House Hunters: Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.6, finale)

Just over three months ago Mark and I took a trip to go house hunting. After scouring the real estate market online, looking at nearly every listing possible with my mom, and narrowing it down to our top choices, we made our pick and put in an offer.

After we told my dad about the house we picked, he congratulated us and reminded us that there "is a long way between picking a house and getting your keys." Wise man, that guy.

We knew we were buying a short sale and that would mean a lot of waiting and uncertainty. We also knew that IF we got the house, we'd be in for a bit of work. 

Our first weeks of waiting for news were filled with mostly radio silence. A couple of times we had to sign and scan some paper work but mostly we waited. Then, just a week before our Australia trip, we heard that the bank was intending to approve our short sale in just a few days! Knowing how valuable being present for the home inspection would be, we made some last minute changes to our plans and added two days in the bay area to our trip. There, we did our inspections.

We thought for sure the bank's short sale approval would come while we were in Australia. However, the days turned into weeks and even after we returned home we still hadn't heard a peep. This is about the time that we learned that hurry up and wait is a lot easier than wait and hurry up!

In the beginning of June, Mark woke up one day and said "I think today is the day we're going to hear about the house." Well I'm known for making crazy premonitions and predictions all the time, making myself look really insightful and awesome on the times I am right and just silly the other 98% of the time. But I figure if I predict rain every day, some days I'm bound to be right! In any case, Mark is NOT like that. And when our real estate agent called me that afternoon, all I could think was "of COURSE Mark gets it right!"

However, though we had the short sale approval in hand, we also had a threat of foreclosure. The seller's bank approved the short sale but gave us about 12 days to close or else they would put up the house for auction.

WHAT??

It's just not possible to close in 12 days after the home loan reforms of the past few years. Shoot. What we needed to do was convince the seller's bank that we had a loan and get that closing date extended. The seller's bank wanted a conditional loan approval letter to extend the close date. Our bank wanted an extended closing date before they furnished a conditional loan approval. Stale mate, much? At this point Mark and I actually started doing some serious back up planning. Where would we move? Are there any other better houses on the market? Was this the universe telling us to try again on a different home?

After two long and admittedly tearful days on the phone, we ended up switching lenders. This was a desperate move in the 11th hour and involved a TON of paperwork, scanning, emailing, and phone calling. Our new loan officer worked her ARSE off to get our loan application expedited and the conditional approval letter sent.

Finally, we got the seller's bank to extend the closing date to July 12. Whew! The next few weeks Mark and I remained pretty emotionally distant from the house. We stopped dreaming up construction plans, stopped talked about ideas for landscaping, and pretty much just resigned ourselves to letting things unfold on their own. We rushed like mad every time the lender or seller needed anything from us, but other than that we waited. We had a few more dramatic days and a couple more times where we both had to shrug and let it go.

But last week we met with a notary and signed three inches of stacked paper, wired over our down payment, and finalized our home insurance. And then, on July 12....

The county recorded our sale! Escrow closed! Mark and I are officially homeowners!!!! We move in a week! We're both still in a bit of shock that we got the house after all that. It feels weird to own a home but not have it yet, but we'll be there soon.

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.5)

It's time for a midseason home buying update! Ok, probably past time, but you get what you get.

I last left off with mention of our inspections going mostly well. On our "way" to Australia, we stopped in Lafayette for a couple of days so that we could be present for the big home inspections. About a week before our trip we were told that the seller's agent got wind of the bank's intention to approve the short sale and begin normal escrow very soon. It was important to Mark and I that we were physically present for the inspections because we felt like if something really negative came up, we'd have an easier time walking away from the house if we could see it for ourselves. We also had been advised by pretty much everyone that if you ask the right questions during your inspection, you can get a lot of "off the record" advice. So, about six days prior to our Australia departure, we decided to rebook tickets and plan for time in Lafayette to be there for inspections on a home that technically was "under contract but not in escrow."

Here's my summary of the inspections, in order that they occurred. I hope they are accurate because it's been nearly two months and I'm too lazy to cross reference the actual reports.

