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trading notional money for a notional condo
We just bought a condo in downtown Kitchener. It used to be the Arrow Shirt Factory. There were four floors, and they've built 4 more floors with a set-back. Ours is the first level of the new construction, the only level with terraces. It's 1500 square feet of usable space, it will be complete some time between March and late Summer of next year, and we have ten days from yesterday to have second thoughts.
To say I'm excited is an understatement. Last night as I tried to get to sleep, my brain took me on a walk around the new neighbourhood, with little jolts as I realized what was within roughly ten minutes walk. Victoria Park!
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persephoneplace! nobodyhere! thefateyouare! Kitchener Market! Kitchener Market Light Rail Stop (hopefully)! Pho! Jerk Chicken! KWArtzlab hackerspace! A somewhat OK video rental store! Eventually I ran out of exclamation-marks and started falling asleep, until I was jolted awake (repeatedly) with we just bought property sight unseen! The process, last night, was a zoo. They had an open-house for agents, but I had just called the afternoon before to find out when we could look at the demo unit, and they said we were welcome to come with our agent (who we trust very well- she sold us this house, and similarly for many of
melted_snowball's colleagues). Mary was a bedrock. She was the one who suggested a few weeks ago that we be open to downtown Kitchener (it's where she lives) instead of close to the University. She was the first to tell us that the unit we were looking at was quite likely the most sensible layout in the building (I've since heard similar feedback, scarily enough) and when she left us last night, she was considering buying a smaller unit in the building to rent out. Meanwhile, there were 40 other people talking in the non-noise-canceled sales office. Imagine like: a narrow Apple Store with wine and canapes. We got time to tour the demo units (there were two set up). 14-foot ceilings, exposed original pillars of the factory, and a lot of beige. One unit was very snark-worthy (Mary had some sotto zingers about the design and the agent who was telling everybody how great it was) and the other was fairly nice except for one feature: the loft bedroom. It turns out most units have an (optional) raised bedroom with half-height walls and sort-of wraparound windows to let in the light. We kind of want to have noise isolation in the bedroom, so that was a non-starter, even though the storage area underneath the loft was sort of cool.
Our unit only has 9-foot ceilings, but it's got 32 feet of windows, a fairly good amount of storage space, and best of all, the condo allows pets. (That was actually the first question I asked when we arrived. The first two helper-people said, "I don't know, let's find somebody who does." and the third person explained their two-pet minimum, I mean maximum.
A last bit of condo-buying usefulness: we can move whenever they say our unit is finished. However, beyond our 10% deposit, we're not on the hook for the rest of the price until 75% the units are sold, which is possibly not going to happen for a few months after. Which means we get to move first, then sell our place, assuming things line up OK.
What could possibly go wrong?
(*wibble*)
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Are you to be looking over Courtland or St George?
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There were some 1300-sq-ft units that weren't awful; the mirror image of ours (on the Courtland side) were pretty nice. But the problem on that side is they hope to build a new 14-story building, cutting off the nice view of Victoria Park.
I hope looking over the church on St. George won't be too boring, but I'm sure we'll come up with some way of coping. (landscaping on the deck perhaps...)
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So, is Rover getting a new friend to meet the 2 pet minimum? :)
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We've joked that Rover might need a pet, but we haven't found the right companion-animal for her yet. She'd love to have a rabbit or duck, but... yeah. Not condo-friendly. :)
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This gives me additional context for your balcony comment-cum-question. You are now an enjoyable shade of pink.
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