For the past few months House Aremmes has been working to get our house ready to put it up for sale and look for another, larger home to move in to. We currently live in a three-bed-one-point-five-bath 1,281 ft² townhouse with almost no patio, no garage, or even a driveway that, while it has served us well for thirteen years with little upkeep, has begun to feel cramped specially now with my son soon turning into a teenager and wanting space of his own. My wife wanted a single-family detached house with a lot large enough to, in her words, “not have to smell the neighbors,”, a master bedroom with a walk-in closet and private bathroom, and a kitchen that passes the “I like it” test. My own requirements were to have at least four beedrooms or an in-law suite, planning ahead for the possible eventuality when I may have to house my mother. Oh, and have a garage or a driveway. Distance from work for either of us isn’t much of a concern: she drives around a lot when visiting clients anyway, and I can trade my 20-minute commute for working from home some days of the week. And my son, well, he wasn’t particularly clear on what he wanted, other than making it worth leaving the school district, and something about having plenty of roof space for solar panels wired to an electric vehicle charger.
I think we have found something that with everything for everyone.
Simply put, it’s a four-bed, four-bath house with over 4,000 ft² of floor space and over half an acre of land in a decent school district, close to a national recreation area and various state parks. There’s at least 40 ft of separation between it and the closest house. The master bedroom has a private bathroom with a shower and a hot tub. The living room has a wet bar. She liked the kitchen well enough, even though the cooktop sits on the island and doesn't have a range hood, but I can fix that easily. There’s an office next to the entrance. My son was truly hyped up when we toured it, so I assume he likes it — actually he and my wife have taken to calling it “our house” seemingly ignorant of the old adage about counting chickens prematurely.
And, particularly relevant to the principal subject matter of this forum and the title of this post, it’s got this:
That’s right, a three-car garage with extra parking space for three or more cars. It’s not just big, it’s likely larger than the two bays my local mechanic has in his shop and with plenty of space to install a lift, though certainly with a lower ceiling. The property doesn’t have a shed for yard tools — yet.
Seeing that the house has been sitting for about six months I started an offer last week for $10,000 under asking to see what their counter offer would be. My agent spent a good part of the week tracking the seller’s agent down and finally got ahold of her while she was out on vacation. Finally the counter offer came back today at $5,000 under asking, which I’m cool with. And so all I have to do is sell my current house. Well, it seems I won’t have a problem with that. The house went on the market on Thursday and we got an offer yesterday for $5,000 under asking — i.e., exactly according to plan. To make things more interesting, the house I’ve been trying to sell in Puerto Rico since last summer also got an offer at asking price on Friday. We expect to have our sales agreements signed some time this week.
Things have lined up so perfectly I’m about to shit my pants waiting for the eventual downturn. Fingers crossed, we’ll have ourselves a new house in April. And then the car projects will begin in earnest.