Home Sweet Home

So while on the way home from the official EMF reading on the Chevy Chase Canyon house, Sergio gave me a call. We should take another look at the spiral staircase house in Mt. Washington. "You mean the death spiral staircase house?" Yep, that very same.



The price had dropped and it was in our range now. Sort of. Like a giant uncomfortable stretch reach. But worth it, right? The house is huge! And in our original target area, walking distance from the elementary school. And the things we didn't like about it were purely cosmetic. The house itself was in really great shape.

Sergio started making mock-ups of what the house would look like without the spiral staircase. And what we could do to change up the front of the house. I said, sure. Let's go for it. "Really?" he asked. "Yes, let's do it."

So he called our agent and she reached out to the listing agent. There was some back/forth with pricing. Escrow went smoothly, inspections were normal, and we closed on the house just about two weeks ago!!!!

Here we are just after getting the keys and before we stepped into the house. My mom came along to do the new home blessing.



Our first meal was a quick banh-mi lunch that mom brought. Did we mention the view?



It will be a while before we settle in and get out from under these boxes. At least the dining table is set up. Meals together at the table is the quickest way to normalcy, right?



It has been a wild ride for sure. With many, many bumps, much sleeplessness, and stress. But we are very happy and feel SO GRATEFUL AND FORTUNATE. Our agent and loan rep have become our friends and we feel so lucky to have found them. The community here is tight-knit and we've already felt so welcome.

Yay!

FINGERS AND TOES CROSSED.

We've been in escrow for a while now. We're exactly two weeks away from our escrow close date. They buyer of our house has been super flexible about letting us rent back -- pushing the date right up until the day before he needs to move in. We are paying him, of course, a lot of money. But damn we are so grateful also.

I'm not going to publish anything about the new house just yet. But it's one we had already seen and yes, one I posted about earlier. Immediately after leaving the Chevy Chase Canyon house, I think even while still parked outside of it, Sergio hopped online in a desperate final sweep of what was on the market. Maybe something new just got listed? Maybe we can avoid the seemingly inevitability of finding a rental unit... What he found was a price drop on an existing listing. He called me from the car and I agreed with him. "Let's go for it," I said.

Cut to yesterday, when we signed away final contingencies and locked ourselves in. We are so excited about this and dreaming away about when we finally get to move in. We won't be able to do much at first because we'll be pretty stretched. But it's nice to dream.

Now. Hoping all goes well and escrow close arrives smoothly, and move day goes as planned.

Swiss Cabin in SoPas

I almost forgot! This cute place. In South Pasadena. We actually went to look at it immediately after we had lunch with our agent when we decided we would sell our house. She said it needed a ton of work but worth seeing, even just for fun. And she was right. It was built in 1930 by the couple who owned it - mostly by the husband's own hands. They were from Switzerland and it showed. The house looked like a little woodland chalet.



It felt so nice up on the grounds, but the work was daunting. Basically a near-tear-down. It was priced low and priced right. It would be perfect for someone who knew what they were doing, to buy it and fix it up.

The best part of this house was the story that came with it. The agent told us a snippet about the woman who lived there and I was so intrigued. She sounded like she had a lot of spirit and drive. This is what I was able to find out: http://nahaconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Tribute-Annemarie-Buhler-2015.pdf

So cool!

EMF.

We decided to stick with the gorgeous views, incredible potential, absolutely beautiful neighborhood. In case you forgot, it's this one...



This whole while, Sergio had been keeping his mom in Italy updated with the happenings -- calls nearly twice a day. She was happy for us but told us that maybe we should check into those electrical wires she spied from the photos...



Of course we had noticed them the first time but they kind of disappeared into the scenery for us after while. And they seemed far enough away. I didn't really give it much thought after mentally noting their existence. So, Sergio did extensive online research and discovered that there were definitely potential dangers in being close. The towers might be far but the wires themselves came maybe 200-300 feet away from the deck. Hmmm... Unfortunately, Electromagnetic Field (EMF) is not regulated in the United States. Because of this, much of the info we found online could be categorized into the "conspiracy theory" set of research. BUT, it is highly regulated in parts of Europe, Australia, and other developed parts of the world. So even though the scant U.S. based studies we found gave us very little to go on, there were very specific distances and levels that were considered "safe" in the rest of the world.

