Friday, May 3, 2013

Home Sweet Hope.

Let me tell you a little bit about this charming little house. It's right in the middle of town, a convenient walk to just about everything you could possibly need. It's a storey and a half tall. It has three bedrooms, and two and a half bathrooms. It's about 1750 square feet. One of those bedrooms is on the main level, right near the main door. Perfect to turn into a massage clinic. The master bedroom is a loft, with a railing that overlooks the living room. The third bedroom is in the basement, which was fully gutted and refinished last summer. The kitchen is an efficient U-shape. Not huge, but well laid out. There is a breakfast bar, with a pair of stools on one arm of that U. The entire main floor (except for the bedroom and bathroom of course) is all open. The light and warmth that comes in through those big windows at the front is just lovely in the living room. There is an outdoor workshop, not quite large enough to be called a garage, but it has a light and a heater, and affords some space to putter about and indulge hobbies. The backyard has lilac bushes, a fire pit and even a kid's play castle. There are gardens, and even most of a clothes line (one anchor post and the line and hardware are all there, but they took down the rotting post at the other end. It would be easy to put up another post). In short, I'm totally in love with this little house.

And it could just be ours.

The man who owns it now is a paramedic up here at the moment, but he's pursuing an upgrade to his education that will allow him to work out in BC. He will be moving south while he takes the necessary classes, and then moving out west, so his house is being put up for sale. I only mention this because it's a unique opportunity for us, in that he wants to get rid or the house and responsibility for it, but isn't in a huge rush for the money from the sale of the house, because he's not planning to buy another right now.

What we've offered to the home owner, is a rent-to-own agreement. We don't yet have a down payment together to apply for a mortgage, but we feel that in a year we will. So we rent the home from him for a year, save independently as well as having a portion of our rent go towards the purchase of our home. At the end of that year, we buy the house from him.

Obviously, if he gets a better offer, someone offering to give him his asking price and do it right now, he will take it. It only makes sense. But there is a timeline, which is encouraging. He wants to be out of the place by June. We only have to be the best offer for the duration of this month. Secretly I relish every day that he puts off hanging the for sale signs, nearly as much as I relish the news that nobody else has met with him, to sit down and talk about the options, or to ask for a tour of the house. I also relish the fact that there are a record 11 houses for sale in town right now. There is still time, but right now our long shot offer isn't looking all that bad.

I have my fingers and toes and every other digit crossed that it goes through. I am really REALLY in love with this house, I can't imagine a more perfect one for us. We could have a real garden, get a dog. Even think about kids some day. It feels like a necessary step, and with a little luck and a whole lot of hope and good timing, we might just be ready to make it now.

Wow... It's been a big year.. Big move, new job, new marriage... and maybe now we'll be first time home owners!

1 comment:

Katou said...

It seems like the perfect house for your needs, presently.

Good luck!