We Bought a House!

After months of house hunting you have no idea how happy I am to finally be telling you… WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

If you’ve been following along on my instastories you know we’ve had the hardest time deciding whether to buy in Vancouver or Port Moody, with the fact that post-maternity leave I’ll be working in downtown Vancouver every day as part of my new job being a major factor for us. We debated endlessly over commute vs. space/affordability.

The house we finally decided on and now own(!😱) is in Vancouver! Here’s a quick summary of what we love about this house and what we chose to give up for this house:

Best Things About the New House:

• The Neighbourhood:

  It’s located on a quiet, super family friendly tree-lined street. When we were there last weekend there were literally kids drawing on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk and a half block down there is a wooden tree swing hanging by the sidewalk. The area feels quiet and lush (exactly what I was looking for) but it’s only 2 blocks away from a main city area. There’s a coffee shop, tons of restaurants, a grocery store, etc. less than a 10 minute walk from us. This is the perfect balance of what Alex and I wanted so really this was the #1 selling point for us.

• The Size of the House:

  The house itself is an old home which basically means that it’s a boatload bigger of a home than you would be able to build on this size of a Vancouver city lot if you were to build today.

  The house has 5 bedrooms, which is perfect for our growing family and our desire to have friends/family have a place to stay when they visit us!

• The Commute:

  I’ll be commuting every day and Alex will be commuting 1 to 2 days a week. Both of our commutes will be less than 20 minutes.

The Downsides:

• Minimal Outdoor Space

  Because Vancouver lots are notoriously tiny (especially in comparison to what we were looking at in Port Moody) AND because the home is so big, there is pretty much no outdoor space. There’s a small front yard and a very, very, small backyard. While outdoor space was one of my biggest priorities when we first started house hunting I came to accept that if we wanted to live in Vancouver having a lot of outdoor space just wasn’t an option. I also realized that I wanted it for entertaining and spending time outdoors… but had to remind myself that 8 months out of the year here it’s cold and rainy and the space wouldn’t be used anyway.

• Renovations

  Because it’s an old home there are a lot of things we’ll have to keep an eye on. So far there are no major renos needed (though I want to redo the kitchen) but we know  there are aspects of the home we need to keep an eye on.

Moving Date:

We plan on playing it by ear in terms of when we actually move in and doing a slow move. Hopefully though we’ll be fully moved in by the early August. The move will be totally dependent on when Baby B is actually born and how much we can get done before or after.

I’ll definitely be sharing new home decor here on the blog and on instagram so be sure to follow along if you want to see housing content!