House Hunting Thought Du Jour

Who would have thought that I would be looking at a condo that's valued at OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS. Does that even make sense? Read that again. Half a million dollars. And you don't own any dirt at that price. What a sad joke.

Allisa and I have looked at over 15 units now, with the vast majority not living up to our lofty standards. One that did stand out was located just off of West 10th and Vine. Great kitchen, beautiful patio space, reasonably nice layout, though the second bedroom was more of an office then a bedroom; its strength lay in the bright and open nature of its layout. Nice, half a million nice? I don't think so.

A new, South Granville development called Shaunessy Mansions clearly didn't fit the bill. New, ultra-modern (read SMALL) design, with....a roof top deck. A few draw backs other then the size? A view of a power-transformer from the bedroom and living room - nice if you're into that sort of thing, goth architecture, and from the impish second bedroom, a view of the common, elevated walkways. Just plain wierd. Who would buy such a monstrousity? Glad to see the week on week price reduction, falling in price close to $50k in the past few weeks. More like this please.

That same night, we took a boo at a craftman style townhome in the 1900 block West 14th, in my mind, among the best locations in Vancouver. Unfortunately, the sub-terrainian feel of this 3 level garden suite had a terribly choppy design, and an overwhelming feel of questionable quality. My rating? 9/10 for Location. 4/10 for execution. Yuck, I'll pass thanks.

So then, what does that leave 'The Townhouse Hunters" with? One of the orginal units we viewed! 1040 West 7th has much of everything we are looking for at a price we can be comfortable with. What, pray tell, is our hesitation then? One minor detail that cannot go overlooked - no dogs are allowed in the complex! Damn them, they haven't even met the Queen.

At this point, you might ask yourself, 'so what exactly are we looking for? If you're spending a lifetime of money, you might as well get as much as you can possibly dream of in a unit, and then some. So, in no particular order, a few of the nicities I, personally, would like to see in a home include (in no particular order):

• Location, location, location (duh!). West of Cambie, please.


• Percieved value at a price point we can afford (read service a mortgage AND go on vacation)


• Proximity to green space & beaches


• Walking distance to civilization (coffee shops, grocery, banks etc)


• A VIEW!


• Rooftop deck (HUGE selling factor for me)


• fireplace


• Good, workable and spacious floorplan


• Initially shows poorly - a chance to exercise Allisa's Queer Eye and her Design Eye

Wow, come to think of it, that dumpy old place on West 7th has many of these items, and has a check mark right next to them! OH, did I mention that the monthly maintenance fees are low as well?