House Hunting Summary

Okay, so I wanted to post to this regularly but I kinda forgot it was here. So, I'll catch you up briefly on the condo hunt. Throughout the end of may and June we saw about 30 condos and about 5 houses. The condos all start to look the same after a while so we were looking at the layout, the complex, and how much work we'd need to do. There were several that had potential. We really wrestled over a condo back in Pomona on Towne - close to where we lived when we first moved here. That was a 3 bedroom 1400 sq foot place but they wanted more than we wanted to spend at the time and they weren't willing to negotiate. But, it was completely redone, painted, new windows and doors - really very nice. But they weren't willing to negotiate and it was still early in the shopping process.

We saw condos and complexes we hated - ones that were all green, ones where the neighbors were fighting right next door, ones that backed up against the freeway. We also saw some that were 1/2 redone, dirty, and torn apart. We saw one house that had everything stripped, the floor, the toilet, the plumbing, the electrical - they even took the kitchen sink. Condos that had shared garages, houses that were redone but with very small bedrooms, etc.

Complexes too sometimes needed work - dead trees everywhere, shotty repair work on the roofs, loud teenagers running in the streets.

But, there were good ones too - or at least good parts to them. One had a really small kitchen but it made good use of the space with cabinets with lazy susans, or pull out shelves. We found a lot of things we liked in various condos we saw. Super soft carpeting. Hanging lights or recessed lights. Whole house fans. Colored trims. Granite counter tops in the kitchen. Wainscoting in the dining room. French doors to the patio. Balconies. Spa bathtubs. Large pantries. Fireplaces that face the living room and the dining room. Bay windows. There just wasn't one that had it all. There was one house that we loved but it was simply too expensive. It was roomy, was painted, new windows, doors, really nice neighborhood, lots of closet space - but it was over 50k out of our price range. Another one, earlier in the process, the one that was redone but had small bedrooms and a gigantic backyard - i wanted to bid low on that one but by the time we found out about it offers had already been put down on it and for more than the asking price.

But on June 8th, after looking for several days a week for a month, we found one that would work. It's a 3 bedroom, 1300 sq foot condo in Rancho Cucamonga. I was very excited when I walked in, and as I walked through it. Big kitchen, decent size rooms, large master bedroom, two patios, really nice complex. After debating the evening after we saw it we decided to put an offer in on it. So, tonight we're putting an offer in on it! We're asking for 5k off the asking price and closing costs not to exceed $7500. We'll see!