We've been house shopping in Traverse City (MI) for a couple days now. DIL and I loved one of the condos I looked at, it is a stand-alone house in a group of alike-houses but most of them are attached to each other. This one has (gulp) a sewing room so of course it called to me. Today I took my son Mike over to look at it with the realtor. We also looked at 3 others that had the same sq footage and this one really did shine out above the others. One had 3 bedrooms which would be nice for company but that took away from the living room space. One had a huge mirror in the dining room (actually the whole wall was a mirror. Apparently lots of them have this huge mirror which I thought was hideous but probably made the place look bigger unless, like the one we looked at, actually was so cluttered with huge dark furniture nothing was going to make it look bigger. ANYWAY! each little house has its own small courtyard which people decorate to their own taste. Some were cluttered with plants and some were mostly stones and walking paths. The one I liked was grass and a border of flowers, a birdhouse and weather vane and that's it. At the end of it was a small brick sitting area. The front porch had room for a chair if one wanted one there.
I went ahead and made an offer on the place, we haven't heard back but the realtor thoughT we'd hear back fairly soon, then if we all agree on price I'll have 2 weeks to get inspections and all that stuff done. I want to get new kitchen appliances and perhaps paint the kitchen cabinets. We liked the 2 we saw where the cabinets were painted white, it really brightened up the place. I also want new appliances although the washer and dryer are new, if they weren't I'd get apartment size ones so I could use the space beside them as clothes hanging-drying space but...these are too new to replace. The existing fridge will go in the double garage as exta freezer space (or beer, as the realtor told me). Carpeting throughout looks new, its a light colored berber and although I wanted wood floors, I can live with carpet, especially since I may freeze the first year here after living in SC.
Here's the pictures:
Front Door, actually isn't colored, it just looks that way..
Living Room
Kitchen
Sewing Room
1392 sq feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage. Appliances include refrig, oven/range, disposal, dishwasher, microwave, washer/dryer, 4 skylights that actualy give off so much light we kept wanting to turn them off before we left. Cathedral ceilings, cable TV available. Huge pantry in the garage, handicap equipped, natural Gas heat. The kitchen floor is nice tile that I'll keep. The place has all ages living in it so it's not a 55+ but after driving through some of the 55+'s this is good. There is a building in the center of the place that has a heated pool and huge community room where they have parties and that sort of thing OR you can rent it for your own personal group meetings (knitting?)
My plan is, if I buy the house, to make the master bedroom a sitting room with a TV and couch that can be made into a bed or something similar to that. The master bedroom has french doors that lead into the sewing room so you know what's going to happen to the master bedroom--it will be my weaving/knitting room as well as sitting room. The place is 2 miles from my son's home, not too far but far enough. If I need help, my grandaughter can drive and of course, so can DIL and DS. I've met a couple of the people who live in the place and they are around my age. Doggies are allowed and actually, the gate to my courtyard already has a extra wire under it to keep the dog from escaping if he should desire to crawl under the gate. He has plenty of room to run out and play and people were out walking their dogs so all is well. The association takes care of the outer yard and the exterior of the house, I take care of the inside. There is a 1 year maintenance agreement on the house.
There's a ferry that can get me to Wisconsin to visit Natalie in 1 1/2 hours. Yaaay, car goes on it of course. Dogs have to stay in their crate or in the car (I dislike that idea but crate is ok, and I have one, he won't like it for 1 1/2 hours he'll live through it).
DIL took me to a yarn shop and introduced me as her MIL "who is a master knitter" YIKES! The woman asked for help with a sock she was knitting and luckily I could help. They also had an EZ Baby Surprise Jacket on display and I immediately picked it up and said...WOW, you have a Surprise Jacket made up...so at least the owner knows I can knit
I see no reason that I would be unhappy here. The town is small enough to learn my way around reasonably fast. I have my GPS to keep me from getting lost. There's more going on than I want to do but isn't that a good thing? Who knows, after sitting around for 4 or so years because I couldn't go anywhere, I just may venture out more now that I can.
SO MUCH TO DO--SO LITTLE TIME!
