Killing Time in Columbus

Julie is on Day 3 of the on-site home search in Columbus. I'm on Day 1. We've actually got it narrowed down to two houses, one of which is (we think) a clear frontrunner. Guess which one is more expensive? We've definitely narrowed the search down to Dublin, Ohio, which has lots of trees and lots of paved walking/bike paths. The paths almost always go underneath the roads, which, obviously, is great for the kids. There seem to be a lot of parks around, too.

We're back at the realtor's office right now. Julie is doing digging and research on what our payments would be at various houses, taking into account taxes and insurance and who knows what else, while the realtor is running comps. I did "signature duty" for a while on a bunch of paperwork that Julie had already signed. And, I even stepped in and filled out the "tell us about yourself" sheet that the realtor keeps on file so she can refresh her memory and personalize future communication. I do believe I nailed everyones' birthdays (including year) and our anniversary. And, I got to have a little fun with some of the background/personal what-do-you-like type stuff. I don't know whether or not Julie will review that or not. But, the paper does list that one of the things she likes to do in her spare time is: "adore my husband."

We're actually going to have the late afternoon and evening off, it seems! We might actually see a movie! We'll likely do a little bit of shopping, too, to pick up something for the kids, as well as to buy me a shirt to wear tomorrow, as I put one of the two shirts I'd brought on this morning only to discover that it has a 3" greasy-looking discoloration right in the middle of the chest! This has happened to several of my shirts over the past year or two, and the stains don't come out. They go into the washer cleaner than when they come out! We have no idea what's going on there. The plan is to hit the two finalis houses again on Sunday morning so that we're not mixing them up with the other 6 or so houses we looked at today. With luck, we'll be inking an offer before we fly out and can be in an option period by early next week.

Oh, and from the, "Oh, really!?" department...

One of the things that came up when we were listing our house was how much higher per square foot we were asking than the comps in an x-mile radius of our house had sold for. Well, the reality is that we listed a fair price -- the comps were all in wildly different neighborhoods (not as well maintained and laid out) and, obviously, didn't all necessarily have the sort of improvements that we'd put in (or a cul-de-sac, or a swimming pool, or a greenbelt, etc.). It worked out, and we're getting a good, fair price for the house.

Of course, now we're a buyer. I got quite the aggressive lecture from Marilyn about how price per square foot was just a stupid calculation, and that, "it must just be a Texas thing to even look at that." Funny: the first number our realtor (who we got through a recommendation of one of Marilyn's friends) in Ohio rattled off when she was running comps this afternoon was...price per square foot! Granted, she's not saying that's a gold rule, either. But, it's clearly a stat that is a useful starting point / gut check. Perhaps it's a bit petty to include this in my blog. But it's my blog.