Follow up questions

Now that I have actually sent the house website out into the world, I am a little nervous.  Nothing a glass or two of wine can’t fix, fortunately.  On the comments of the last post,there were a couple questions.  I am going to distract myself a little by answering them.

Debbie didn’t know what a Cape Cod house looks like.  Around here, they usually look something like this. Ours is pretty typical, but the bump outs for the windows are in the back, so in the front we have a very steep plain roof.  Then we  have an additional room and a garage tacked on to one side.

Jody asked: Could you write a little bit about how you schedule time for all the projects you’ve been doing? It seems as if this has been on your agenda for a good long while now, and I’m fascinated (and a little intimidated) by your ability to do so many time-intensive projects. Especially given A’s busy work schedule.

I don’t really schedule time. I just try to squeeze it in.  Mr. A takes the girls after dinner (and does the dishes) so if I am in the middle of a big project, I work on it then and after bedtime.  Usually, I try to break my bigger projects into smaller tasks and do them a little at a time.  Except for the last 5-10%.  That I usually leave for a year or so later.  I have a hard time finishing things.    I also try to get a lot done on the weekends, so I send Mr. A and the girls out of the house.  Mr. A isn’t very handy so I do a lot of stuff on my own or when my dad can come over and help me.

CherylC asked: Would you be willing to share roughly how much a house like that goes for in Ohio? I don’t mean your specific house, but even within a $50,000 range would be interesting. I’d love a house like that, but even today, in Seattle it would be at least $350,000.

You know me, I don’t mind talking about money.  We are asking $229,000, which is a fair price and just a hair over what we paid in 2004.  (Not to mention all the money we spent on improvements.)  It is at the upper end of our small neighborhood, which is why I won’t price it higher.  Our suburb is weird though, because this house about .5 miles away could go for $275,000.   In a farther out, less walkable suburb, this house would be a LOT cheaper.  Maybe $180,000.  A lot of what you pay for in my house is the walkability and proximity to our town square where all the shops and restaurants are.  I really think we are asking a very fair, safe price.  Only time will tell though.

Lillian asks: Is that painted wood paneling in the computer room? (is it the corner of the living room or another room?) Was it already painted over when you moved in?

The picture quality is terrible, but this is what the office looked like when we moved in.  It had the original pine paneling and wood shutters over the windows.  It was like a dark, dark cave.  I think the paint and trim improved it immensely.  While it was a pain to paint, I really like the stripes in this kind of paneling.

Jenny asks: What color green is that in the girls’ room? It is very hard to find such a nice green that’s not too minty or mossy or olive or whatever!

Ugh. Finding good green paint was a nightmare.  I think I had at least 3 tries before I gave up and went with  this one.  That room is Benjamin Moore Guilford Green.  It was one of there sample pot choices.  My sister just painted her daughter’s nursery Ben Moore Prescott Green and it was also quite lovely.  Much better than the Disney Tinkerbell she had originally tried which burned my eyes out of their sockets when I walked in the room.

Finally, Julie asks where we are going next and LH asks why we are selling.

We have crunched the numbers over and over and have decided that if we want to buy a house to grow old in, now is the time.  Between the interest rates and the slightly lower home prices, we think we will be in a good position to buy our forever house.

We don’t have another house picked out yet.  We really only want to buy in a very, very small geographic area.   In our little suburban town, the number of houses that are a) in our price range, b) in the location we want and c) have an acceptable floorplan are very limited.  When we find the house, we want to be able to buy it without worrying about carrying two mortgages or trying to get a bridge loan.  Also, in our town, 60% of home sales happen in late Spring or Summer, so if we want to sell, we need to do it now or wait another year.

If we sell this house and don’t find our forever house, we are going to rent and ride it out.  We are relatively flexible people, so I am hoping it won’t be too stressful.