Beginnings in Cincinnati

I am a West coast girl. I have lived in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and Alaska. I never would have imagined that I would end up on the wrong side of the Mississippi.

Mike and I arrived in Cincinnati on July 7th. We chose the city because of its law school, University of Cincinnati. It was the most highly ranked school that Mike was accepted to. We found an apartment with a month-to-month lease and immediately began the house hunt. It was complicated by two factors: first, we had trouble finding anything we liked, and second, we were both unemployed! Nevertheless, we continued both job and house hunting through the summer.

Things were looking up when a house we had seen in June turned out to be still available and I landed a job with a great company. The house was a Cape Cod in Bridgetown with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Everything else in our price range seemed to either be a ranch (not a fan!) or rundown. We made an offer and were flatly refused. So...we moved on.

We got lucky again a week later. We found another Cape Cod that we loved. It had a large, secluded yard. The house had hardwood floors and coved ceilings throughout. It came with appliances. It was on a quiet street. It had a sun porch and a large deck. Mike liked it, I liked it, so we made an offer. One counter-offer and acceptance later, we were buying a house!

Perhaps it is "buyers regret," but it when we first saw the house, it was funny how all I could see were the "good" things, and after the home inspection, all I could see were the "bad" things. The deck is not level, the furnace is old, the upstairs carpeting is stuck to the floor, the roof has only a few more years left. Fortunately, the panic subsided by the next day. It was replaced with a solid determination to leave this house a little better than the way we found it.

So begins my Cincinnati Cape Cod blog. I will post interior "before" photos soon. It is not in bad shape. (I would not have known where to begin with the 1912 Bungalow! http://www.davidchiu.net/house.) However, although I have time and determination - - I presently lack the tools and skills. Not all is lost. Tools I can buy. Skills I can learn (with the help of some classes at Great Oaks Institute of Technology and Career Development http://www.greatoaks.com/). And any advice from my readers would be appreciated!