Kicking the tires
We found a townhouse in Campbell last weekend that impressed us so much, I spent a couple of hours this morning test driving the commute. I spent an hour just reaching Campbell from San Francisco, passing Apple at the 45-minute point. (I could not have tolerated the last year and a half without Apple's private bus service.) Leaving from the prospective house at 7:20 and taking the route suggested by Google, it took a disappointing 24 minutes of annoying highway driving to go 9.6 miles. The level of disappointment told me just how much Sarah and I had fallen for this place. So I drove the 15 minutes back and tried again, this time taking more pleasant local roads. That route shaved 25% off both the distance and time, to 7.2 miles in 18 minutes, despite leaving after 8:00. I wonder if I could do even better starting at the likely time of 7:00 to get to Apple's gym by 7:20. It would sure beat what I did most days last year, leaving the apartment at 6:10.
Although we've been talking about moving for a long time, we only started our housing search in earnest in the last week or so. Yet, despite the process intimidating both of us, we might very well make an offer on this house in the very near future. It's both scary and exciting. The biggest obstacle is the fact that the listing is an unconfirmed short sale, so some bank would have to approve our offer. We'd want evidence that the sellers know what they're doing, so that we have every reason to believe that the approval would come through. In some ways, our situation seems suited to the typically lengthy time needed to close short sales. With a month-to-month lease, we're not on any hard schedule, and we could use some more time to unwind after last year before tackling the actual move.
Although we've been talking about moving for a long time, we only started our housing search in earnest in the last week or so. Yet, despite the process intimidating both of us, we might very well make an offer on this house in the very near future. It's both scary and exciting. The biggest obstacle is the fact that the listing is an unconfirmed short sale, so some bank would have to approve our offer. We'd want evidence that the sellers know what they're doing, so that we have every reason to believe that the approval would come through. In some ways, our situation seems suited to the typically lengthy time needed to close short sales. With a month-to-month lease, we're not on any hard schedule, and we could use some more time to unwind after last year before tackling the actual move.