After about three months of spending many spare moments driving around and looking at dozens of houses, today we made a deal and signed a contract on the Lawnview Avenue house in the Suncrest area of Morgantown.
"Scumcrest," as my kids used to call it (must have been some Wiles Hill/Suncrest rivalry going on at the junior high or something, don't ask me). Where doctors, lawyers, politicians, college professors and retired college professors live, well, at least the ones who don't want to drive to Cheat Lake.
And they're letting us in? How can it be? I guess the 1960's suburban houses are finally aged enough that they've lost some of their lustre. And Suncrest has its seedier parts; we're only a block or two from a lovely gentleman's club, for example, and there are a few ratty apartment buildings not too far away. That's town life, and we love it.
The immediate neighborhood and house are pretty darn nice, though. And it has a big, LEVEL back yard. (In Morgantown, level is hard to find.) And hardwood floors throughout, a new furnace and lots of other niceties. I even like the paint colors OK.
But I especially love the big old maple tree in the back yard. Yes, it has a maple tree! And lots of other trees! And even a hammock between two of those trees!
The house has large and open common spaces, good for parties.
(Bill says, "What are you talking about; you never want to have parties." That's not QUITE true. Not never.)
It also will be a great place for the kids to come and visit and the grandchildren to run around.
So, I guess my blogging days are over, at least blogging about house-hunting. Perhaps I will segue to another subject, like "decorating my new house," or "selling my old house," or . . . perhaps I won't.
For now, I think it's time to start cleaning out drawers and getting rid of junk: Time to purge!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
From First Ward to Suncrest in 24 hours
Well, we LOVED the Lawnview house even more than the Callen Ave. and are about to make another offer. This blog may be seriously short-lived.
Friday, July 10, 2009
23 years is a long time
After 23 years in one house, Bill and I have decided it's time to move. When we bought our house, it was a wreck, but it was in our price range at the time - dirt cheap - and we had stars in our eyes. We would be fixer-uppers par excellence and we would end up with a lovely house in which to raise our family.
It worked out pretty well. It took more work, time, and money than we realized it would, of course, but we ended up with a house and yard where we have been very happy. We raised our three kids here and have the growth marks on the pantry door frame to prove it.
The maple trees in the backyard shade our yard and drop leaves and branches over the fence onto our retired neighbor's neatly groomed lawn. A dedicated grass farmer, he sees trees as nothing but an impediments to a perfect lawn, but he accepts us for our messy, tree-hugging ways.
Our kids are grown and gone now, and the neighborhood is changing. Some of the older people have died and their houses have become homes for students who like how close we are to the university. The street is crowded with too many cars, and noisy too late. It's still a nice, friendly neighborhood, and we love how close we are to work, but it seems like time to make a change.
Looking for a house is fun but exhausting. We have seen a lot of houses - and a lot of neighborhoods -- that turn us right around. We say, "They want HOW much for this house?"
We have seen a couple houses that were maybes but ended up deciding against. Not being in a hurry, we can be picky.
Recently, after a couple months of looking, we found a house that we thought would do very well. Unfortunately, someone else beat us to the punch.
The nice thing is, there is no rush. We could do this for a long time. Bill shudders when I say that.
Here's a house we might look at this weekend:
It worked out pretty well. It took more work, time, and money than we realized it would, of course, but we ended up with a house and yard where we have been very happy. We raised our three kids here and have the growth marks on the pantry door frame to prove it.
The maple trees in the backyard shade our yard and drop leaves and branches over the fence onto our retired neighbor's neatly groomed lawn. A dedicated grass farmer, he sees trees as nothing but an impediments to a perfect lawn, but he accepts us for our messy, tree-hugging ways.
Our kids are grown and gone now, and the neighborhood is changing. Some of the older people have died and their houses have become homes for students who like how close we are to the university. The street is crowded with too many cars, and noisy too late. It's still a nice, friendly neighborhood, and we love how close we are to work, but it seems like time to make a change.
Looking for a house is fun but exhausting. We have seen a lot of houses - and a lot of neighborhoods -- that turn us right around. We say, "They want HOW much for this house?"
We have seen a couple houses that were maybes but ended up deciding against. Not being in a hurry, we can be picky.
Recently, after a couple months of looking, we found a house that we thought would do very well. Unfortunately, someone else beat us to the punch.
The nice thing is, there is no rush. We could do this for a long time. Bill shudders when I say that.
Here's a house we might look at this weekend:
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