Thursday 29 November 2012

Buying a Home for Dummies

And the ongoing battle with my blog continues....

Lately, me and Anthony have been really looking into some more homes. We are starting to save up our down payment in hopes to buy a house sometime in 2013.  There is one place we have been watching since July. The price has dropped about 20,000 since then as its been on the market for a bit. We are hoping the price will drop even more by the time we are ready. We met with the real estate agent and went on a tour of the place. As expected the home needs a little TLC - but with a price decrease like that, we are willing to do a little bit of work. The house is a bit older, and the previous had tenants in there for a few years so we are worried about major repairs due to neglect of maintenance or just general oldness. The backyard is to die for though!

Below is a link to the home, and some pictures/description.
http://www.homefinder.ca/listings/389820-23-aberdeen-street-caledonia-ontario-pt61829745

On our viewing I took a few photos of my own.

The first image is the front foyer with the stairs to the second floor which contains two bedroom and a bathroom (no pictures, but the website has them.) The next is the living room area which is quite large and looks great with the big window in the front. The flooring is all new as well.
These two photos are of the kitchen. First one is taken from the dining room which is connected directly to the living room, could also be extension of living room but looks as made as dining area with walkout to top deck level. The kitchen is actually in good shape, maybe a change of flooring but the cupboards are all new and the counter tops are nice. Back splash needs a make over as well but everything else is nice.
This is the dining room/den extension I was talking about. Will most likely be used a dining room for us, or a computer space since there is bar stools at the counter for eating.
 
This is the basement. It is kinda small, maybe room for a couch and a tv mounted on the wall, or as Anthony says - the perfect space for a pool table. The built in bar is what is taking up most of the space. It is a nice touch for entertaining. Also there is a patio access to the second level of the deck which houses the hot tub and BBQ.
 This is the view from behind the bar. The stairs leading to the main floor and behind the person taking the photo. The stairs are in terrible shape. very unproportionate and the walls are close together.
 This is a cold storage at the far end of the basement. Also taking up alot of room and it will not be utilized and is quite the eye sore. There is also a storage closet and a small bathroom down there. The bathroom needs some help!

This place has a lot of pro's and con's for us, so we are keeping our eyes on this one. The backyard is great. It has a three tier deck and a large backyard to boot!

What do you think?   P.S  asking price is $179,900 - the real estate agent has been hinting really hard that the buyers are open to ANY offers.


D



Thursday 8 November 2012

Cheesy Enchilada Bake

I cooked again tonight! On tonights menu is "Layered Enchilada Bake". Another recipe that includes Black beans, I love them. Alot of the stuff I mke seems to be in the same category. Its usually always a casserole of some sort, and it involves meat, veggies and cheese in some way. Today's followed nicely. The base is made of tortilla's then a layer of meat/salsa mixture, sour cream and cheese & repeat for another layer. Mine didnt cut quite like the one in the photo example. Mine kinda looks like a sloppy mess on the plate BUT it was still delicious!



On another note, I think I am finally settled into my new job. That is, until something complicated and scary comes in and im thrown out of my comfort zone, which has actually happened 50% of the shifts I work. Things are pretty exciting there though. I am loving it. I am always busy on my feet doing something - such a change from sitting at a reception desk 10 hours a day and maybe taking a few calls.

D

Monday 5 November 2012

Tis The Season

Yes, I am talking about Christmas. I recently went home to visit my parents and they gave me a bunch of christmas decorations and a tree for my apartment. When I returned home, they just sat in boxes on my living room floor due to lack of space for storage, so we decided to decorate a bit early! I love Christmas, so I didn't protest.

Lots of photos in this post. I find it hard to capture a christmas tree how it looks in person. It is never the same on film. you can either get a good image of the ornaments but no lights come through, or you get all the great colors of the lights but can't see any ornaments. I had this problem again, so I took a few on different camera modes.

 We dont have a tree topper yet. We are going to pick one out later in the month. We are thinking of going with classical angel.
 



 Still one hook left for Aeries stocking - we need to go pick her one up. It will be her first Christmas !
 You can see my Hello Kitty advent calendar on the chair in the background :)
Not really liking the way this looks, but so much manly junk around not sure how to make it look better.

Everything looks so much better in person, and when the lights are off and all the decorations + tree are glowing. It really puts me in the Christmas mood. 50 days left!

D