Inspection #1: Termites. 
They found some scrap wood under the house in the crawl space and called it termite food, but there was no evidence of active termites. No need to tent. Check. We have a couple spots around the roof that need repair from prior damage, and we need to remove the pieces of wood from our crawl space.

Inspection #2: Foundation and retaining wall. 
Before we put an offer on the home we knew that the front retaining wall would need to be replaced. We had a retaining wall and foundation specialist come out to inspect it and give us a bid. We were thrilled to find out that despite the home being on a hill and the front yard retaining wall looking so awful, our foundation looks great! We actually had three people (this guy, the termite guy, and the main inspector) tell us the foundation looked great, but this was the only "on record" report. There are a couple of piers that need to be connected back into the foundation but the condition was good. And the bid for the front retaining wall came in a bit lower than I imagined! At this point we started waiting for "the catch". What was actually wrong with the home?

Inspection #3: Formal home inspection.
This was the "big" inspection where you have someone who comes out and goes through your entire home to tell you if you got a dud. Our inspector wasn't Mike Holmes, but he was awesome. Mark followed him through much of the inspection and sure enough, we were able to squeeze out a ton of off the record advice and interpretations. For example, after a lot of prying, we were told (emphatically off the record) that we could easily take care of the mold in the master and master bath with a water/bleach mix and some killz paint. Like most homes that are nearing their 60th birthday, this house does indeed have a lot of work that needs to be done. But a lot of work and being a good house aren't mutually exclusive. We didn't have any big surprises other than feeling that most things were good and the things that weren't fell under the "we can handle it" scope. I don't mean "we can fix it ourselves scope" because certainly we'll hire experts or contractors for a lot of things. Off the top of my head, I can list the following repairs: new gutters, regrade the drainage in the backyard, fix the wiring in the garage and ground the outlets in the house, install ventilation fans in the bathrooms, reseat and/or replace the toilets, replace the garage door opener, put a handrail on the front porch steps, get someone to secure the random piers of the house that aren't attached to the foundation, and about a 100 little things.

Inspection #4: Hardwood floors.
We knew we wanted someone to refinish the hardwoods before we moved in, so we decided to get someone to come out to give us a bid while we were in town. Certainly this is not a normal part of escrow, it was just a well-calculated gamble on our part. The guy who came out was great and confirmed that our floors will be easy to refinish and the few repairs needed are very manageable. His bid came in very reasonable too!

Inspection #5: Sewer
After we left our real estate agent made time to get the sewer inspected. Unfortunately, it turns out that we need the entire sewer line replaced because it's the original clay pipe and what's left of it is in terrible condition. Luckily they can do a trenchless sewer and this bid also came in at a relatively reasonable price. We can add "replace sewers" to the list though.

Inspection #6: PG&E gas
At some point in the next few days we'll get the gas turned back on and PG&E can come check out the gas. I'm so, so excited to move back somewhere with gas! Cooking on an electric stove has been absolutely awful and I'm looking forward to a gas dryer and water heater again. I feel pretty confident that the gas inspection will go just fine, and if it doesn't whatever repairs needed are likely to be manageable.

Inspection #7: Chimney 
After we move in and certainly before winter we're going to have a chimney inspection. At the very least we need someone to come and clean out the chimney, and we suspect we might need a brick specialist to repair a couple of spots inside the chimney.

And that's it for inspections! We're going to be hiring a lot of contractors to do the big stuff in the coming months/year(s) like the kitchen, finishing out the space over the garage, and some of the more complicated repairs.

Coming soon-- an update on all things escrow with a short sale! I'll spoil the ending for you: we're nearly certainly going to get the house and we will close on or before July 12.

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.4)

I just wanted to post a quick update about our house!

Friday night, we got a call from our awesome realtor, Julie. She had heard from the seller's agent, who had heard from the bank that they are expecting to approve our sale "on Wednesday". The bank approving the sale means we begin our standard 30 day escrow and, more importantly, our standard 17 day inspection window. This whole thing happened at the same time that we were driving around the 1/2 marathon course, so picture me saying "OMG 13.1 miles is long" and "hahaha that is such terrible timing we are so screwed."

