Tuesday, September 19, 2006

This Week: Houses

If you are ever driving around Reston around 9.30 AM, or so, you'll see this person walking in a fast, fast pace on the roads around here. Mostly, though, you'll see this person on the paths. Walking fast, sweaty, like on a mission with a skinny vanilla latte in a fast grip in one hand, iPod on, mobile phone in the other hand...That person is Yours Truly. Sometimes I have the company of my dear friend, and neighbor, I.T. But, most of the time I am alone.
During these walks I am on the lookout for a potential house to buy. On my route I know exactly what houses that are up for sale, and how long they have been on the market, what realtor they are listed with. You can say that I am an expert in this particular area around South Lakes.
Peter and I are sort of ready to say good-bye to Townhouse living. We both feel like it would be nice to have a single family home with double garage and a garden for me to nurse. Sounds like true suburbia, huh? Yes, I hear myself. Anyway, now I have found that house. THE PERFECT HOUSE FOR US!!! I found it last week on one of my morning walks. All of a sudden, on this very beautiful cul-de-sac is a house for sale!!! Nothing is never, ever on sale there. THE perfect colonial on the outside, at least. Backing up to a meadow and to the path. Last Sunday Peter, Karolina and I went to the "Open House". GUYS!!! This house is as perfect on the inside as it is on the outside. I fell in love. Deeply in love! I want that house. Spic and span perfect move-in ready, we wouldn't even have to paint! The couple that live there have picked out my favorite colors all thru the place. The floors on the main level are beautiful hard woods, tiles in the hall way. The kitchen recently updated, cozy family room with a fire-place, big dining room, big formal living room, and as an extra bonus on the main level, an office! Sigh...
Upstairs: 4 bedrooms, two baths, beautiful carpet on the floors. IF you are forced to have carpets upstairs these carpets would be the carpets to get. No cheap stuff here, let me tell you that much. Bonus on the upper level: a big laundry room!!!
To top it off we have a huge finished basement, walk out. And tons of storage. Simply said: the perfect house.
Can we get it? No, we cannot. We are not ready to sell our own house. Yet. The times are not exactly prime for selling right now. It is a complete stand-still on the market. I can only look at the houses in our neighborhood, some have been on the market for months, and it seems like there is zero interest in them as well. Today, when I got back from my walk, one of the townhouses here on our street had a sign that said: new lower price!!!
So SAD!! I know it will be hard to sell our house when we decide to do so. Even though we have done a lot of up-grades to it, and the fact that our unit is in a prime spot backing to the golf course in the west+ that we have a big common area in the front.
Anyway, the day we are ready to get out of here my dream house on the cul-de-sac will be long gone. Some lucky person will live there, but it will not be us.
Until the day we are ready to put this house up for sale I will be checking and re-checking my favorite streets around here. My eyes are like radars for "For Sale" signs.
Ciao for now...Gotta go and take a shower after the walk.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hej vännen. Det kommer alltid nya hus till salu. Finns det ett perfekt hus så finns det alltid flera. Så deppa inte men fortsätt att jobba på att fixa upp ert hus. Det jobbet får man igen när man säljer.

Vad hemskt och fruktansvärt tragiskt med din väns väninna som dog i FF. Man kan inte ens sätta sig in i situationen. Sin hälsa uppskattar man aldrig tillräckligt...Stackars, stackars man och barn. SB.

Annika said...

SB: Hi girl! As you said above (I sort of wanted my Swe friends to reply in English here) the market is at a stand-still but there will always be new, perfect houses coming up. True, SB! it is only so depressing to see something so perfect slip away...You know how it is: You go to open houses and most look like crap...1000 of dollars will be needed in order to get some kind of "shape" into the house. This one, showed like a model...It needed NOTHING in the order of the fixing-up department. BUT you are so right when you are saying that we should continue to up-grade this place...Nowadays nothing will sell in an "as-is" condition. Nowadays it is "perfect" that matters...see you, girl!!!

Keith said...

