Life's a Stitch

I was writing to our realtor to request a change in closing date for the sale of our house. Explaining that we had an offer in on another house (!), I ended with the  phrase "exciting times ahead!" Auto correct guessed at my inaccurate thumb typing and came up with a not-too-far-off word, in meaning. Yes, we are exiting our house to go to another one. But not so fast.

In our tradition of rescuing Piggy, a substantially featherless parrot, our Gracee dog and the very house in which we currently reside, we've done it again. Our realtor explained that houses fall into three categories: move in ready, liveable in need of work, and a tear down requiring substantial rebuilding to make it liveable AKA a rescue.

After selling our house, we were warned that we needed to get back into the house market ASAP lest prices run away from us. It's true, houses were selling before we could drive to White Rock to see them, and each new listing came on higher. We saw homes being taken off the market for a day, and reappear with a shiny new, more expensive price tag. It was time for a change in strategy. Why not buy something substantially less attractive and renovate? 

Found a builder online, who agreed to meet with us the next day. The target was a teensy cottage on a lot the size of a postage stamp: 30×50 feet. Seriously compact real estate, but approved for a new house of 2100 sq ft on three levels. We arrived at his office at 10:00 am, the realtor joined us at noon and guess what? Already sold. 

Another possibility was a new listing that contained no pictures and the following description: "built in 1994, this house contains major structural defects…" Offers were to be presented that afternoon. Where are the TV cameras? The builder (who reminds me of Mr. Holmes of Holmes on Homes fame), and his team accompanied us and as they say here in Canada, Bob's your uncle. We got it and there were three back up offers behind us. We are the proud owners of this view and those exciting times, previously mentioned, are ahead:

I am thankful and relieved to be out of house hunting mode. It wasn't all a roller coaster ride, though, having the opportunity to cut some of the tension by immersing myself in painting. I like this one better than the tulip painting I posted a few weeks back: