House search continues and Spring is in the air....

Our house search continues.  The two houses we were considering last month sold before we got an offer in.  It seems the market is picking up, a house we would have pursued sold with an hour of listing.  We have another house we are pursuing.  It is a total rehab but with time and money I think we could be very happy with it.  The neighborhood is pretty poor right now but a few  houses are being remodeled so it may be on the upswing.  The thing we like the most is the location, so many places we can walk to.  Shops, restaurants, Peter's work, great location, just a little nervous about the amount work it would require.  Wythe calls it the "junkyard house", he doesn't hesitate to express his opinion of the many houses we are dragging them to. 

I've been enjoying these snowy days.  Some days just beg for a cup of tea, a good book and curling up by the window to watch the snowfall. 

My lemon tree has the most blossums it has ever had.  The whole room smells divine!  Such a nice breath of spring when the ground outside is covered in snow!

My kids got tired of playing in the snow and our so happy to see the ground again.  Ainsley insists that it is "super warm outside", much too warm for shoes.

Notice the snow in the background?  Yep...."super warm"

We spent a day in Old Town Alexandria.  The man that has done our taxes for umpteen years is there but he is retiring so I guess it is time to look for someone more convenient to our new location.  We were hoping to spend the whole day sightseeing with the kids but it was really rainy so we ended up walking around Old Town, eating there and then heading back home.  I just love that place,  I loved living there, I have so many happy memories from that time.  When I go back it is truly a happy walk through memory lane for me.

Wythe & Ainsley ~ Old Town Alexandria

My nephew turned one this month.  He is such a chunk, and so deliciously adorable!

that face...

the girl cousins

Spring is definitely in the air!  It is fun watching it unfold at this house. Having no idea what is planted here it is a lovely surprise the see all the different bulbs coming up. 

Such concentration....

We are feeling a bit down in the dumps over the house search.  We thought we had the "junkyard house", we had spend hours drawing plans for the remodel, talking with the city planning division about building code issues,  met the neighbors, imagined how lovely it would be walking to my favorite bakery....the list goes on.  We were at the house doing a final inspection a few items when we got the call saying that the seller had agreed to the counteroffer and was sending over the paperwork.  By the time we arrived back at our house we got the news that they had sold the house to someone else.  We felt absolutely sick.  This was the first house we have seen in this town that we really wanted.  All that time and effort, all the emotional investment in the house only to have the rug pulled out from under us like that.
A few days later another house came on the market.  Nice neighborhood, the house was small but move in ready.  It needed updating in the basement but really just cosmetic stuff.  The lot wasn't as nice as some we had seen but with some work we could make it usable. We looked at the house the morning it came on the market.  As there were people waiting outside to see it we knew this house was going to go fast.  The house was more than we were wanting to pay and quite a bit more than the assessed value but we really liked it so we thought we would go for it.  We offered 10k above asking price, which meant putting a lot of money down on the house because that was so much higher than it would appraise for.  Our contract was the first one received but they got 5 more that day.  We were informed that we would have 24 hours to submit our highest bid  to stay in the running for the house.  We had to drop out at 15k above asking price.  We were bummed but there wasn't anything more we could do.  The house wouldn't appraise anywhere near that price so someone must have much deeper pockets than us.
It is getting frustrating.  The price market we are looking at is so competitive, we are going up against investors.  Also, many of these houses have a rental unit in the basement.  We need the whole house for our family so we can't bid on the house based on potential rental income.


This week they set up a vintage carousel on the Downton Mall.  Ainsley was eager to go and we even got Wythe to ride.  In Wythe fashion he enjoyed himself, wondered why he has refused to try it for so long and upon realizing what he has been missing, got angry and stormed off.  *sigh....*   I love that kid so much sometimes it feels my heart will burst. And sometimes it feels my lungs will burst from all the deep breaths I have to take.

'til next time...