the place will be mine
saw a horrible house this morning, immediately followed by the most perfect place. as soon as I stepped foot into the house, I knew it was the one. After walking the grounds, checking out every nook and cranny of the house, and shooting the shit with the owner for nearly and hour, I knew it had to be mine. Apparently the owner had the same feeling about me - he firmly shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said 'Let's do business'. The people who left the open house before got a 'It would be nice to do business with you, but if you decide to look elsewhere, good luck with your family.' After I walked out, he interrupted another potential renter's questions to run outside after me to tell me that if I'm interested, I should stop by in the evening and he would let me have a nighttime viewing of the place, so I could see how it feels both in daylight and nighttime, along with the chance to meet my neighbors.
About the place: 1750 square foot flat (can you say huge?): the entire bottom floor of Emeryville's oldest Victorian that used to be the head house for the Emeryville cherry farm. Gorgeous high ceilings, crown moldings, beautiful woodwork, millions of massive windows, art deco tile in the massive eat-in kitchen, vintage gas range, 2 bedrooms plus massive living room and separate dining room, 2 bathrooms, closet after closet after built in shelving after storage upon storage, free laundry, off street parking. Front and rear entrances, french doors to private deck and picnic/garden area. They own all of the property on the entire block - 4 victorian houses, for 8 units total. You can barely see the houses from the street because of the copious gardens surrounding everything. Plenty of room to do whatever I want with gardening, composting, etc.
I envision regular weekend brunches at my house, eating outdoors in the gardens on nice days, or spreading out through the massive house on crappy days. Dinner parties, sewing/crafts nights. This place is like my dream come true. It's definitely on the expensive end of the spectrum, but within reason, and worth every penny. I wonder if I could get a little bit off my rent for work in the garden? He maintains it himself and he did say that he finds it really hard to keep up with it all and would be excited to have me get my hands dirty if that interests me.
It's at 41st and Adeline - a few blocks from MacArthur BART, definitely biking distance to work/yoga/climbing, close to the coho, Lo, Kevin/Amber, lots of North Oakland peeps. I'd be back in my hood. This *is* going to happen. There was a reason those other places didn't work out. Right about now, I'm stoked I didn't get either of them.
About the place: 1750 square foot flat (can you say huge?): the entire bottom floor of Emeryville's oldest Victorian that used to be the head house for the Emeryville cherry farm. Gorgeous high ceilings, crown moldings, beautiful woodwork, millions of massive windows, art deco tile in the massive eat-in kitchen, vintage gas range, 2 bedrooms plus massive living room and separate dining room, 2 bathrooms, closet after closet after built in shelving after storage upon storage, free laundry, off street parking. Front and rear entrances, french doors to private deck and picnic/garden area. They own all of the property on the entire block - 4 victorian houses, for 8 units total. You can barely see the houses from the street because of the copious gardens surrounding everything. Plenty of room to do whatever I want with gardening, composting, etc.
I envision regular weekend brunches at my house, eating outdoors in the gardens on nice days, or spreading out through the massive house on crappy days. Dinner parties, sewing/crafts nights. This place is like my dream come true. It's definitely on the expensive end of the spectrum, but within reason, and worth every penny. I wonder if I could get a little bit off my rent for work in the garden? He maintains it himself and he did say that he finds it really hard to keep up with it all and would be excited to have me get my hands dirty if that interests me.
It's at 41st and Adeline - a few blocks from MacArthur BART, definitely biking distance to work/yoga/climbing, close to the coho, Lo, Kevin/Amber, lots of North Oakland peeps. I'd be back in my hood. This *is* going to happen. There was a reason those other places didn't work out. Right about now, I'm stoked I didn't get either of them.