All but one of the conditions have been removed on the purchase of the new house (we signed the mortgage papers today); there was a major issue found during inspection and we are hoping that the sellers will meet us half way to solve it.
In the meantime, we are extending the date for conditions to be removed for the buyer of our place to accommodate the time it takes for the bank to process the assessment (done today) but it's basically a done deal.
Soon I might just be able to sleep at night again.
Showing posts with label househunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label househunting. Show all posts
30 September 2008
23 September 2008
Holy Whirlwind!!
We accepted the counter to the counter-offer on our place this morning with the "subject-to" conditions to be lifted by Sept 29th.
In the meantime, we looked at three front-runners this evening and found one in the Quadra/Finlayson area (a.k.a. "Mayfair") that felt like a good fit -- it's also currently vacant so we put in an offer; we'll know tomorrow if they counter but our conditions -- including a full inspection -- should be lifted by October 1st.
If all goes well, we'll be moved in by (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend!!
In the meantime, we looked at three front-runners this evening and found one in the Quadra/Finlayson area (a.k.a. "Mayfair") that felt like a good fit -- it's also currently vacant so we put in an offer; we'll know tomorrow if they counter but our conditions -- including a full inspection -- should be lifted by October 1st.
If all goes well, we'll be moved in by (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend!!
22 September 2008
Busy, crazy weekend.
I had taken Friday off work and ended up taking the van in for repairs (most of the cost was for diagnostic work, grr) then taking oodles of grid photos.
Saturday, we tidied up and prepared to get out of the house -- apparently not soon enough as Realtors started showing up for showings at 10:30. We got everyone into the van, including the cat, and headed for Nanaimo. The goal was a return to Cyber City with a promise that we could do a round of mini-golf this time. We did, but Kiddo decided she "hates mini-golf!" so after we finished, Hubby took her for laser tag. Three minutes after going in, she decided she hated that too ("it wasn't dark enough!") so she got to climb in the kid-size habitrail until we were ready to go.
On our way back, we stopped at a Serious Coffee and checked our e-mail in case of any report about the Open House, then headed back down to Duncan. We stopped in the new super-size Wal-Mart and I am embarrassed to say I was impressed. It's one of the ones with the food floor, and we found (of all things) a giant jar of ghee -- made in Canada even -- which we've never found in Victoria. We will be getting our own giant Wal-Mart in Victoria once the construction is completed at the Douglas street location.
We returned home to find that our entrance hall closet door had been opened and closed so many times that the top hinge was broken and would no longer shut. I have patched it back together for now and we are leaving cash aside in case a buyer would prefer it be replaced.
The Realtor said the open house went very well, though, and expects our place to sell this week; we are expecting offers today. In the meantime, we are looking for somewhere to move!
We looked at one place on our shortlist that had an open house yesterday. We both instantly felt comfortable in the space, despite how much work it would take to un-fugly the place. Unfortunately, our Realtor thinks it is not worth the asking price... but we shall see.
Saturday, we tidied up and prepared to get out of the house -- apparently not soon enough as Realtors started showing up for showings at 10:30. We got everyone into the van, including the cat, and headed for Nanaimo. The goal was a return to Cyber City with a promise that we could do a round of mini-golf this time. We did, but Kiddo decided she "hates mini-golf!" so after we finished, Hubby took her for laser tag. Three minutes after going in, she decided she hated that too ("it wasn't dark enough!") so she got to climb in the kid-size habitrail until we were ready to go.
On our way back, we stopped at a Serious Coffee and checked our e-mail in case of any report about the Open House, then headed back down to Duncan. We stopped in the new super-size Wal-Mart and I am embarrassed to say I was impressed. It's one of the ones with the food floor, and we found (of all things) a giant jar of ghee -- made in Canada even -- which we've never found in Victoria. We will be getting our own giant Wal-Mart in Victoria once the construction is completed at the Douglas street location.
We returned home to find that our entrance hall closet door had been opened and closed so many times that the top hinge was broken and would no longer shut. I have patched it back together for now and we are leaving cash aside in case a buyer would prefer it be replaced.
The Realtor said the open house went very well, though, and expects our place to sell this week; we are expecting offers today. In the meantime, we are looking for somewhere to move!
We looked at one place on our shortlist that had an open house yesterday. We both instantly felt comfortable in the space, despite how much work it would take to un-fugly the place. Unfortunately, our Realtor thinks it is not worth the asking price... but we shall see.
10 September 2008
Into the Home(finishing) Stretch....
As the fifteenth approaches and our time-line narrows, our activity is a flurry of ticking things off our To-Do list.
Yesterday we got the replacement for the broken window (only $78!! Thanks, Pino-Lite!) and I signed off on the proof of the print for the bedroom -- being re-done at Island Blue since it looks like pickets will be up around the SUB for some time yet.
