our new house?

it's hard to believe that we may have just bought our own place

we've been looking in tsawwassen and ladner for a two bedroom condo that might work for us. ideally we wanted a place that was move-in ready but not perfected so that 'handy andy' could do his thing and make it absolutely beautiful (i.e. increase the value with a little sweat equity)

we've looked at a whole host of condos over the past few weeks, and while some were nice, there was nothing that we were especially excited about. after praying about it at bible study last tuesday, a beautiful place came on the market the next day. this place was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1400 square foot condo in a red brick building in the middle of tsawwassen. unfortunately it was listed at a price a little above our budget, but after checking out it's specs online, we wanted to take a look at it.

on thursday afternoon, we met our realtor, Linda, to take a look at the place. the building itself is gorgeous - there are plenty of common rooms, including a hot tub, sauna, gym, hobby room/workshop, card room, kitchen and the like. the lobby looks much like that of a hotel and there's a giant courtyard overlooking the 17th green of the beach grove golf course. the condo itself was incredibly spacious, though it certainly is in need of some work. walking in the door, i was reminded of my grandma. not only did it smell like her (you know, the sweet smell of grandma & grandpas soap mixed with the antique/slightly dated furniture) but it was decorated in a way that she would have loved.

andrew and i quickly became excited about the place because of the huge living room and dining room area which translates into tons of space to have kids over and entertain. we're not really looking to buy a condo just for ourselves, but a place where our youth kids would have room to come and hang out (though the idea of our own retreat is nice too)

anyway, yesterday night after touring my mom and dad around the place, we sat down with Linda and made an offer. we had to offer less than asking because we're certainly stretching ourselves to afford this place, but we were certain that if this was the place that God wanted to bless us with, then our offer would be accepted. that may sound strange to some of you, but when andrew was praying with ron on thursday, a price came to mind, and so when rew and i sat down to discuss and pray about it yesterday night, we decided that if we could get it for that exact price, we would know that it was the place for us.

this morning we received a call from linda - our offer had been accepted at our exact price! we're thrilled and scared and nervous all at the same time. the offer still has a number of subjects on it (inspections, reading minutes, and the like) but if all goes through, then we take possession of the place on april 1st.

so i'm fairly stunned at the moment... our first place...wow! here's a glimpse of what it currently looks like. we'll post the after pictures at a later date! :)

the view

the spare bedroom

the nook











the kitchen... eek, but it'll do










the living room again











the giant master with a walk-closet i could live in and a bathroom so big you could host a dance party

it needs some tlc and a little updating, so use your imagination