Our House
[Cross-posted from my MovableType Blog]
. . . In the middle of the street.
All good things must come to an end. So, too, must my time in Sunnyvale.
I'm sure there are aspects of living in suburban hell that I will miss. (I suspect I'll be seeing a lot less of a few of you and that makes me sad.)
Officially, as of today, I am a resident of San Francisco. I believe my disdain of anything south of 280 is coming along nicely (and has been for years), but can someone tell me where I need to go for my facial hair & sideburn implant? I think I'm going to need help with that one.
We're all set to converge on Potrero Hill:
What that (linked) map doesn't show is the relative elevation changes. They don't call it "Potrero Hill" for nothing! The exercise will be good for us.
It's a wonderful 3 bedroom Edwardian house built in 1912 (and extended in 1922). The kitchen, dining room & back yard scream out for entertaining, so I hope to be seeing more of some of you than I have been lately.
Ok, I can't resist, one photo from the listing:
Our Kitchen
(from our dining room)
Speaking of listings, how we came by this place is a funny story. Last week I made arrangements to see 4 places on Saturday. At the last minute, I also made arrangements to see two places on Sunday, 1 block apart. (DeHaro @ 20th & 21st). Late Friday, I printed out all of the listings as well as maps, and found a discrepancy. 21st ends at the hospital (well, just north of it). There is no DeHaro & 21st.
On Saturday, we saw 4 places, 3 of which we loved, for entirely different, conflicting reasons. We had a hard decision in front of us. Made worse by the fact that we didn't agree on which was the top contender. (The third, oddly enough, was the Edwardian we saw in February with which Chiara fell in love, even at night)
My top contender was on Connecticut St. Just up the hill from the Connecticut Yankee pub. While that wasn't why I wanted to live there, it did factor into the equation. (Hi, mom!)
As we discussed the relative merits of what we'd seen, I called to confirm Sunday's appointments. I didn't expect the properties we saw on Sunday to affect our decision, since they didn't look all that interesting. When I called the 21st & de Haro broker, I realized I'd made 2 appointments to see the same property!
In my defense, different brokers, different photos, different prices! Unfortunately, the more expensive one was first. We saw it, Chiara fell in love with it immediately. I saw that it was at least on par with my current front runner, so we decided to think on it (for 45 minutes before our next showing)
Here I feel bad. The first broker showed us the house, answered our questions, did his song & dance. (He was also juggling several people at once, definitely trying to maximize his chances). The correct thing to do would have been to explain that we'd seen this property advertized cheaper, and give him a chance to match it. Instead, we just went with the second broker.
Sunday night, I got a call from the first broker telling me that he had an application in hand, so if we were interested, we should apply now. That seemed like a low trick, but it amused me, since the other application was us. Chiara also noticed that he'd reposted the listing on Craig's List.
This made us a bit edgy, but I assumed it was just a real-estate agent working hard to get a commission.
Yesterday evening we went over to sign paperwork and hand over a large cashier's check. In my excitement, I got to the train station early, and I managed to get on the wrong train -- the only one in a two hour window that does NOT stop at 22nd St.
Tomorrow we go, sign the lease again (corrected in a few places), and get keys.
I REALLY liked Brian & Christyn's "First Night" pajama party idea, and was really looking forward to stealing it. But Chiara's sick, and I think she should spend the nights until she's well in her own bed.
But soon, we'll have a "Not-Quite-First Night" sleep over, so air out your sleeping bags & Thermarests (Aerobeds, for the weak (like me))
*bounce*