competing offers

my place went up on the market on september 12th.

4 long weeks, 5 days, 1 open house, and 6 private showings later and i was starting to lose hope that my condo would be the quick sell everyone thought it would be. but that's when my luck changed for the better...

on october 15th i got my first offer, and at full asking price! i was over the moon! but it was a complicated rent-to-own situation that would last until march 2015 when the buyer would finally be able to get a full loan. ugh. not ideal, but what other choice did i have?!?

well, what comes next but another requested showing that night! i prayed it would go well, then packed my suitcase and was on my way down to new orleans for a friend's wedding bright and early the very next morning, before we had even heard any buyer feedback.

later that day on october 16th i got a phone call in my hotel room. the guy who had toured my condo last night wanted to put in a full price offer, with standard requests. you can bet i took his offer!

i have never felt such a weight lift off my shoulders. wow. the closing is set for december 8th. so now i just have to get through our beach wedding, thanksgiving, and our reception...oh, and 3 other weddings before then. should be a piece of cake :)

lockbox official

as of september 12, 2014 (aka: my half birthday) the lockbox has appeared on my steps and my condo is up on the market!!!

only one more item on my "to do" list. kind of the most important one! let's hope there are some uptown hipsters out there looking for a unique garden level one bedroom.

• move into tim (and snoop's) house in st paul
• list my condo by september, 2014
• get it sold asap!

that said, here are my listing photos!

stay on your side of the line

it might not have been cheap on our monthly association dues, but it had to be done...but wow does it look a million times better!

trying to find a parking spot on the street for the two days it took to get our parking lot resealed and repainted was awesome as always, but i'm hoping the outcome will make my life easier...with lines so bright, maybe my neighbor will actually park in his spot for once? only time will tell...

where's the rainbow?

so i'm in my bedroom getting ready for work when i notice an odd reflection near the wall. 

standing water. 

the fridge must be leaking! i remember back to last night when i had too many lights and electronics on and ended up blowing a few breakers. the freezer must not have turned back on and leaked the ice (which turned into water) out onto the floor...

nope.

i run into my kitchen only to see that is definitely not the case. my entire pantry is flooded, along with the hallway to my back door, which then leads through to my bedroom. i open my door to find even deeper water covering the back section of my condo, and it seems to be coming from my laundry room.

sure enough, the floor drain is completely filled with about a half foot of water, and it has spilled from there, through the walls into my kitchen, then through the walkway and into my bedroom. my floor drain in my bathroom closet was also completely flooded, but luckily nothing flooded too far in there. 

not exactly how i want to use my work vacation hours...

walk with me, talk with me

here's a little walkthrough of my condo so far...

aussie fest reunion

some pix from aussie fest reunion, held at my place. the festivities began with a Japan slideshow, narrated by mom. we took a break, played some games, ate some grub, and crowded into the living room for the second show of the day: the Australia slideshow, narrated by matthew.

some of the gang: rachael, ryan, kristina, matthew and adam.

the group of us 'kids' who survived the second slideshow. whew, what a long day, but it was a fun one!

the cat lady and her dishwasher library

i just realized i never filled you in on the history of this place...so sit back, relax, and find out a little about what went on here before i ever even walked through the door.

the building:
well, it's actually two turn-of-the-century brownstone buildings; sister buildings, if you will. they sit side-by-side, with a small, wrought-iron gated courtyard between. in the back is an adorable little garden patio area, complete with grills and tables. the residents chill out there at night, drinking wine and chatting (everyone i've met has been extremely friendly and sweet, and invited me to join them). and there are lots of bbq's and people even bring out candles and other decor to give it that romantic evening dusk ambiance. there are nineteen condos total, ranging from one-bed/one-bath (like mine) to three-bed/three-bath. most of them have fireplaces and at least one wall with exposed brick. we even have a website.

the cat lady:
the previous owner, nicknamed the cat lady, turned a little eccentric towards the end (or maybe she always was). she not only loved spam (i found evidence throughout the unit), but she must have liked cats too, because what started out as two, multiplied into fifteen...at least! animal control was called a few times to pick up the extra cats, but soon enough there were kitties wandering around yet again.

one morning a neighbor heard her crying for help and found her on the ground, where she had been all night after she fell and broke her hip. after a brief stay in the hospital, she was adamant on going back to the condo. the neighbors helped out, bringing her groceries, and even finding books stored in her dishwasher (among other odd things), but it soon became too much of a burden on the caring residents of the building, so she was placed into a nursing home. however, in order to get medical help, she was forced to liquidate all her assets, which was basically the condo. that's where i come in, and you basically know the rest...

glitter and pink paint

memorial day. thank goodness stores are open! me and mom spent quite a while at the home depot narrowing down light green paint for the living room wall. i ended up choosing "home song" by behr for the walls....i hope it looks good!

oh, and we decided to get ceiling paint that goes on pink and dries white -- so we can see where we have already painted. im just a little skeptical about putting pink paint on the ceiling, let's hope the pink fades away like they claim it does!

so we headed over to the condo to get started on the living room ceiling. dad rolled on the pink paint while i followed behind him throwing glitter up into the wet paint for a sparkly ceiling! who would have guess i would get sore from throwing glitter into the air.

next we ripped down the big closet between the living room and dining room. we found a sewer pipe running through the edge of the wall, so that beam will have to stay, but other than that, the demo went really well. and meanwhile, mom was priming the walls and ceiling in my bedroom.

we finished up around 5:45 and headed home for a few hours for a yummy memorial day bbq of burgers, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. then me, chad, and dad were back at the condo moving in the fridge and dryer until 10pm. phew! what a day! but so much fun!

day one

welcome to my new blog, thanks for visiting!

READ THIS: a tidbit about the condo

now, let's get down to business. i have officially been a home owner for about twenty four hours, and i gotta be honest, i feel pretty good. closing went quickly: an over-sized bowl of candy, lots and lots of paperwork, seven chattering people around a big oval table, and a jar of edina realty pens. that's about all i remember. they pretty much walked me through the entire process, handed me my keys (lots of locks: 3 different locks to the doors into my unit alone, a main entrance key, a back entrance key, a mailbox key), and that was that. nice.

now i just have to figure out which key goes into which lock...