The fences are painted (yay!) and we got a cheque yesterday reimbursing us for earlier damages. We will be using that cash to pimp our deck in the next few days. Unfortunately, one of our containers collapsed when we tried to lift it (the wood frame was very bug-eaten) but we will re-organize and rearrange to compensate.
Cthulhu will also be getting an un-subtle ride across town to a temporary location until he is sold or we move into a place where we could store him again.
Aside from the patio pimping, the last major thing to be completed before "staging" is the carpet installation, set for this Friday.
Once the place is staged, you'll get to see some before and after shots -- I promise! -- and of course, you can have a look at the listing once it's up.
Yesterday we got the replacement for the broken window (only $78!! Thanks, Pino-Lite!) and I signed off on the proof of the print for the bedroom -- being re-done at Island Blue since it looks like pickets will be up around the SUB for some time yet.
The fences are painted (yay!) and we got a cheque yesterday reimbursing us for earlier damages. We will be using that cash to pimp our deck in the next few days. Unfortunately, one of our containers collapsed when we tried to lift it (the wood frame was very bug-eaten) but we will re-organize and rearrange to compensate.
Cthulhu will also be getting an un-subtle ride across town to a temporary location until he is sold or we move into a place where we could store him again.
Aside from the patio pimping, the last major thing to be completed before "staging" is the carpet installation, set for this Friday.
Once the place is staged, you'll get to see some before and after shots -- I promise! -- and of course, you can have a look at the listing once it's up.
06 September 2008
Mysterious visitor
We went out looking at open houses today -- saw three: one I liked, one Kiddo liked and one we all agree would take a lot of work but it is priced accordingly as a "fixer-upper."
Later, while eating dinner, we noticed a little grasshopper-type insect on some plastic cutlery. I took some photos then took it outside, letting it crawl on to my rosemary plant.
After dinner I started trying to figure out what kind of insect it was and eventually found a post on What's That Bug that convinced me it was a Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum). It seems that these bugs were introduced to the Pacific Northwest very recently -- in the past 5 years. Up to then, they were commonly found on the Eastern seaboard and in Europe.
After identifying it, I went to check on him (it is the male of the species) and he was still hiding in the rosemary. One mystery does remain: how did he come to be in our dining room? My guess is that he hitchhiked on us from one of the yards we were poking around earlier.
Later, while eating dinner, we noticed a little grasshopper-type insect on some plastic cutlery. I took some photos then took it outside, letting it crawl on to my rosemary plant.
After dinner I started trying to figure out what kind of insect it was and eventually found a post on What's That Bug that convinced me it was a Drumming Katydid (Meconema thalassinum). It seems that these bugs were introduced to the Pacific Northwest very recently -- in the past 5 years. Up to then, they were commonly found on the Eastern seaboard and in Europe.
After identifying it, I went to check on him (it is the male of the species) and he was still hiding in the rosemary. One mystery does remain: how did he come to be in our dining room? My guess is that he hitchhiked on us from one of the yards we were poking around earlier.
26 August 2008
So much to do....
Blogging may be scarce for a while as we are busy with prep at home and all I have the energy to do at the end of the night is surf aimlessly or play a few rounds of a puzzle game.
Today, Hubby is finishing filling the U-Pak unit then we still have a bit of packing to do (but now our storage locker and storage room are empty -- all that stuff is in the U-Pak) before we prep for painting this weekend. After that, we start shuffling but we have a bit of a breather before we have to get all the furniture out of the way for re-carpeting.
Once the carpet is in, we have a couple of days to stage the place (gah) before the sale sign goes up. If everything goes according to plan, we will have the first open house on the 20th of September.
While you are waiting, check out this bizarre bit of chronocide. (You have Mental Floss to thank for alerting me to its existence.)
Today, Hubby is finishing filling the U-Pak unit then we still have a bit of packing to do (but now our storage locker and storage room are empty -- all that stuff is in the U-Pak) before we prep for painting this weekend. After that, we start shuffling but we have a bit of a breather before we have to get all the furniture out of the way for re-carpeting.
Once the carpet is in, we have a couple of days to stage the place (gah) before the sale sign goes up. If everything goes according to plan, we will have the first open house on the 20th of September.
***
While you are waiting, check out this bizarre bit of chronocide. (You have Mental Floss to thank for alerting me to its existence.)
09 August 2008
Slight change in plan....
Yesterday, we wiped the stardust from our eyes and took a more critical look at the house we'd talked ourselves into loving so much. We agreed that there were some considerable drawbacks but more importantly, after talking with our realtor, agreed that we would be in a better position to sell our place first then buy.
There are LOTS of places on the market that meet our basic criteria (size/price/location); we've got a mortgage pre-approval that is good through November and even though condo sales have stalled overall, townhouses (entry level family housing) are still selling quickly. Plus, selling first means we won't have to carry some very heavy interim financing charges.
