We found a house

It wasn't easy, but we found a house.

Sadly, the house we had put at the top of our list sold the day before we arrived in Ottawa, so we never got a chance to even look inside it. Ah well. It was a split-level house, which I'm not terribly fond of, but it was in a great neighbourhood, and had gorgeous landscaping and a beautiful pool already.

After looking at some 15 houses all over the city, we finally settled on a classic 4-bedroom, two-storey house in the west end, near where Carling and Richmond intersect. It's in an older neighbourhood where modest bungalows are sprinkled in with larger homes all nestled amongst mature trees. Right across from our house there is an entrance to a forested park - yeah! It has easy access to transit and to bike paths (for Steve).

The house is in very good condition, but needs some work in the kitchen. We want to put in a pool (yippee!), and do something with the landscaping out front. We also had a scare when the inspector noted vermiculite insulation in the attic. (Vermiculite is noted for a risk of asbestos.) Fortunately, the vendor had test results that showed the vermiculite is asbestos-free. We still plan to either get rid of it or seal it permanently as it could be an issue if/when we decide to sell the house.

So, come mid-July, you will find us in Ottawa!

Getting excited!

We leave on our week-long house-hunting trip this Saturday! Yeah!

So far, we have about a dozen houses on our list. The less expensive ones are mostly fixer-uppers or a little further away from downtown. The really inexpensive ones are both. Then there are the pricier ones in the nicer neighbourhoods. Those ones tend to be on the small side.

I got a little anxious a couple of weeks ago because houses were selling so quickly. In fact, we sold our little house in only 5 days, and got $5,000 over asking. That was nice for us as sellers; now the shoe is on the other foot.

Oh, incidentally, we decided to sell the small house and buy something that (mostly) fits our current needs. We don't mind doing some renovations, but don't want the headache of a major reconstruction or build-from-scratch.

While we're gone, our friends Joe and Mary will be house-, kid-, and cat-sitting. They need your prayers.

Seriously.

I don't know how to prepare them for the general chaos that three kids bring, even when (or especially because?) all three are teenagers. Plus, I've been a bad mommy and haven't prepared a week's worth of casseroles for them. Just not that organized. Heck, I consider it an achievement that all the kids are up on their prescriptions. Would it be horrible if I just left them a week's worth of pizza/Chinese/Greek takeout money? Yes. It probably would.

But we will leave them some funds for at least one of those. Maybe two: one takeout, one eat out.

So wish us all luck!

House-hunting Stress

We're moving back to Ottawa this summer. Or at least, that's what we've been told, and that's what we're telling everyone. That's what we're planning on. The hitch is we don't have anything on paper yet -- no official "posting message." A posting message is the official document from the Department of National Defence (DND) that permits us to make commitments -- such as carrying out a house-hunting trip or, for that matter, buying a house. (We are fortunate that DND pays certain expenses associated with purchasing a house.)

The upshot of all this is that we can't actually do anything yet. Well, if I'm honest, we can do something: we can browse online real estate listings for houses. Which I've been doing, and it's only serving to exacerbate my impatience.

Ottawa is currently a seller's market, we've been told. And it shows in the listings. Several of the houses we've been interested in have already vanished from the listings. Others have notes in the listings that say things like, "Open house on Saturday; all offers will be presented on Monday at 6 p.m." It also is apparent in the fact that there really aren't very many houses available that fit our bill. This is because Ottawa is a government town and therefore has sailed through the current economic downturn with barely a shudder.

In case you're interested, here's our wish list (with the acknowledgement that "something's going to have to give"):

• Short drive to downtown (less than 20 minutes)
• Short bus ride to downtown (less than 45 minutes)
• 4 bedrooms
• At least 2 baths
• Garage
• Inground pool
• Ensuite for master bedroom
• Updated kitchen
• Good school
• Low crime
• And, of course a certain cost threshold

In the "something's going to have to give" category are questions like:

• Does a short commute outweigh zero crime vs. low crime?
• Are we willing to give up a pool if the house has everything else?
• Is a one-car garage enough? Or will we just end up fighting over it?
• Is this house only for the next 10 years? Or is this our "forever" house (i.e., until we need ramps, ventilators and Depends)?

These are all questions with price-tags attached, of course. And, like most couples, price-tags tend to induce a certain amount of friction. Steve was the kind of kid who saved up all his allowances for years and loaned his parents money for a down-payment on their first house (I'm not exaggerating). I was the kind of kid who searched the coat-pockets in the front-hall closet for loose change and spent it on candy at the corner store (Sorry, Mom). I never, ever had money saved. Neither of us has changed much.

Fortunately, we each love the other enough to realize that this, like so much else in marriage, requires a compromise. Steve knows I won't be happy living in an ugly house. I know he won't be able to sleep with outrageous debt hanging over his head. The bottom line is that there is a very narrow range of houses that will satisfy both of us.

But houses there are. I'm impatiently watching them appear and disappear from the online listings. We've been told that posting messages won't be issued before mid-March. Of course, in my current state, I therefore expect to have document in hand no later than March 16. (I'm being generous.) I'll keep you posted as the saga continues. If nothing else, this blog may help assuage some of my pre-posting turmoil.

Oh, by the way, in the course of my online house-browsing, I came across this interesting tool that tracks crime by address in Ottawa (possibly elsewhere, but I only used it for Ottawa.) http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/CrimeFiles/CrimeMaps_Reports/cr_redirect.aspx