What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been!

In a nutshell: Yes, we bought a house!

Is it the house we were orginally going to put a bid on? No.

Here's the story:

After we lost the house in Verona (the one where another buyer bid over the asking price), we began looking again, this time in Bloomfield. I found a gorgeous (or so I thought) Victorian on the Weichert web site. Again, pictures lie. You think I would have learned my lesson by now, but nooo!

Inside, the house needed mucho work. The kitchen was a mess and the backyard, which was described as "big and wonderful," was actually neither and sloped off clifflike into an abyss. Also, smallish rooms, choppy layout. Not for us.

Then we looked at 2 houses on the same street in Bloomfield. Neither one was really to our liking. Rooms were smallish, one had practically no kitchen cabinets, and the houses were very close together.

As we had gone running that morning, we were tired and planned to go home to take a nap. That's when our Realtor called. She found a great 3 BR Cape Cod in Roseland in a wonderful neighborhood in our price range. Sounded too good to be true but we were off.

She was right: The house WAS adorable. The neighborhood, grand. I have a soft spot in my heart for Roseland, having grown up there. We even met the owners, a 60-ish couple who were retiring and who had lived in the house for 35 years. The piece de resistance was their gorgeous Lab mix, Willie, who was the size of small pony but gentle as ever.

I recognized the value in this house. It was very well cared for, just need minor cosmetic work. The yard was cool; after all, Willie liked it and he was bigger than any dog we would ever get. I was ready to put in an offer the next night.

But something didn't sit right with Tom. He was bothered by the fact that this house had only one bathroom--and it was on the first floor. "You know how many times I get up at night to use the bathroom!" he said. Not to worry, those of you who are reading this. He doesn't have cancer or diabetes (he was checked for both). It's just the way he is. He gets very thirsty at night and drinks a lot of water. I know this is TMI for many folks but I wanted to put everyone's mind at rest.

So, we'll put in a second bath, I replied weakly, hearing the sound of an imaginary cash register going "Ka-ching!" inside my head. More money to spend. But, we'd be buying a house in Roseland. And the taxes were HALF of what Verona's and the surrounding towns are.

And then God intervened. We were coming back from a race on Sunday and we were driving through West Orange. I hadn't thought to look for a house in West Orange. Not that I have anything against it, it just hadn't occurred to me. I always mistakenly assumed West Orange was full of split-level Levittown horrors and Mc Mansions. I was wrong.

We saw lots of For Sale signs in West Orange and Tom suggested we go home, shower up and hit some of them. I noted a couple of the addresses and went home to check them out on the Net. Son of a gun, there was one on a dead end street, no less, in our price range: a 4 BR, 2 full bath Cape, with a nice yard with a deck, nice-looking photos of the rooms (I know, I know). Off we went.

Well, Tom fell in love before I did. I just couldn't wrap my brain around living in West Orange, forgive me. But the more I walked around, the more I warmed up to it. The rooms were very spacious and there were 4 of them! Two full baths, one up, one down. Fugly 1950s tiles but in good condition. Kitchen was in good shape, with plenty of knotty pine cabinets and a deck leading out to a great yard with a dog run(nicer than the yard in Roseland). Spacious living room, dining room with built-in, catty-cornered China cabinets (my fave thing about the whole house!)

In fact, there were LOTS of built-ins throughout. Someone, somewhere must have been a carpenter. Basement is partially finished and dry as a bone. And a workshop for Tom!

To make this very long story short, we put in a bid $15,000 less than the asking price and we got it! The owner is already in her new home and is desperate to sell.

I just got word that the attorney review has been completed and I scheduled the inspection for Wednesday. I pray they don't find any surprises!

We close in November...yikes. But it's a kinda good "Yikes!"