ShadowMeTeresa

Well, OK, I may post some more SOMEtime. But most of you know my blogs have been almost entirely about moving, looking for, and buying houses lately – because that’s all I could think about and almost all I had time for! I’ve been itching to get back to other interesting subjects (and to actual life) for some time now. But first, an update for all of you who have patiently followed this journey.

I moved in Wednesday!! Yay! It didn’t even rain, even though it has the rest of the week. I had a GREAT moving crew and a fabulous friend here to help me move in, and by the time we were done, 2/3 of it was already unpacked! Rick was right in his thought that if there were a few rooms totally done, including ones you mainly need to use (kitchen, bedroom, living room), it would feel like a home already. And so it was. He even organized and unpacked the garage (in between fixing little things that needed fixing).

I have been busy setting up the computers, doing a lot of administrative stuff related to the move, and am trying to get around to the grocery store to stock the kitchen. I still have a wireless network to set up today among other things. But I am doing it in my spacious living area, which is the main part of the house, kind of a combination work area, dining room, and living room space, with the kitchen connected. It has high ceilings, skylights, tile and wood floors, a gas free-standing fireplace, and french doors to the deck and enclosed garden.

There’s lots of things to figure out still, like the most efficient way to heat the different parts of the house given the gas stove and the furnace and the odd hours that I work and sleep. I’m planning to grow some food in raised beds, and that’s taking some thought as to how to do it organically and sustainably. But probably the best part so far is just how quiet and peaceful it is.

I have slept so well the last two nights – the only sounds are the birds in the morning (and the rain!). And my cat, who is not happy about being excluded from the bedroom. But, she used to really keep me awake at night and I’ve decided it’s time to take back my sleep. Also there’s no other guest room now for my frequent visitors who are allergic to cats. Soooo poor kitty, she’s sleeping in the living room now. She’ll get over it – she’s got a lot more room to play and explore, and a private garden where no other cats or dogs can bother her :)

My main prayer to the Universe (given that the houses on either side of me are for sale)… may the peace of this neighborhood remain and bless me, my cat, and all the neighbors for years to come.

So, here’s my house that was, or is for a few more weeks…

If you’ve been following this, you know I’ve been looking at houses in the Olympia area. Early last week I wanted to go see a house that seemed like it would be just right. Rick and I had visited it and the neighborhood and yard were nice, it had a nice porch and lots of potential garden space. The pictures online of the inside of the house looked really pretty. It was small, and affordable – but when I asked my realtor to go see it, it already had an offer. And she told me even if I had been faster, they wouldn’t have taken a noncontingent offer.

It seems that lately, any house I see in my price range that’s really good is gone instantly, within days. The market is picking up here, but more importantly, there are a lot of people looking in lower ranges, including investors waiting to snap up good deals. And the inventory in this price range is mostly not that great. So when something good does appear, it doesn’t last long. This was kind of frustrating, and pushed me into action.

So, Thursday I listed my house for sale. After looking at the comps, we listed it about $10,000 higher than I originally expected, and figured we had time, no problem. If I had to wait a while, that would be OK. It was in the middle of the price range of the MANY similar houses in this area, all built by the same builder. Mine has a couple of advantages – it has been very well-maintained, it has an ideal location on a greenbelt, near parks, and very good schools. And, I’ve put a lot into the beautiful landscaping, deck, and stream:

Well, it sold in three days. We had the good luck of two interested buyers showing up to see the house at essentially the same time – and they could see that each other was interested. By the end of the day we had one full price offer and one just under full price. Woohoo!! And the family that bought the house is really perfect for it. The two kids are just the right ages for the two smaller rooms, they can walk through the park to their schools and to their Mom’s house (shared custody), and while they were looking I had fun listening to the kids playing Billy Goat’s Gruff on the little bridge over the stream :)

And then I thought, omg, I have to find a place to live!! Wednesday I am leaving for a week and a half’s business trip, and I won’t be back until March 1. And then my brother, sister-and-law and I are headed to Mexico for a vacation March 8-15. I set closing for March 21, so this should be entertaining :D

The universe was smiling on me, though. I went onto Craig’s list to see if I could find a temporary rental in Olympia. It’s a little easier than most towns to find month-to-month because of all the students and the legislature. However, both are in session now and there’s not much to be had. I had one (1) choice in a reasonable price range. I called her up and, amazingly, it’s perfect. All utilities and wireless are included. She doesn’t mind my cat, doesn’t care that I don’t know whether I’ll be there one month or eight, doesn’t need any forms filled out or a rental agreement. Just wanted a single professional woman who doesn’t smoke. ~waves hand wildly

I went over there to check it out. Turns out she’s kind of an ex-hippy commune type (which I like), but really has it all together. She has these cute little houses on her property in which various seemingly very nice people live and all help out. There is a beautiful forest with walking trails, expansive grounds with amazing multi-tiered ponds and waterfalls with a patio for relaxing, barbecue, vegetable gardens, orchards, etc. I think this is going to be a really nice place to spend the summer while I’m looking for a house – it’s not far from the center of town.

