Sunday, July 09, 2006
Welcome To The Spanko Residence
In past entries, I have made mention of the domicile in which the Spakowiak family lives. At this time, I should like to provide more details about our particular homestead. You see, it is quite fantastic. I shall start with a discussion of how Angela and I came to purchase this particular location to call our home.
Shortly after Maribel was born, we began a search for a new home, as the house we were living in was rather small, not terribly interesting, and rented. We were intending on bringing forth at least one additional offspring, and wanted the children to live on a property where they could have a decent amount of playing space. Since Angela and I were both employed in the information technology field (translation: computers) we make a healthy income. We therefore decided to search for something of a good size, was on a fair-sized plot of land, and had character.
We soon discovered that this type of housing did not exist, at least within our price range.
Every property we examined that was of an acceptable size was plastic and commonplace. We reviewed many older, interesting houses, and, while of considerable character, they were all too small for our requirements, and were frequently on postage0stamp-sized lots. When we did come across an abode that seemed to be ideal, the asking price would be beyond our means … by perhaps one or even two digits!
One weekend afternoon, while driving back from someplace or another (I may be imaginary, but even my memory is limited), we drove past what appeared to be a small farmstead in the middle of suburbia. It had an abandoned look to it, but there was a for-sale sign in front of the house. For some curious reason, this particular property seemed to be speaking to both Angela and me. In addition, our lease was to expire soon and we did not wish to sign another one. Therefore, the next workday, we made an appointment with our real estate agent to look the place over.
At the appointed time, we rendezvoused at the farmstead. We learned that the property belonged to an elderly couple who had farmed the surrounding property since around the time of World War II. They had gradually sold off parcels of their land to developers who had installed on them that horrid suburban invention known as the “subdivision.” What was left was their house and remaining buildings, and about two acres of land which they continue to tend as a small farm or a large garden, depending on your point of view. The couple, now in their eighties, had decided that upkeep of the property was now beyond their energy level. Since they were comfortable financially, as the land that they had parted with proved to be of considerable value, they had decided to move into a nice little home in a part of the country where the weather didn’t suck for half of the year. They were hoping to be able to sell the farmstead to someone who would live on the entire property, and not to yet another developer. So they were patient to sell, looking for just the right buyer. In addition, their asking price was very reasonable, somewhat below the asking price for houses in the surrounding “subdivisions.”
Please stay tuned for part two of my little serial story, as I hope to publish the next installment on the morrow.
Part Two =>
Shortly after Maribel was born, we began a search for a new home, as the house we were living in was rather small, not terribly interesting, and rented. We were intending on bringing forth at least one additional offspring, and wanted the children to live on a property where they could have a decent amount of playing space. Since Angela and I were both employed in the information technology field (translation: computers) we make a healthy income. We therefore decided to search for something of a good size, was on a fair-sized plot of land, and had character.
We soon discovered that this type of housing did not exist, at least within our price range.
Every property we examined that was of an acceptable size was plastic and commonplace. We reviewed many older, interesting houses, and, while of considerable character, they were all too small for our requirements, and were frequently on postage0stamp-sized lots. When we did come across an abode that seemed to be ideal, the asking price would be beyond our means … by perhaps one or even two digits!
One weekend afternoon, while driving back from someplace or another (I may be imaginary, but even my memory is limited), we drove past what appeared to be a small farmstead in the middle of suburbia. It had an abandoned look to it, but there was a for-sale sign in front of the house. For some curious reason, this particular property seemed to be speaking to both Angela and me. In addition, our lease was to expire soon and we did not wish to sign another one. Therefore, the next workday, we made an appointment with our real estate agent to look the place over.
At the appointed time, we rendezvoused at the farmstead. We learned that the property belonged to an elderly couple who had farmed the surrounding property since around the time of World War II. They had gradually sold off parcels of their land to developers who had installed on them that horrid suburban invention known as the “subdivision.” What was left was their house and remaining buildings, and about two acres of land which they continue to tend as a small farm or a large garden, depending on your point of view. The couple, now in their eighties, had decided that upkeep of the property was now beyond their energy level. Since they were comfortable financially, as the land that they had parted with proved to be of considerable value, they had decided to move into a nice little home in a part of the country where the weather didn’t suck for half of the year. They were hoping to be able to sell the farmstead to someone who would live on the entire property, and not to yet another developer. So they were patient to sell, looking for just the right buyer. In addition, their asking price was very reasonable, somewhat below the asking price for houses in the surrounding “subdivisions.”
Please stay tuned for part two of my little serial story, as I hope to publish the next installment on the morrow.
Part Two =>
