The Search

Back in early summer I got the call I'd been expecting. The call I'd been expecting in about 5 years. My parents had floated around the idea of going in on a house with me once they took out a balloon mortgage on their house in Ft. Lauderdale. The deal was simple, they'd sell their house, give me enough $$ for a sizable down payment and live rent free. Their loan term was 5 years so I thought I'd have a lot of time to save, living in a very low rent apartment.

Not so.

The call asking again if I wanted to do it and if so, "start looking".

So it begain ~ furiously asking for references from all my friends who have bought recently, getting tips, evaluating what I could not afford (which was most) ~ the market for a 2 family is considerably tighter (and more expensive). I ended up settling on Zip Realty ~ not because of their rebate policy (which is cool) but more their no-nonsense approach to providing the info you need. Our agent, Tony Schepis. Utterly cool.

As the dreams of living in the city proper were promptly stamped out by the incomprehensibly exorbitant home/tax prices, we decided to look in Malden, Medford, Somerville, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and several places on the South Shore, which was most convenient for Jen due to twice weekly commute to the cape.

Then the REAL call came. My parents had sold their house. In less than a week. I had to have something in place for September. The next month and half was perhaps the most harrowing I'd ever had ~ constantly arranging for appts to see just about anything that had even the remotest possibility. Slowly all our "requirements" were washed way by the necessity of finding a house. My mother came in August to look at my top few: a house in Rockland, and 2 houses in Quincy. To make the trip worthwhile I scheduled 11 viewings in one weekend. The sheer amount of crap being sold for so much money was staggering. Then the issue of space versus convenience. The houses in Quincy were smallish, but accessible to the Red line, while the Roslindale (once it came down in price) and Rockland places were larger but on the commuter rail.

It was put to me in mid August to make a decision. And while I was prepared for the house right outside of Roslindale Sq., it just wasn't enough for what we'd pay and I did not want to wait 5 years for that part of the Rosi to clean up to where it was comfortable to live in. So Rockland it was ~ the least accessible of all the places we'd seen, but by far the largest.

An Toiseach was built in 1900 and was originally a single family house, converted some time to a 2 family and the first floor redecorated in a hodgepodge of 40s, 50s and 60s styles. 5 rooms each floor; full basement; and full attic with a finished room and the remnants of what used to be servants quarters and a dumbwaiter, which as far as I can tell is still intact. It sits on 2 parcels of land totalling about .75 acres and has a LOT of trees. Steps away from the main drag of Rockland and about 2miles from the closest Commuter station, 5 miles from Rte 3 and the P/B bus.

In other words. Home. [following pics gacked from the Appraisal report]