We were getting really worried. Like really, really worried. The scariest potential issues that could develop from living with high EMF levels is childhood leukemia. It affects children the most because their bodies are still forming, cells and DNA still so malleable. Before we called our agent, we decided to buy a meter and test it ourselves. We would use our current house, and my parents' house to compare. If the readings seemed high, we would let our agent know, and call in a professional to test the house with real equipment. We looked at the contract and EMF is listed as one of the reasons we could cancel the escrow.

So, the lowest measured EMF reading in the study that linked EMF to leukemia was 2.0. Our meter measured about 1.4. Not great but maybe ok still??? We really didn't want to lose this house so we thought...maybe we could move in, put in some work, and then sell it in a couple years. But do we call in the professional? Yes. Maybe? I think we were just afraid of what we were pretty sure we were going to learn. We tested our current house, and then my mom's. They were both in the 0.03 range. Basically zilch. The next day, Sunday, we drove up to take another reading. This time, it hit 2.0. We called our agent.

We explained the situation and she immediately thought we should back out. But we decided to call in the professional. Maybe they would have more insight. She set it up for the next morning, Monday. I had to go to work but the three of them would all meet at the house. He had a fancy, professional meter, of course. Well, his reading was way above ours. The moment she saw the reading, our agent was immediately on her phone, making arrangements for us to back out.

Back to square one.

SIGH. We totally dodged a bullet though and we are grateful and relieved. Let's take one last long look at the view beneath the wires. I mean, really. This in the middle of the city. How could we not fall in love, right?

We "sleep" on it

So we spent a very sleepless night agonizing over which house to stick with.

Spanish in Eagle Rock

Pros

• Move-in ready
• Gorgeous
• Pool
• Familiar neighborhood
• Familiar lifestyle
• Near Luca's current school
• Great local public schools for later
• Near  my parents
• Did I mention gorgeous?

Cons

• PRICE
• Would likely never make profit on this house if we sold in the next 10-15 years, maybe 20. Likely not break even.
• Did I mention it was going to be a shit-ton of money? 

Chevy Chase Canyon

Pros

• Potential! Every house in the area was more expensive. We would put in the sweat equity and would make a profit even if we sell in just two years.
• BEAUTIFUL neighborhood
• Quiet and secluded
• We could put our stamp on this house
• Great local schools

Cons

• We would have to pour a large chunk of money into the house before we could even move in - and not on anything fun. Just basic safety issues.
• ALL the rooms needed to be updated but we would have to defer that until we could afford it.
• Unfamiliar neighborhood
• Unfamiliar lifestyle 

We came to our senses. It was hard not to be dazzled by the jewel box house but in the end, we decided to stick with our original decision. We would choose to invest in the Chevy Chase Canyon house. It would simply be the best for our future.

So we backed out of the Spanish and move ahead with Chevy Chase Canyon. What were we thinking? Like I said, we were going crazy from stress and sleeplessness. Just crazy.

The Jewel Box House

While negotiating for the Chevy Chase Canyon house with the spectacular view, I went to the preview for a Spanish Style house in Eagle Rock I had seen early ads for - the description was promising. Sergio happened to have been too sick to pick up Luca that day, so I did and brought him with me to the preview. It is just down the street from Oxy so that was easy.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

HEART EYES.

It was like a perfect Jewel box house. And Luca seemed to really like it too. The backyard helped.



Seeing this house while in negotiations on the Chevy Chase Canyon home definitely cast some doubts and made me extremely hesitant to pull the final trigger on it. Sergio told me to drive up to the Chevy Chase Canyon house after work and see how I felt when I saw it again. "If it doesn't move you, we shouldn't get it." It might have been the drive itself that sold me. The tree lined road, the beautiful neighborhood...and then that house is at the end of a cul de sac, overlooking a wonderful, natural view...and the sun was setting over the hills just beyond the deck. That drive sold me on it.

But I told Sergio that he should see the Spanish in Eagle Rock anyway, just in case. There happened to be an open house the same day we went into escrow on the Chevy Chase Canyon house.

