $700K -- although it has also been on the market forever (5 months or more...) so they would probably come down.  But to me it's just not worth it.

I finally brought up "the red house" with Nikki on Monday -- it's a for-sale by-owner house with a front yard only, small apartment as part of it, a third floor that needs the renovation finished on, in the West End although not a perfect location, but big rooms with lovely hard wood floors, 4 fireplaces, and a good karma -- both Kanha and I seem to be drawn to it whenever we walk by.  (For her, I think it's more the two adorable shih-tzus that the young woman in the small apartment owns than the house itself -- she's a dog kind of a girl, I just have to accept it.)   Interestingly Nikki was quite supportive -- I think she just wants me to find a place to live and exit from her life at this point....  I've emailed the owner who is away until next week, and will probably go look at it once she's back with Kanha and a contractor.  Of course, the tenants in the owner's unit have just signed another six month lease so how quickly we could get in, assuming we can agree to a price and all other contingencies check out, is unknown.  Leave it to me to wait until JUST when their lease has been re-signed to feel my interest reignite.  My special way of making things even harder for myself.

Eh bien, we will see what the next week brings.  Maybe a house, if not with a view.

Appraisal for Sale?

Lots of drama this week, not the least the news that someone else appears to be ready to make an offer on "my house," the house with a view, the writer notes sadly.  I found out because the seller's real estate agent called Nikki, my agent, and asked if the new potential buyers could purchase my appraisal for $150.  This would be the appraisal that I paid $600 for and, more notably, was the cause of my break-up with the house.  Not something I'm likely to hand over for a pittance.

Apparently these buyers can pay cash and want to make sure they're getting a reasonable deal on the house -- therefore, the need for an appraisal.  And appraisers are so busy right now that it will be another three weeks before they can get one done.  

Of course, this brought up all my longing for the house again.  Should I make another offer?  Could I afford to pay more than I had offered before?  And then, when I've come back down to earth why would I imagine it would make any difference in any case because they have a cash buyer and they just want to be done with the whole thing?  

I guess that last question has made me come out on the end of not worrying about it.  Not selling the appraisal -- really, it's just too hard to actively help another buyer buy the house I want, as selfish as that seems -- but also not making another offer.  It is what it is.  If this time it works for the elderly artists, good for them.  And if it doesn't, I know I'll think about it again.

In the meantime, things have gotten worse at work, no other houses have come on the market, I'm behind at both of my jobs -- and today is Kanha's birthday so I have to be both running around and making a party happen AND totally relaxed and happy.  I'm faking it the best I can.  

House hunting again on Monday.  Hurray....