House Hunting

A busy weekend of house viewing started with the first of three trips to Issaquah. We were viewing two houses on a complex called Montreux. The houses were about 500 yards apart but the viewings three hours.

The first house was huge. The main concern, other than the small yard was that we wouldn’t have enough furniture to fill it. It was huge. Five bedrooms, an office, countless other rooms and three garages. The current tenants were in the process of packing and boy do they have some stuff to move. But then I suppose you would with a house that large.

After a flying visit back to Kelsey Creek Park for a 1st birthday party it was back to Issaquah. Although not quite as large as the first house it was beautiful. An absolutely stunning house with fab views and a dog bed in every room. As lovely as it was there were a few too many thinks that were not quite right – price, yard and 1 year lease to name but a view.

Next stop on house hunting Saturday was Juanita for a second viewing. The views were great – Mount Rainier, the Space Needle and Seattle. The house was large and the yard ok but something wasn’t quite right. So no to this one too.

We headed back home and found a couple more places to view before our third trip of the day to Issaquah. First (or should that be 4th) stop was Crossroads. Not the poshest part of town but the street had a nice feel about it. The yard was huge! Fortunately it came with a ride on tractor mower because it needed one. The yard was like a park. All good then. Apart from the house. It was a good size but grubby. Even though it had clearly just been cleaned we couldn’t have lived there.

Nevermind. Onto Kirkland/Rose Hill. After sitting on the drive of the wrong house for about 15 minutes – fortunately the owners of that house were out – we moved along to the right house. If the previous place had been the right yard, wrong house, this was the right house, wrong yard. I’d have moved into this house immediately. It was a tri-level house and it absolutely lovely. The trouble was it had no yard at all so it was a reluctant no. Still the owner was very helpful about places to eat and places to go, so not a complete waste of time.

Final viewing of the day was back to Issaquah for a third time. Third time lucky we hoped. It wasn’t. Strange layout, dirty, a road either side. A definite no but she did bake nice cookies.

The only thing left to do was go home, with a pizza and a bottle of a champagne! Never let it be said that we’re not classy! Buying the champagne at least gave me my first experience of a liquor store and brown paper bag purchases!

Onto Sunday. Another day and two more viewings. The first was a second viewing of the first house we saw in Kirkland the previous Sunday. It was good to go back and the house was better than we remembered. A good sized house and a good yard. The school was just down the road and there was a park opposite. If we didn’t have another viewing at 3pm then we would probably have struck a deal however we still had one more to go.

So after lunch we headed to a part of Bellevue over by Lake Sammamish. It was a second viewing for Tracy and the boys but my first. It was nice. Very nice. At the end of a cul-de-sac and with views over the lake and mountains it definitely fits the bill. The yard is a decent size – big enough for two goals – and the house is lovely. Hardwood floors throughout, a lovely master bedroom with ensuite, a great bathroom and three other bedrooms. A formal lounge, dining room, kitchen, family room and double garage complete the house. An application form was completed and given to the agent. It will be submitted to the owners (in San Francisco) tomorrow and the fingers will be crossed. I think at least one other application will be submitted so we have to hope they go with our application. Here’s hoping. It will suit us down to a tee. Worst case scenario we will have to wait 48 hours. It will be a nervous wait …

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