Putting in an offer today

Front of the house

So, we saw a house this Sunday that we liked. And it's amazing how quickly things happen sometimes, but our realtor called us that night to tell us that two other people/couples/families had expressed an interest and would be putting in offers for the house. And if we wanted it, we had to move fast. Not even having sketched the house, let alone measured, or thought about anything, we had to make a decision on whether or not we actually wanted to put in an offer, and if yes, how much. It's slightly above our comfortable price range, but with two other offers, we had to make sure to come in at a reasonable amount. It's at the very top of what we had set as our range, go figure.

Main room when you come in the front door

However, the house itself is so worth it. It even has enough space that we could rent out the basement as a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment to someone we knew. It has a kitchen sink and room for a microwave and mini fridge down there too, but we would probably end up having to share our kitchen with whoever rented the basement. The information sheet said 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. But in terms of what I know about bedroom "specs" (which admittedly isn't much), it looks more like 6 bedrooms to me, if the ones in the basement count. The main floor has hardwood floors throughout, which we love. You can get a taste of those in the picture of the Main room.

The drool-worthy kitchen

The kitchen is amazing! Especially with a chef in the house, the kitchen was really important to us. It even has a double sink and a dishwasher, which we were looking for. And since it has a built-in microwave, DH can't even complain about that. (He has some sort of personal vendetta against microwaves because they heat food by "shaking" the molecules. I don't know what he thinks heating it up on a stove does.) We might be able to fit a small bistro table in the kitchen, but it's definitely not an eat-in kitchen. From the kitchen you get down to the basement with 2 bedrooms, a wet bar area/"pseudo second kitchen", a bathroom, and brand new washer, dryer, furnace, and hot water heater. And new carpet. I'm not sure how I feel about said new white carpet, but at least it's new.

Back of the house

The backyard can also be accessed from the kitchen and it has a more gentle slope than the front yard, which has a hill. It also features a nice shed which we could use for gardening and storing various equipment and bikes. The only problem is that you need to climb three steps to get to the door, which as Eric pointed out might be a problem with a lawnmower. The back of the house has a covered patio, perfect for summer dining and grilling. We could even sit out there in the rain or during a nice summer thunderstorm and enjoy a glass of wine or something. There's two bedrooms and a bathroom on the main level, one of which may end up being our master bedroom for now. As my mother pointed out, we can always rearrange everything once our situation changes (aka once we have kids). The other downstairs room may end up being our living room/entertainment room, because there's really not enough room in the "main room" for a dining and entertaining area.

One of the three bathrooms

The attic is also finished and has one large open room (which could count as a bedroom since it has a closet and windows), another smaller bedroom, and the third bathroom. At first we thought of that as a potential master suite with craft room, and put the guest bedroom downstairs. But we weren't sure if that was the best arrangement for us right now. My mother said to put guests and our computers up there, for now (see earlier point about rearranging). All in all, I'm very excited about it, but it's going to take a bit more thinking and hopefully they accept our offer. If not, it's back to the drawing board, and DH for one will be very sad to see the last of that kitchen.