The problem was that on Thursday we were supposed to leave for Australia, for 14 days. After a few very purposeful hours of scheming, internet researching, and phone calling, we managed to come up with the following plan.

Instead of flying to Australia on Thursday, we'll fly to San Francisco on Wednesday (yes that's today!) and have our various inspections Thursday and Friday. Then we'll leave late Friday night and fly out of San Francisco via LAX and Brisbane to get to Melbourne. We leave Blacksburg a day earlier and get to Melbourne a day later, and the whole thing is costing us less than a separate round trip from ROA>SFO would have cost! Sweet!

Thank goodness for flexibility, patience, and a good attitude. The timing of this could have really thrown a wrench at us but we mostly just laughed and made our plans accordingly. And yes, today is Wednesday, and no, I'm not packed yet and not fully recovered from the 1/2 marathon. But I have a snuggly kitty and coffee... so I'll procrastinate a bit more!

Stay tuned for inspection results, more pics of what will hopefully be "our" house, and of course hijinks and hilarity that will no doubt ensue during our two weeks down under!

House Hunters, Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.3)

First, I should acknowledge that much like last year's house hunters posts, I made sure to write up each house as a viable potential contender. It wasn't so much my intent to deceive you all but rather to not give anything away. All three houses were all very serious contenders. We very nearly chose house number three so for those of you who guessed that, you weren't far off! Also, if I had posted all the facts, it would have been way too obvious. Lying by omission? Probably. Diabolical? Yes. Taking my cues from HGTV? Absolutely. I have to make it a good story! But it's all the facts and only the facts from here on out. I'm going to share a little bit more about the house we chose and the whole process in general because it’s just so darn crazy and unexpected. As Mark says, we shocked even ourselves. It's a long post, so grab a coffee and read on!

As of now, the sellers have accepted our offer and in the next couple of days the whole thing will be put in the bank's hands. If we don’t hear anything from the bank in the next forty-five days, we’ll head back out to California to start looking for a different house. If we find a different house at that point, we can withdraw our offer on the short sale. For now, we’re just hoping and assuming everything will go smoothly. We’re not fooling ourselves about potential issues with the house. In addition to the standard inspection, we’ll likely be getting a chimney inspector and getting a contractor/specialist to give us some bids on fixing the front yard. The house needs a termite inspection too. We’ll also have a contractor give us some estimates on expanding over the garage. Finally, if there’s anything the main inspector pulls up, we might pull in additional specialists such as an electrician, plumber, and potentially someone to inspect the foundation because the area is known for clay foundations. We might want to get the sewer scoped, the house checked for earthquake retrofitting, and who knows what else will pop up?

Prior to this week, Mark and I had pretty much resigned ourselves to living at least a twenty minute drive from St. Mary’s. We also thought for sure we would want a mostly move in ready house given the distance we’re buying from. Even though we had a generous budget, for the area it wasn't that much and it certainly wasn't enough to get us closer to St. Mary's. Realistically, based on the comparable home sales and the current upswing in the market, if we don’t buy this house we’re not likely to ever have another opportunity to break into the Lafayette market. Considering the low inventory, we were shocked to have so many options near campus. It is one thing to say “four minute drive” or “2 miles” or “close to work”. But when you actually drive it and get to your destination before your car warms up, it’s a whole different feeling. After checking out Lafayette more and imagining a life that involves Mark being able to come home for lunch or duck back into work after dinner, we really started putting more value on a walkable/bikeable/short drive for Mark. We actually looked at three houses that were all under a four minute drive to work. One only had 1.5 baths (and was actually only a few houses down from the one we chose) and the other house had a creepy vibe and was located next to a busy street and had a lot of street noise. There were two more houses that were a tad further out but had absolutely no back yard. We felt that if we were going to choose Lafayette, this short sale fixer was our best bet.

Location, location, location!

