Moving forward

Oh a more positive note, we are moving in less then a month!

We have been discussing the fact that our less then 800 square foot house is not adequate to raise a family for quite a while now, mainly because our kitchen is so small that we have to utilize our second bedroom as a dining room as we can't fit it anywhere else. Originally we thought that we would expand the kitchen with an addition to the back of the house but when we started looking into quotes we realized that the amount we would have to spend, not mention the headache of not having a kitchen for a month or more, would require loan repayments equal to our mortgage payments and at least 7 years to repay! If we could afford to do that, then we figured we might as well just double our mortgage payments and buy a new house that doesn't need to be renovated.

We made this decision at the beginning of October, contacted a realtor that set us up on automatic emails where we got updated on new houses on the market that met our criteria, and we were very specific....

We wanted it to be:

1. In the North East end of the city (where we are currently)
2. Built in 2000 or more recent (preferably 2007 and newer)
3. At least 3 bedrooms
4. A large kitchen with an island
5. finished back yard

We also gave a realistic price range we wanted to spend. Knowing how the housing market has been a 'seller's market' for the last few years and the fact that we weren't in a rush to move, we were fully prepared to take up to 2 years to find the house for us. We did not expect to go to our first open house at the end of October and love the house. We talked to our realtor the day after the open house to set up a second viewing, as well as two other houses for comparison (we didn't want to be hasty!), and went to them the next day. Still loved the house and couldn't think of a good reason NOT to put an offer in.

We got lucky because the seller's were motivated to sell since they were relocating to Alberta. The house had been on the market for a month and they had already dropped the price by $15,000. There was NO bidding war, we were the only offer. It is NOT a seller's market right now. 4 day's after going to the open house, our FIRST open house, and we had bought a new place with a possession date for 21 days later....crazy!

We plan to rent out our current house, rather then sell, and tonight we have 5 different viewings for it, with another 4 on Friday. We thought we may have troubles finding a tenant but it isn't looking like that is going to be an issue. Crossing fingers things continue to fall into place.

Here are some pictures of the our new place....

We are very excited to get to celebrate Christmas and a new year in our new home!