Sold Again

It almost feels like cheating, having access to the realtors' properties database, but without it we might have missed out on this one. We have been looking hard for about a month now (after almost a year's worth of planning and thinking and praying), and I've been carefully monitoring any new properties that have come to market. Last week a nice house in the Foxhaven neighborhood came on, but it was about $60k more than we wanted to spend. So this afternoon when a new listing appeared for a house on that same street--but for $70k less--I hit the speed dial to Meg and announced my find. I didn't even know all the details when I first told Meg, but as I poured over the listing, it just kept getting better and better--4 bedrooms, an office, and a 3-car garage (Meg's favorite part, I think). Meg called the realtor immediately, but couldn't get a hold of her (she was at a lengthy funeral); but we decided to drive down there anyway, and left a message with the realtor saying so.

So after work, Meg picked me up at the transit station--boys happily munching away on McDonalds "food," and we began our drive down to Salem--only about 50 minutes, even during rush-hour. Just as we were pulling onto Southbend (the street where the house sits, the realtor called Meg's cell phone (brand-spanking new, just for occasions like this) to let us know she'd be there in ten minutes. Perfect timing.

We tried waking up Aaron to see the house, but he was very unhappy; so he slept on the seller's couch the whole time. It was dark of course, so we couldn't see the backyard very well, but it was flat (the neighborhood does have a few, gently sloping hills--ala Stone hedge), good-sized, well cared for, and raised beds for vegetables were in place--and no rotting deck to deal with. It also should pass the wiffle-ball game test . . .

The space inside is open, practical, and well-used--there aren't dead spaces or pockets that can't be used for anything. Hardwood floors cover almost the entire downstairs (save the office), and the kitchen countertops are 12-inch fancy-pants tile. The dining room, kitchen, and family room all run together, but the space is large and open. The office is just off the front-entry, with a slider to the kitchen--very similar to the Keizer Asay's loom-room. Half-bath and laundry room are downstairs. The garage is 3-bays wide (all equiped with openers) with a side-door to the outside. It is adorned with OSU_beaver stuff that will have to go before we move in!

The upstairs has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The rooms are bigger than average, with some of the closets having built-in shelves. The master bathroom has but one sink, but it is plumbed for another--an easy fix down the road. It also includes a shower (one of the houses we looked at down the street had no shower in the master bath) and a jetted tub--and the closet is at the end of the bathroom (I hate it when the closet and bathroom aren't connected).

The house has lots of windows and views of Mt. Jefferson. It looks very nice from the outside, and because it sits just on the lisp of a small hill, we have views over the neighborhood without being viewed by our neighbors. We know two of our neighbors already (one is now the bishop of our ward), and are excited to return to Capital City--tentatively scheduled for the first part of April--after a brief stint of living in the Booren's basement.

Meg and I both felt that we would make an offer on the house--even before seeing it in person--and we did, of course. The current owners are moving out-of-state, and had just bought it two years ago for $20k less than what they were asking. But as we were writing up the offer, the seller phoned the realtor and tried to jack up the price from $290k to $300k. That totally ticked her off, and she had some choice words for him. We agreed to meet in the middle, and we currently have a verbal agreement (should have signatures by Tuesday to formalize the deal) to buy it for $295k--which is still under what we were willing to spend in Salem. This should lower our monthly mortgage payment by a couple hundred dollars a month, and our long-term debt by tens of thousands of dollars.