Wednesday, January 31, 2018

How we found this diamond in the rough

Before my husband Sean even met me he was flipping through the Homes and Land magazine at his local breakfast cafe. He wasn't even looking to buy a home. He was currently living in Valencia, CA. When 2 story bungalow catch his eye. On a whim he called the agent to see if it was available. They said it was in escrow. So he chalked it up to not to be. A couple of months later he came across the ad again. He called the agent and they said the deal fell through and asked if he would be interested. Without even thinking he said yes. He had never even been to Pasadena before. He set up a tour later that week.

Upon walking through he put an offer on it. There was just something about it that called to him. To think is single guy with 3 cats was buying a 5 bedroom house. He likes to say he was feathering the nest while waiting for me.

The buying process was another story. It went from a dream to a nightmare.  Looking back we can tell the sell and sell's agent really took advantage of this first time home buyer. It was the fall of 2008 right before the housing market bubble pop. His escrow was 90 days. He went through 3 different banks. As soon as the loan was funded the bank would crash. And each time they asked for more down and more points. So his renovation budget went from 100K to 15K.  Only enough to give the garage a face lift. Which was electrical and drywall. If he knew then what we know now he could of knocked 200k off the price of the house. You could tell the inspector was in the pocket of seller and hide information. Like the house being haunted....

Yes I said haunted. Believe or don't believe that is something that the seller is supposed to disclose.  At the time he was already in too deep to pull out of the deal. He had just bought a haunted house. On they late nights Sean was working on the house things would move around, door would open on their own. Blinds when sway with the windows shut. Luckily Sean's co-worker Gary and his brother cleanse houses. They came with cameras and candles and cleansed the house after a long and spooky night. The candle burnt so hot that it left a mark on the porch.  There is also 3 little kid foot prints burned into the wood. Since the cleansing Sean has worked very hard to fill the house with laughter and good vibes.

I first saw the house on a fiend date. We were going to watch a screener of Coraline. When I crossed the threshold I felt a warm and inviting feeling that wash over me. It was in the moment that I knew I was going to live there. Shortly after we started dating and then got married Nov 11, 2011.

As long as we have been living together we have been working on the house. Doing as much as we could and saving up from project to project. It wasn't until we sold Sean's condo that we were able to reinvest into the Pasadena home with much needed bigger projects.