After 15 months of renting a house with an amazing view of the Seattle skyline and Puget Sound (and fireworks displays lasting two hours on July 4th), we are homeowners (home borrowers) once again.
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| Fireworks from the deck of our rental |
Little did we know when me moved into our rental that the freshly shampooed carpets were a bandaid for a home that reeked of pet urine and was unlivable. We begged, wheedled and played let's make a deal with our landlords to replace the carpets--ripping them out and doing all the odor sealing work ourselves. We leave behind a near complete flip, a house painted inside and out, the vast majority of improvements done at our own expense, having paid for the "privilege" of doing so.
Although we have done what's right for the house, it's not the right thing for our pocketbooks. This is why we are terrible renters. Lesson learned.
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| One of Seattle's many moods, seen from the deck of our rental |
We have already begun fixing our new fixer-upper, painting the inside and ripping out those urine soaked carpets (what's the story pet owners? I've had animals all my life, and know they are precious members of the family, yet I never allowed them to ruin my home) and painting the bedroom floors for our temporary fix before we begin remodeling and permanent renovations over the next year or so.
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| At our new house the deck is sanded and ready for relaxing! |
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| Look closely and you can see Mt. Rainier from my new house! |
Our gorgeous waterfront project house is under contract, and received kudos from the County inspector who issued our final permit and certificate of occupancy. Yesterday, the buyer's agent informed us the house also received the best inspection report ever issued from the region's most notoriously harsh home inspector; a dubious honor, but an honor nonetheless.
The realtors who toured the home were universally impressed with our design and material choices—all done by our youngest daughter who is entering her last year of architecture school. A bright future awaits!
We're just waiting for the buyers to obtain their financing and then our dream home will become theirs.
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| The end of our dream, the beginning of someone else's |
As if there's not enough moving and packing and painting and mental gymnastics going on in our heads trying to keep all the activities ordered and executed, we have an offer in on another project house to renovate and sell (without living in it). We spotted the house a few months back; the price dropped and now there are multiple offers. We'll see what unfolds.
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| A man prays inside St. James Cathedral |
In the midst of all this, I spent a day in Seattle a few weeks ago, and wrote an essay about my experience at the Cathedral there and my own attempts to live faithfully outside of a faith community.
You can read that story here.
Nobody's gonna break our stride...got to keep on moving!
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| The winding road to the future! |
