Waiting and saving December 3, 2010

Don’t you hate it when someone tells you that you just have to be patient? I do. And I really hate that phrase “Good things come to those who wait.” Ugh. Right now, I know that we have almost a year before we can officially move to Louisiana. I have plenty of things to keep me busy until then, but I just hate the waiting. I hate not knowing what my living situation will be and what the school arrangement will be and if my business will flourish, etc. And the other thing I hate? Saving money. Now, I have always been more of a saver than a spender. So it’s not like I want to go out and blow a wad of cash, but I am used to saving up for things that have a definite price and that price is never in the thousands or tens of thousands. Everything is sorta on hold right now. I will have to budget out some money to finish the reno on our current house, but for the most part, the big bucks will be stashed away for the new place. I know that I’ll be glad later. After all, I am not making any compromises on my next kitchen.
So how about you? What are you saving your pennies for?

Could it be love? November 24, 2010

While driving around our target area, we searched for “for sale” signs, but as life would have it, we found the house we want. And it’s not for sale. Darn. That didn’t stop us from poking around. I mean, we didn’t break in, but we did walk around the sides of the property and peek in the front window. She is very much vacant and starting to fall asleep….

Built in 1909.

We have actually been stalking the house for a little while on google street view. When we got into town, we knew exactly where to go to see her in person. And she was every bit as glorious stansing tall in front of us, just as she presented herself on the streetview image. Sadly, she has been neglected. No one values her now that she has become old and tired.

Standing on the front porch, zooming in on the porch roof details. Perfect example of a Neoclassic Revival.

Another view of her soaring columns. They are magnificent when you are close up.

So after we tresspassed, we went to the courthouse to get every piece of info we could on the property. We found out that who the owner was and some other things like the lots size, the history, taxes owned, etc. Did we leave it at that? Of course not. It was now an adventure. We went straight to the old owner’s house and there was the guy, sitting on his front porch smoking. I did all the talking. We chatted for about 30 minutes about the old days and what we wanted to do with that glorious house. And if he would consider letting it go. I told him to not give us an answer right now, but to think about it a little while. I left my name and number. I don’t want to go into all the details of the conversation, but I will say that it looks promising. It *might* be the new homestead one day. No telling how many hoops we will have to jump through, because it will have to be sold through succession. That means lawyers and heirs, but it is worth it. We will see where it goes and keep everyone updated.

I should also add that we are still looking for a big yard and a place that I could run my business out of. This property is an half acre, and it includes a giant workbuilding in the back with 4 skylights in it. It was originally an art studio. How perfect! And there is plenty of room left over to grow all the veggies and fruits we want and of course, add a chicken coop. All in all, it seems to have everything on our wishlist and more.

We also looked at a few other places such as these:

We like this old foursquare too, but I'm not sure why someone would have spray painted it salmon pink??

Interior shot of a house we toured with a realtor. The house was 3 stories high with almost 5000sq ft. The yard was great. The house was crooked. Every room slanted to a different side. Fantastic woodwork throughout.

Cute attic bedroom with beadboard walls. This was one of the 7 bedrooms. Crazy!

The best feature of this house, besides the yard, was this grand staircase that wrapped up into the second story. From there, was another simpler staircase that ascended to the 3rd floor. Try to ignore the sinful red carpet.

We learned alot from this experience so far. Like, when a realtor comes into the picture, expect to pay way more for a house. And what one person deems as “great” shape is another person’s dump hole…

We’ll keep you posted, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be a long process since we will most likely take the unconventional route. Would you expect any less from us??