Chapter 12: Gotta Live Somewhere

"Hello, I'm Roger Kreiger from Sentinel Real Estate. You must be Mrs. Carlisle."

"Ms. Carlisle ... and this is my fiancé, William Travers, whom you've already met. Please come in."

"Well, congratulations are in order then. When's the big day?" he asked cheerily, clearly wanting to set the mood.

"Not confirmed, but possibly in February."

"Okay then. So, I know why I'm here. Mr. Travers had already contacted me when he wanted to see some houses in this area a month ago. Sounds like you're getting serious about this now."

"Yes, we are," Nicole confirmed. "We e-mailed you our list of things we are looking for in order of importance. I hope you got it."

"Yes," he said, pulling out a printed sheet with a copy of our e-mail. "It's very helpful to me. You've set a budget, told me what's important and I can narrow things down without wasting a lot of your time."

"We wanted to make you aware of a house in our neighborhood that has just been listed with another firm. It's over on Cordova Road."

"Would that be the Robinson residence?"

"Yes. You know it?"

Roger nodded. "There isn't much activity in this area, so we really watch for listings. They usually move pretty quickly. This is a very desirable area."

"So we've discovered," I said. "We would like to see the Robinson house first, then we can talk about other possibilities."

"Fine. I'll arrange a viewing as soon as possible. In the meantime, I've pulled down some other possibilities that I think might interest you as well. Why don't we go over them?"

We sat around the kitchen table as Roger Kreiger laid out the five other properties that he had downloaded from the MLS site. I didn't say anything, but I thought four of them were quite ordinary and didn't really stir my interest. However, one of them did catch my eye. It was 2500 square foot home with a half-finished basement, four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a deep two car garage, and a big lot, more than 14,000 square feet.

"What do you know about this home, Roger?" I asked.

He smiled. "I thought you'd spot that one. It was built in sixty-four and has been in the same owner's hands since. It's getting to be too much for them to keep up as they are now in their seventies. It has a new roof since last year, new windows at the same time. The furnace is five years old, siding is cement board and seven years old. The half of the basement that is finished is a big family room, suitable for a big screen TV or a pool table. There's also a wet bar and that's where the half-bathroom is located."

"Sounds like they've spent a lot of money keeping it up," I suggested.

"Yes. In a good market, it would easily sell for $200,000 or more, but right now it's listed for $159,900. It's a great bargain in my opinion."

"Where's it located?"

"Bangor township, just north of the river."

"So it would be a different school district then."

"Yes, but if it was important, you could apply to the local school board to keep your son in his current school. You'd have to provide transportation for him to and from school though."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Can I have that listing please?"

"Of course. You can get a better idea of its location on Google Earth. Otherwise, you have the address and you can drive by to see what you think."

Nicole had sat by and said nothing while I quizzed our agent. I thought the house looked ideal for our needs, but I wondered if there was something I wasn't seeing. I wanted to do more research before I talked to Nicole about it. I wasn't going to get away with that it appeared. The minute Roger was out the door, she was on me.

"What are you thinking, Will? What made you pick that particular home?" She wasn't dismissing the idea, just curious.

"Let's look at the listing on-line. There should be some pictures with it and then we'll look it up on Google Earth and see where it is. It almost looks too good to be true."

"Okay. I like the outside and what I can see of the property, so it's worth a look."

It took only a minute to pull up the listing on the MLS site and sure enough, there were fifteen pictures attached. We started going through them.

"Oh, wow, Will. Look at the size of that kitchen. It's twice as big as Mom and Dad's. Nice master bedroom too. Ensuite isn't large, but it would be fine for the two of us. Gee, it looks good from here, honey."

"Look at the size of the back yard," I said. "And look at the distance between the neighboring houses. The lot width is 105 feet. That's big by subdivision standards today. You don't find lots like this close to the city any more."

"What about Jimmy?" she asked.

"Good question. Let's not get too far down the road, yet. We haven't seen the house and we still have the Robinson house to look at yet."

"Okay, but I can't help getting excited. This is the first time I've ever gone house-hunting. I'm really looking forward to it," she smiled.

"Well, it's a first for me, too, Sweetheart. I don't call looking for my condo house-hunting."

The Robinson house was a disappointment. It was conventional in every sense, including the compact lot width. I just couldn't warm up to it, but I said nothing to Nicole until we were well away from it.

"Well," I asked, "what did you think of it?"

She shook her head. "We can do better, Will. It's nice enough, but only just. The yard is small and that cross street is busier than I realized."

Roger Kreiger was listening carefully to our comments and was nodding.

"I think you've made a pretty good assessment of that house, Ms. Carlisle. I'm sure it will sell, and probably for something close to the list price, but I think we can do better. It might not be in the same area, but I think we can do better," he repeated.

