We have a winner

Our bid was accepted on the Seward Park house!! If all goes well with the inspection on Wednesday, we close on the 19th and can move in on the 23rd. I'm really psyched--I think I got all my nerves out on the other houses. Of course part of my excitement might just be being done with the searching part of this process. I know some folks take months (years) to find the perfect house. But we really didn't need perfect, this is just our starter house. It's just the 2 of us, 1 cat and a lot of stuff. We already know we have to get rid of a lot of crap.

I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this house and where it's located. We've already checked out Columbia City and Seward Park and both are great. Yesterday we checked out the Kubota Gardens which is located further south. Only portions of it were of a typical Japanese style garden but it will still nice to wander through as it was very peaceful.

As yesterday was another beautiful day, a ton of people were riding their bikes on Seward Park Ave. I think this area is very popular with bikers, and I know the Seafair sprint-triathlon is coming up and is located in Seward Park. The seller of this house was away this weekend in Coeur d'Alene doing an Iron Man competition so I get the feeling this will be a great neighborhood for getting in shape.

The house is located a block off Rainier Avenue which can get sketchy. There is a used car place and a couple auto body shops just down the street. There is a cafe right on the corner, but it has those ugly bars on the windows. I will definitely miss Cloud City which is our current neighborhood coffee shop in Maple Leaf. I chatted with one lady who was out in her yard with her old dog Wally. She's lived there for 12 years, knows all the neighbors and really likes living there. She loves the multicultural aspect about living south. Says she'll go and visit friends in North Seattle and is shocked that most everyone is white. A friend told me yesterday that until 1968, you couldn't live north of the ship canal unless you were white. Isn't that crazy? That wasn't that long ago!

Well, my fingers are crossed that all goes well with the inspection. Wish us luck!