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Saturday, November 12, 2011

A House Hunting We Will Go


...well as promised here is the update on our hunt for a house in Vernon.

In true Brianne fashion I was totally prepared to view houses the day after we arrived in Vernon.  My fantastic friend Sara Knol hooked me up with her friend and relator Saffron Quist and for two weeks while we were still in Ontario I bombarded Saffron with questions and MLS listings - in fact I sent her 22 houses I wanted to view!!! 
In the end, I narrowed the list down to 7 and Saffron set up the appointments!

So off we went, it was a beautiful BC day, sun was shining and I was PUMPED to start finding our new abode here.  The disappointment started early.  The house I love love love already had an offer on it.

my #1 choice but was sold before we got here

and the #2 house was pulled off the market.  So now with our list of houses down to 5 I turned to Saffron to fill in the blanks with some of her personal choices.
We saw a ghetto house with a cement front yard in a not so desirable area, a beautiful lot with a creek running through it, but Grandma died in the house, and then we saw the foreclosure house.  


The Foreclosure House



Now this house is HUGE and up in the hills with a view to die for, so of course Sean and I were game to see it.  We get there and everything is great until we get to the basement - where spray painted in lime green there are pictures of men's privates, F-bombs on the walls and lots of the female dogs!  
Sean liked the potential of the house, but I didn't want to be in a house with so much negativity!

Next we get to a house that Saffron recommended - I had seen it on MLS but I wasn't too keen on only having 2 bedrooms. 


 
Well the moment you walk into this house your jaw drops, it is GORGEOUS!! Granite counter tops, huge stone fireplace, bathrooms to die for - well it did not take long for Sean and I to see ourselves settling down in this beautiful home - oh and did I mention it comes with a hot tub and a full workshop?? So that was it, we went for lunch and decided to put on offer on this beauty.

It wasn't until the home inspection that our dreams were crushed! for lack of better words, this house had an indoor pool in the basement, and not the kind you want.  The foundation has been leaking for at least 25 years so let's just say there is a lot of water.....too much water for us to take on, so just as quickly as we were dreaming of hot tubbing in the snow, we had to cancel our bid on the house.

To say my dreams were crushed was an understatement - for the next 2 days we looked at some more houses and even went back to our runner up and all of them just paled in comparison.

It took me taking a day off from house hunting and switching up "shopping" partners for me to get back into the groove of finding a house and low and behold we found 2!
and here she is!


We've agreed on a price and now we are just waiting to hear from our mortgage broker to make sure they will give us the moola to buy this great house! oh and of course on the house inspection :)

of course I'll keep you updated on what happens!

ta ta for now!
Brianne


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Our Roadtrip Across Canada

Sean and I headed out on our road trip on October 29th and on November 1st we pulled into our new hometown, Vernon, BC!
Us in front of our chariot just before leaving my parents house in Hamilton

What a great trip it was, I never realized how large of a province Ontario was until it took me over 18 hours to get out of it.
On Day #1 we drove from Hamilton to Sault Ste Marie and stayed with my cousin Eva.

Day #2 we drove from the Soo to Dryden, an 1100km drive.  We encountered our first bit of snow in Wawa but thankfully it was on the side of the road and not falling.

Roadside Snow in Wawa

Day #3 we drove from Dryden, ON to Regina, SK.  Manitoba was a very uninteresting province and we stayed away from Winnipeg as the news report informed us that 4 people were shot in Winnipeg the night before.  We stayed with Sean's Aunt Maria and Uncle Dick on their Soy Bean Farm just outside Regina

Day #4 had us setting out to Calgary!
With over 3000kms behind us it was nice to know that the trip was almost over.  It was a HAFA reunion in Calgary, as we stayed with Jeanette in her wonderful 2 bedroom condo.  Even Jr drove down from Edmonton to spend the night with us.  Jeanette arranged for us to go to this swanky restaurant - Lounge Burger which was delish!

Day #5 we left Calgary - after a quick pit stop at the Volcom Store in the Chinook Centre and set our sights for our final destination, Vernon!
It was a beautiful day - the sun was shining and driving through the Rockies and National Parks is a breathtaking experience. 
my view from the passenger seat driving through Banff National Park
After a little hiccup with a speeding ticket outside of Lake Louise we just sat back, turned on the iPod and soaked in our new life in BC - where Mountains are Mountains, not escarpments :)

At around 4pm we passed this sign and knew our trip was finally over.


so, this is it - our new home!
I'm going to be more diligent on posting to my blog so all your Ontario-ians can keep up with what's going on in our lives!
Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on a House Hunting Saga!

xoxo Bri