So I’m buying a condo at long last. I’ve been house hungry for so longgggg….I keep looking for the rug to get ripped out from under me. I’ve wanted a house of my own since I was 16. The offer has been accepted, the home inspection is back, and now I just have to make it through underwriting. There are some potential hiccups when trying to convince another person (a banker no less) that purchasing anything that is 110 years old is a grand idea, so please keep your fingers crossed for me.
It’s a 110 year old Victorian duplex with one unit up and one unit down. Pretty small, 900 sf with 12 foot ceilings and dental molding and I have the entire second floor. The kitchen is miniscule, but the master bedroom has two full sized closets just for me. The washer and dryer are front loading high efficiency units. The second bedroom is a logistical puzzle I’m looking forward to figuring out and I can see long hours of pouring over the Ikea catalogue in my future. (If you like Ikea, try http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com , they rule! You buy standard Ikea furniture and they give you ideas and plans on how to make it into something completely different and often much more useful.) There are skylights in the foyer and the bathroom. It’s downtown and is part of the largest still standing Victorian home neighborhood in the United States. There’s a bakery 30 feet from my front door and a jazz club 30 yards beyond that. I have a black jet glass chandelier that has been sitting in storage for 3 years that will be the first thing I put up in my new foyer.
I tried to do this last year, to buy something of my own, and I’m a little gun shy to get my hopes up again, but I’m really excited. Although I’ve done my homework, I know the market, I can spout off neighborhood statistics like a pro, my family make for great cheerleaders, AND I’ve made a prayerful decision, I still worry. As a side note, today I put in my two weeks notice at my current job to take a position with a new company. Combine these two happenings in the same week and you have a recipe for stomach churning sleeplessness. I’ve really appreciated that I can get down on my knees and that I can ask again and again for peace with my decisions and it’s granted so quickly. If this doesn’t work, I’m resolved that I did everything in my power and it just wasn’t meant to be. On a positive note, if it does work, I’ve already asked the Santas for one of my childhood dreams. A kitten for Christmas. :)
