Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications

Fright Night

Today I woke early, before the clock radio went off like I'm often prone to do when there are a million different things I want to get done in a 24 hour period.  Turns out that wasn't the only reason I woke up early.  Just before I lifted my head from my pillow to see just how early it was, The Dude also woke up.  I asked him what time it was but he seemed preoccupied.  And just as he was about to launch into the reason he woke up our fire alarm started screaming. 

Our bedroom and the rest of the house was filled with smoke.  After quickly assessing the situation and being unable to locate if there was an open flame anywhere, I grabbed my cellphone and dialed 911.  Something was definitely burning but I'll be damned if we could find the source, so we opened the garage and went outside to wait.

The Dude was concerned it was an electric fire within the walls so I suggested we turn off the all the breakers.  About 1 minute later Fire Station #21 rolled up.  And as I stood there in my pajamas and slippers outside on the curb, I started going through the nightmare scenarios in my head.  Fire in walls, difficult to locate, house burns down, everything destroyed by fire, smoke, water or all of the above.

As the senior firefighter started heading towards the garage, he sniffed the air and inquired if we had an oil furnance.  Yes!  We do!  And as it turns out, the motor on that oil furnace went out with a bang early this morning and then filled the whole house with hot rubbery smoke.  So we shut off furnace breaker, turned the rest of them back on and then spent the rest of the wee hours of the morning opening all the windows in our house and airing out all the stinky smoke. 

You have no idea how thrilled we are that our furnace is totally fucked. I don't even want to think about what would have happened had this occurred a few days later while we were away on vacation.   

Proud owner of the following.

This light fixture is totally atomic ranch.  Thankfully the rest of the house isn't.  This comes down as soon as we throw some paint on the walls.  Anyone want to call dibs?

Ayúdeme

If you know a reputable hardwood refinisher in Seattle that won't cost an arm and a leg or can get it done within the one week window between closing and moving...

If you know why Gretchen started knocking and making all sorts of awful sounding noises Sunday night on the way home from The Dude's suprise birthday party...

If you know where I put that $25 gift card from JCrew that expires on Thursday...

If you know why contractors even bother to put forms on their website if they can't be bothered to take the time to respond to your request for a quote...

If you know of a good homeowner's insurance company whose eye won't start twitching when you mention the phrase "30% active knob and tube"...

If you know anything about how to pick interior paint colors without going completely batty and seeing double...

If you know where the summer went...

...let me know.  Wait, wait.  I know.  You'll get back to me, right?

In the neighborhood.

Mine. Mine. Mine. 

Pros:

• Built in 1945.  Solid and square.  No foundation issues at all what-so-ever.
• Electrical updated to 200 amps.  That's as high as it goes folks if you're residential.  Okay it could go higher if you add an additional panel, but that would be insane unless your house was enormous or you were running a small nuclear plant in your backyard.
• Brick wood burning fireplace with charming original mantle.
• Dining room.
• Original kitchen.
• Four Bedrooms, two upstairs and two on the main floor.  Large ones. 
• Walking distance to a dry cleaners, 3 plus pubs, a girly salon, a quicky mart, an antique store, a coffee shop (nope, that kind), and the Goodwill which is awesome since that's all The Dude and I are going to be able to afford from now on.
• Room for a victory garden in the backyard.
• Great condition overall.  New roof, well groomed yard (a plum tree in the back and a large japanese maple out front), solid wood doors, hardwood floors, plenty of storage in the unfinished basement and attic crawl.

There really aren't a lot of cons but there are some what I'll call prons.  Things that are both good and bad.  Not ideal but probably part of the reason we were able to get the house for list and not have to deal with the whole ebay style bidding war bullshit. 

Prons:

• The basement is Pink!
• Only one bathroom but room to add another upstairs or in the unfinished basement, or both.
• The siding is vinyl.  On the up side, it's low maintence and the color isn't hideous.  On the down side, it's vinyl siding.  We're pretty sure there's cedar shake under there so when we get ready to tackle that project it probably won't cost us much to bring back the original charm...well, except for the having to paint it every couple of years.
• The back yard is fenced and there's a dog run too.  But it's all down in classy chain link and the dog run is basically a covered concrete pad.  I'd put my coworkers in there way before I'd considering letting a dog stay in that uninviting hole.  On the upside, once we get rid of it, the backyard will be even bigger.
• One of our neighbor's backyard is filled with this thing.  On the upside he's old and when he moves I have a feeling whoever new moves in will prefer not to play the "try to walk thru your backyard without tripping over the guide wires that hold up the HUGE ass anteane in your tiny backyard" game but who knows.  People are strange.
• There isn't really a porch...but there is a stoop.  And there is room to add a porch.  Also there is a garage...with a garage door opener.  A garage in which I can actually park my car, and then open my doors on both sides to get out.  Craziness!

The couple selling the house are 80 plus years old, who have lived there for 40 plus years, have taken awesome care of the place.  The original furnace which has been serviced every year had all the original service slips attached to it and every single switch and knob and shut off value in the basement has a cute note next to it explaining any quirks. 

