The hunt is over

We got the word at around 3pm this afternoon. In all honest truth, I had all but forgotten about the 4pm deadline today. When the phone rang, I was wondering who on earth would be calling me on Good Friday. It was our realtor Ernie, telling me we had just bought ourselves a house.

The sellers had agreed to carry out the repair work and clean out the ducts before we take possession of the house on 4 May. I was in the middle of a nap when the call came and for awhile I wasn't even sure if it was happening. After all the price dickering and waiting, I have to say the end was pretty anti-climatic. After I hung up, I think I turned to Patty and said 'Congratulations, you just bought yourself a house.', and went back to sleep.

That is not to say we aren't excited. We went out to dinner this evening with Jen, and stopped by to see the house on the way. In just a little over three weeks, we get the keys and start making it our own. Now we get to do some of the fun things, like go shopping for appliances, pick colours and hunt for furniture!

The inspection

We did the inspection of the house on Wednesday morning, and overall it went well. There were the usual bits and pieces here and there that needed taking care of, but nothing too daunting or scary.

The one concern was a spot in the ceiling of the kitchen that showed some water damage. The owners had pointed out a problem in this area and had indicated it had been repaired, so we're not sure if this is the same problem or an entirely new one. In any case, we want to have it taken care of before we take possession. The owners seem to be amenable to this, but they are getting their contractor in to look at it first before they give us a firm answer. So we wait till tomorrow evening.

On the plus side, neither Patty of myself seems to be swayed by these minor difficulties. We spent about two and a half hours in and around the house, and I did not once feel like I did not want it anymore. I think it grew on me even more, and I can see lots of potential in the basement and garage. Sure it won't all happen overnight, but I can see the basement getting fixed up over time and becoming a very nice rec space.

So fingers crossed it all will come together by tomorrow evening.

The house on Stuart Graham

kitchen kitchen dining room

living room

master bedroom bedroom built-ins 2nd bedroom upstairs

main floor bedroom bath bath

I didn't get too many pictures, because it felt weird taking photos of the place with the owner there. You know,...weird in a creepy kind of way.

Just when you think you have it figured out

We went to see the house on Edward Arab Avenue again Tuesday evening, to see if we liked it as much as we thought we did. And we did. So Wednesday morning, we called our realtor and got him to draw up the papers to make an offer on the scarey house.

While he did that, I went looking on the internet and found this house. It's in the same neighbourhood and almost the same size as the house on Edward Arab. It's carpet free, has a fenced yard, and their asking price is more than $40,000 less.

Another phone call to our realtor and Wednesday evening we went to see the house. It's had quite a few upgrades, most of the windows are new, there are four generously sized bedrooms, a half bath downsairs and a full bath with jetted tub upstairs. Long story short, we like it a lot.

Each house has its pros and cons. The house on Edward Arab is on a quieter street, with an unfenced backyard that looks out over a football field. It's got hot water radiators and a working fireplace. We would have to remove the carpets upstairs before we move in, and probably have a new tub installed as well.

The house on Stuart Graham is on a corner lot and bordered by a busy street to one side, church to the back and a short dead-end street in the front. It's got a fenced yard, a garage and is practically ready for us to move into. We would need to paint, but there isn't much else that needs to be done right away. It's got forced air heat as well as a working fireplace.

After a lot of back and forth and a rather sleepless night, we woke up this morning and put an offer on the house on Stuart Graham. In the end I think the extra money in our pocket made a strong argument for the house. While we like the house on Edward Arab, the higher asking price, coupled with the extra work we would need to do made that option less appealing.

Of course now I worry if I've made a mistake and chosen the wrong house.

The scarey house

View from backyard Kitchen Bedroom

office Master bedroom Bedroom

Rec room in the basement Living room Living room

When I first saw this house on MLS, I told Patty that this house scared me. It was big and ominous looking and just didn't look like the house I wanted to live in. We went to see it without much hope of actually finding anything worth our while.

It's a little oddly laid out. The front door opens up directly into a living room. Up three steps to the right and down a hallway is the other living room with working fireplace. Adjacent is the dining room and kitchen. There is a large master bedroom with en suite and deck, and three more good sized bedrooms with another bath upstairs. Finally there is a finished rec room in the basement.

The house is situated in a nice family oriented neighbourhood, with lots of walkways and parks. The school Nate would go to is a short walk away. It's very close to groceries and the mall, as well and the bus exchange.

It's practically a no-brainer. It's not quite the neighbourhood we were thinking of, but in many respects it is so much better than what we had in mind. We'd still need to do some work on it, and who knows if it would even pass inspection, but it's looking promising.

We've ruled out the house on Connaught, it's just a little out of the way for us. So for now the two contenders are the house on Almon and the scarey house on Edward Arab Avenue.

A house in the North end

This is a house on Albert Street, in the North end of the Halifax peninsula. You can see our friends Kevin and Karen's place from this house. They have 2 boys and a girl, which would be nice for Nate.

From the outside, a pretty uninteresting house. A rectangular block of brick and siding. Some nice touches inside though. I like the little teardrop windows in the door, and it's got a wood-burning insert in the fireplace. Good size kitchen and a dining room that looks out onto the backyard. There are four bedrooms upstairs, with attic access through one of the closets. There's also a one bedroom apartment in the basement, although we didn't get to see it.

