Sitting and Existing

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Smelly Danielly

Source: bungalow5.dk via Ickemixe on Pinterest

I am waiting for a sign, but how can this be it? There is nothing out there.

I am feeling rather frustrated and discouraged about this whole house thing. It is something that plagues my brain all the time. I don’t want to talk about houses, I don’t want to look at houses, I don’t want to think about houses, and yet, I have to find a house.

I honestly believed that since we were put through so much bullshit during the selling of our apartment, that this meant we would have such an easy time buying a house. You know, like all the crap was worth it, and it wasn’t all for nothing. Like our little reward for dealing with everything was our cute little home waiting for us to snatch up.

I had a thought this morning; we are no longer living, we are just existing. We are existing until something comes up and says “Hey! Buy me and you can have your life back!”. We can’t go forward with any of our life plans. We can talk about them, we can plan for them, but we can’t actually do them.

I’m tired of looking at pinterest and reading blogs and getting all this inspiration for interiors and crafts and house things and then realizing, I can’t do any of them. It’s all a big friggin tease.

Sometimes I just want to SCREAM.

**edit**

I think the reason I am so angry about everything is because last night we got an email from our realtor. He told us that after thinking about it for a long time he didn’t think we would find a house in New West and should probably focus more of our attention on Coquitlam. He was giving us a suggestion and I took it to mean that I couldn’t get what I wanted, which made me angry. ‘I’ll show you!’ I thought. I will FIND a house in New West. The best house EVER and I will BUY it and you will be WRONG! How dare you say we won’t find a house in New West!

Then, I realized, as much as I had been telling myself that I wasn’t living in a dream world and that I did have a grip on reality, it was all a big lie. I am looking for that dreamy pinterest heritage home, and the fact of the matter is, that is not going to happen for the price I am willing to pay. I am holding out for perfect and I am not going to find perfect. Even though Chad has been telling me this for months, I guess I just really did not want to believe him. I much rather live in denial about the whole thing. I have to accept that this just may not happen for us.

For some reason this email triggered a ‘wake up’ moment for me. A wake up call from a lovely dream. But the fact was, I didn’t want to wake up, I wanted to keep dreaming, which is why I got so angry.

I guess it really was a sign, a sign that I should wake up and smell the roses of reality.

Moving On Up

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

There was no one to sit in Chads chair in the back of the moving van this year. But it worked out well because there was way more stuff to move out of the apartment then there was into the apartment so Pat wouldn’t have fit anyways.

It’s all over. The move was a success thanks to team awesome. Dario and Ryan are such good planners; they packed the moving van and storage locker like professionals. I don’t even know how they got everything to fit. Gina and Elise were also excellent help holding elevator doors and moving boxes.

It took longer than I had anticipated, but then moving always does. We had two loads to drop off, one to my Moms and one to the storage locker. We were finished by about 4, which wasn’t too bad. You can tell we had out grown the space based on how much stuff we had crammed into every knock and cranny. And to think, a lot of stuff was already in my Uncles basement, plus Chad had already moved 3 or 4 small loads of boxes over the past 2 weeks. We wouldn’t have fit everything had we not started moving things early.

Sunday morning Chad and I went back to move all the stuff from the deck, empty the fridge, and clean everything up. That again took longer expected.

My parent’s basement looks like it’s exploded with all our stuff. I was able to go through a few boxes last night and put away half of our clothes, but there is still so much to do. I forgot how much of my stuff was left in my bedroom and the basement when I moved out, and I know that Mom is going to expect me to take it all when we find a house, so I think my plan of action is to start going through it this weekend, when I’m home alone, and just start chucking it all. Most of it is inside joke stuff from high school which I no longer remember and therefore is useless to me. I’m sure I will keep some stuff, but my goal is to fit it all in one box.

All the payments go through today and the keys get handed over on Wednesday. Chad is going to make one more trip tonight to the BBQ and Drums, which we totally forgot about, other then that, we are officially out of there.

I don’t know how I feel about the whole situation. I don’t know if I miss the apartment itself or just the idea of Chadand I having a space that was ours. I guess on one hand, that apartment always felt like a project to me, a transitional home that we renovated to appeal to the masses. But at the same time, it was the only place I had ever lived outside of my parent’s home, and it was also the first place I ever lived with Chad. I guess the goal is to look forward where Chad and I get to find our first home together.

So it’s done. The little apartment that could is no longer ours. The photos and memories we will always have. I will miss it, but bigger and better things are on the horizon.

Not All That Glitters Is Gold

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

Well, Sunday was a wake up call.

We did our first real tour of houses yesterday. There were 2 houses that we had picked and a few more our Realtors pick just to throw in some variety and to show us what was out there. We definitely were not expecting to find what we did.