You know the minute you walk in to a place whether or not it feels "right." That is the house that you want to move in right then doesn't matter if someone is living there or not. You'd be happy to pack for them and usher the people out the door. Sounds like you found that house. It is heart-breaking knowing that you cannot move on it. I agree that the market for selling is horrendous. I just read something today that the value of homes could dip by percentages unlike anything since The Depression. Depresses me to think about that even if I'm not selling my unit. A market such as that makes people stay where they are until they have more confidence that values will increase. Or, in some cases offer an incentive to the buyer, other than lowering the price, such as offering financing or throwing plasma screen TV. Hopefully that won't be a norm for too long and soon prices will come up so that some day you can sell your house while also finding your dream home and moving in to it. Good luck! K

Anonymous said...

But, i like your place. It is cozy and nice...and all that...

Suzanne said...

Man that does sound like the ideal place. You have done a lot of improvements on your house so at least when the time comes - you will be in great shape to sell. I wish I was the walker you mentioned above...someday. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I just hate it that you can't buy the house you love so much! I still think about the house I fell in love with out in the Broad Run area. It was perfect with a pool & upstairs washer & dryer, massive kitchen/family room with a cozy TV room attached. Oh well. At least we are building on a cozy TV room and we got a hot tub (poor man's pool). Now if we could just paint the entire house & put in new carpeting & tiles in the bathrooms, this house would be a little more acceptable.
Love to you---

Anonymous said...

That IS really sad!! I mean, how often do you come across your dream house?!? I'm also sorry to hear about the market over there...but I guess what goes up must come down! It'll be our turn too soon probably...But I just read in the (very) local Kungsholmen paper that Fredhäll is VERY hot at the moment, THE place to buy an apartment! Oh well, some day maybe :-) In the meantime at least we get to live here, in this very lovely part of Stockholm!

Annika said...

Keith: Interesting with the depression. I had no idea. One of these days I am sure we will find something.

Ano..: Thank you, thank you

Suz: It really is the ideal place, bu-hu...it HURTS!!! Picture perfect model home...

Margo: It is hard to get the place out of my mind. I think about it a lot. Yes, you will soon have yur beautiful addition. Cannot wait!

Monika: I KNOW!!! What comes up must go down. The market has been too hot for too long. It does not happen every day tht you see your dream house, that is for SURE! I am so sad that this will not work for us. BUT on the other hand we are not ready to move. But the thought of it...And so close, 2 minutes from where we live now. Yes, girl, you are in the right part of Stockholm!

Anonymous said...

Pete says to go for it. Get a contingency on the sale of your house. Talk to a realtor. If it would be hard to sell your house, think about how hard it will be for the sellers of this house to find a buyer. Maybe if both of you came down in price, it would be attractive to a buyer. Hate to see you give up a dream. It doesn't happen very often. You have to do what you want to do, but I do know about unfulfilled dreams, you know!! Love you---

Annika said...

Margo and Pete: I so wish. Will talk to Peter some more tonight. It is not exactly a dirt cheap house I am writing about here. But, we could probably do it IF this house sold first. Thanks for your thoughts. If I find the link of the house online I'll send it to you.

Anonymous said...

I hope you get the house -- or one that you love later. Too bad this is the worst time of year to sell a house. Things just don't move very fast after school starts and holidays are approaching. I wonder why the dream-house owners waited until now to sell their house? They may be in a hurry to sell for some reason (divorce, job transfer, etc.). Tha may work in your favor.

Annika said...

Melinda: Dream-house-hubby had gotten a job offer he could not refuse out of state. That is why they have to sell now. I know, we will find our home, at some point in our lives. For now we actually are pretty content here. But, girl, would it have been sweet...

Anonymous said...

Hi Love, I agree that the house is great. It has plenty of room and the location is perfect. Less than a mile from our current location. I really liked the layout of the house. Unfortunately, we do not have everything in order to react quickly on an opportunity. Hopefully, we can meet with the right people soon (lenders, realtors) to better understand our finances and how to sell our house. Once that is finished, we will be in good position for the next opportunity. Love, Pebo

Annika said...

PeBo: I know, I know. It is OK, of course!
Love!