It’s Theirs!

Got the call - escrow has finally CLOSED on the condo! Only 8 days late. We (more importantly, our buyer) survived the credit crunch. YES!

Okay, back to unpacking…

It’s Ours

Just got the call. Escrow closed and the house is ours!

T Minus 10 Days And Counting

If everything continues to follow its current course, Michelle will have her house and back yard next Wednesday (10/24). The U-Haul truck has been reserved, the utilities switch-overs have been scheduled, and our stuff is slowly but surely getting boxed up. The house was (supposedly) evacuated this weekend and gets tented/fumigated for termites tomorrow. The rest of the documentation gets signed tomorrow, and the walk-through is being scheduled. So everything for the house close looks to be in great shape. 10 days until they hand over the keys.

Then there’s the condo.

We Sold the Condo!

It looked kind of iffy for a while there, so I didn’t want to jinx it by saying anything, but it has been nearly a week now so I guess it is official. We got an offer last week and a signed contract this past Sunday. Thanks to the continued craziness of the L.A. housing market, we did just fine. The physical inspection was held on Wednesday and we finalized the equity loan yesterday, so we are moving right along. There are still some minor variables to be ironed out, but we are allowing ourselves to relax and breathe a sigh of relief. In three weeks we will close on the house and move, and in four weeks we close on the condo. A nice wrap-up.

Now just keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t all fall apart!

House Mini-Tour

We had the physical inspection of the house last Thursday, so we brought the camera along and took some pictures. There were some areas we forgot to get coverage and measurements of (The Lodge), but we got enough for a fairly decent mini-tour on my web gallery. Check it out:

Everything is still moving ahead nicely, and we finally get the condo sale up to speed starting with the “caravan” this Tuesday. So it’s moving along.

We Bought A House!

Many of you may have heard: Michelle and I bought a house! Well, I guess technically we are still “buying” a house, but after some negotiations we have a signed contract and a closing date (October 30 or sooner, depending on when our condo sells), so it is pretty much official. Michelle has always wanted a house (and the required back yard), so given the insane cost of housing here this has been a goal we have been working toward since the day we arrived in Los Angeles. We have kept an eye on the market since we bought our condo over 7 years ago, and after months of seriously looking we found a place we couldn’t say no to. It met all of our admittedly picky demands: more than 2 bedrooms (it has 4!), a back yard, and, like our condo, is in Culver City (for the schools). We are feeling pretty great about it. It will need some work – anything we could remotely afford here is not going to be perfect – but nothing urgent or really major. Let the IKEAzation begin!

Harris is very excited about it – the big tree in the backyard already has a swing, and the idea of not having to share a room with his 2-year-old brother any longer is a huge hit. I’m just afraid it will break Parker’s heart…

I hoped to take a picture or two of the exterior this weekend but never got around to it. But I did grab these from the website ad: