Day 175, Year 11: Looking for a Land Home
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny, but Still Cool
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
We have been checking Craig’s List, Realtor.com, and Zillow for housing possibilities. Last night Jed introduced me to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) housing list as well as the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) list. He had checked the WHOI list for me before, but I thought you had to be an employee to get into the site. Not so. Anyone can access it. So last night we added a number of contacts to our list and sent emails. This morning we got email responses from some and I called others. Then Mark and I hit the streets. We ended up with three serious choices, all of them really appealing to us. Two were Craig’s List and one was a WHOI listing. At the end of the day, we have a totally different problem than we did yesterday when we weren’t sure we would find anything that met with our approval. At the end of this day, we have three possibilities and we are having a tough time deciding which one we love the most—Cape Cod gingerbread, rustic home in the woods, condo right on the Falmouth Harbor that is super close to everything. The Cape Cod gingerbread is a lovely two-story gray Cape with a wrap-around porch and a huge yard only a stone’s throw from the beach. The negative is that it is a full 20 minutes north of Falmouth—closer to Boston but further from Heather, Jed, and kids. But the short walk to the beach is so appealing and the house has tons of storage space and is in great shape.
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| 160414 Day 175 Cape Cod, USA–Gingerbread Cape Cod |
The next house is about five miles north of downtown Falmouth and is nestled on more than an acre of wooded property. It is a dark brown rustic two-story with a vegetable garden that desperately needs attention. It is in another fantastic location—close to the beach and within walking distance to the neighborhood market, library, and bike path. We didn’t get to go inside as the owners are in Africa, but this just came on the market yesterday and they got back to me immediately. We’d love the garden and I know the Goldpebbles would love roaming the woods.
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| 160414 Day 175 Cape Cod, USA–Rustic Home in the Woods |
The third favorite we explored is a Cape Cod grey cedar shake ground-level apartment right on the Falmouth Harbor. It has a mostly glass front to allow you to really enjoy the view and a huge covered front porch to sit on and enjoy life. It is smaller than the other two choices, but has two-bedrooms and two bathrooms and a constant view that we love—glistening water and boats. It is right in the center of downtown Falmouth and literally on the way to everything—to the beach, to Woods Hole, to Heather and Jed’s, to the grocery stores, and right across the harbor from West Marine!
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| 160414 Day 175 Cape Cod, USA–Waterside Cape Cod Apartment |
Decisions, decisions. Which choice do you think we will make? We have tossed around the pros and cons and at this moment both of us are leaning toward the condo on Falmouth Harbor. Mark says it just feels like home. It is as close to living on a boat on land as you can get. So even though it is the most expensive choice, I have a feeling it is the one we will make. It is not available until June 1, but hopefully even if this condo sells right away, closing won’t happen until close to the first of June. How lucky and relieved we feel tonight that we have three fantastic choices.
