Well, this week the sale on my townhouse finally firmed up (the buyer waived his conditions) and so now it appears I have to get off my butt and find a new place by June 15th.
Yesterday my girlfriend and I visited 7 detached homes for sale in Milton, Ontario. It’s really amazing the condition of some of these homes, it actually made me feel bad for a real estate agent for once. In one home we checked out, the house smelled of strong curry and the finished basement was covered in a child’s scribbling, and in another the washroom was painted… but only up to about a foot away from the ceiling in a dark purple, and from the looks of the paint, they just didn’t bother finishing it. The walls along the staircase going upstairs were covered (literally) with plastered-over holes (not even painted, just unsanded plaster), one room we were locked out of and the basement was full up to my shoulders of boxes, with not even a path to walk through. What really shocked me was this house was over $400,000 - I mean, come on!!
On the plus side, we found 2 very nice places, one on on a quiet corner with massive 8′ tall windows in every room on the main floor, lots of backyard space, double car garage and the most amazing office I’ve ever seen: it had a giant 10′ wide window, complete with a ledge perfectly sized for a cushioned window seat. On the downside, it had an upstairs laundry room which had no drain or any sort of water management in case of a leak - and since it was brand new and never lived in, we also felt there would be a number of high costs involved in moving, in such as: window coverings, hardwood floors for the dining room, and the laundry room being fixed up and a fence outside. The bedrooms upstairs also felt a little small… But for $389,000 it looked pretty good!
The second house we found was a gorgeous 2300 sq. ft. house directly across from, of all things, a park. This house also has excellent sized bedrooms, and a walk-in closet the size of another small bedroom. It’s not as bright, but it has a nice kitchen and living room, and already has the hardwood dining room floor and window coverings. To make the deal even sweeter, it even comes with a full set of appliances - which aren’t stainless steel - but it would allow me to get the basement finished and save up for appliances later. It also has an over-sized air conditioner, which should eliminate the upstairs cooling problems we had in the townhouse. It also has a nice 100′ backyard and a 30′ patio, so there’s something to do outside as well.
The downside is that I can’t actually buy anything until my taxes are done, since I’ll be relying on my income increases this year to get the credit needed… and since my taxes are paid by my corporation, I have to wait until the corporate taxes are done before they can even start on mine. So, it’s getting a little nerve wracking as time seems be going by so quickly and I only have till June 15th to get out of the townhouse… grrr…
April 15th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
[…] Awhile back I posted that my girlfriend and I had sold our little townhouse and that I was disgusted with the properties coming across our radar, however this past weekend we were able to finally finalize the purchase of a new home in Milton, Ontario. […]