The Carnation Craftsman

Now that you know a little about Sven and I, that brings us to our biggest adventure to date: our home. In September of 2019 we became the very proud and slightly overwhelmed homeowners for the very first time. Now while home ownership can be intimidating for anyone, we decided to jump in head first into the deep end… And by that I mean, we purchased a 100-year-old fixer upper. When we bought the house all I could think of is WWJGD (what would Joanna Gaines do?!). But let me tell you, it is verrrrry different from what the cameras end up capturing in a 30 minute episode. So, before we jump into what we have done so far, let me take you back to when we were first introduced to our little farm house.

Here I was about a year and a half into my real estate career. I had a very good idea of what home prices were selling for and where our comfort zone was for purchase price. Most of the homes that came up in my search were generally in the ballpark of 1000 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, and somewhere between $400-$650K. The search area consisted of  Woodinville, Redmond, Kirkland, Carnation, Fall City and Issaquah. Now if you know me, you know that we would grow out of 1,000 sq ft very quickly, most specifically when it comes to the clothes that I accumulate (I have a love/hate relationship with TJ Maxx). 

After combing the NWMLS (online search website for Real Estate Agents in Washington) for what felt like forever, I finally found three options that piqued my interest. They all came on the market the same day since the seller was trying to unload rental properties. Based on the zoning, I was sure that a builder would come in and tear them down. It was a beautiful July day when I drove out to the cute little city of Carnation. I had toured a couple of homes there previously and it was on the very top of my list for towns to purchase in. 

Of the three houses, I started with the bright teal one on the corner since there was something magical about the yard. It was the corner lot, with the neighbor across the street owning a spacious pasture, complete with the cutest cow and majestic horse. It was also the home that I thought would be most conducive in regards to price and the square footage. All of that excitement dissipated once I walked in and I was immediately hit in the face with the smell of old house. The kitchen was a disaster; there were parts of the subfloor that were exposed, the cabinets didn't have doors (but not in the intentional cute floating shelf way), and to top it off the entire kitchen was painted fire engine red. The bathroom looked like it hadn't been updated since the 60's, with a vanity that came up to my mid-thigh and a very questionable bathtub (I wouldn’t have even given Gunner a bath in it). Walking through the home you felt like you were walking downhill; turns out that the home had a significant lean caused by a failed foundation that needed to be raised by a HALF FOOT! The wallpaper in the master bedroom was terrifying. That might sound dramatic, but the consistency was a mix between sandpaper and paper-mache. I barely explored the second floor because of the bizarre three-way switch that I didn't know existed at the time; yes, you are correct, I was scared of exploring that dark attic alone…there I said it. 

Despite the laundry list of items to accomplish, the excitement of the numerous possibilities made me giddy. Would we turn the upstairs into a master suite or keep it as a kid’s room? Could we tear down the wall to the kitchen to create a more open living concept? How could we go about making the old house smell disappear? What was that wallpaper in the master bedroom (I’m not kidding, I was convinced the camo like paper would be a nightmare to get rid of) and how can we possibly go about removing it? Can you fix a home that tilts drastically to one side? Even with all of that, believe it or not, I was sold. The major component for me was the price of the home for the square footage that it offered. The home was listed for $420,000 and boasted 3 bedrooms at 1640 sq ft, which was $256/sq ft. Other homes we were looking at were around double the price per square foot. So not only would this home fulfill our immediate needs, but it would easily accommodate a growing family. Now I just had to convince Sven…

The next day, I had lunch with my good friend Tami who is a lender . We had never found a home that had enticed us enough to ask the affordability question. Every online tool I had used up until that point told me that it was out of our price point, but her program was much more thorough and told us a different story. Not only could we afford it, but she was able to break everything down in a way that showed how much money we could save by buying as opposed to renting. That was the deciding factor for me since we had tossed around the idea of renting for a year and looking back now I am glad that we didn’t.

With the numbers showing that it could be a reality, I was convinced this was the best move. I asked Sven to meet me at the house that night to show him around. After a thorough inspection of the inside, crawlspace and attic, he had all the same apprehensions as I did, plus some. I was under the impression he was nervous since it was the first big purchase we would make. (Little did I know that at the same time he was talking with a jeweler and designing my dream ring!) However, he definitely wasn't on board (...yet) and considering the home is almost 100 years old, we wanted to have a couple more opinions. The next day his brother, who is also a skilled finish carpenter, came out to take a look. But right as we pulled into the property, I got a call saying they sellers had received an offer and the home was about to be under contract. A developer wanted to come in, tear the house down and put in cottages. We were sitting on the front porch and I honestly had to fight back tears because I knew this home had potential and I couldn’t bear the thought of someone tearing it down. (The house even has a picket fence!!). In only a couple short days I had fallen in love with this little bright teal house and was devastated when I found out that it was no longer an option. The listing agent had been very helpful and reassured me that if anything came up during their feasibility contingency, I would be his first phone call.

Sure enough… three days later I'm in an office meeting and I get a call from the listing agent. I knew immediately that it could only be good news in our favor. He wanted to let me know that the city had denied the other buyer’s request for cottages and that if we were still interested, we had the first crack at it. We had a little scrambling to do, but within 48 hours, we were under contract for our first home! I was ecstatic and Sven was still apprehensive (that’s why we work so well together; optimist vs. realist)… The celebration lasted all of five minutes, and then began the demo. Which is the start of chapter one, to this insanely beautiful and messy story that we call, The Foundations of Buying a Fixer. We will be covering topics from remodeling your kitchen to finding the right loan for your purchase and everything in between!