The Beginning

For over 4 years we’ve searched for where we were meant to live next.  We’ve talked endlessly about our options, making up and then changing our minds, sometimes in the span of a few hours.  We looked at project homes, building lots, water-front homes, acreage.  We spent our spare time researching foreclosures, new urbanism neighborhoods, land prices, and home prices.  We pored over websites, real estate books, and listings.  We did drive-bys up to 2 hours away, looked at an endless stream of homes, and attended open houses.  We bored our family and friends with our ever-changing plans, often starting a conversation with the words, “New plan…” to indicate that we’d again changed our minds. 

Neither of us likes being wishy washy and indecisive, yet there it was.  We could not seem to figure out what was next or find the ideal property.  As we approach middle age (actually, we might have squarely arrived already, but humor me, I’m in denial) we feel like we have at least one more big project in us before we settle into our respective creative pursuits.  Was that project a new-build complete with the latest technology, energy efficient and green?  Was it another renovation, even as the memory of the last one lingers?  A country property with room for barns and animals?  We just didn’t know. 

We comforted ourselves by saying things like, “the right place is just around the corner,” and “when we finally make a decision, it will be the right one,” and “no one will ever be able to accuse us that we haven’t done our research”.  We called ourselves “the Lookers” and laughed about launching a reality t.v. show about people like us who always look and never buy.  We told each other over and over again that we’d know it when we saw it. 

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As it turns out, we were absolutely right.  We both knew, almost instantly, that “this” was “it”.  From seeing the outside of the house on a Saturday to making an offer that was NOT the requisite 10% under the asking price just 4 short days later, it was an unprecedented snap decision for us.  We’ve walked away from a number of negotiations and options in the past few years - none of them tempted us enough to become emotionally involved or negotiate beyond our initial ceiling.  Did we break our cardinal rule and become emotionally invested in this property?  You bet.  We were hooked from the start.  Five weeks later, we are the proud owners of Glenlochan.  We couldn’t be happier.