As far as the houses further away, even though we liked many of them, we just didn’t feel like we would be getting good value for the money. House number three, for example, would not likely appreciate very well considering its location and the fact that there were no upgrades we could do ourselves. I also really had to think about that kitchen, because no matter what we did it was never going to be nicer without encroaching on dining/living space. House number one was at the top of the budget and would have put Mark in a situation where he is facing a lifetime of an hour in the car every day and we still wouldn't have a fourth bedroom. My mom and I also looked at several houses that we just plain didn’t like. For example, we saw one house that was a tri-level and I would have to walk up two flights of steps just to get to the kitchen. Another house we saw had a nice big deck but no grass or yard space so it was eliminated. In yet another house, I could hear the BART squealing by every five minutes. A few of the houses would feed into a decent elementary school but the high school wasn’t all that great. Many had ugly popcorn ceilings, poor layouts, and bad vibes. Most importantly and hardest to articulate with pictures, none of them felt right. 60s mod, 70s ugh, and 80s huh? just didn't quite fit our style. My mom and I looked at over twenty houses and we took Mark to six.

source: www.cartoonstock.com

There is simply no getting around the fact that we chose a fixer. We see the dream and have great vision for the house, and it has great flow and character. And, it felt right. Assuming we get the house, the very nature of the house and the improvements we want to make has changed the next several years of our lives. Before we even move in, we have to get a fence up for Sadie and the house needs a total scrubbing. We also plan to refinish the hardwoods and hopefully paint the walls/ceilings before all of our stuff gets in the way. After we move in, first on the list is to fix up the master bath. Luckily we can use the main bath. Second is to put in a new kitchen. I am especially excited about the new kitchen because hardly any of the other houses had potential for a nice big new kitchen and I love to cook. At some point, we will have the front yard completely re-graded and have a new retaining wall put in. We think we can fix up the backyard ourselves, but we will want to have some experts check it out to make sure we’re not messing up the hill and to make sure we get any drainage issues addressed. Possibly the biggest and most ambitious plan we have is to expand the house into the room over the garage. Stupidly or not, we actually put in the offer without ever getting into the garage because it was locked with a separate key. There was a window into it that we peaked into and there is already an existing stairway and second story floor where there are laundry hookups. Ideally, we’ll be able to connect this space to the main house with French doors. We haven’t made any firm decisions yet but we might make that space a guest/office combo with a third bath, or potentially just make it our own master suite. Another option would be to make it more living space and move the laundry down into the bottom floor of the garage.

Possibly our biggest compromise on this house is the lack of a fourth bedroom. We so very badly wanted to be able to have a dedicated guest room, even if it was a dual purpose and combined with an office or craft space. However, in the end living in the prime location was just more important. We're hoping to create good space with the expansion over the garage, but even if we don't we'll be keeping our spaces flexible and we wants guests to feel welcome to come visit!

Something that doesn’t come across in any of the pictures is the 50s charm and family vibe of the house. Despite the fact that the house is one of the smallest we looked at, we could both so easily see ourselves growing up together in that house and raising a family there. And, from the hardwoods to the crown molding to the cute open space in the hallway that we've dubbed the atrium, the whole house is simply charming. Already, the house has made itself a new character in our story.

The characters in our story

Everyone always says that the number one rule in real estate is location. Frankly, we’ve always scoffed at that notion because so much more goes into deciding on a home purchase than location. However, as it turned out, for us we decided location really was the trump factor. The street is very quiet and several other families live in nearby houses. The neighbors across the street have two young babies and next door there is a little boy who has a turtle shaped sandbox. Around the corner there is a huge park with baseball and soccer fields. About two blocks away is the elementary school where our kids will go and a little past that is the community center and community pool. I’ll be able to go for my runs, long or short, straight from the house because the trail is just down the street and around the corner. In fact, we can ride our bikes on that trail into downtown. And, perhaps most important of all, Mark will be able to spend his time at home and not in the car commuting.

Entrance to the park by our new house
What you can't see are the kid sized cleat marks on the trail!