When we went to check it out for the first time on Saturday they were outside watering the plants...even though the house is completely vacant and they've already moved to an assisted living community.  They were so damn cute.  One of them has cancer and is currently going through chemo.  I'm sure they've lived a long happy life but I hope they beat the cancer too.

Introducing the latest house we won't be buying.

Man, was it ever traumatic trying to figure out if this one was THE ONE for us.  In the end, I remembered something I already knew. If you have to ask the question, you already know the answer.  Long story short, after two sleepless nights, we decided not to bid.  Ah, the sweet relief of decisiveness.  Welcome home.

It's not you. It's me.

You know what's a barrel of laughs?  Breaking up with your real estate agent.  Yep, tons and tons of fun.  It just hasn't been working out and today after we started talking in completely different languages via email I decided it was time to rip the bandage right off.

Thanks for all your help.  The Dude and I, as we've been going through this house hunting process, have realized that our styles may not be the best fit.  We have decided to try a new approach with a new agent.  If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to give either one of us a call or email us.

Again, thank you for all your help and we wish you the best of luck. 

Sprizee and The Dude

I thought about calling her to give her the fantastic news but then I realized a) she doesn't want to take that call and b) I don't want to make that call.  So there you have it.  She's a really cool person but our styles just didn't mesh and when you're buying something that is going to cost you approximately half a million dollars you have a tendency to want to make sure everything's kosher. 

And the new agent?  She comes highly recommended.  Just like the last one.  So cross your fingers.  Or your eyes. 

Yeah, I'd prefer the eyes.  And send me a picture!

Piece of my heart.

Last night I rushed home so The Dude and I could check out this craftsman bungalow.  If you've ever been house hunting, you probably know all about how pictures and the house often times don't add up.  Agents can do an amazing job making the house look larger and better than it is in person.  And sometimes the magic is just so on that when you get to the house you're like, "I think this is the wrong house.  This can't be the same one we just looked at online.  Can it?".  Yes, yes it can. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the craftsman we saw last night looked even bigger and better in person.  The rooms were huge.  The layout was great.  All the details captured in the photo were there.  Plus, a pantry between the kitchen and the dining room with all kinds of built-ins.  It was everything we're looking for in a house with one teeny, tiny, little exception...located on a busy street...with traffic lights.   Now I realize that's the very reason the cutie was comfortably within our price range.  But it still makes me cringe.

But c'mon, the bedroom had two huge closets PLUS room for a queen sized bed, a huge dresser, two bedside tables and STILL had room to spare.  Then there was the sweeping stairwell that led to the living room just past the 3 panels of FRENCH DOORS.  Not to mention the finished room in the basement and the storage, my god, the storage...in the pantry, the basement, various huge closets and the built-in bench seat at the base of the stairwell.  Oh, and did I mention the original solid wood door with the original brass door knocker from 1913?  Um, yeah.  Take it.  Take another little piece of my heart now, baby. 

Solid as a rock.

This weekend I went to see this adorable craftsman.  I was totally on board until we got there and I realized just how tiny it was.  So tiny that neither bedroom was bigger for anything more than a bed.  We're talking you wouldn't even be able to have even just 1 end table.  Sure there was some storage in the basement but I'm not so keen on having to run downstairs everytime I want to check the time on my alarmclock.

Still, I would have been okay with that because it was a great location (between Phinney Ridge and Ballard) BUT because of the location the price was rather steep for the amount of actual livable space.  It really is a shame because it was totally my cup of tea AND the foundation had been bolted to the house with proper documentation so it wouldn't have been another heartbreaker like the last time. 

Oh well.  Seeing Sally's new house last night made me realize there are still good houses out there in our price range.  We just need a little patience...and a lot of cash.

Location, Location, Location

There's been a lot of chatter lately about how insane the Seattle housing market continues to be.  Don't I know it.  That's why I'm pondering the idea of reliving my childhood in a pad which was last updated in the same decade that Velcro was invented.   Also the couple that lived there for over 50 years, tore down the original front porch, faced the original brick chimney with jagged rock and decreased the size of their backyard significantly to pour a slab of concrete for the new carport off the alley. Ah progress.

But on the upside, it's within walking distance to the beach, has hardwood floors under the carpet, and most of the other "updates" seem cosmetic and therefore easy enough to reverse.  Of course, all those changes take money and assuming we buy the house, we will no longer have any of that.   Did I mention the oven matches the fridge...and the carpet?  Avocado green.  Score!

Why we passed on the house.

The foundation is cracked and sinking and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.  The only way to fix the foundation is to raise up the house and pour a new one.  The sellers were willing to negotiate but we were not.  At this point it's pretty easy to walk away.  Plus, in the current condition we wouldn't be able to get earthquake insurance which means if the house was totalled by a quake we'd still have a huge mortgage and no place to live.  Easy decision.  By-bye cutie.  If I had pockets full of money I'd still buy it in a heartbeat.  But as an investment I can't justify it.  Me and my fucking practical side.