« Once More with Hobbits | Main | Books that make you go "hrm." »
December 19, 2004
House hunting update (it still sucks)...
We spent yesterday afternoon with our Realtor, a buyers agent named Jonathan with Homebility, very nice guy, very professional, and very patient, highly recommended. Saw a half dozen properties - most on the north side of Seattle, one in Newcastle that Dawnise had seen and liked enough to warrant a return with me.
Out of those, there are two candidates. The one in Newcastle is over-priced by about $30k based on the neighborhood comps, so if we put in an offer, I don't hold out much hope it'll be accepted. Their agent provided a house or two that she used as comps in setting pricing - and they're not in the same league (or even in the same area, which is odd). It's a nice house - very similar to the house we tried to buy twice on Bainbridge Island. While the lot is large, it's all slope in the back, so it's not really usable space, which is probably the only strike against it.
The one in the north end was a bit smaller, with a smaller lot, but we liked it. The more we think about it, though, the smaller it feels. It might just be our memories playing tricks on us, but while there we were commenting on the fact that none of the common rooms looked big enough for the pool table. It would need some renovation to the kitchen, and some minor repairs to the hardwood floors in the entry way. I'd probably want to re-work the back yard a bit as well - they have a lot of decking, and two above ground spas (one that's large enough to be a pool for kids) that really suck up the space.
This afternoon we're heading back over to Bainbridge Island for a last hurrah - looking at all the available houses there so we can ultimately make a decision (island or mainland, ferry or car, visitation or isolation...) and (hopefully) submit an offer on Monday.
I did an informal survey of folks who we'd be likely to invite to social soirees, asking how likely they would be to attend gatherings on the island vs. on the east side. The ferry seems a fairly significant deterrent - only one person responded that they'd be more likely to attend a party on the island ('cause they live there), one person said the chances were even, and the rest said they'd be less, or significantly less, likely to attend on Bainbridge.
Grumble, grumble.
Dawnise just looked out the window and it's started to rain. Rain, in Seattle in December... I'm shocked. Shocked I say.
Posted by dberger at December 19, 2004 9:22 AM