As you can tell, given our options we agreed that we’d rather improve the house than hope we can make do with the location. And, once the remodeling is finished, I’m confident the place is going to be awesome. After all, with Mark and I at the helm, how could it be any less?

Mark's new license plate

PS: Shout out to Kristina at http://kristinatravels.blogspot.com/ for the inspiration to add random pics/comics to my text heavy post!

House Hunters, Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.2)

House Hunters, Lingwood Edition (Episode 2.2)

After a lot of mulling over and revisiting the top choices more than once, Mark and Kristen made a decision!

They chose….

....

....

wait for it….

....

....

It’s gonna be legend….

....

....

I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the next part is….

........

........

House number 2, the short sale fixer in the prime location!!!

(DAIRY!)

Are you surprised? Did they pick what you would have picked? Because of the nature of the short sale, they are not yet under contract. Mark and Kristen put in an offer late Friday night and now have to wait for the sellers to accept. Given the holiday weekend, it could be another couple of days. Once the sellers accept, Mark and Kristen will have about 45 days after that to wait for the bank to approve the sale. Then, after all that waiting, assuming everything is approved, a standard 30-day escrow will start with many, many inspections. Although the sale is considered “as is”, that doesn’t mean Kristen and Mark have to accept it as is. Should something deal breaking come up in any of the inspections, they can walk away.

If, and only if, all of the above goes smoothly, the couple will be embarking on budget and calendar busting home improvements. No one can say they don’t seize a challenge! The real question is, who is willing to come help pull weeds and paint?

Find out why we picked what we picked and more on the next episode of House Hunters: Lingwood Edition. 

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition (Season 2 Premier)

Last year’s House Hunters posts were and still remain some of our most visited posts of all time. In light of their popularity we’re bringing back House Hunters: Lingwood Edition for a second season!

Kristen arrived in Walnut Creek on Monday evening with her mom in tow for help and support. Starting on Tuesday, she and her mom began the hunt in earnest with Mark helping remotely via phone and internet. Mark arrived on Thursday night and the couple spent Friday viewing their top contenders and making a final choice.

The real estate market in the area has really shifted in the last month or so. Inventory is low and homes are not staying on the market for much more than ten days. Often homes are selling at or above asking price with several offers. Some sellers are even dictating which days they will review offers and other sellers are limiting the viewing times to only one or two open houses. In fact, two of the homes Kristen and her mom viewed on Tuesday and Wednesday sold before Mark could view them on Friday.

Kristen and Mark decided to narrow their search to the areas of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Lafayette. From the beginning, they knew that they would have to make a compromise between commute, price, square feet, and condition of the house. Unlike most first time buyers, the couple is determined to buy a long-term family house where they can settle down and someday raise a family. Here are their three finalists!

House number one is located in one of the best neighborhoods of Walnut Creek and is at the top of the budget. It has three bedrooms, two baths, and a sparkling pool and hot tub. There is a shed in the backyard that could easily be converted into an office. Although it needs updating, the house is in pristine move in condition and has gorgeous curb appeal in a family orientated neighborhood. Mark’s future commute would clock in at about thirty minutes. The neighborhood is fantastic and has wide streets and great sidewalks. The pool would need a fence and there isn’t much space for the dog to run around, though parks are nearby.

Great curb appeal with cute coordinating brick inlay in the driveway and front walkway
Clean but outdated kitchen has a window overlooking the backyard and good bones but limited storage.

Living room has good space and good light but an unfortunate fireplace mantle.

 Dining room has nice French doors out into the backyard and connects to both the kitchen and the living room

Beautiful pool is in perfect condition, but would need a fence around it while our children are young.

Because the pool is large, there is not much grass or play space in the yard. The shed is in great condition and is already wired for electricity. We would just need to add insulation, drywall, and flooring.

Laundry room has great storage and convenient access to the garage.

Family bath is spacious but not updated.