So, the first week in March I’ll be moving my stuff in there, what I can fit. The rest will go into storage and wait until I find a house. It will be a little bit of a challenge living in 650 square feet – but good practice I think, for the downsizing I’m planning. And with lots of outdoor space to enjoy, I won’t miss my own so much. Plus, I kinda miss people too. This way I don’t have to have room-mates, but I can enjoy some company when I feel like it.

I realized when driving back, that I won’t miss this neighborhood AT ALL. It is soulless suburbia, filled with traffic, strip malls, cookie-cutter houses, and SUVs. It doesn’t hold a candle to the nice feeling of living in a quirky place where people care about nature and cooperative living, funky little houses with interesting people in them, farmer’s markets, good politics, and lots going on. We were in a little restaurant with great coffee and interesting food the other day, and I was struck by the three scruffy-looking 20-somethings among the students who were earnestly engaged in a discussion about… how many delegates their candidate had received in that day’s primary (Obama, I’m guessing). That’s Olympia all over. I’m looking forward to it!

I’m replying here partly so more of the people that commented can see it :) I so appreciate all the thoughtful comments and help on this. And not least the voice of my brother, who in the years since we were kids has grown up into a more practical person than I probably ever was! I’ll start by saying that everyone who commented was so right, in their own ways.

My online friends who’ve been with me through many life changes, know how important those trees are to me. They’ve asked me to give it a second look before buying a property without them, and so I am. I’m spending a lot of time right now looking out the window and appreciating what I have. I’ve also gone online to redo the searches in a different way, looking for properties with views and trees that are not way out in the sticks. There are actually some, so I’ve asked my realtor to look at those while I’m on vacation to see if they’re livable and meet my other needs. I will spend a month or two doing “due diligence” on this issue to make sure I am not prematurely giving up on having more nature around me, even close in. In this price range it’s possible I can’t have that, but you never know.

Brad makes some great points too. A lot of the stress in this place is the traffic, the long drives to anywhere, the fact that you never know if it’s going to be 5 minutes or 40 minutes just to get to the freeway. Oh, and in case I needed more incentive to move, did I mention they’re tearing up the main street between me and the freeway for the next YEAR?? Sigh… Hopefully I could sell the house before that starts.

And even though the backyard is nice, the overall area is not – stripmalls and developments, and it weighs on me. There is NOTHING around here in the way of culture, restaurants, arts, fun shopping, places to hang out. Consequently, I spend all my time at home, and I’m feeling isolated in spite of making my home beautiful. I have made ONE (1) friend in this area, whom I coincidentally met at a scientific conference. It’s true that one of the hardest things about leaving this place is all the work I’ve put into it – and all the work Terry put into it (which adds family guilt to the mix, though at least he didn’t do it for free). It probably took me six months to identify and release that issue, and it still pops up from time to time.

Yes, I’d love to be able to walk and take public transit more. That is definitely on my list of what I hope to find. And have somewhere interesting to walk and take transit to, which anywhere near/in Olympia would be the case. I’d like to live in a university-left-leaning-green sort of area rather than military-suburban (I can do without the sounds of artillery here). As far as the noise, it still does and always will bother me, I suspect. But the green-built townhouse has very good noise proofing and I don’t think I’d be worried about it there. And any kind of reasonably quiet neighborhood would be OK (though I always worry about big barking dogs). I have gotten slightly more tolerant to noise living here, getting used to the kids and the dog and the revved up cars.

And I do think that part of my evolution in thinking about what to do reflects a renewed commitment to the work I am doing and the new business I am starting, and earning a good strong living for at least another 5-10 years. I guess at some point I realized I was at the peak of my earning power and I should not lightly give that up. Later I can go out and live in a cabin in the woods or Costa Rica. There’s plenty of time in life to do all kinds of things. Part of this decision also had to do with getting online and discovering that it would be possible to reduce my expenses, find a place I wanted to live, and stay in the US.

