The Condo...

Seven years ago, I started working for a company that was 40 miles from my home. Nearly all highway miles, I've tolerated bad drivers and never ending road construction. With no traffic and obeying the speed limit, it's around 50 minutes one way, door to door. On a bad day it's more than 90 minutes to reach the office.

Except for the crazy drivers, I actually enjoy driving. Unless I were a professional driver getting paid to be on the road, it shouldn't be part of my career. I try to optimize my travels and visit projects before I get to the office, but that's not always possible. Sometimes, I have meetings at office first, then I travel out on appointments.

When I started this job, I owned an old Toyota Celica and after 220,000 miles I bought a new Hyundai Veloster in 2014 that's past 125,000 miles and the 4th set of tires.

My first choice was to purchase a house near the office, but that was totally out of my price range. Then I considered renting an apartment, but I didn't want to walk away with nothing to show for my efforts. That got me to condo shopping as that is the least expense to make things work. My wife had an apartment in China and was fine with that lifestyle. While there are lots of freedoms with a house (and no Homeowners Association) that would be traded for someone else maintaining the place but I would have to accept a list of 'cannot do' this or that, typical with condo living.

Shopping on and off for two years got accelerated in the last 6 months. Although house prices are rising, I found that the units I viewed usually were sold and quickly taken off the market. The last agent I dealt with has more sales than all the others combined and I decided to go with her. She was very helpful in making a purchase.

What I got was someone who already printed reports for the units we planned to visit and actually knew something about each one and not reading details from their cellphone like the other agents I met. Mentioned in previous blogs, the last one I saw was matched more of the conditions for a purchase. For example:
Price range, less work needed to be able to move in, no one had died in the unit, bedroom was on the east side and away from the heat of the afternoon sun, easy access from the entrance gate, laundry in the unit and not community coin laundry.

I made an offer, negotiated a bit, placed a deposit. Approved by the mortgage company and the homeowners association, I was cleared to move ahead. The home inspection showed no leaking roof and no trouble with the appliances. That said, I coughed up the money and met with a cashier's check for the closing.

The sellers had all their furniture and belongings removed the day before the closing. I arranged to have utilities turned on in my name. They left me a bar of soap in one bathroom and a bottle of water in the refrigerator!

The purpose of this blog is to track my progress with the renovation and document the pitfalls as well as the successful moments.