YAAAY!!!
We have a house!!! (Well, technically not for another month and a half, but still. ^_^)
So I was really conflicted yesterday because another townhouse – 3 bed, 2 bath, backs on trees – was listed in the same area for only $185K. I was terrified we were getting ripped off on this one and that we’d made a rash decision. So I called several realtors to get the address (Joe was busy) and we decided to go look at the new listing. Except that we went to “our” house first, and we liked it so much that we stayed there for like an hour and never did go see the other listing.
This house looks great to me now. True, the floorplan’s not that great, and for now it looks onto a parking lot from the upper back window, but that can change. I had three main concerns about the house that were depressing the heck out of the thought of us going to live there: 1) the parking lot view, 2) the small yard, and 3) the dimness of the living room. BUT…
1) Other houses had trees planted along the embankment, which means we could easily get permission to do so too, or just ask the HOA to do it for us and they might agree. I’m not even so sure I want to do it though, because the sun would set directly behind those trees, throwing shadow over the yard a lot sooner. Still, it would greatly improve the view from the office (back bedroom upstairs).
2) I thought when I first saw it that the yard ended at the shed, but looking at other people’s yards I realize that that isn’t so. It’s actually a good 5 feet longer than I’d thought. Which is always nice. Plenty of room for a patio w/ barbecue, a little arbor with a bench (covered in wisteria!!!) a dogwood tree, some vegetables, and some lilac and lavender bushes. Ooooh…. 😀 I’m excited.
3) Every other neighbor had a patio door on one side of the back of the building and a window on the other side. Ours has only the patio door, which accounts for the dimness in the living room. And we’d thought that we wouldn’t be able to change that, since punching a new hole in the wall is probably prohibited in the HOA rules… but since every single other neighbor (without exception) has a window right where I’d put it, I’m sure we’ll be able to. Maybe even a bay window, or one with a window seat for studying…. mmmmmm…..
Besides, it’s a two-minute drive from a really nice national park. 0_0 I’m all over that! -laugh-
So yeah, I’m so happy that we went back and looked again at the place. I’m so very excited now, and I can’t wait to move in. Except it turns out that settlement’s not till June 30th, and then they’re renting back ten days after that. So we can’t actually move in for quite a while, but who cares? I’m so happy this is finally over!!! 😀