When we first talked about areas we would like to live in we divided it as follow…

Burnaby- We would love to but that isn’t going to happen unless we win the lotto
New West – Possibility, but there are some sketchy neighborhood we were scared of
West Coquitlam – Ideal in terms of price points
East Coquitlam – Pushing it
Port Moody – Possibility

CoquitlamCenter, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge,Port Coquitlam, or anything over a bridge - Not Happening

So we set out to view houses in Coquitlam, the city I thought I wanted to live in the most.

House # 1 a.k.a “Asian Crack Shack” – We had picked this house to view based on its location. The pictures made it look like it was definitely a fixer-upper, but it seems like something we could live with for a little while. Yea, big mistake. The house was not maintained at all. The counter tops in the kitchen were broken; there was a leak in the roof which they tried to hide behind pieces of Christmas wrapping paper. The basement was a disaster. There were air vents everywhere that made no sense. The wiring was all wacky and everything you looked at was falling apart. This house was close to the top of our price range and the entire thing needed to be gutted if not knocked down. The house was just so gorss. Clearly it did not make our short list.

House # 2 a.k.a. “Squatter Central” – Our realtor had sent us this house for it’s location, but when we looked it up on MLS there were no photos of it, which right away made me think bad things because the only reason you wouldn’t post pictures of a house is if the house is a piece of trash. Well, the house was a piece of trash. The outside looked worn, but we had no idea what we were about to step foot into. Clearly the owners had #1 been smokers and #2 had pets because the whole house was covered in carpet, which they ripped out and didn’t replace. We were walking on plywood. The kitchen had a solarium attached to it which was wood paneled, except the roof had leaked and the wood was rotting. There were holes in the walls from people kicking it. Everything was falling apart. The house smelled so bad I could barely breathe. Someone, however, was living in the basement, amidst piles of crap covered by sheets. I was honestly waiting to find a dead body or something, the house was that sketchy. I could not get out of there fast enough. We thought the 1st house was bad but clearly we were wrong. That house was listed at the top of our price range. Yea, let’s spend $600,000 to buy a house only to have to knock it down and spend some more money to build a new one! 600 k for a crack shack with squatters. Welcome toVancouver!

House # 3 a.k.a “The Money Pit” - We stumbled upon this house en route to another appointment. They were having an open house so we just stopped to check it out. It was owned by an older man who had lived in it for 10 years and had recently begun to renovate the whole thing. Only problem is he didn’t have any permits to do so, so when the neighbors called the city, they shut him down forcing him to spend roughly $15,000 to get engineers and architects in to approve all the work he had down. After that ordeal he realized he was sinking too much money into the place and was just going to sell it as is; gutted. $650,000 for another gutted house. Clearly this was way out of our league, but it was at least neat to check out. Note to self, get city approval before renovating a house.

House #4 a.k.a “The Confused Tree House” – Another showing our Realtors wanted us to see, further out then we were expecting, this house was essentially split into two suites, the upstairs and the downstairs. The house was nice and well looked after, but the layout didn’t really make much sense. The house was built on the side of a cliff surrounded by trees so given that they couldn’t really have a traditional backyard; they build all these tiered wooden decks around the trees which was really cool. It kind of reminded me of the tree houses they have at theCapilanoSuspension bridge. Over all the house was nice but not for us. It seemed like it was having an identity crisis with the two oddly laid out suites.

House #5 a.k.a. “The Dreamy One” – This house was in New West. The good part of New West, right between my ZiosChurch and my Zias house. The photos made me fall in love. It looked to be a bit on the small side but I was willing to give it a try. It was dreamy. Dreamy and old school. Dreamy and old school and a bit too tiny. There were only 2 bedrooms on the main floor. The master didn’t have an ensuite, and asChad pointed out, the master closet was too small. It mentioned that it had an in-law suite which essentially meant someone could live downstairs but it was open to everything, so you could only rent it out to someone you knew, like your in-laws, because they would have access to your whole house. Out of everything we saw, this one was the closest to what we were looking for. We toyed with the idea of adding a 3rd floor master loft, but then we realized that the house just didn’t work for our needs so that would really be a waste. This one was dreamy, but not the one.

So after our adventurous day of crack shacks and vintage houses we came to these conclusions. We are actually much more comfortable in New West as appose to Coquitlam. It’s closer to everything we want and it ‘feels’ like home. We are definitely on the look out for a vintage home with that heritage feel.Chadlikes the size of them better then giant 70s homes and I am so obsessed with the look of them. I also found out, because it was never explained properly to me, that if you buy a house with a basement suite, your mortgage lender counts that as income, and therefore you qualify for a bigger mortgage, sometimes up to $200,000 more. Umm hello! Why wasn’t I told this before!? So, we are now officially on the look for a house in New West with a basement suite in our ideal neighborhood, and you know what, I think we are actually going to be able to find something!

Store Age

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

We went out on Sunday to book a storage locker for all of our stuff. You read online about all the different size units they have and what they hold and you think, oh yea that’s more then enough space. And then you go there and you see it for yourself and you start to think, where the hell is everything going to go?

We are renting a 10 x 10 locker at Public Storage. A 10 x 10 locker is supposed to fit all the contents of a 1 bedroom apartment minus appliances. Yea, we’ll see if that actually happens or not. I guess the only good thing is, if we have extra boxes and things that wont fit, at least they can go in someones basement, right?

The month is looking pretty busy. This weekend we are having the ‘Last Supper’ as it were, and then we are celebrating my Moms 50th Birthday. Next weekend Pat and Aimee are in town for the Banquet, the weekend after that we are in Vegas, and the weekend after that we MOVE! Yea, talk about timing.

I got it in my head that since we started paying for the storage locker on Sunday we should probably start packing everything and moving it over this week. I don’t know why I decided to add stress to my life! A lot of the dishes and things are still going to be needed for dinner on Saturday, but I was able to pack most of our glassware and decorative items. Chad is going to take a load over tomorrow night while I madly clean the house and prepare as much food as I can for Saturday. It would not be like us if we didn’t plan for a million things to happen all at the same time. Actually Ryan predicted that we would have to move all of our stuff around the time we leave for Vegas back when we booked the trip. Wouldn’t it be funny if…yea, not so much! Oh well, this is all good stress.

Speaking of which, Chad and I still have to prepare all the photos and slide show for the banquet. I don’t know when thats going to happen but we are running out of time!

So, in other words, the next month is going to be filled with a lot of stressfill, moving-esque blog posts. I plan on documenting everything. I know you are excited!

Where Are We Going To Live?

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Smelly Danielly

And so the search for a new home begins.

I was put back on the real estate email list this weekend. I took myself off of it months ago because it was torture being sent house after house that I could do nothing about because we were not ready to move. Now the homes are slowly starting to trickle in.

If this whole processes has taught me anything it is to have patience. That and people are friggin picky, so why the hell aren’t I?

I guess part of me gets so excited about things that I tend to block out any sort of negativity surrounding it. For example, finding a house that could work, but its in a bad neighbourhood. I will do everything in my power to convince myself and everyone around me that its not that big of a deal and it will be fine, instead of looking at it realistically and thinking, is it really worth it to buy a house in a neighbourhood I’m not comfortable in? All I want is the house and I get so focused on it that I will do anything I have to, to get it. That, and I guess having family members in every sort of trade makes me thing that if anything is wrong with the place, I’ll just get someone I know to fix it, instead of thinking, is this really worth it?

Now, I am looking at things in a new light. I’ve almost come full circle and have become so picky that I don’t know if anything will make me happy! I’m not sure if that’s going to hinder my ability to find a house that fits all our needs, or if it will pay off because I will truly find what I am looking for and won’t just settle for something that will kind of work.

At least I know I have the perfect gauge of balance in Chad. I tend to come up with wacky ideas, and running them by him is like running them by the government of reason-ability. If he looks at me like I’m crazy then I know I am actually crazy, but if he looks at me like I’ve got a good idea, then I know, however out there it seems, it could actually work.

I guess the challenge now is finding something we like, that will fit our needs, within our budget. Everyone struggles with this when looking for a home, but I think it’s going to be a bit more difficult for us, because of how unbelievably picky I have become. I think reading design websites for the past 6 months has screwed me over with expectations!

I also find myself struggling with making a decision on whether or not to view a house. In my head, if I am sent a house that I think has potential for us, then I feel OK making an appointment to go view it. But if I find a house that has positives and negatives I feel almost guilty for making an appointment to view it, because the likely hood that we will actually like it enough to put in an offer is slim. I mean, in all reality, can you really tell everything about a house by a few pictures and some spec info? No of course you can’t, but you can get a good sense of whether or not the house can work for you. I guess that’s what I’m kind of relying on, pictures and info to sell me, when in reality, pictures can make things look way better then they actually are, and you really can’t make an educated decision with out seeing a house with your own eyes. Plus, over 30 people came to see our apartment before we got an offer, so I should be the last person to feel guilty for ‘wasting someones time’ and booking a viewing. I guess the reality is, you never know until you view it.

So, we have booked two viewings so far, for two compeletly different houses in two compeletly different areas. And so the adventure beings!!