"Let's go see that house you picked out, Will. Can you arrange that, Roger?"

"Yes. I'll call them and see if they're okay with an evening viewing, otherwise I'll try and organize it for the weekend."

"Good," I said. "In fact, Roger, let's make it for the weekend anyway. I want a good look at the neighborhood and the outside of the house."

Roger was good at following instructions and called us back the next evening to let us know we had a two o'clock Saturday afternoon viewing at the Bangor property.

"Do you think we should take Jimmy with us?" I asked.

"No ... maybe if we really like it, we can take him back for a second look. I think we really need to do this without any distractions. If we do have a second look, then I would suggest we bring our parents and Jimmy along. It would be good to get their opinion too."

I was nodding. "Good idea. That's what we'll do then."

We met Roger at two on Saturday afternoon. He was there waiting for us. We parked on the wide concrete driveway and he accessed the side door lockbox to get a house key. We used the same door to enter the home. The late December cloudy skies made the house dark and Roger turned on some lights.

We took almost an hour to go through the house. I deliberately kept my thoughts to myself. I didn't want to influence Nicole. I wanted her unvarnished opinion. In my mind, this house was perfect. It had everything we wanted and more. What particularly influenced me was the size of the property and the condition of the house. Considering it was forty-five years old, it looked and felt new. Inside was spotless and outside was tidy, bordering on immaculate. I waited for Nicole's opinion.

"It's really something, isn't it?" she said as we stood on the driveway looking at the house and surroundings. "I can't think of anything that it doesn't have that we need."

I nodded, still holding back my opinion.

"How long has it been on the market?" I asked Roger.

"Uhhm, just coming up two months," he said, consulting his listing notice.

"Any offers yet?" I asked.

"No, this time of year is very slow. I understand the wife of the owner had a small stroke and she's in some kind of care home temporarily."

I nodded, turning to Nicole. "Do you think our parents and Jimmy would be interested in seeing this house?"

She smiled at me. "You're sold, aren't you? In your mind, you're already living in this house."

"I'm more concerned about your thoughts," I admitted.

"Yes ... it would be hard to find anything better than this ... and at this price. I think we should bring everyone out, but why don't we put in an offer in the meantime?"

She was off to the races again, but this time I wasn't trying to hold her back.

"What do you think, Roger?" I asked, turning to him.

He lit up, enthused that he might have a sale this quickly.

"I'd say $155,000 should get it."

"Then why don't you write up an offer? We already have financing in place."

"We do?" Nicole said, surprised.

"I had to do something to keep myself occupied while you were away."

In fact, I had arranged for up to a quarter million in mortgage money, far more than it turned out I would need. I could afford it on my salary alone and with Nicole's as well, we would have a big cushion. She was now earning almost as much as I was.

When we got home we told Angus and Mary about the house and I called my parents. Both we equally excited about our find and wanted to see it. Jimmy was a bit more cautious, wondering where it was. I showed him on Google Earth just where it was and he could see it wasn't that far from his grandparents home. That seemed to settle him.

Roger agreed we could go back on Sunday with our parents since no one was currently living in the house. He was doing the paperwork for the offer that afternoon and we could sign the documents when we met on Sunday. With an offer in place, the owners would know we were serious.

"This has a familiar look about it," my father said Sunday when he stepped out of his car. "It looks a lot like our property."

He was right. My parents lived out of town, closer to Midland, and had a large piece of property, something my father had always wanted. They had lived there since I left home, my brother following me two years later. Their home was a good deal smaller, but it was more than adequate for the two of them.

"Oh, Will, this is lovely," Mary said as she surveyed the property. It was sunny with some broken cloud and I had to admit it brightened the place up considerably. If I liked it on a gloomy day, I liked it even more on a sunny one.

"Is this our house?" Jimmy asked.

"No ... not yet," Nicole explained. "We're thinking about it. That's why we brought you out to see it."

"It's really big, isn't it," he said, looking at all the grass and space around the home. "And it's got a big tree I can climb, too."

I suppressed a laugh, thinking immediately of broken bones and an unhappy mother. Nicole must not have heard the comment, but my mother did. She looked at me with a warning note. Six-year-old kids tended to focus on the essentials in their life. Trees were for climbing and there were no trees at Grandad and Nana's place.

Roger had stayed out of the way, only answering questions if asked. His work was done and awaited only a response to our now-signed offer. We didn't spend as much time in the house as yesterday, but I was listening to Jimmy for his reaction.

He came tearing up stairs from the basement and into the kitchen where the adults were gathered.

"You guys! You guys! Come and see downstairs. It's got a big pool table. It's really neat."