“Go North, Young Man (and Lady)” by N&J.
Whistler, BC (Jul 25/2016) – N&J have been residing in their downtown Vancouver condo for just under 2 years, major renovations have been completed (kitchen & bathrooms, interior painted, outdoor deck garden rejuvenated), all mainly done by themselves (with some assistance from their most competent friend D)… when they decided time for a new challenge.
click on pic to enlarge – right/left arrow to scroll thru the gallery
Thinking a house with a backyard, something that was NOT strata. Living in Vancouver on the westside was definitely not within the budget. Maybe Victoria or Oak Bay, a place to moor the sailboat, close to family… but alas not a lot of property to look at on Vancouver Island. N had a brainstorm… how about Whistler? They like to ski there, why not live there? So N&J explored the possibilities, looked at anything that met their budget, but it was quite demoralizing at what was available & WHAT IT COST!!!!
Realtor Ann C. was very patient, a keen observer of what N&J were looking for, aware they loved to renovate & build (remember Habitat for Humanity). After a month had passed in early 2016, Ann called N&J to say she found a home in Whistler’s Alpine Meadows that might fit the bill. Just so happens N&J were staying at a friend’s place in Whistler skiing, 20 minutes later they arrived at the house. OH JEEZ!!! Almost didn’t get past the front door, from the outside the place looked horrid, snow piled up everywhere (this is winter in Whistler Feb 2016), Christmas lights hanging awkwardly from the rooftop, the house painted a drab ‘battleship grey’….not too pleasing. But they were there, no cost in looking…
Once inside it became apparent this house had not been lived in for 29 years!!! Nothing on the floors (plywood), nothing on the fireplace (just cinder block), broken windows, an unused kitchen (29 year old brand new), hell the dishwasher still had the blue protective plastic on the front & not hooked up. But what they saw had them mouthing the words ‘SOLD’ to each other, the beautiful glass & fir railings, the yellow cedar vaulted ceilings, the huge picture windows looking out onto the forest surrounding the house…. THIS WAS IT!!!
So an offer was quickly formulated. The homeowner R was hesitant to sell, in fact it wasn’t even listed as yet. In their offer N provided a handwritten letter to the seller of their desire to create a full time home, a place for family & friends to come and stay, our door would always open to anyone in need. They provided a link to this blog ‘Westfalia Journal‘, to learn about who they were. An ‘open house’ was held on the weekend, 22 people attended!!! (horrors). Quite a few offers were made. N&J felt their chances of getting the house were dismal, our offer was quite low. It took forever for any news on the offer…. our realtor informed that the seller R was READING THE WJ BLOG!!! What?!! Turned out the seller wanted to meet N&J, in that meeting R informed N&J that he wanted them to have the house, he loved the WJ story, AND it was the lowest offer… by a lot!!!
With renovating dreams swirling in our heads, we are off to Whistler!!!
UPDATE: turns out the real reason we got the house, is that R loves JESSE (the cat) after reading all about him in the blog… We’re moving to Whistler. MEOW!!!