rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

Lol, silly @greybeard . Its actually getting more crowded very fast. We get caught in stop and go traffic on a regular basis now. Do not drive between 3 and 7:30 anymore. Grocery shopping is becoming very difficult with the fast population growth, especially the weeks in the month before Christmas. Four years ago it was almost vacant including around the holiday. Going back to being busy city area.

 

[Bruce]

Grocery stores are usually pretty quiet around 3 AM

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss Rachel,

Did you and your family have a white Christmas? If so, did you take any pictures?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[rachels.haven]

Hi again! We had some snow on Christmas, but nothing accumulated. It was still quite nice though to be with family with the kids all peacefully playing and happy.
House hunting isn't going the greatest. Today we saw a 18th century farm house with a 17th century mother in law's quarter with a dairy barn they were trying to turn into more house in Harvard. It seemed a little much and was in town.

We also saw a house of Boxford that needs it's septic replaced asap as they'd just had some sort of septic explosion downstairs and it still reeked, but somehow is still listed as "move in ready". We saw a house in sudbury with a boiler exploding water all over the basement. Looked like a boat inside, complete with water. Lovely kitchen. Saw a large purple house in Marlborough that appeared to have had some bad amoteuring and was huge and needed more work. Also a shed is not a barn.
Then we saw a normal, non defective, huge house in Northborough with 5 acres of hilly land and no outbuildings. House looks good for family, not so good for fencing or sheds. That was the best one today. Nothing on the list for tomorrow, but we are still looking.

Also took Hubby to a piano shop to have a chat with the spouse of the owner and give them DH's number in case they get anything interesting in since DH has opted to stop killing his 100 year old converted player and leave it behind. It made him happy, and now the shop owner will keep an eye out for us.

Taking care of DH's loves are a lot easier than taking care of my own. Still trying. I might wind up with goats in calf huts in my front yard in a dumb colored rural McMansionish thing, but I'm still looking and praying.

 

[Bruce]

I might wind up with goats in calf huts in my front yard in a dumb colored rural McMansionish thing, but I'm still looking and praying.

Geez I hope not. From what you have said a McMansion would make you anything but happy. Keep looking, there are good houses out there!

 

[rachels.haven]

thanks. We will. I'd settle for a bigish, somewhat ugly house if it was good for all of us and the animals at this point (I think we're traumatizing our poor realtor, as she's a family friend). It's kind of a bad time to be house hunting. It would be a little embarrassing, owning a big house and showing my parents but if that's what I have to do to get space near to DH's work, on 5 acres or more, and with at least two bathrooms and three bedrooms that's what we'll do. It has to not be flooded, especially not recently with sewage.

This emoji is from my five year old, who is in love with moving emojis. It in this instance pertains to nothing above, though it seems to fit in quite well with today's events. Kind of looks like our poor realtors face in a few of those houses.

 

[Bruce]

Must be interesting to be a realtor and walk into a house for the first time not knowing if you are going to find a gem or sewage.

 

[rachels.haven]

We saw two more houses since I wrote last. One had a huge gas leak, so we didn't get to look it over much (poor real estate agent didn't want to get exploded or something and I din't either). The other we put an offer in on because the house was nice enough for DH AND habitable, had a small barn with a hay loft, and flat enough to use and wasn't out of our preferred price zone. Offer was countered but not by much, so we gave them it and it was accepted this morning. Sellers want to close asap (buying a house elsewhere) which is good for us so closing date will be as soon as the mortgage people allow-I believe in the second or third week of January is what they said last night.

I will get a picture of at least the barn and yard (tiny) and part of the property (big, wooded). It's on almost 7 acres and zoned agricultural residential so I can do as I please. Lots of horses everywhere and conservation land next lot over. The only neighbor I can see has an alpaca. Good sign I guess.
High taxes but good schools and roads and libraries. 20-something miles from DH's work, which is a bummer, but there's a good chance he won't even have a shower there so biking to work would not have been a good option anyway, or so he says. Biking to groceries or to lake/river beaches and trails are more likely.
Next time I get out there I'll take pictures. I originally intended to, but so few of the houses we went to go see were actually "fun" or safe to be in, so I got distracted and forgot.

 

[Mike CHS]

Congratulations and I hope things go well and quickly for you.

 

[Bruce]

One had a huge gas leak, so we didn't get to look it over much (poor real estate agent didn't want to get exploded or something and I din't either).

It is amazing someone would even put that on the market, talk about a liability nightmare!

Glad you found a place that fits your needs.