For some reason it all felt a little cramped to me, I'm not sure why. Maybe it was just the incredibly small bathroom. Whatever it was, I'm not sure it's the house for us. It isn't close to any groceries and maybe I just had my heart set on an old Halifax house. Still I haven't ruled it out altogether. I'm trying to keep an open mind and keep our options open.

Stalking houses

I'm afraid the bulk of the postings for the next little while will be more of the same. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but if you're even a little nosey like me, you'll probably get some mileage from them. I mean I've even asked to go see houses I know will not work for us, just because every once in awhile, one of them will look like this. Sadly that property was already under offer and we didn't get to see it.


The picture below are of a victorian house on Willow Street. It didn't look all that interesting from outside, but it all changed very quickly once we stepped inside





These photos don't do it justice, then again neither did the photos on MLS. It was a beautiful house. Large kitchen, one and a half baths, 3 bedrooms, good location, large yard and deck. Unfortunately, it was short a den or office space. I think our realtor saw us trying to make it work for us, and put a stop to it. She was right. Maybe we'd talk ourselves into it now, but we would be miserable a year later.


So when do you know you've found the right house? How do you know something even better isn't going to come on the market the very next week? Do you keep waiting for that absolutely perfect place to come along, or do you settle for the one that sorta fits the bill cause it's the closest thing out there and you don't want to lose it? So many questions. No answers. Maybe it wouldn't matter so much if I wasn't planning on dying in this house.

More from the hunt

The house on Connaught Street. We've always referred to this property as the purple house, because that's what it looks like on MLS. It didn't look anything like purple when we pulled up to it, and we're realizing that most colours on MLS bear no resemblance to the real thing. White balance people! Check your white balance!

Three bedrooms(carpeted) and a den upstairs. There's a living room, dining room, half bath, office and kitchen downstairs. We quite like this house. It was listed as a three bedroom, so we were pleasantly surprised by the office and den spaces. Access to two bedrooms are through the den, but it would make a nice sitting room/library/play space. The only real drawback is it faces onto 4 lanes of traffic, and the back yard is not exactly spacious. Nevertheless, at 334,900 it's pretty appealing.

The wish list

In no particular order:

• a character house that isn't falling apart
• at least 4 bedrooms, or 3 bedrooms plus a den.
• a working fireplace, bonus points if it's already got a wood burning insert
• a kitchen that's not a country kitchen, and has room for the Wega
• at least one and half baths
• a good size yard
• a living room and a family room
• cast iron radiators as opposed to hot water baseboards
• easy walking distance to groceries and services

So far the only properties that even comes close to fulfilling the wish list are the houses on Almon and Connaught Streets.

We were hoping for new listings today, but it's still just the same old properties out there. I keep telling myself that's it's only been a week, but the lack of anything new coming onto the market is pretty discouraging.

The jigsaw house

This was a little place on North Street. I say little, but really everything we've seen is bigger than our old condo in Vancouver. Even the ones that are too small. North Street is one of the busier streets in Halifax. Only two lanes of traffic, but a steady flow of traffic to and from the bridge to Dartmouth. It was a cute house, screaming out for some love and attention. Too much love and attention for us.

The fireplace above belongs to a house on Oxford Street. It wasn't a bad house, but it wasn't great either. Some work had been done but the finishes were nothing special. It's as if they just wanted to finish it up as quick as possible with the least amount of expense. And I suppose if I was going to sell a house I might think that way too. Why waste money when someone else is going to come along and rip it all up again? It's appeal mostly lies in the fact that it has a one bedroom apartment with it's own entrance on the main floor, perfect for visiting friends or relatives. That and we really like that fireplace.

The house above is also situated on North Street. Stepping inside was like travelling through time. Knob and tube wiring all through the house, original woodwork, period furniture, giant cast iron radiators. A nice house, but not for us. Far too much work would be required to get this house in shape. There wouldn't be any shortage of room, but there probably wouldn't be any shortage of projects to keep me busy for the rest of life either. A massive undertaking for someone with more dollars to throw around. Asking $329,900.

I'm starting to wish we could take the bits we like out of these houses, and assemble the house we want from all those bits. I suppose that's why people choose to build their own houses. I don't think I'll be going that route any time soon. On the drive home from the airport the night we arrived in Halifax, I told Patty's brother Peter how stressful the last few days had been. He laughed and replied 'Try building a house.'

Hunting houses in Halifax

The first house we saw in Halifax, situated on Almond Street. A huge place, with a living room, dining room, and a family room off the kitchen on the main floor with french doors to the back deck and yard. Four bedrooms up and lots of room in the basement with the possibility for a rec room. The space was almost embarassing, over 2000 sq. ft. And Yes, that is a hot tub you see in the master bedroom, right next to the television. Shocking!

All this for $389,000. This puts it just a little out of our reach, although our realtor tells us it's way over-priced for what it is. The kitchen could probably use some work, but there is room for the Wega so it passes. it's all carpet upstairs for some odd reason, so those will have to go. Pretty handy to downtown, and groceries. It's been on the market since December with no bites, so we're hoping to see the asking price go down.