7.01.2010

House Hunting and other unfun tasks


Also aptly titled "You know I am stress out when.... I crochet random motifs and start knitting for no reason."

Isn't house hunting supposed to be fun? We love traveling and getting to know new locations. We are an architect and former structural engineer, so we can look at structures till normal people are blue with boredom. This process, though, has been, well, depressing. Heart breaking, really.

We love Pittsburgh. Mr CBF is from south of the city, and ever since we started dating (oh 13 years ago) we have done nearly everything there is in the city. From the museums, to the zoo, to the Pens/ Pirates games, festivals, restaurants and more. We knew the city would be for us, so we naturally thought this should be a no-brainer in terms of finding a house. We don't need much. A little yard for Faye (tiny is perfectly fine too) and a safe neighborhood close to the city. That's it. And oh my, has it been anything but fun. We have spent nearly every waking moment for the last few weeks researching homes to buy or rent, we have seen at least 40 houses, we've driven nearly every area of the city, and nothing. It is so frustrating. For the most part we have found either great houses in terrible locations (like in really unsafe areas or built on RR tracks), or horrible houses in nice locations (horrible in that they are pretty much falling down). As for rentals, good luck finding anyone with a clean place that also accepts large dogs.

So now we are less then a month from moving here, and we have no place to live. Certainly does not put me in a good mood. And less of one, when you are trying to run a creative business on the road.

But the way, life works out is funny and you never know what may come up. On Tuesday, I stopped into Knit One in Squirrel Hill for a little fiber retail therapy. I wanted pretty yarn to play with to take my mind off our "fun" situation. And as it goes, I started talking to one of the lovely managers at the store, who as it turns out used to be a realtor. She got so upset over our situation, immediately called a couple of her contacts and found us new houses to look at today. But more importantly, revived our faith that we were originally on the right track and our house is out there for us.

So cross your fingers today. Hopefully our new home is out there today and we will find each other. B/c wouldn't it make a great story. "I walked into a yarn store for yarn, I walked out with a house."

(The yarn above is Claudia Handpainted Worsted in Forest. I thought CJ could use some mittens now that we are moving back to the cold. The motifs still don't have a plan yet. The yarn is Red River (I think) that I picked up in CO a long time ago.)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

That definitely sounds stressful. When I moved to where I live now, I had a long weekend to find a house. We ended up with a great house in a not so nice location. I really wish we had had more time to look. So keep looking. The right one is out there for you!

anotheryarn said...

House hunting for rentals with a big dog is oh so hard and frustrating. We've tried it 3 times and keep deciding to stay in our "not quite what we want but hey it is decent and I'm not scared to walk the dog around the neighborhood" complex (ugh, complex). I wish you all the luck in the world.

Banana Moon Studio said...

So, I saw on Twitter that you were looking through submissions...what for? Does that have anything to do with the career move you hinted at awhile ago? I've been anxiously waiting to hear the conclusion of that hint.

Sarah said...

Know just how you feel. It took us two years to find an acceptable house in an acceptable location that met our different requirements while still staying within our budget. Looking back now, it really was a miracle, all the things that happened to drop into place at the right moments. I remember crying on the phone with my friend, sure that I would end up dying in the junky little trailer we were living in. Now I live two miles down the road from her. It'll happen for you, too! Hang in there!

Mihaela Nica said...

Ai maini de aur .Creatiile tale sunt superbe !

Unknown said...

we went through the house hunting ordeal recently too. And I'm an architectural designer so I love looking at houses - for any reason. But it was depressing to see what we could really afford in the city we wanted to live in. Either falling apart or microscopic. We ended up buying a very nice (by our standards) but pretty small house with a small yard for our dog and a rare-for-this-city TWO car garage! You may not find your "dream house" but you'll find something that you love, I'm sure of it :)

DHB said...

Cute Mittens! Your pattern or something from Ravelry?