How'd we do?

We got the house! Detached. Across from a park. In a great family neighbourhood.
We're leaving the hip hood with bars and restaurants a stone's throw away. And moving on east to mature trees, lots of kids and a great school.
Now what about the actual house - the bricks and mortar? Well, all in all we did pretty well.

We got almost everything on our lists!

I'll bold the ones we got right.

Must Haves

• 3 bedrooms

• 2 bathrooms

• Finished basement

• Grassy backyard

• Deck or patio area

• Living room 10+ feet

• Parking - would consider street parking but only if pressed

• Storage space of some kind

• If renovated kitchen, ample cupboard space and lots of counter space (island preferred)

• Front entry way with room to remove shoes etc with coat hook area or closet

• Big renos like electrical, plumbing, windows, roof and basement already completed

• A small percentage of brown/beige 'unchangeable without great cost' tile

• Hardwood ( pee pee cats)

Nice to Haves

• Laundry sink

• Painted wood

• Modern design touches

• Big closets

• Ensuite

• Garage

• Ability to use some basement space for office

• A nod to character (original glass or floor) without character with a capital C

• Gas BBQ

• Eat in kitchen

• Walk in shower

• Front porch

• Fireplace

All in all we did pretty well. Let me go back to the must have's. We did make a few compromises...

First-the backyard is landscaped. Pretty. Well-kept. But not grass. Now we do have a HUGE grassy park across the street so there's grass in close proximity and there is room back there to create a grassy area and have a great patio area - plus there's a deck off the second floor so there is outdoor space in spades.

Next, the kitchen is lovely, but there are far fewer cabinets than we're used to. But, there is a huge island that is all storage - and this gives tons of work surface so it works out. We're planning to set aside some space in the basement for kitchen overflow storage so it should be a-ok.

The last issue is one that we thought was small but it grew as we dug a little deeper into the situation. And the walls. The electrical isn't quite as done as we had thought. So we will be rewiring the house. By we, I mean the electrician that our fab agents helped us find. We are far from handy and had no idea where to start. Thankfully our agents have some experience in this department and go way above and beyond so we have quotes, a company we're happy with, a solid start date and a seriously manageable reno.


Now on top of our must have's we also checked off a huge number of nice to have's. I believe it's these things that really make the house. We figured the ensuite was never going to happen in our neighbourhood choices and budget so it comes as no surprise that didn't make the cut. But to get the deck, garage, modern finish and more made the deal even sweeter. And to top it off, because we got a great house at the lower end of what the market will hold, we can invest in things like renovating to add a walk in shower in the basement bath, a gas hook-up for the bbq and more without risking losing our investment.

And in terms of the eat-in kitchen? Well the island does have a breakfast bar that opens into the dining room so that one gets half points.

All in all we were able to find pretty much everything we wanted, only a couple of things we didn't want for a great price. What's more - we got the help we needed to take care of the things that caught us by surprise so we weren't left with a bad taste in our mouths.

So now, all we have to do is sell our house. Time to roll up our sleeves and get our house in ship shape. Which doesn't sound too bad, but will likely take us about a month given that we're both about three steps away from a hoarding intervention.
Oh - and we only have 5 days.

Wish us luck!

Home is where you hang your head

Ok- first, my apologies for leaving you hanging. Things suddenly got very crazy around here.

Next, please indulge me for a minute and allow me to go back in time.

After we lost the bidding war on house number 1, I took a step back and created a plan. I figured we were in the hunt for the long haul and wanted to be sure I didn't jump at a house for house sake. I wanted to know I had a list to check back against. I can be a little impulsive and wanted to know I was jumping into the house we wanted, not just the house that was available.

This is sound practice I have used more than once and it has served me well.

The list does two things. It makes you come to terms with what you can't live without, what's a 'nice to have', the things that are little perks and the things that don't matter much.

It also means your agent can act as a voice of reason when you 'fall hard' for something that doesn't really meet your needs.

Now I strongly believe that the list can be tossed by the way side for love...but generally that ends in a For Sale sign on your lawn a few years earlier than you expected.

Eh -hem. Like now. On our lawn for example.

Just so you can follow along at home, here's our list...