So – it’s all about trade-offs. It’s worth analyzing just why this house isn’t working for me, which will help inform what I should look for. It’s also worth, as I have been reminded, looking at what I do like about this house, to try to get as much of that as possible. It wouldn’t be smart to trade off one set of things I don’t like for another, just to be different. So, the pros and cons:

Good stuff I’d like to keep:

- Forest, deck, stream, pond in the back yard, etc. I’d settle for anything natural to look out the window at. I also miss the fruit trees of Seattle, and notice that Olympia also seems to have a lot of those. It’s interesting to note that if you look out my front window, the neighborhood is pretty soulless suburbia; quite a contrast to the back. I’d like to live somewhere with more character.

- New house, everything works and looks clean. Not a fixer. This is not negotiable, as I am not a handy-person. It doesn’t have to be a new house, but it has to be updated and remodeled. Even less yardwork, housework, and maintenance is probably a good thing as I am falling behind here.

- Broadband is a must for my business. Now that I’ve decided not to live miles from anywhere, I can probably get that without any difficulty.

- Open floor plan with character (rounded corners, angles, etc.). I do not like feeling closed into small rooms – especially important when reducing square footage. High ceilings and a loft would be great.

Things I want to change:

- This house is too big and too expensive. It’s beautiful inside, and I love the colors I’ve chosen for it, but there’s one extra living room, one extra bedroom, and one extra bathroom. As a single person with no guaranteed retirement, I really need to reduce my expenses as dramatically as possible, especially while I’m earning a lot of money that could go into my retirement fund. I am targeting a 1/2 reduction in mortgage and monthly utilities (part of this will be accomplished through a larger down-payment in tandem with lower house price). I estimate this could save about $10K a year.

- Live in a neighborhood or near a city that I like, with culture, restaurants, arts, activities, parks, scenery, and places to go and hang out. Preferably Olympia.

- Live where I can walk and take mass transit to many places I want to go. Also closer to the freeway and at least one of my major clients.

- Live in a neighborhood with character – either an older established neighborhood in/near the city, or an interesting development like the greenbuilt one.

- I wouldn’t mind being somewhere where I could more easily have a walk-in business (for mediation). Many properties seem to have outbuildings, large garages, or separate areas that could work for that with a bit of remodeling. I’d also like to be somewhere people want to live in case I want house-sitters or renters for when I travel or have a facilitation job in another area. With a cheaper mortgage and better location, the chance of being able to rent or house-sit greatly improves.

So there are a few thoughts about trade-offs. I have pretty much ruled out long commutes and rural areas (speaking of barking dogs, noise, logging trucks…), and I’ve decided I don’t like suburbia much. So that leaves the city, or the edges of the city at least, or a town :) We’ll just see what I can afford… I did apply for my bank loan online yesterday ;D it kind of cracks me up that it can be done that way now. Things sure have changed since my first home-buying experience 18 years ago!

Recently I gave myself permission to look at some homes online, and then I gave myself permission to actually start looking at them. Synchronistically, my realtor appeared who sold me the house I’m currently living in, and is used to my picky house-buying ways. The goal this time is to downsize, use less space and energy, and save money. After giving it a lot of thought, I am deciding to wait on living in another country for a few years. I have just started a business and am still at the peak of my earning power, and it would be a good idea to give that a few more years to run yet before making a total break.

Of course, downsizing and still finding a decent place to live isn’t all that easy. After looking around in five counties online, I came to the conclusion that for the money I was willing to spend, I could have a very cool cabin way out in the woods somewhere, or a small craftsman bungalow in Olympia or Tacoma, WA – one that was nicely renovated and in town. What part of town was the question. I ruled out Tacoma as I much prefer Olympia. Today I went out looking at the two types of choices, and found a surprising third option that I am really working on making a decision about.

It turns out that I can indeed afford a nice house in the woods, one with a nice view of a lake even. It would be at the upper end of my price range, and I would be highly tempted toward further renovations that would cost even more. But the major downside would really be the commute. It would be so far out that it would be at least an hour to anywhere, two hours to many places I would go. The more I think about this, the more I feel about it as I did another country – maybe someday, but not now. Not while I’m forced to drive to meetings in various cities all over the place at early hours of the morning. I have traffic where I live now that drives me crazy and makes me very tired – and these places would have the added disadvantage of being out where logging trucks, cattle, floods, snow, or just plain country drivers could really slow down traffic or require long detours.

