It's happening

It's happening... I'm putting an offer down on a townhome tomorrow. Three hundred and sixty (expletive) thousand dollars, at the remotest end of feasible. There's no guarantee that I'll get it for that much; they're asking $400,000. That's just way too much, though; that's tens of thousands more than a unit in the same condition about 20% larger sold for just last year. My agent and I both did our own investigations and math, and both came out to $360,000 as the top value for this place. So, negotiations will be interesting. I've never exactly negotiated a difference of $40,000.

Out of homes in this area that are actually within my price range, it's pretty much my dream home. A few blocks from Microsoft, it's a free-standing townhome, which basically makes it like a small house, except I pay someone else to take care of the yard and the exterior maintenance, and I get access to the clubhouse and pool and gym and such.



It's got three bedrooms, more than I need, and two bathrooms, and it's on a cobblestone road in a strangely secluded little area. The inside is reasonably spacious at 1150 square feet, though it's pretty old and ugly. The kitchen is pretty hideous, decorated in dingy yellow and off-white, with a stove that looks like it's from 1960.



I'll probably end up replacing just about everything in the kitchen once I get settled in and deal with the high-priority things, like lack of air conditioning.

It meets or exceeds just about everything I'm looking for in a place, so I decided that if I could get this one, I don't even need to look at any more. (I've only toured about ten places so far, though I've checked out a couple dozen more online.) I can see myself living there. I can't wait to see what happens next.