Must Haves

• 3 bedrooms

• 2 bathrooms

• Finished basement

• Grassy backyard

• Deck or patio area

• Living room 10+ feet

• Parking - would consider street parking but only if pressed

• Storage space of some kind

• If renovated kitchen, ample cupboard space and lots of counter space (island preferred)

• Front entry way with room to remove shoes etc with coat hook area or closet

• Big renos like electrical, plumbing, windows, roof and basement already completed

• A small percentage of brown/beige 'unchangeable without great cost' tile

• Hardwood ( pee pee cats)

Nice to Haves

• Laundry sink

• Painted wood

• Modern design touches

• Big closets

• Ensuite

• Garage

• Ability to use some basement space for office

• A nod to character (original glass or floor) without character with a capital C

• Gas BBQ

• Eat in kitchen

• Walk in shower

• Front porch

• Fireplace

Not interested in

• Big basement Reno

• Serious construction issues

• Multiple bathroom renos

• Ripping out expensive landscaping for grass

• Being attached on both sides

Willing to take on

• Cosmetic changes (lighting, paint, some flooring if necessary)

• Some spacial re-org of finished basement ie it's currently 4th bedroom and office - create big open play area with office in corner

• Small Landscaping of deck, patio or play area, fencing. Nothing major.

• Full Kitchen if it's the only project and the price allows for it. (think granite, ikea cabinets, pot and overhead lighting, backsplash, structure if necessary, sink and faucet, appliances- 30 - 45000?

• Front of house spruce up as a longer term project if necessary

I mentioned in our last post that we put in an offer. Didn't I already say I was impulsive?

Stay tuned to hear how this house measures up...

The 6 Am offer blues

So fairly fresh from bidding war heartbreak #1, I've found another house to have a go at. This one isn't exactly in our target neighbourhood - but it appears our budget isn't in our target neighbourhood either.
Such are the sacrifices we make for a detached 3 bedroom home.
We registered an offer last night even though I'm still feeling a little gun shy. But despite jumping right in - first day on the market - the brakes are on. 'Husband is out of town' which smells to me like 'thanks for the interest, now let me get every other offer I can before we actually look at yours' so we're presenting said offer at some point today.
Long story short, it's 6 am and I'm sitting here comparing the house we're in to the house we'd be going to. I'm looking at schools and daycare options and counting kitchen cupboards and mentally placing furniture.
I really hate this process.
Ack.

I'll keep you posted.

All In

My heart still does a little pitter patter when I think about "The House". We fell head over heels on Sunday. Had our agents on board by nightfall.
Woke up to the decision to make and offer then set off in a whirlwind to get it all together by 'offer time'.
We learned everything we could, arranged our financing pre-approval, sent Brel off on a mad mission of information gathering, offering preparation, fit in yet another showing, and settled on a number I believe we all thought would at least put us in the running.

Everyone says there are no bidding wars anymore. And that prices are dropping. And everything is sitting on the market.

Well, to everyone I say "Have you been to Leslieville?"

There was nothing we could do but wait as the team went in to present our offer. We got the report that it was well received - but as the first of 8 there was no way of knowing.

About and hour or so later we got the news. 2 offers came in substantially higher. "The House" would not be Our House.

I'd never been in a bidding war before. This was my 4th purchase experience and it's hard to describe what a blow it is to be in and then be shut out.

I'm not sure I'd do it again - given it's been a week and it still smarts. But if I find myself in another I can't say I'd do it much differently.

We had a big deposit on hand, no conditions, a (slightly) flexible close date, an 'all in' offer. And a little stash left to give us a wee bit of room to move.

I guess that's all you can do. That and hope like hell everyone else at the table loves it less or has substantially shallower pockets.

In our case it was neither. So now we're hunting for a house - hopefully even more perfect.

I'm doubtful such an abode exists. But the BREL team has stepped up to the plate convinced it's just a matter of time until we're the proud owners of "THE HOUSE" - the one that makes us forget all about the one that got away.

Love at First Site

Ok, so I wasn't in the market for a house. Our Leslieville townhouse is all kinds of awesome. It was dubbed 'the perfect family unit' when we bought it - (and sold 'the perfect unit' - an outstanding corner condo unit with lake views on 2 sides for one single me) - new to married life and ready to start a family.

Like all delusional newlyweds, we thought our townhouse would have it all - enough space, close to downtown, 2 bedrooms, a basement and garage. Perfect for a couple and someday...a baby.

Thing is, baby grows really fast. And people want to come to stay and visit with baby. And inside starts to get old at about 10 AM when you've been up since 6 and a back yard might just save your sanity.

So the casual open housing begins. And every time we walk by one we go in. Not that we're looking...

Until...

Last weekend when we see an open house at about 5 min past the end time on our afternoon walk. I go in an hub stays outside with the baby. Well I only get about 5 feet in before I'm back outside saying "you've got to see this one".

Long story short we see the house. Oooh. Ahh. Drool. And text our agents asking them to pull up the listing and give us an opinion. They see about 100 times more houses than us and tend to be the voice of reason when it comes to our actual must haves and needs.

Except they couldn't see anything wrong with this one.

Just the opposite.

And just like that, we were in the game.