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| On the front porch of our new house! |
Now that word has started to seep out, it’s time to officially come out with the details; Katie, Eileen, Margaret and I have made an offer on a house in Ravenna and are moving in July 1! I guess instead of eastlakerojo on twitter I’ll now have to become ravennarojo or something. For more details about 6325 20th Ave NE I’d refer you to the pictures and description on its Redfin page.
So here’s the story: Last Friday morning around 4:00 am Katie and I were up feeding the girls and Katie stumbled across the house on Redfin. It had gone on the market at midnight and we were astonished that something that looked so good was even remotely in our price range. We had to look at it. I emailed our real estate agent at 4:44 am to see if we could swing by that afternoon, and when we walked in the door we were amazed to see a house in such great shape. We loved it from the start, but we wanted to be sure it was the house for us. Luckily, the family wasn’t taking offers until Tuesday, so we embarked on a little fact finding mission.
Saturday afternoon, with the girls in tow, we tramped all over North Seattle looking at anything that was remotely in our price range and learned what we suspected all along, that the house at 6325 was 1000 times better than anything else out there. We had to see it again, so on Saturday afternoon we went back by again to make sure. We inspected every nook and cranny and were still smitten and now had a decision to make; did we really want to make an offer. We talked about it that night and decided we would and then, on the advice of our tremendous agent (and my old high school pal) Shawn Filer, we took the girls back to the house on Sunday afternoon to meet the sellers’ real estate agent during their first and only open house. We spent 30 minutes talking with her, hoping to make a good impression on the off chance that she would like us and, fingers crossed, would become our ally in the event that Tuesday turned into a bidding war. (Foreshadowing!)
So on Monday, we went back for the fourth day in a row, with Cary this time to make sure that we had the official mom seal of approval. She took a walk through and, like us, was amazed at what great shape the house was in for a 1919 craftsman. She said we absolutely HAD to make an offer. So we went right back to the house and signed an offer letter, while also penning what Shawn affectionately referred to as a love letter to the family that owns 6325. In that letter we talked about all the things we loved about the neighborhood, the house, and our hope that this would be the place where the girls would grow up. We even included a picture of the two of them at the end (shameless exploitation or savvy business decision – you decide). We hoped that we would be one of 2 or 3 other offers and slept restlessly.
On Tuesday morning we got the call. We were one of 8 offers they would be reviewing at 5:00 pm. This was bad news. Obviously our chances were much slimmer, but we took the long view and hoped that if this wasn’t meant to be that something better must be around the corner. Shawn told us that the sellers’ agent would call us later on that night to let us know the results, something she wasn’t going to do with everyone, mainly because she liked meeting us and didn’t want us to twist in the wind. At 5:20 pm on the bus on the way home I got a call from Shawn and thought, this can’t be good. Our offer was too low and though it was the most we could afford, we were going to have to start looking at Redfin again in the middle of the night.
Instead, Shawn was calling with good news, the sellers had accepted our offer! We were in the top 3 offers, although we were the third highest. The other two offers above us were for more money and were better offers, one offer waived inspection and another waived financing, and despite it all the family chose us. The tipping point? Their agent really liked meeting us at the open house, and the family liked our love letter. Their favorite parts were our photo of the girls and a one-off comment we made about their wild old furnace from the 1940’s. The catch? We had to have the house inspected the next day and be ready to close in 30 days.
Well, here’s the final piece of good news. The house passed the inspection with near flying colors. There’s still some work that needs to be done, some new shingles on the roof around the chimney, a new railing, some new plumbing and electrical, replacing that old furnace, but overall the house is in great shape. So yesterday, we signed off on the inspection, the check was cashed by the escrow company, we started pulling together the rest of the money for the down payment, and in a few short weeks, June 17th to be exact, we’ll get the keys to our very first home.
It’s going to be a busy few weeks as we pack up and prepare to leave the neighborhood that’s meant so much to us. Katie and I met here in Eastlake, moved in together in Eastlake, got engaged in Eastlake, got married in Eastlake, moved again in Eastlake, got pregnant in Eastlake, and then brought the girls home here to Eastlake. It’s going to be hard to leave, but we’ve already promised each other that we’ll be back here someday. Maybe not until after the girls leave for college, but someday we’ll make it back to the place where it all started. Thanks for all your incredible support as we move on to this exciting new chapter in our lives and we can’t wait to have you over to see the new place!
XOXO Katie, Margaret, Eileen, and Rob.
