Karen-we might be next!

[karen]

It sounds like you have what you want nailed-down, and that's sooo important. Wow...that's truly a ton of money, but from what I understand you live in a pretty cool part of the world. NYC is like that too- but it's just so cool! I got my house cheap, but I'm out in the sticks- NEED a car, am a 15 minute drive from the nearest grocery store etc. It always blows my mind when we go to NYC and pretty much anything you could need or want is within a 2 mile area. You end-up paying either way...we don't have HOA fees, but between the lawn, snow removal, a car, insurance and the various home owner expenses I'll bet it works out to be about even.

This week I get to do battle with the tax assessor's office...they think our house is worth more than twice what we paid for it 3 months ago. It's cute and all, but there's no way I got that good of a bargain. It's like they forgot the gas station has an actual hitching post.

[egerandi]

Cool, indeed! Downtown LA can be scary for some, but I grew up in a city and I prefer the buzzing to a quieter life somewhere else - and I can deal with the dirtiness and stuff. Even though I don't go out that often any more, it's nice to know I could if I wanted to. Walking to work beats the heck out commute, and there are markets and farmers markets around too. I'm happy here, but I don't plan on living here for the rest of my life, hence my concern about the home value short term.

And yeah, Karen, if you do come to the makeup show, I volunteer to show you around dowtown if you want I'll even take you up to my office if you want, we're on the 50th floor! The show is in Pasadena, but you could still spend a little time over here too. I'll make it worth your while

[ladycattat]

Well, here we go again!
DH and I have been struggling and struggling! We just could not find the kind of house that we could afford to buy in the area we wanted, so we made the decision to start the search in the city of Fontana, which is about 30-45 minutes east of where we are now, depending on traffic. If we do get a house here, it WILL mean a hella drive for DH, but it also means we get waaaay more house for the buck!
We saw 9 houses yesterday, and OMG, such a step up from the houses we haved been seeing! We saw 4 that we could actually afford and that we could see ourselves living in, so we are going to get really aggressive and put offers in on all 4, and see what sticks. DH and I have made an agreement that we will be happy with whatever one gets accepted, and that's the way it is supposed to be. If more than 1 gets accepted, well, that'll be funny as hell, but with our luck, I don't see that happening. However, if none of them get accepted, break out the booze, cuz I'm going on a bender!(LOL)

The first house we saw, which incidentally is the cheapest(and the one I hope we get) reminds me of the inside of the house from the movie *Fools Rush In* with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. (They are living in this sorta bland corperate house, and as a wedding present, her hispanic family comes in and paints all the inside rooms and walls all sorts of different colors....terracotta, golds, teal, blues, purples, greens). This house is painted inside like this. Some people hate stuff like this....I heard one woman on the open house say it was like a circus, but I LOVE IT!!!!!, My house is already sorta like that now, but this is PAINT to Nth degree. I am hoping it may scare off some people! te he! I just love color...it speaks to my soul.

Anyway, paperwork may take a day or two, and I am probably mucking up my karma by talking about it, but it feels so good to finally feel excited again, instead of depressed and downtrodden.

laurie

[karen]

Sending good thoughts your way...I hope one of the offers sticks. DH has a 30 minute drive- but it works out because he calls me when he leaves the office and I know when to start dinner! I'm pretty sure our pink bathroom is the reason our house was a bargain...I love it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[sewwies]

Good luck Laurie I really hope it goes well! I do a 45-60 min commute when I'm on work placement and it's actually quite nice to relax with the radio on the way in and have a sing song on the way back, and if there's someone waiting with dinner it's just birlliant

We're moving to a new house and fiiinally the bulk of the stuff's in, but it's been so hot and sticky today, and just as the boys were packing their electricy bits intothe car there was the heeeeaviest downpour! And we arrived to find the fridge and half the lights aren't working, and we'll have to do more painting than we first thought, but it'll keep us out of trouble, and its so satisfying when it's all done!

We've also gone from furnished to unfurnished, so I've been going mad in Ikea it's not all bad!

[egerandi]

Yay, Laurie, good luck! As for the colorful interior, I would love to have that again My old apartment had a pink and teal living/dining room and burgundy bedroom, all my pics and paint. The bathroom was pink and black tiles Our current place is beige but I'm not doing anything to it, I'm holding out for our real home in a year or two...

[Cammie]

Have you heard anything yet? The waiting at this point is always what gets me!

[ladycattat]

No, they are all REO, so we are going to have to wait 5-7 days! Ack!

[ladycattat]

break out the booze, all four of the houses sold, but not to us.
Try, try again.
Laurie

[JenW]

Hugs, Laurie!

Hang in there!