Home Sweet Home

Welcome to my new home in a month’s time!  (These photos I saved from the ad).  Yes, in an unexpected and very quick turn of events – I signed a lease on a new place to live this morning.  I replied to 4 ads on Wednesday, and got 3 replies back to set up viewings on Thursday.  I had low expectations – none of the places seemed particularly enticing and all seemingly had faults, but I wanted to at least look at a few.  So, the very first one I looked at ended up being the only one I looked at!  I was lucky – I was the first person to reply to the ad (thanks to an early teleconference I was in the office very early and able to reply to the ad very early) and hence the first person to look at the place.  I got on well with the landlord – a retired guy who lives in a nearby house – and so I got first dibs.  And my first impressions were good – I didn’t dislike the place.  So in an unexpectedly impulsive decision on my part, I decided to go for it.  A decision I hope not to regret, although the omens are good because apparently there was a LOT of interest in the house and I wasn’t the only one interested in it (I forgot to bring my checkbook with me, so whilst I rushed home to retrieve it some more people viewed the place after me and also completed the application for it!).  And so, here we are!  It is almost the exact opposite from where I am now – I’ll be going from an apartment surrounded my annoying neighbors to a detached house (described in the ad as a cottage – but I wouldn’t call it that since it has 2 levels and no thatched roof!) with no neighbors.  I don’t see noise being much of an issue anymore – especially as it is also set back a long way from the road and not even near a main road!  You can’t even see it on Google Maps, just the driveway.  It’s substantially bigger than where I am now – for example 3 bedrooms instead of 2, and more living space (hopefully enough space for a pool table?).  However, the rent is only $20 more per month than what I would’ve had to pay to stay where I was.  And the commute shouldn’t be worse than where I am now – closer to work by distance, but more local roads to deal with.  Of course I have some concerns – for example it’s not the easiest place to access and it is a bit isolated (so I wonder if I should get a home security system?), and I imagine if we get another winter of snow and ice then the roads and the dirt driveway might be a real issue (fingers crossed for a mild winter!).  But I’m happy/anxious/excited to be moving – I wobbled a lot over my prospects of moving, and I think I would have had an enormous amount of regret if I hadn’t – especially come the summer months and all the prospective issues then – so I do feel a big sense of relief.  Fingers crossed it works out.