So, now we kick into HIGH gear to get our place ready. That includes letting a professional stager come in and give us a plan for action, though really I'm pretty sure we already know what we need to do -- basically de-personalize the heck out of the place.
The really interesting thing is that another townhouse in our complex, two doors down, just listed. It's one less bedroom, one less level, and about 100 square feet smaller. It's been completely renovated -- much more so than the renos we've done -- and they are asking about $50K more than we were guessing we'd get for ours.
There are LOTS of places on the market that meet our basic criteria (size/price/location); we've got a mortgage pre-approval that is good through November and even though condo sales have stalled overall, townhouses (entry level family housing) are still selling quickly. Plus, selling first means we won't have to carry some very heavy interim financing charges.
So, now we kick into HIGH gear to get our place ready. That includes letting a professional stager come in and give us a plan for action, though really I'm pretty sure we already know what we need to do -- basically de-personalize the heck out of the place.
The really interesting thing is that another townhouse in our complex, two doors down, just listed. It's one less bedroom, one less level, and about 100 square feet smaller. It's been completely renovated -- much more so than the renos we've done -- and they are asking about $50K more than we were guessing we'd get for ours.
07 August 2008
Purging, packing, and prepping
Even though we've been stuffing our stuff in a storage locker for several months, it's now nearly full and our place still looks like a family of 8 lives here. (Yes, we have issues with consumer goods; I also have the pack-rat gene going back at least two generations on each side.)
But, since we are now very close to starting the whole put-in-an-offer-and-sell-our-place dance, we decided that it's time to purge, pack and prepare for the eventual "staging" of this place.
We started by thinning our DVD collection which was overflowing 8 shelves and then some. We have packed away 4 boxes of movies and TV series and have vowed not to buy any more media until we have moved into our new home. (This will be a challenge...). Next, we needed more boxes. Hubby got them out of our in-house storage area by moving some of that stuff into more perma-storage containers (plastic bins).
Then we packed another 9 boxes with stuff out of the bedrooms -- shelf contents, clothing, and books. We stopped at this point; I think I need to be brutal with my closet and pass a bunch of clothing on to the local Sally Ann. Actually, we will probably list a batch of stuff on Craigslist (some for sale, some for free) as well as take some to charity and/or offer it to family & friends. (We may make use of thosedewolfes to track things we have available, I'll make a note here if we do.)
Aaaanyway. If I seem more insane than usual, it's likely because I'm spinning around trying to remember whether I'd already packed something. Sigh.
03 August 2008
House-hunting begins
So, late last week we finally "hired" a Realtor. On Friday, he sent us a list of 74 properties that matched our criteria which, over the last couple of days, we narrowed down to about 20. Most are 3 or 4 bedrooms and all but one have 2 bathrooms; all are in the $400K-$475K range -- much, much better than the choices 6 months ago.
We drove by those 20 today and brought that number down to 6, one of which we have been inside (an earlier open house). Driving by really helps to have a look at the neighbourhood (and potential neighbours, barking dogs, and so forth) -- we ruled out at least one property this way. It also helps to check the access -- we ruled out another that had a driveway which was difficult to pull into but near impossible to pull out of.
Our favourite, and the front-runner so far, is still the one we saw a month ago. It lacks some storage on the main floor and currently there is a wasp nest under the front stairs, but otherwise seems ideal. It's near Hillside Mall, two blocks from an elementary school, and an easy commute even by bike to campus.
However, there were several properties in Saanich, most near Swan Lake, that were appealing, too. Of course we also saw a listing for a Mill Bay property today.... 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms on 2.25 acres for $349K (or best offer! FSBO) ....but unfortunately, commuting from Mill Bay is not high on my list.
Now we just have to get inside a few of the others and then put in an offer somewhere!
We drove by those 20 today and brought that number down to 6, one of which we have been inside (an earlier open house). Driving by really helps to have a look at the neighbourhood (and potential neighbours, barking dogs, and so forth) -- we ruled out at least one property this way. It also helps to check the access -- we ruled out another that had a driveway which was difficult to pull into but near impossible to pull out of.
Our favourite, and the front-runner so far, is still the one we saw a month ago. It lacks some storage on the main floor and currently there is a wasp nest under the front stairs, but otherwise seems ideal. It's near Hillside Mall, two blocks from an elementary school, and an easy commute even by bike to campus.
However, there were several properties in Saanich, most near Swan Lake, that were appealing, too. Of course we also saw a listing for a Mill Bay property today.... 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms on 2.25 acres for $349K (or best offer! FSBO) ....but unfortunately, commuting from Mill Bay is not high on my list.
Now we just have to get inside a few of the others and then put in an offer somewhere!
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