Won't you be my neighbor?

Jerm and I have been casually looking at buying.  We really love our apartment, but really eventually want to upgrade to a 2 bedroom (planner in me is always 2 steps ahead).  I also love our neighborhood, but a 2 bedroom in Capitol Hill, will run you $1700-$1800/ a month.  For that kind of money, you can totally BUY!  So, with this thought process and the fact that I have a lot of downtime to screw around on the Internet at work, I was casually looking to see what's out there. 

And we found these views:                  

Awesome right?! So I sent the link to Jerm with the subject line "If you loved me, you would buy me this"...  Ha ha.  I was kidding.  But, we drove by it.  And then weeks went by and we kept mentioning it and commenting on it.  It was priced considerably lower than the other listings on the street.  So we had to know why - so I emailed a realtor to get the scoop.  Well, it's a short sale - blah, blah, blah - and then we made an appointment to look at it. 

It was a cute little cottage looking house...on a cute little one way street with amazing views of the sound and a double-decker deck.... need I say more??? 

And then the wheels start turning:  First, the price is at the tippy-tippy top of our price range (Actually, I didn't even know that it was IN our price range.  We are from the Midwest.  We aren't familiar or comfortable with these kinds of prices). Second, I did the numbers and I think the LOWEST payment we could get was double what we are paying now. That's doing a ARM. Can we do it? I'm sure. Will we be happy doing it? I don't know. Will it be worth it in the long run? Maybe. It would be a lot of work (and $$) up front. We both would need to take hefty loans against our 401K's. The minimum down payment would be 3.5%. But the upside is we'd get an amazing property that will instantly have equity the second the housing market turns around. We would be living in something we would otherwise never be able to afford, and there are amazing views. This may be our ONLY opportunity to be able to purchase a single family home in the city of Seattle. Everyone we casually mentioned it to said we should do it, because it's a good investment and now is the perfect time to buy. On one hand I feel like it's a situation that it's worth making the sacrifices to be able to afford it, on the other, I'm afraid that it's a lot of work and then we'll just be stuck in the house with no money. There are so many what ifs.... what if the housing market doesn't come back, what if we can't sell it when we need to, what happens in 5 years and the mortgage adjusts. But then again, it's an opportunity to potentially get some serious cash. It's listed for LESS than the land is even worth. I mean, look at those views! If we buy this house and if the market comes back, we can be sitting pretty. But those who know me, know I'm not much of a risk taker. I worry too much. But then again, it's bigger than our apartment, we could have a dog, we would have a 2nd bedroom for not much more than we'd be paying to rent, and we'd be building equity.

Next step - see if we an get pre-approved, and what do you know, somehow.... on paper, we look like we could actually afford this property.  WHAT!?!  BUYING A HOUSE?? IN SEATTLE? Less than a year after being here?

Anyways, I'm dragging this whole story out....It's just I didn't actually discuss this with anyone because honestly I felt silly. I just have a Midwest mentality.  People from the Midwest making our money don't buy houses with those views in those price ranges.  I didn't want people to talk....."Did you hear JP and Jerm are buying a $X dollar house in Seattle?!?!?!?  They haven't even been there a year.  It's too soon.  They are rushing into things.  That's a big commitment.  They are going to kill each other (or more likely JP will kill Jerm)".  As you can guess, most of those comments were going through my own head already.  And yes, it's a problem that I give a crap about what anyone else says or thinks. 

I digress..... So,  with our pre-approval letter in hand, we put an offer in on the house.  But it was a short sale, so we knew it was going to be a process. 

Two weeks.... no response from the bank.... But I got a text from the realtor last week. The house across the street from the one we have an offer on came on to the market at the same price (wait, I totally thought we were getting a deal on the one since it was a short sale?). A total fixer in rough shape. He thought we should know. He said it's a weird floor plan but great views. He said it would take a lot of cash to fix but it's not on such a critical slope. The short sale one hangs over a cliff.... seriously.... one earthquake and who the heck knows! I mean, the house has been there since the 1900's so it's got to be somewhat sturdy. This new one seems MUCH bigger. Exact same views, but there is a yard. But it needs a lot of work. A LOT. So, we had to look at it. 

And it was hilarious. Nothing has been updated since the 1960's... seriously. The kitchen was painted a BRIGHT day-glow orange and the appliances were old. Everything about the house was old, old, old and you could tell old people lived there and possibly died there. There was potential.... it was HUGE and there can be a lot done with it, but everything needed to be done and everything needed to be updated and replaced. There is no way we could swing that - even if we got the house for $100K less. NO WAY. I couldn't live in it as is, and it would have took years and years and close to $100K to get it where it needed to be.

So, while we were there, we looked at the house we put an offer in on, and we just didn't feel as strongly about it. As much as we still like the house, and totally can see ourselves living there, we just think there are too many "what ifs" for our comfort level. There seems to be a black mold issue in one of the bedrooms and there is no real way to access the back of the house because it's on such a slope. Then there are all the talks of earthquakes. We aren't comfortable with all the unknowns. Plus there seems to be all kinds of title issues, which is why we haven't heard anything from the bank. They need the ex husband to sign off on some stuff and he's refusing to cooperate. It just seems like a nightmare. So we withdrew our offer.

But the realtor wanted to show us another option, in the same price range, and so he showed us these BRAND NEW Townhouses that were a REO (basically the bank took them back from the builder who got behind on their payments). I don't usually like new construction, I like old things, real hard wood and character. But these were sooooo nice. SO NICE. Everything was brand new and clean and modern and we could move in with out having to do a thing... no replacing the roof, or working on this, that or the other. Master bedrooms with walk in closets and master baths.... skylights, breakfast bar, stainless steel appliances, gas fireplaces, etc etc etc. And there were still views!  You can't really tell from this picture, but they over looked the ship canals between Queen Anne and Ballard. 

He wanted us to see what the same money could buy us. Same neighborhood. Still had a view.

But...we decided to wait. As much as we liked these townhouses, I just feel like we are rushing into it. We want to take the summer off and just enjoy our first summer here without being financially strapped by a mortgage. We have a few trips planned and lots of friends/family coming to visit and it's just too much to think about. We have a visit to Cleveland planned in September, and we will start thinking about buying again after we return. We just want our first summer in Seattle to be fun and carefree. Our realtor was really good, and really opened our eyes to what is possible in the city. We know that those REO townhouses will probably go fast. And as much as we really liked them, I'm not really sure the timing is right. I think the main reason I was so "ok" with the short sale process is that I knew it was going to take months and months. So, we are just going to hold off. We need to really have a summer here to play. We have to really decide what our priorities are in a house. Jerm keeps talking about a yard, and as much as we liked the townhouses, there was still no yard. We are hoping that prices stay low and something else will come up, or prices will continue to drop over the summer.

I think we are good where we are for now, and we are just going to enjoy our first year, our first summer and our first apartment!!! I know Jerm is anxious to get some roots down here, but I see no need to rush and add all that pressure, especially with everything else we already have planned.