Real Estate Roundabout

If you have been to Europe you are familiar with traffic roundabouts. Roundabouts are creeping into our North American psyche as a way to keep traffic moving and reduce emissions. Generally I am in favour of roundabouts, or rotaries as they are sometimes called, but they take getting used to and it takes some courage to enter the fray. The biggest problem with them is the disparity between those drivers who know how they work and those who don't. Personally I have a little trouble getting onto down escalators, I hesitate, and sometimes that throws off the flow of people behind me. That hesitation going into a roundabout ( not me!) can cause an accident or at least some blaring horns and waving arms. And then there is the getting off bit. When we first were driving in England ( I say 'we' only because Jim was with me. We agreed years ago that he does NOT drive in England) twenty odd years ago there were occasions when we just kept driving around and around till we figured out which exit to take. I have to say that Jim's map-reading skills weren't good back then and that our driving stress has been greatly reduced by our GPS. He will be asking why I had to say it, but there we are!

So, we are on the real estate roundabout. We had no trouble launching into the circle, having had lots of prior experience, and we know our preferred exit, but we are in convoy with a couple who seem nervous. We have a pending agreement on the sale of the house, but it's a conditional agreement and that means it could 'collapse' at any point. The first potential exit looms this weekend when the first conditions are supposed to be removed: building inspection and financial approval for the buyers. The second exit is the great unknown of  "conditional on the sale of the buyers house", which might never happen. In the meantime we are still for sale, open to unconditional offers in which case the original people have 48 hours to come up with the money or exit. If they don't sell their house by July 28 and no other buyer enters the roundabout we could end up with a lot of real estate and no money; not the exit we are hoping for.

New Digs

Sometimes I rue my practical nature but usually it stands me in good stead and thankfully Jim and I are often going in the same direction. This time it has been all about moving to smaller quarters, getting rid of a lot of material goods, and making a significant life-style change. We've invested a lot of time, energy, and money in this house and we've loved it for 9 years, way longer than anywhere else we have lived. If you've been here you know it is a big sprawling place, 3400 square feet of living space and 1000 square feet of storage plus a double garage. We also have a fabulous garden and 4 deck areas, two of them covered. And there are two of us.

my favourite spot

I am indulging in a bit of navel gazing because our house went on the market today. We signed off on a townhouse yesterday, possession not until the end of July. The MLS listing will be 'live' in a couple of days (#291356), carpet cleaner is here to spiff the place up, our gardener has cut the grass, and now we wait and probably wait some more. I have no illusions about it selling quickly just because we love it; we may still be in possession in September!

We've bought a townhouse across the street which is 2200 square feet with virtually no garden. It's a good size, about the same as our Oak Bay house, and we are only losing one actual room; but every room is smaller and that has me a bit anxious. There aren't any walls in the living room, dining room, den, and kitchen so furnishing them will be even more challenging than here. There is something to be said for the odd wall just as a place to put a sofa or sideboard. Oh well. It's bright and cheerful and is a very end unit so we step out on to the Emily Carr sidewalk. And there are visitor parking spots directly outside our door! It has beige carpet, beige walls, beige kitchen, beige appliances, etc. all of which will be changed because it definitely isn't us!

definitely all beige! that's a stairwell to the right of the table

We are thinking bamboo flooring, shaker style cabinets, maybe stainless steel appliances although I don't love them, and warm colours. It's in the same development as the one we un-bought back in January

eating area/family room adjacent to kitchen, also beige

follow the red brick road...

We are looking forward to having less responsibility and more fun, which sounds ridiculous because we already have a pretty blissful existence. I am a bit worried about being across the street. On one hand we have a similar view and all the same routines for groceries, etc. but on the other hand we have to drive by this house every time we go anywhere and I hope that doesn't feel bad. I don't usually live my life through the rear view mirror, thank you mother, and I assume I won't start now.