First, a bit of background info . . .
During the summer of 2015 we began driving around Lynden, with the goal of narrowing down where we might want to live. In a city of 15,000 it wasn’t too difficult. We also acquired a local realtor through our daughter in law Vicki. Becki Taylor proved to be a godsend!
We met with Becki right before we came back to Fresno for the winter. We gave her a list of features that we would like in a home. We toured the Lynden area and looked at several listings. One was for a condo off the Homestead Golf Club. The views from the rear of the condo were spectacular, and the layout was perfect … except for one “detail” … it was a townhouse format. All of the bedrooms were located upstairs. Lynn cared not at all about that; however, I had some reservations. We left Washington last fall with a plan to contact Becki as soon as our home in Fresno sold. We kept checking Lynden area properties, and noticed in late Fall 2015 that the condo we really liked had been pulled off the market.
Fast Forward to Early May, 2016
Not too long before we left for Washington, our good friends Marv and Bev Bott called to tell us that their daughter had noticed that the condo we liked was back on the market. We made plans with our Realtor, Becki, to see it again and to also look at other properties in the area.
Lynn continued to express that in his mind, nothing else could measure up to that condo. But we were prepared to live indefinitely in our small home in Blaine until something materialized in Lynden, and had made arrangements to store our Fresno belongings in a Lynden storage facility. By the time we met with Becki and toured some properties, the housing market had surged. There was hardly anything in the area for sale, and homes were selling quickly. Becki recommended that if we wanted that condo, we should make an offer right away.
We liked the condo even more than we had in Fall 2015. There was some back and forth and eventually the owner accepted our offer. Coincidentally, right after that, a second offer on the property was received. So there was a backup offer in case our purchase fell through. Whew. So glad we listened to Becki …
So There Went Our Summer
But no complaining here! Escrow closed during the summer and during the summer months we were busy picking out interior paint, looking at living area furniture, and installing new carpet and flooring.
We removed a pesky Japanese Maple. We then decided to defer any other exterior changes until Spring 2017, and focused on the interior. Painting, flooring, and shopping for some living room furniture occupied our time. Once the interior work was done, it was time to move in!
During this timeframe, we enjoyed an Alaskan Cruise and then hosted our friends Dave and Gay Morris for a week afterwards. They stayed in our empty condo, sleeping on air mattresses. They reminded us that “they were the first ones to sleep in the condo.” Ha! They were gracious enough to work around the flooring installation. Read more about their visit and our trip to Alaska.
See more photos of the condo on Flickr.
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