Housing Dilemma No More

[shanendoah]

For those of you who remember my Housing Dilemma thread, we are now under contract for a new house (here is my blog post about it with pictures), with plans to close on June 5. 
The goals I stated in that thread for moving were:

1) Better schools for our daughter/future children
2) A shorter commute for me
3) A bigger/nicer house

How are those goals being met?

1) The schools in this area are highly rated. Great Schools rates them at 7/9/9 elementary/middle/high (compare to 2/7/3 in current school district). The high school has a silver rating from US News and World Report and is nationally ranked and in the top 20 in the state. 

2) My current commute is roughly 35-40 minutes in the morning and 40-50 minutes in the evening. According to google (whose time estimates on the current commute match my experience), my morning commute will be 14 minutes and my evening commute 14-28 minutes. In addition, a bus runs from about 2 blocks from the new house to my building. The bus schedule estimates it is a 30 minute ride, so it is likely that I will take the bus most days.

3) If you count the unfinished space in my current house (and I do, because I use it), the new house is not bigger. However, the finished space in the new house is bigger than the finished space in my current house. There are 4 bedrooms instead of 3 AND there are 3 full bathrooms instead of 1. (Really, until you've lived in a 1 bathroom house with a first grader and a pre-teen, you will have no idea how much I am looking forward to that.)
Plus, there's a large back yard that is already fully fenced. The current owners were also dog people and the yard is dog door ready.
And the garage is a two car tandem garage, so as long as we keep it organized, both cars can be in it in winter.

The biggest down side of the new house is the loss of storage space. But that just means I can use the move as a reason to force C to get rid of a lot of stuff we've been hanging on to. 

Very excited about the new house. Of course, now we've got to pack, and move. And then we have to do the work on the current house to sell it. But I do hope to stay in the new house at least 10 years (which is how long we've been in this one) if not longer.

[HoneyBBQ]

Congrats!!!

[Lizard Queen]

Awesome!  Congratulations! 

[dannylion]

Yay!  Enjoy your new home!

[zibazinski]

[Bonny]

Congrats! You must be delighted to have found something suitable!

When's the house warming party?

[The Captain]

Yeaaaa!!!!

Sounds like a good move overall.  Do we get to see pictures?

[shanendoah]

Bonny - close on June 5. Kids not done with school until June 16, so complete the move June 20/21.
C's birthday is June 27, so I'm thinking that might be a good day for a party at the new house.

The Captain - if you click on the link to my blog post in the OP, you will see pictures.

[bean29]

What kind of winters do you have? I thought you were in Seattle?

I do like the kitchen and living center area.

My last house was a bi-level, so you had to go up a half flight of stairs to the kitchen. It had a very nice view once you were in the upper level.

One of my dislikes of the house was that it was cold in the lower and my house did not have zoned heating.  We had 4 bedrooms - two up and two down, DD refused to sleep downstairs and I had set up both kids downstairs with the bedroom next to the master set up as an office with a futon.  My DD who was 4 when we moved in, slept on a chair and a half in the dining room the whole time we lived in that house.  LOL, she is 18 now, and in the current hose, she slept on the tile floor in the basement for one summer (idk why, there is a sofa in that room). 

Carrying the lawnmower sounds doable.  I would love to have a fenced yard for my Dogs, but fences are expensive so it is a plus that it comes with your new house.

As someone who has a commute of about an hour each way...congrats on the reasonable commute time.  That is a real plus. 

Congrats!

Eta:  I peeked at the other houses you listed on your blog.  You have a really enjoyable writing style.  Glad you found a house you think will meet all your family's needs.  Why is a fence so important for your dogs?  I would like to have one, but DH is against it - it is not just the $$ to put it in, he says it is extra yard work trimming around it, so we walk the dogs on the leash a few times a day.  Do you leave your dogs outside when you go to work?  I can't remember, it seems to me that C may be home during the day.

[shanendoah]

bean29 - We do live in Seattle, and no, it doesn't get that cold compared to other places. However, we drive diesel vehicles and run B99 dio-diesel, which means when the temps drop below 40, the fuel gums up a bit. And if the fuel gums up, it is a majorly expensive repair. (Been there, done that.)

Our dogs currently go out on leash because we don't have a fence, so yes, that's totally doable. (And they currently don't have a fence because of how expensive fences are.) However, letting them have a doggie door and being able to take themselves out when they need it, or just spend time running or sniffing in the back yard is a big deal. My Beagle loves to follow her nose- much harder on leash. My Terrier is go go go and wants to run/chase the ball. That is also easier in a back yard.
Plus, the Beagle will still go to the bathroom in the house sometimes if no one notices her just standing at the door (sometimes she scratches, but not always). Hoping that a doggie door will reduce the number of "accidents" in the house.

Our first house was 50 miles from where we worked, so we used to commute 100 miles a day. It was an hour even in the mornings, but 2.5 hours (or more) in the evenings. So my 50 minute current commute doesn't actually seem bad. At the same time, I also spent 8 years with a 3 mile/8 minute commute both ways (back roads with no traffic), so I am very much looking forward to my shorter commute.

[Deleted]

Congrats on the house!

I loved having a fenced in yard when I had dogs. Especially in the winter. The bullmastiff would beat on the back door when she wanted to go outside and beat on it again when she'd done her business and wanted to come back inside. I still enjoy having a fenced in yard, for the privacy. The fences are all my neighbors' though. The only part that's mine is the part that seperates my back yard from the sides of my house.

[busymom]

Beautiful! I hope you & your family enjoy many happy years there.   And, keep in mind that no house is ever "perfect".  DH & I still find ways our current house could be better, but it IS better than the first place we lived in. 

I love a fenced yard for dogs (and small children).  Especially when the dogs get older, & need to go out more often...

[tcu2003]

Congrats!!

[Jaguar]

Lovely house, really beautiful.