Bedroom 1 

Bedroom 2

Master Bedroom

House number two is priced $55,000 less than the first house and can be considered a true “fixer.” It is a bank approved short sale, which means the selling bank has already approved the sellers as short sale candidates and they have approved the sale price. The asking price is under market value and somewhere around one or two hundred thousand (yes you read that right) less than the entry home price for its neighborhood. However, as a short sale, the home would be sold as-is and could potentially take a long time to finalize the sale. The house is in a fantastic neighborhood in Lafayette and is located only four minutes away from Mark’s new job. There is a park, an elementary school, and a community center all within walking distance. The running trail is also down the street. At only 1388 square feet, the home is quite small and has three bedrooms and two baths. The entire house needs work and updating but is full of charm and loads of potential. The lot is on a hill and needs major re-landscaping work but there is plenty of space for the dog and future kiddos.

The front has potential for cute curb appeal. As it stands now, the front yard needs to be re-graded and have a new retaining wall put in.

Good flow, with a small but cute living room. Hardwoods are original to the 1954 house but they need to be refinished.

Dining space is right off the kitchen and flows into the living room.

 Charming kitchen is livable as is, but the footprint is there for Kristen to upgrade to her dream kitchen.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

The master bedroom is good sized and has two closets and attached full bath.

The family bath is original but in remarkably good condition for its age and for a short sale.

Master bath needs to be redone but is connected to the master bedroom and has space for the shower, sink, and toilet.

The garage is about 1.5 stories and there seems to be potential to expand the living space out into a FROG (finished room over garage) or possibly a master or guest suite.

The backyard has a large hill with mature trees. It needs a fence on one side of the property and a lot of sweat equity.

House number three is located at the edge of the Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill border. Mark would have a twenty minute commute. The location has easy access to BART and the freeway, is close to a nice park and community center, and close to running trails. It’s at the end of a cul-de-sac on a large lot with a well-maintained front and back yard. Listed at about $16,000 less than house number two, this house has four full bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house is fully updated with nice carpet, new kitchen, and laminate floors. This is a truly move in ready house, though there is some suspect drainage problems and the crawl space would have to be totally cleaned out. Parking is limited on the cul-de-sac and one street over is very industrial with a mix of businesses and apartments. Inside the house is quiet but the 680 can be faintly heard from outside. The lot is the largest of the three lots and boasts plenty of flat lawn space for playing with the dog or someday playing soccer with future kids.

The front has a nice yard and cute entrance. 

The entry opens right into the living room.

The living room and family room are divided by a brick fireplace

Dining connect kitchen and family room, and has easy access to the garage.

The kitchen is fully updated and has a window viewing the front yard.

Other side of the galley kitchen

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Master Bedroom

Family bath is fully updated 

The backyard has a huge well maintained lawn and a great patio complete with ceiling fan and outdoor space heater for true indoor/outdoor living

So, which one did they choose?

Pristine Pool with Commute

House 1

Short Sale Fixer in Prime Location

House 2

Move-in Ready Cul-de-sac

House 3

Check back tomorrow to find out!

**Feel free to let me know if you want any information on the listings or want to see more pictures. 

***For the fun of our readers who don’t know which one we picked, please don't post spoilers in the comments! 

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition Revealed

Tonight we signed the lease! Forget the options? Check last night's post here.

We chose.....



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Option THREE!!!! Country Mansion with Alpaca Neighbors

We LOVE LOVE LOVE this house and can't wait to move in. Here is the breakdown and the "reveal" of the real situations. I apologize for tricking you when I wrote the post last night to make it sound like the three options were all amazing.

House 1: Whomping Willow. We truly loved the character of this house. It had many of the characteristics we are looking for in our forever home. The sunroom offered me an amazing craft space and Mark would have plenty of space for an office. However, the bottom line was that with the oil heat and window unit A/C, we were worried we would freeze in the winter and burn in the summer. In addition to that, the layout was quirky and the kitchen had odd dining space, forcing us into choosing between a dining room and a guest bedroom. And, although it was a single family home, it was stuck right in the middle of tons of townhomes and all the way out in Christiansburg, making for a longer drive than Mark currently has now in LA. The final nail in the coffin was the pet policy--if we wanted to get a dog, we would have to pretend like we only had one cat and we could only get a 30lb or less dog.

