We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Friday, Jan. 06, 2006 - 7:03 A.M.
House Hunting madness
Did I mention that Misti and I are both a bit obsessive? I mean, neither of us should be certified or anything, but once something gets under our skin...Its almost as though a switch flicked when we decided we were going to stay a few more years, and buy a house because it makes sense to in the current market.
Misti found a good home on her first search. It has served as a good benchmark.
I have been looking at everything available in our price range since then. The search is formidable. Mind you, our list of requirements is pretty formidable too, which means many properties are rejected unseen.
Misti won't have a single story house, period. She was talked into buying a "ranch" by her ex-husband, and regretted it every day that she lived in it. That's no big deal to me, and it wipes out about half the contenders in our price range.
Neither Misti nor I are keen on modern, boxy homes that were built between 1955 and about 1990. We both flatly refuse to live in a sterile neighborhood of "MacMansions" which is where all of the otherwise cool modern homes are being built.
Misti calls these corn-houses because they invariably shoot up over a couple of summers in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere. Its quite visually jarring to be driving down a tree-lined country road, then come to a clearing and see forty, 3,000 square foot behemoths standing cheek-by-jowl occupying 5 acres of manicured land, each owner having a slice of America that is indistinguishable from his neighbor's.
So, not single story, not later than 1955 unless its spectacular.... then it has to have room for two cars, room for two plus-sized cooks in the kitchen, room for a boy to grow, and 2 bathrooms.
Ironically, room for two cars has written off so many homes I am truly surprised. I mean, this *is* Michigan, (home of the big 3 auto makers for those who don't get the reference).
I must have investigated 500 or more prospects online, driven past 50 or more houses to find out that the backyard doesn't suit or they are on too busy a road, or there is no way you can get a second car in there or... they are just butt ugly, or I can't see myself living in them, or the feature that made them so cool on paper was the worst feature of the property in reality.
We saw one tonight, (Jon, the buyer's agent, got access to four for us to look through this evening), the blurb made a big deal about the upstairs. After making it up the hazardous stairs, Misti proclaimed, "this is not an upstairs, its an attic", and she was right. I followed with "which makes this a ranch"..... Next!!!.
I drove past another one which made a big deal about the "privacy deck"... yeah right. Great privacy from one neighbor, but it neglected to mention that the deck is openly exposed to the street with a wee mesh fence on the boundary. To get any privacy in the yard at all would require a seven-foot fence... no thanks.... and by the time you moved the wee fence to accommodate a second car, you'd be fresh out of yard. ..... next.
Walked into another one tonight.... parking the second car is awkward, but not impossible, got 4 feet into the house to the kitchen(ette) one small bench, two small cupboards, small fridge and microwave.... no room to expand...... next.
At the moment we have two serious contenders, the one that Misti spotted on her first search, and one with 100 feet of river frontage and a short walk from the University that will represent a far better investment.
Our buyer's agent is a real gem; he's been able to help with a lot of information that just isn't available to mug punters like us, and he's able to walk us through the seemingly endless paperwork and legalese.
