Still shopping…

So my friend and coworker Iuli decided last week to think about buying a condo. She checked her finances (apparently, her husband’s finances are dreadful, but hers are phenomenal), and they were good. She found a condo coming available in her property. She took a look.

She’s already planning on buying it, it’s FSBO, she has a friend as an agent, she has plans for what improvements are needed…

Meanwhile, Mandrina and I still haven’t managed to find a house.

We went looking again on Tuesday(? — it may have been Monday), up in Everett. There was one house Manda had really wanted to look at, and Charles had pulled a few others that might interest us. And we were interested in two of them.

The first one we looked at that day, and the last.

But for what they’re asking, they’re just not worth it! The one house is trying to include a 800 sqft unfinished basement in the price, and although the built-in garage is something that appeals to me, as does the downstairs half-bath, the tiny lot size, commute, and general location just didn’t hold much appeal for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice house (no, you can’t have the address), aside from the unfinished basement. The finished parts Manda loved, for a change. She hated the aluminum siding, which is to be expected.

The other house need fencing as well, and while it felt smaller, the lot was larger, and the house was about the same size. The yard was not 100% useful, but a sledgehammer could get rid of some of the pavement. However, at least part of the upper floor wasn’t insulated, and neither Mandrina nor I LOVED the place. So… why hurry to enter into contract on it before leaving for the holidays?

There is a house we’re still kinda looking at. It’s a 1900ish Victorian that at least appears to be in good shape. It has storage in the attic, 3 bedrooms, and a clawfoot tub downstairs, and 3/4 bath upstairs. The master bedroom is huge, but the 3/4 bath is off one of the smaller rooms. I think the attic was empty for storage purposes. Stained glass windows, people!

So, what’s it’s problems? a) It’s just been rezoned for commercial. It’s still a residential community at the moment, within walking distance of Snohomish downtown, but… who’s to tell what comes next? But that pales behind the other issue.

The owners of the property bought part of the lot behind this house’s lot. They’re planning on taking some land from each plot to build a duplex townhouse. Okay, fine.

Only problem, said duplex has no road access.

So what are they doing? A fifteen-foot wide easement on what would be MY property for a driveway from the street to the back lot. I’d pay taxes on it. I’d have to sell it with my lot if I were to sell. And it’s priced including the easement, which costs us over 1200 sqft of lot size.

I like the house. It has at least a comparable commute to Everett, maybe better. But I’m not buying a lot to pay taxes on land I can’t use!

BLEH. Some people find a condo in three days, I’m going on four months. This is just not fun!