Then we went into Olympia and looked at the bungalows on my list. Nicely renovated, definitely – cute houses. But the neighborhoods were not great, and the properties had serious flaws not mentioned in the listings. Then there is the fact that for the same size space, older houses don’t necessarily have it arranged the way you need it. Add a lack of modern wiring and cabling and there would be a few issues to deal with. So that was discouraging. They were definitely in convenient locations, but all in all, not really right. I’m not good at fixing things that aren’t in good shape, nor keeping up with a lot of yardwork, nor dealing with loud barking dogs, noisy neighbors, and lack of privacy. Nothing nice to look at out the windows, either. Chain link fences, dog pens, weeds, junk in back yards… you get the picture.

Which brings me to the last, most surprising option. On a whim, we went out to see a new development, a green-built community, because I was curious about it. There aren’t that many of those around. Developments are not really my thing, but the more we looked at it, the better I liked it. You can see the houses here: Summerwalk Village. Here’s a sense of the general look and landscaping:

Weirdly enough, I’m actually considering one of the townhomes. They only connect at the garage so there is not really a noise issue. It has a nice vaulted ceiling, two-story with loft arrangement that is very spacious and open, with lots of skylights and high windows. For just over $200,000 I can have two large bedrooms, plus an office loft area, and a kitchen to die for. Not to mention really beautiful floors, countertops, gas fireplace, energy-efficient appliances, and separate dining and living rooms spaces, connected as one large great room on the first floor. It’s the perfect amount of space and arrangement for me.

Other advantages – there are cool little wetland swales all around, and the whole place is landscaped with native vegetation and rock. The houses are all really nice looking and all different. There are something like 250 different facades, plus color schemes and elevations, so that it doesn’t look all boxy and repetitious. It is really enjoyable to walk down the street – much nicer than my current neighborhood. The houses are all in earth-tone shades that I like. Small parks are already in, larger ones with training and exercise circuits are planned. It’s within walking distance of the grocery store and restaurants.

It’s about 5 minutes away from the Dept. of Ecology in Lacey, one of my biggest clients. It’s only 15 minutes to downtown Olympia, and if I need to go to Seattle or Portland, the train station is just a few minutes away – I could skip the drive! There are lots of state parks and recreational areas nearby. And, broadband internet, of course. Add to all this the advantages of working with a builder. I’d have time to sell my current home, which in this market is no small thing (the unit I want will be ready this summer). If for some reason it didn’t sell in time, I could just wait for a later area to open up.

So, what’s not to like? A very small back yard, no forest behind my home, no view except of the general neighborhood, streets, commercial areas. I’m angling for a lot with some large evergreens behind it that are part of an apartment area next door, but that’s the best I can do. That’s it. That’s all that’s wrong with this place. Yet, these requirements have been so central to what I’ve chosen over the years that it’s hard to imagine giving them up.

I’m giving this a lot of thought at the moment. Part of what I’m thinking is that the really beautiful surroundings I’ve chosen for my homes over the years are part of what’s kept me so isolated in them. It’s not as if this community isn’t attractive – it would be a very nice place to walk around in. I need to give up the selfish need to have MY forest, and get out of my house more into the world. There are plenty of forests, parks, walking trails, and other countries to visit. I’ve been lazy and I don’t get enough exercise. Maybe this would be a way to make sure I do that – have my home be my home and my office, and have the outdoors be more where it belongs – and go visit it more. Just looking at it out your window is nice, but it’s not like getting out into it.

And of course, this is the new design that we’ve asked people to live in, to benefit the environment – more communal homes and communities, less private space, green and energy-efficient designs. While driving the backroads I’ve seen what most people do with THEIR forests, and it ain’t pretty. Maybe I’d actually come to know some of my neighbors – what a concept. Not to mention I’d be saving nearly $10,000 a year in mortgage and utilities, and a lot more of my mortgage payment would be principal. I could do a lot of traveling (and a lot less work) on that much money.

With my little back yard I could still have a nice, small, manageable garden, maybe grow some vegetables and have a place to sit out by the roses. I’ve sort of been depending on the kindness of those who love me to get my yardwork done anyway, and I can’t do that forever. I have to admit that I can’t easily manage the house and yard maintenance by myself. There, a lot of it would be taken care of and I’d have just my own little bit to do.

HmmmMMMMmmmmm…… Thoughts???