Condo Hunting Day

No quilting today. DH and I spent the day condo hunting with our Buyer's Broker today. Our list started out with nine condos. At the first location there were two condos on the list. Our broker met us outside and told us he wouldn’t show us one of them because the layout wouldn’t work for us and was awkward. Worked for me. I like a broker who understands what we want and will steer us away from places he know won’t work for us. The condo we did see was unique, but had too many negatives too outweigh the positives.

3 1/2 hours and eight condos later DH and I went to the local sports bar to mull over our choices. There are two condos that are high on our list and one that is a close 3rd. Condo #1 is three floors including two garages at ground level. The living room is large and get lots of sun. The dining room is nicely done, as is the kitchen. The bedrooms are on the 3rd floor. The master bedroom is large and has two closets, but the master bathroom only has a stand up shower. There is a full bathroom on the second floor. The 2nd BR would be a great studio space. The current owners have it set up as a 2-person office and the set up is similar to what I would do for my studio space. I have already had discussions with DH about letting me use the dining room as a part-time sewing space so I could still be in the middle of the action when he is home. He’s OK with that.

Condo #2 is a newly renovated condo. It is an older home that has been gutted and completely redone and turned into condos. The unit we looked at is listed as three bedrooms and is on the 2nd floor. We don't need three bedrooms and would use one of the rooms as an office. The master bedroom is large and has a bay window. The 3rd bedroom is 17 x 11 and is right off the kitchen and would make an excellent quilting studio. The condo also has a mudroom/entry space. The condo is one floor which is one of the features I’ve been looking for. It is also priced 35,000 less than Condo #1 and has a lot of upside potential.

Condo #3 is on the list because it has a lot of nifty features including security system, built-in bar with TV in the kitchen, great custom paint job and an installed home theater system. This condo is at the very top of our price range and in the long run we probably wouldn’t make a lot of money when we would sell it in 5 – 7 years.

We are still discussing our options, but may make a move on one of these three condos in the next few weeks. Of course, our agent could make the call to our landlord and convince him to turn our apartment into a condo and then we would be very happy.