(no subject)

I had this dream last night where I was playing against a local expert, and she pulled off an amazing defensive play against me.  It was like this rare coup and it had a name, but I'd never heard of it.  I was so impressed that I wrote up the hand for a bridge article.  When I woke up, I wondered if my sleeping brain had discovered some amazing expert play that I didn't know I was capable of, so I went back over the hand in my head.  The maneuver was called "Hail to the queen until her head falls off."  In the dream, this was a really clever name.  Awake?  Not so much.  But even less clever was the defensive line.  When you have QJT... in a suit, and declarer has AK..., the brilliant play is to lead the Q and then the J, setting up your T and possibly extra length.  STOP THE PRESSES!

(For non bridge players, this is one of the most basic cardplay techniques that exists.  Hardly a breakthrough.)

The Houses

I think our expectations may have been skewed by the fact that many of the houses we looked at online were much cheaper than the ones that are available now.  We were thinking we'd look at anything up to 200K, but there were several options in the 130's, and even one condo we were interested in for just 89K.  But for a variety of reasons, none of those cheapos are available now, and everything we were able to view yesterday was 165 and up.  Within range, but not the super bargain we were hoping for.  

The first house looked nice in the online photos, but in person was another story.  The floor plan was neat, but everything in it was old and falling apart.  It was also at the far edge of my preferred radius, and it was easy to write it off within a few seconds of being inside.

Next we went to the condo that I viewed in an open house two weeks ago.  This time, though, the tenants are gone and it is empty.  I loved it.  Everything about it is perfect, except that it's at the top of our price range at 199K.  The location is ideal, the floor plan is amazing...it's going to take a lot to top this one in my mind.  

Third, we looked at a really adorable little house on Allen St.  It was a 3br/1ba, so the only way I was going to be interested in this one would be if it looked reasonable to add a second bathroom, but the pictures were so great that I wanted to see it anyway.  Both of us loved this house a lot -- the layout was really interesting, and it had a lot of space, but the location sucks.  Allen is a really busy road, and it's right where the freeway passes by.  Basically really busy and noisy all the time.  If it had been 130K instead of 165K, it would've been worth stronger consideration, but where it is, it's just a no-go.

The fourth house we looked at already had an offer, but it was just so darn cute I really wanted to view it before it went off the market.  It was listed as a 3/1 as well, but that's a real stretch.  In reality, it's a 1/1, with a couple of really tiny extra rooms.  And the ceilings were so low in two of the rooms that I couldn't even stand up straight -- and Z is six inches taller than I am.  So we weren't disappointed that that one was already under contract.  Nothing lost there.

What I'd learned at this point was all those cute little houses that I loved from the outside were going to come with major flaws.  A lot of the houses in this neighborhood are close to 100 years old, and while they've been updated, some things can't be easily changed, like low ceilings or wacky layouts.  And the maintenance costs would obviously be higher on one of these old homes.  So my visions of us moving into our very own gingerbread house basically crumbled yesterday, and that condo looked even better to me.

The last one we looked at was another condo, but this one was in Hillsboro.  I told Z that for me to even consider anything outside of our Beaverton neighborhood, it was going to have to be both amazing and a bargain.  I really didn't want to like this one -- I wanted it to be easy to say no.  But god dammit, it was by far the best in terms of layout and price.  It was a spacious 3/2 with just really nice design and in a really cute neighborhood.  But the walk score sucks.  Accessibility to public transit sucks.  My commute would suck.  Z would be happy to move in tomorrow.  But just thinking about it made me cry.  I am not willing to live in Hillsboro.  I am not willing to live outside our neighborhood, I think.  

I want that condo in Beaverton.  But the price may put it out of reach for us.  If the money isn't there, then I guess we'll just wait.  We'll keep an eye out for other listings and check out anything new that comes available, building savings in the meantime.  But dammit, I want that condo.  I really want this to work out.  I think I have the savings in stocks to make it feasible, but my husband has to agree that it's worthwhile if we're going to go that route.  And I have to hope that other offers will not swoop in while we're pondering.

So that's the state of the house hunt.  It is meh.