House Hunting

Yesterday afternoon we met with our realtor in Port Moody and looked at eight properties. I took over 250 pictures (with permission, though not to post here). We didn't make an offer, but we know a lot more about what is available and what we really want.

The search really began yesterday. Our loan preapproval was finalised on Friday, so the timing was great. But it's a quick transition - we're going from thinking about buying a house to getting much closer to buying a house.

We had two favourites from yesterday's viewings that we all agreed on. We now have a better idea what we can expect to get in our price range. So it seems quite likely that we'll choose something like this:

A townhouse, part of a small complex, built in the 80s or 90s, of wood frame construction. Three or possibly four storeys. Around 1900-2000 square feet. (We looked at some in the 1300-1500 range and, apart from the master bedroom, the bedroooms were very small, for children really; we each want a room of our own.) It will have new or very recent flooring, windows, appliances, and cabinetry. Natural gas heating. The ground floor will have a garage or covered parking, and a family room. The main floor will have living room, dining room, kitchen. The upstairs floor(s) will have bedrooms, at least one with a small balcony. There will be a small fenced-in yard, possibly paved with stone.

It will possibly be in Port Moody, and if not, it will be just outside it in Coquitlam. Quite likely it will be on Falcon Drive, about 500 meters past the city line. Sarah will have to cross one, or possibly two, streets to go to school - the elementary school is just on Falcon Drive's east side, the middle school (where Sarah would start in the fall) just beyond it, and one street later is the high school.

Houses of this type, built in that period, are prime candidates of the "leaky condo" syndrome - at that time most buildings were made with inferior water repellence, causing expensive remediation later on when water does make its way into walls and mold sets in. We would pay for a thorough inspection especially geared toward this.

We'll have enough space to entertain indoors and possibly out. We'll each have a room of our own with a bit of work space - Margo and I both work from home now and then. The living room will be a place to hang out, read, listen to music. The family room will house the TV and game console, and be a place Sarah can be with her friends without taking over the living room. It would also be a place for guests to stay.

We'll have a lot within three blocks (longer suburban blocks though): at least two parks. Sarah's schools. Port Moody's civic complex, including city hall, a theatre, athletic facilities, a hockey rink, and a library. Behind it is greenspace, then the end of the Burrard Inlet - seawater. There's even a beach nearby. Newport Village with its shops, groceries, cafes and restaurants. Two pubs. Eagle Ridge Hospital. A bus to downtown Vancouver, a high-frequency bus to the nearest SkyTrain station (about 15 minutes away), and in the coming years, our own SkyTrain station on the new Evergreen line. A bit further is a stop on the commuter train to Vancouver. And looking east, an outdoor swimming pool, and blocks beyond is Coquitlam Centre with its malls and groceries (where Margo currently gets many groceries). This is all within about a twenty minute walk.

We'll probably look at more properties next Saturday and will be writing more soon.