Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Here We Go Again


I guess we're just gluttons for punishment.  Or maybe my sheer, unbridled jealously of Peenee and his real-estate adventures and Jon and his coming change of residence finally got of hand...

Whatever the reason, it looks like we may be moving.

Oy.

We've been thinking about it for a few weeks, as our one-year anniversary in our not-uncharming but ungenerously proportioned rental flat approaches.  Two weeks ago, I dropped into a couple of open houses in the area in which we're interested.   There was a possibility or two.  We thought about things, the Mister and I.

Suddenly, we found ourselves - almost without realizing how - we ended up pre-qualified for a mortgage, and attached to a relentlessly cheery and almost parodically English-rose real-estate lady, Prudence.

And we looked.  And looked.  We saw one or two unspeakably awful places (how about a one-hundred percent mirrored kitchen?  Does that sound both fun and practical?  Next to that, the 2.5 matching totally mirrored bathrooms hardly made us bat an eye) and a couple of it-wouldn't-kill-us places.  And then over this past weekend, we saw a really rather comfortable kind of place.  Not perfect - no gas stove, for example, a sad thing for a cook like Mr. Muscato - but with a vast fitted closet in one bedroom and two, count 'em, two linen cupboards.  A lovely balcony, running the whole length of the flat the way balconies do in nice apartments in Cairo.  A breakfast room.  A healthy and prosperous condo association.  Even that most prized of HGTV-treasures, new granite countertops paired with a cheery tile backsplash.

So we said yes.  And the bank said yes.  And this evening, tentatively, the sellers said yes.  Now, if all goes well - and there's many a slip, God knows - and people like the inspector say yes, it may all move forward.

Of course, it won't be nearly as traumatic to move just a few miles as it was last year at this time to haul our lives 7,000 miles from the Sandlands to Our Nation's Capital, but I fully expect it will have its moments.

And if not, there will be terriers to worry about, so we won't be bored.  You, well that's another story, but I'll beg your indulgence for yet another round of moving horror stories.

Did I mention the breakfast room?

Oh, God - I just read the copy on this ad.  Unsettling and guilt-inducing.  The '50s were good at that kind of thing.

7 comments:

  1. Oh wow....congrats!
    I'm jealous....especially that you have a real estate agent named Prudence.

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  2. "Did I mention the breakfast room?"

    We can only dream of such luxury...

    Jx

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    1. Ah, but caro - you are and will be living in the midst of one of the great metropolitan centers, doubtless with amenities like shops down the corner, a local, and plentiful takeaway curry and chips options. We will be, admittedly with the odd extra corner of space, in a large '70s concrete block of flats 40 minutes on a good day from the nearest watering hole for confirmed bachelors and their friends. We like the new building (we think), but it's very definitely suburban...

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    2. I admit that living in Harringay (even if it is on the borders of - gasp - Zone 3...) is rather fab, with its 24-hour shops, 24-hour buses to town and cosmopolitan community. That's why we are moving to our third residence in the area. You and the Mister would probably appreciate the local cuisine, for (better than curry) ours is predominately a Turkish/Cypriot foodie neighbourhood (with a healthy smattering of Balkan/Slavic culture as well). With dozens of restaurants to choose from there's more than enough hummus, köfte, shish taouk, tabbouleh and baba ghanoush to satisfy the healthiest palates!

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  3. Yay!! Are you in the District, Maryland or did you stay choose northern Virginia? Details!

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  4. Oh, my! Funny how these enormous changes can happen so suddenly.

    When we purchased our home, we moved a mere 10 blocks across town. Sadly, it required the same packing and sorting and unpacking of a move of many, many times that distance.

    Gird your loins, dear boy. Keep your eye on the pri....er, breakfast room!

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  5. Not an inexpensive upgrade -- especially if you also have to replace your cookware -- but induction ranges can more than hold their own against gas.

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