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fenchurchA few weeks ago, we were going after a Geocache up in North Bothell (the town just north of us... in a part of it that was across the line in Snohomish County), when we ran into a house for sale. Keep in mind, we hadn't been thinking of moving... except in the vague "eventually, we're probably going to want to move" kind of way. We've done our home improvement projects with an eye toward how well they'd help us sell the house when we eventually decided to go, but also with the idea that we'd be around to enjoy them for a good many years to come.
But this house... was actually pretty perfect for us. More than twice as large as what we have now, with a completely unfinished basement and a lot more garage space. The lot was slightly smaller, but more of it was usable than what we have now and it was bordered on two sides by greenspace. The price was just above what we'd be comfortable paying. We grabbed a flyer, discussed how cool it would be to have a place like that and then moved on. Until I stumbled across the flyer a week or so later and checked the listing... to discover the price had been dropped significantly. Oh yeah, and it was now "Pending Inspection." So, no dice. Flash forward to yesterday when I went to Zillow to find out how much it had sold for... only to discover it had a new listing with a new agent, still at the lower price. Long story short, it's actually pending again and likely to be sold. But until we found that out, we did some serious talking about what it would take to get our current house ready to sell.
It had only really wishful thinking about that "perfect" house in North Bothell... we're not actually in a position to be moving that quickly. But after discussing it? We're now working with a two year plan that could easily get shortened to a year. So yeah, unless something comes up to change our minds, I suspect we'll be moving sooner rather than later... and I find that while I'm excited at the idea, I'm a bit sad about it, too. I've lived in this house four times longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life. It feels weird to talk about leaving. But now that we've discussed it and laid out some plans, the house just seems way too small and all the imperfections that I've been happily living with are screaming out at me. And I know, wherever we move next will have issues too... but they'd be different, *new* issues. :-p
It's changed how we're planning to do some of our home improvement projects, though. We'd planned this grand remodel of the master bathroom... which is now going to just be a plain old remodel. We're not going to do it totally on the cheap... I mean, the idea is to make the place look really appealing, but also to have something we'll want to live with if things fall through and we end up staying here for longer. We're now no longer planning to put in hardwood floors... instead, sometime later this year we'll likely be getting new carpeting (we'll be pricing it out, though, because if it's not too much more... then we'll probably go with the hardwoods anyway).
So, the main projects for the next year are going to be the yard (which was already on track for this October anyway, since that's supposedly the best time around here for planting new grass), the master bathroom, new carpeting, painting the interior of the house, new doors and new tile in the entryway. Aside from the carpeting... it's pretty much all stuff we can do ourselves on weekends. And, at the end of it all, it will make the house more livable for us if we end up staying.
But with the little bit of searching we've done... we've found an area that's not too far north of here where we can get a house twice the size of this one on a larger lot for not a whole lot more than this house is likely to sell for. And it will get us out of Kirkland city limits and out of King County (two things that have made moving even more appealing -- honestly, if we hadn't been annexed by Kirkland I think we would have happily stayed here and just renovated to get more space).
It's just funny, because two days ago I was perfectly content to stay right where we are for an indefinite amount of time... and now that we've done a little research into our options, I find I'm chomping at the bit to move on.
Crossposted from my Livejournal
But this house... was actually pretty perfect for us. More than twice as large as what we have now, with a completely unfinished basement and a lot more garage space. The lot was slightly smaller, but more of it was usable than what we have now and it was bordered on two sides by greenspace. The price was just above what we'd be comfortable paying. We grabbed a flyer, discussed how cool it would be to have a place like that and then moved on. Until I stumbled across the flyer a week or so later and checked the listing... to discover the price had been dropped significantly. Oh yeah, and it was now "Pending Inspection." So, no dice. Flash forward to yesterday when I went to Zillow to find out how much it had sold for... only to discover it had a new listing with a new agent, still at the lower price. Long story short, it's actually pending again and likely to be sold. But until we found that out, we did some serious talking about what it would take to get our current house ready to sell.
It had only really wishful thinking about that "perfect" house in North Bothell... we're not actually in a position to be moving that quickly. But after discussing it? We're now working with a two year plan that could easily get shortened to a year. So yeah, unless something comes up to change our minds, I suspect we'll be moving sooner rather than later... and I find that while I'm excited at the idea, I'm a bit sad about it, too. I've lived in this house four times longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life. It feels weird to talk about leaving. But now that we've discussed it and laid out some plans, the house just seems way too small and all the imperfections that I've been happily living with are screaming out at me. And I know, wherever we move next will have issues too... but they'd be different, *new* issues. :-p
It's changed how we're planning to do some of our home improvement projects, though. We'd planned this grand remodel of the master bathroom... which is now going to just be a plain old remodel. We're not going to do it totally on the cheap... I mean, the idea is to make the place look really appealing, but also to have something we'll want to live with if things fall through and we end up staying here for longer. We're now no longer planning to put in hardwood floors... instead, sometime later this year we'll likely be getting new carpeting (we'll be pricing it out, though, because if it's not too much more... then we'll probably go with the hardwoods anyway).
So, the main projects for the next year are going to be the yard (which was already on track for this October anyway, since that's supposedly the best time around here for planting new grass), the master bathroom, new carpeting, painting the interior of the house, new doors and new tile in the entryway. Aside from the carpeting... it's pretty much all stuff we can do ourselves on weekends. And, at the end of it all, it will make the house more livable for us if we end up staying.
But with the little bit of searching we've done... we've found an area that's not too far north of here where we can get a house twice the size of this one on a larger lot for not a whole lot more than this house is likely to sell for. And it will get us out of Kirkland city limits and out of King County (two things that have made moving even more appealing -- honestly, if we hadn't been annexed by Kirkland I think we would have happily stayed here and just renovated to get more space).
It's just funny, because two days ago I was perfectly content to stay right where we are for an indefinite amount of time... and now that we've done a little research into our options, I find I'm chomping at the bit to move on.
Crossposted from my Livejournal
no subject
Date: 2011-08-14 04:07 am (UTC)Good luck with it! (Two years isn't nearly as long as it seems.)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-14 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-16 12:26 am (UTC)And, really, we may end up not leaving King County after all... but we'll definitely give greater consideration to properties we find out in Snohomish County when we do start looking.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-16 01:09 am (UTC)If/when I move back, though, I'm thinking of Pierce County. Will have to do some research on that before I decide.