House Hunting

Wow.  Has it really been that long since I’ve posted?  I guess we’ve been a bit distracted.  After much consideration, Miriam and I decided it was time to start house hunting in the suburbs.  We said when we first bought this house that we’d probably be in it for about five years, and we’ve been in it now for about 5 years and 8 months.  In some ways, it will be sad to move.  We love our neighbors and we’ve put a lot of our time, energy, heart, and soul into renovating this house (not to mention money).  But more space, being out closer to Beth Torah and the JCC (where Mikaela will move for daycare in the Fall), and getting the maximum value from our house all favor our moving soon.

We’re looking primarily in an area bordered by 143rd street to the South, College Blvd. on the North, Roe on the East, and Quivira on the West.  There are a few outliers that we’re considering, but that’s the focus.  We’re finding lots of available houses in our price range, with the features we’re looking for, in that area.  We’ve already checked out a few FSBOs on our own in the last week or so.  This Sunday will be our first big search tour with our buyer’s agent, Ron Byron.  He helped us with the purchase of our current house, and he’s really great to work with.  We’ve got seven properties lined up to look at on Sunday, one of which we already think is our favorite.

As for selling our current house, we’re not listing it just yet.  One of Miriam’s former clients (divorce, not criminal) is VERY interested.  He came and checked out the house on Monday and loves it.  If we’re lucky, we may have the house "sold" before we even put it on the market.  And because he’s currently in an apartment and isn’t under any pressure to move by a particular date, that would give us flexibility with our own moving date.

Wish us luck – if all goes well, a new house might end up being my birthday present