Do you have one house that remains in your memory as being "the perfect house?" Well, my perfect house has come back on the market in Portland, Oregon. We sold it in 2006 when we moved to the Twin Cities for my husband's job. I was not a happy camper, believe me. However, we were fortunate enough to sell the home for more than we paid for it, and now I see it is on the market for much less than we sold it for. I would say that is karma. The buyers put us through the ringer before finally buying the house.
They must have searched high and low for an inspector with a nasty disposition because at one point they actually made us lift this house 1/2 inch! Yes, the
whole house. 1/2 inch!
I was left behind to sell it as my husband moved on to his new job. It took about 75 days, and during that time it had to look like these pictures. (Not my furniture - these are new pictures.) By that I mean, I walked around with a bottle of windex. If you've ever sold a home, you know what I mean. It has to be
perfect, or as perfect as you can make it. Even in 2006 the market was getting tight. Our realtor literally walked around with a little box of red tabs that he placed everywhere we needed to touch up. It irritated me at the time, but he did sell the house while others lingered on the market.
I really loved this house, although it is way too big for us now, at the time we still had children living with us on occasion, not to mention nieces. It felt like you were living in the trees. Across from the house was open space that ended in a ravine with a gurgling creek. After moving from the desert, where we have now weirdly returned, it felt like living in a rain forest.
I don't think I could talk my husband into buying it again. If, for no other reason, he had to literally push the garbage uphill to the street to be picked up. Not to mention - we don't live in Portland anymore.
So I hope the next owner loves it as much as I did.
Oh! And I hope they find a good inspector...
26 comments:
I think you need to come back!!!
that IS a gorgeous house, indeed. Having just sold mine in August, after having had it on the market the previous summer as well, I know what you mean.
All sorts of Karma coming at the neighborhood for driving me out... But that's not for your blog.
My house was what I had dreamed of and would be perfect for the future as some of us hope to make it, but...
Lifting a house a half inch????
Yeah, maybe it's good not to go back sometimes.
Lindz - I would love to! I could babysit your new baby!
Jeannette - The neighborhood drove you out of your perfect house? Wow, that's some nasty neighbors!
wow nancy that is a gorgeous house...beautiful architecture and interior...
Brian - Thank you. I do miss it sometimes.
wow - that looks like a stunner of a house nancy - i can totally see why you miss it.
How fascinating! It is definitely a beauty and it must be rather surreal to look at these pictures now. All I can say is you gave them a half-inch and now someone else will want a mile ....or something like that!
Love the house... Wouldn't it be fun to go back and demand the house be lowered by 1/2 an inch before you consider placing a bid???
It's a beautiful house and I can't imagine why anyone would want it raised a half inch. My friend from CA still mourns the house they had to leave in Ohio. We left a house we liked, but hated the neighborhood. When we sell our current house, when the market improves, I want to move and sell it empty. I can't live in a house and try to keep it perfect for a showing. You went through a lot to sell yours.
It is truly a beautiful place, Nancy. And karma is alive and well, isn't it? It's lovely to see those pictures and imagine you living in such an elegant place.
What a wonderful house! However, I wouldn't want to clean it.
GORGEOUS PLACE! I can see why you weren't happy about having to sell it. And unbelievable that you had to lift the place by half an inch!!
I think you should just buy it back. Then Jill can live in YOUR basement instead of mine. :)
Amanda - I've never found one that I liked better - it was a very feminine house.
Lydia - Exactly!
Inspired - You gave my husband and I a great laugh this morning - thank you!
RJ - The only problem is that they sell better when they are furnished - or so they tell me. It is really awful because it doesn't feel like your home the minute it goes on the market.
DJan - Thank you - it really was an elegant home - maybe that's why we are no longer there? We're not very elegant.
Kathy - I had help - but I agree! It was three levels, to boot!
T&R - That was just ONE of the things they had us do! It was just crazy. The house after that was in Prior Lake, Minnesota, and the man bought it WITHOUT an inspection, and paid cash. Two sales within a year and a half and they couldn't have been more different.
Jen - LOL!
Oh1 you really want it back, don't you. I can understand Nancy. I always bond with houses too. There is always one and I still have that one! When I moved to US in 2006, this one was put up for sale, but it never sold. Must have been meant to be. Then the prices went down and down and we took it off the market. I'm glad as I still have it. I can't let it go!
Your house (ex) is beautiful. I can well understand how you loved it. You yearn for it again don't you. Perhaps you also yearn for the people who lived in it at the time. I can understand that too.
Oooo life is hard sometimes.
hugs to you Nancy.
Star - I would say you are meant to stay! I do miss this house in many ways - it had the perfect kitchen for me and I felt like I was living in a treehouse - something I am fascinated by. But my values have changed over the years. I no longer can justify living in such a large house with only two people. Maybe if I had my family back (and yes I miss them as well), but otherwise it is just too big. Now a little cottage with all of the same attributes...
to have the view[s] that you did - and the space! much as i love the desert/southwest, i am not sure i could ever give up living in the trees!!! ;)
That is a gorgeous house. The views, the open layout, the light pouring in, everything about it is amazing. I guess the easy Prior Lake sale was your reward for having endured all the pain of leaving this place!
beautiful house!
My family has one like that... our house in Mexico City... a century old, crooked (cakes would come out of the oven lopsided), but beautiful and big and with lots of character! :o)
Nancy - that is beeeautiful.♥
Gypsy - I loved it. Luckily, we have a little place at Lake Tahoe where I am surrounded by nature which we will be moving back to in June. It is small and cozy and right next to a creek. It just doesn't have all those windows!
Blissed - Yes, maybe! Although the Prior Lake house was a worry, as it was outside of the Twin Cities on 2.5 acres and gas had just jumped. The market had just dropped, and it was the summer before the big bank bailouts - in 75 days only a couple of people had even looked at the house! Then in walked a man that just bought it on the spot. You just never know...
Chris - I can just imagine! I watch all of those House Hunters International and some of the old houses in Mexico are really fabulous.
Natalie - Thanks, Nat.
That's what I'd call an absolutely magnificent house. We were lucky enough to have a very nice townhouse apartment above OHSU for eight years but then developers bought the property just before the crash. Nevertheless, we could never have raised the $390k our modest two bedroom place did sell for.
Susan - Thank you, it was a very pretty, almost feminine house. I know of the area you are talking about. You probably had a great view, not to mention Portland is now swimming in condos!
Wow that's a beauty of a home. It must give you a little pang to see it again.
Hilary - It does. My husband suggested we take a look at it when we are in Portland, but that ship sailed. Too big for what we need in the future.
What a gorgeous home!!
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