LITERAL TEXT FROM SERGIO:

I wish you didn't show me this house is better than what you described it.

Damn it. He loved it too. And I could hear it in his voice when we talked - he loved it just as much as I did. Crap. He called our agent who met him out at the house. There were discussions about how much we would have to offer to ensure we got it. Basically we would have to offer just as much as we did for the Chevy Chase Canyon house. Which is a lot, especially for this square footage. We would knowingly be buying it way overpriced. Our agent said it's rare that both people have such a strong, immediate reaction to a house. It's worth a shot. But we had to be aware that we would be paying more than what she thought the house was worth. The market is just so crazy right now. And apparently we were going crazy. Because we submitted an offer, giving them 24 hours to respond. We had not yet put the deposit down on the Chevy Chase Canyon house, and inspections hadn't been done yet so we wouldn't lose anything if we pulled out.

So, we entered escrow at about 9AM on one house, and made an offer on another by about noon? We are going crazy. Obviously.

We switch buyers and keep looking...

Then our house drops out of escrow because the buyer couldn't get one of the final financing contingencies lifted. We went straight to our best backup. It was an all cash offer so finances wasn't going to be an issue. The buyer also wanted all of our furniture. We balked. That was too much. We loved our furniture and it would be so expensive to replace everything. Frankly, replacing most of the items was pretty much out of reach for us because we had found them at estate sales, on craigslist, on ebay, etc. We wouldn't be able to afford normal market price for the same pieces. Thankfully, the buyer relented on that one. It appeared he really wanted to buy our house. He was made aware of the issues found in the first inspection and was fine with not asking for any credits. He brought out his own inspector and the house passed with flyer colors! Goes to show how subjective inspections can be. And he was open to letting us rent back from him after escrow. I honestly felt bad that the first buyers couldn't perform but this seemed like the best scenario for us!

The timeline on these houses is all out of order. Some are even from when we first started looking! I just can't remember the sequence clearly.

Eagle Rock
This house was priced well and felt like we were in Greece. The large living room was really pretty but the rest of the house just wasn't for us.





Eagle Rock
Really finished nicely and pristine/perfect. Showed like a model home. But we could hear the freeway!



Eagle Rock
So many people at this one. The vibe was really old-timey and a little creepy. All three of us felt it and high-tailed it out of there.



Eagle Rock
Huge house in back and adorable cottage rental unit in the front. I REALLY like this one too. Some of the finishes and styling were odd to me, but it felt like it was redone with quality materials. It just felt so big and grand. I particularly loved the wide front door. But way out of our price range. Our agent thought it was overpriced for the location as well. But I'm sure whoever the buyer is will love it. I wouldn't have minded moving into this one.



Mt. Washington
This property was like a compound/oasis. Super large lot with a second, rentable unit, adorable playhouse, view, AND POOL! But it was priced really high. And the main house itself did not feel solid. The outside looked like it was a trailer even. There was some cosmetic styling to make it seem more luxe, but it felt a little shabby chic - not the right vibe at this price point!



Eagle Rock
The most adorable house in the most perfect shade of lavender pink. Also redone like a pristine/model home. And Luca said, "The outside is so beautiful!" He was funny. I also like this one a lot. Walking distance to Trader Joe's even. The long driveway was nice. I could imagine all our friends pulling in, kids piling out of the car, running around the kid friendly/safe backyard. We could project movies on that big wall in the back...But not Sergio's cup of tea. Again, it didn't feel like the leap we wanted from our current house. anyway, by this point, we were in the midst of negotiating for another house...



Chevy Chase Canyon
We loved this house so much. The view is spectacular. The neighborhood is gorgeous. There is so much potential here. There was a lot of deferred maintenance on this place, and there was an odd structure attached that did not belong to the house. The owner of the house also owns the lot next door, which he was selling separately. While living there, he had expanded over into his attached lot...so that would have to be demolished. And deck was in disrepair, obviously not up to code. So much work to do but we could see the potential.

We made an offer the same day we saw it.




They countered. We countered. They countered. We accepted.

We were in escrow!