house hunting: was definitely not what i expected but well worth the ups and downs. the first thing we learned - do not trust photos! that ridiculously huge kitchen/living room/dining room/etc you instantly fall in love with -9 times out of 10 ends up being an 1/8 of the size. boo! i remember the very first house we saw - it was adorable and spacious in the photos and i was certain it was the one. "how lucky are we to find our home on the first try" i thought. not so much. although the home was indeed adorable it was also tiny and didn't make much sense for us! the second thing we learned - the total square footage isn't always the total liveable square footage. 300 upper square feet and 400 lower square feet (even unfinished) sounds perfect on paper - potential bonus rooms for the future kiddos sweet! but when you can't stand up straight in the attic and really can't do anything but laundry in the basement, you're realistically left with the square footage on the main level (in some cases smaller than our apartment).
the location was the most important factor for us. we love being in the heart of portland - specifically northeast - so we were definitely picky when it came to neighborhoods. we also love the rose city neighborhood (our current/b's childhood neighborhood) and ideally wanted to stay relatively close. other than that, our list of "have to haves" included 2 bedrooms (although that eventually switched to: 3 would be really really nice) at least one bathroom (hey you never know one foreclosure we saw was robbed of it's toilets), and really great bones!
there were several times we thought the right house in our ideal neighborhood just wasn't out there and expanded our search farther east to the argay neighborhood. we fell head over heels with the beautiful mid-century ranches. they were some of the coolest homes we had ever seen - one in particular was in perfect original condition (one owner)! although we left argay feeling excited we knew in our hearts we would miss walking to the dive bars, tiny coffee shops and sweet cafes that have spoiled us the past few years.
making an offer: was extremely competitive in our price range - again, something we weren't expecting. everyone said the first offer(s) they made didn't go through and they were so happy it worked out that way. our friends and family encouraged us to hang in there, everything happened for a reason and we would find our perfect home. offer number one was up against 6 others - two of which were over asking price and all cash. we were a little bummed but got over it pretty fast. offer number two was a different story. house two was incredible - a huge house, built in the early 1900s, with beautiful built-in cabinets next to a cozy fireplace. i could almost smell the wood that would be burned in that fireplace. the icing on the cake for me was that it happened to be on the same street my grandfather medak built a wonderful home (just a few blocks north). "the mallory house" my aunts uncles and parents still talk about that house. i was certain this had to be a sign. i even posted the news on facebook after we made the offer (which i seriously debated doing). i didn't want to jinx ourselves but I also felt like "this is it" - all we really needed was that medak magic from heaven and lots of prayers from our friends and family. we put our very best offer forward and came pretty close (we ended up being the back up) but again there were multiple offers and someone else blew ours out of the water. to say i was devastated doesn't even come close to describing my disappointment. i cried and cried - and cried some more. in my eyes that was our house - i was even convinced the accepted offer had to fall through because someone else was going to be living in our house. again, everyone told us it wasn't meant to be and ours was still out there. i didn't believe them - i thought we were the exception to the saying we kept hearing over and over again "we're so glad we didn't get that house."
third time's a charm: we're so glad we didn't get that house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yep i said it - you were all right - and we'll accept each and every "i told ya so" with a smile. don't get me wrong house 2 was a gem. but i grew up in a 1909 house with a leaky roof, and old windows, and terrible insulation. considering we offered everything we could, that house would have taken the term "house poor" to a whole other galaxy! we love our 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath (yes we have a half bath - what a life!!!!), 1950's home and can't imagine living in any other. the added bonus - it's only 1.02 miles from our apartment so we get to stay in the same neighborhood we love so much. we owe so much to my incredible uncle who happened to be our realtor -because of him the stars truly aligned with this one. our friends and family also deserve a world of credit for the unending advice, support and especially the words of encouragement when we were really bummed and frustrated.
homeowners: i can't begin to describe how it feels to own a home - happy, excited, pumped - nothing comes close to this feeling! when i just finished school, moved back to portland, and realized how high the prices were i wasn't so sure it would be a reality for me. it still feels like a dream - especially since we're working on projects before we move in (i promise i'll update with the progress). life has been really good to us and we're definitely ready to "pay it forward." so, without further ado, may we please introduce you to our home sweet home!
before pictures (there are tiny white numbers on each photo - descriptions below):
row one: 1. front of house 2. living room tv wall 3. living room long wall into dining room (hi b!) row two: 4. stella's room/office/craft room (technically the 3rd bedroom right off of the living room) 5 stella's room looking into living room. 6. full shot of living room (standing in dining room) 7. hallway
row three: 8. dining room (you can see the back yard - it's huge) 9. kitchen 10. full bathroom row four: 11. master bedroom from the door 12. master bedroom from the corner 13. half bath 14. 2nd bedroom
we've been hard at work - stay tuned!
hugs
♡
Congrats to you and B! Although...I wish you would have purchased in Argay! I grew up here and Sam and I bought the house across the street and two houses down from my parents. Would have been nice to be neighbors! Glad you two got your perfect home, in your perfect neighborhood though. Being a homeowner is such an incredible feeling! Can't wait to see the pictures of all the fun things you're doing to your place. Welcome home! :) Lisa Monfils
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