House 2: Big City Living in the Country. I can't believe people actually thought we might pick this option!!! This was actually our back up option to be used in an emergency "we don't have anywhere to live" situation only. Clearly we have not been complaining loudly enough about our small space living situation. We are not interested in ever sharing walls, or floors, or ceilings, or walkways, or parking, or anything about our living space with 500+ other residents ever again. For the last six years we have had 

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS 

but we've been stuck in 

ittty bitty living spaces. 

In addition to generally not wanting to have anything to do with an apartment ever again, this particular apartment wanted to nickel and dime us with $200 application processing fees (in addition to the application fee), non-optional cable packages, absurd pet policies, and was basically over priced. It also seemed to have a slight undergrad problem, mostly in that it had some. 

House 3: Our new house! We basically walked in and said "we'll take it." It was a bit more than that of course-- we toured the whole thing and had a quick private talk, but there wasn't much discussion for us. It has everything we want, especially tons and tons of space. It is also heated/cooled with a heat pump and located on an adorable country road. It has ceiling fans in the upstairs in addition to dual climate control for the two floors. There is a large back deck, huge fenced yard (can you hear the sound of a doggy playing fetch?) and a huge front yard. Not only do we get such an amazing yard, but we don't have to take care of it. Yard care is included in our rent. While there's no garage, there is a shed for tools and stuff in the backyard. Most importantly and hardest to quantify, it felt like home. There are definite downsides, but we'll make them work and, after all, we're not buying it and we didn't have tons of options. We are looking forward to moving into it in three weeks and making it our new home. Now... where to buy furniture, and possibly a pool table? 

Here I am again, showing off our new house: (I thought for sure this picture would give it away!)

House Hunters: Lingwood Edition

Today we looked at three homes, and all were great options!

Option one is a three bedroom, one and a half bath house in the nearby town of Christiansburg. It's about a 17minute drive to campus and has a tree much like the Whomping Willow in the front yard. This house is full of country farmhouse charm including dark hardwood floors, white molding, sage green paint, and two sunrooms. It has an eat-in kitchen, basement, and detached garage. Unfortunately, it's heated with oil heat and cooled with window unit air-conditioners. Cost is $1250/month plus utilities, we do our own yard work. 

Option 1: Front of house

Option 1: Living room (with view into bedroom/office)

Option 1: kitchen

Option two is a three bedroom, three bath loft-style apartment in an upscale apartment community only a few minutes from campus. It has high end finishes including a huge kitchen with nice appliances, tall ceilings, and large closets. There is also a full size washer/dryer in a utility room. The unit is on the top floor and the complex has the amenities that this LA couple is used to: a work out room, package pick up, pool, hot tub, and business center. It is truly big city living in a small town. On the downside, it's an apartment. Cost is about $1450/month + utilities, no yard work or snow shoveling. 

Option 2: Kitchen

Option 2: Living room with view into 2nd bedroom and bathroom

Option 2: bathroom

Option three is a four bedroom, two bath split level country house on a large lot. Clocking in at about 13 minutes to campus, this option is still in Blacksburg but nestled on the outskirts of town. Believe me when I say outskirts; the neighbors down the street have alpacas chillin' in their front yard. It has an eat-in kitchen, large deck and huge yard. This house is so big you could play laser tag in it. The bedrooms are nicely sized but the whole thing has carpet (no hardwoods), and the split level 80s style leaves a bit lacking in the character department. Compared to the other two options, this kitchen has less counter space and is not as updated. Cost is about $1250/month + utilities, yardwork included but we have to shovel our own snow. 

Option 3: Front 

Option 3: Kitchen

Option 3: family room

So, what's it going to be? Leave a comment with your vote. You can check out more pics in our picasa album if you need help deciding.

Option 1: Whomping Willow

Option 2: Big City Living in the Country

Option 3: Country Mansion with Alpaca Neighbors

I'll post what we chose tomorrow night after we sign our lease and it's official!