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michael and i didn’t expect much from our first day of looking at homes in windsor yesterday.
we gave isaac, our agent, a list of six properties we were sort of interested in, half in the riverside area and half in fountain blue. he came back to us on tuesday saying two of the properties were taking offers that day—they would not be available wednesday for viewing. michael and i removed them from our search because the results of our covid tests had not arrived yet in order for us to cross the border.
we figured this visit was simply a chance to meet isaac in person after speaking over the phone and through email for months. we figured looking around the city would mentally prepare us for how long our search could take.
when we met isaac at the first property, he presented an itinerary of two additional properties than the four we agreed upon the day prior—the two homes that were taking offers tuesday decided to extend their deadline to wednesday instead.
“i like your shirt,” isaac said to michael. michael was dressed in his “mellon collie and the infinite sadness” tee. isaac talked about going to the states to see the pumpkins play in high school when that album came out. i flashed him their band symbol that’s tattooed on my wrist.
maybe it was the tim horton’s dark roast i drank, but i found something to like in all of the homes we viewed—often times the photos didn’t capture how good the properties were. it gave me hope for our future searches in the months ahead.
“look at the light in this fucking place!” i exclaimed more than once, apologizing to isaac for my potty mouth.
“that’s alright,” he said. “it makes me more comfortable to know that if i slip up and swear you aren’t bothered by it,” he smiled.
michael and i are pretty much same page when it comes to looking at homes, it’s a feel thing for us, it’s about how we envision ourselves moving through the space. this time, michael wanted a house with two bedrooms on the main floor, one for the master and a smaller one for his office, like we used to have on oakwood back in the day.
even though i lived in windsor for 26 years, i’m not all that familiar with fountain blue; i grew up on tourangeau until the age of two, but i don’t remember any of it. michael and i added fountain blue to our search on a whim because there wasn’t enough results coming up in riverside or in south walkerville that met our needs.
when we arrived at the final property for the day in fountain blue, michael and i immediately admired the street, a boulevard with trees running down the center. the driveway we pulled into was for a red brick home with lots of curb appeal. he and i hardly remembered looking at the listing—maybe we browsed it once before sending it off to isaac?
the house had the two bedrooms on the main michael was looking for, and the master was bigger than the one we have now in ann arbor, which has been a sticking point for me since we’ve moved in. the kitchen was small but cute, which was fine because michael and i have managed in a teeny kitchen before. the upstairs had once been it’s own apartment; “imagine if this was your office space,” michael said as we walked through it—i couldn’t believe he wanted to offer that to me. back on oakwood i had a huge loft room for writing. i missed being able to ascend the stairs to close the door and work—my current office is an open room on the main floor of the house.
the basement of the home was finished and waterproofed, an important feature in flood-prone windsor. and the property had old trees along the back and one in front, always a welcome feature in our eyes.
“if you want to make an offer on this house, we have to get it in by 6:30,” isaac said. when we left the property, it was 2 pm.
back in the car, michael and i were surprised by how much we were taken with the house—could this be where we saw ourselves living? we drove the neighborhood to see if it was walkable. we drove the neighborhood to see what was nearby. we drove pillette to the waterfront park before heading over to my parent’s place in tecumseh.
we told my parents and brea and about the house. “that’s a great neighborhood!” they all exclaimed.
when michael and i were fairly certain we would offer, we drove through riverside to see if there was a part of us that wanted to wait longer for a listing there in the coming weeks. both of us had our hearts set on riverside, yet found as we moved through the streets that we were okay to let that idea go. we drove back out to fountain blue to check out the neighborhood and the house one last time.
i called isaac and left him a voicemail saying we wanted to offer.
there were five offers in at the house already at 4 that afternoon. we strategized with isaac about what we should include in ours to set ourselves apart.
“tell them i’m from here, tell them it’s important to us to put roots here,” i said to him.
by 6, we were dropping off our deposit at isaac’s office and ready to head back over the border.
“the house has nine offers now,” he said. the deadline for offers was 7 pm.
“do you think we’ll know tonight?” i asked.
“oh yeah, your offer expires at 9 pm.”
i couldn’t believe we would find out same day whether or not it was accepted.
michael and i arrived back home in ann arbor around 7. i jumped in the tub to try and calm down and to prepare myself for the possibility that our offer could be rejected. i didn’t want to get too attached to the house in case it didn’t work out.
at 8 o’clock i said to michael, “i’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet.” not 15 seconds later, my phone rang: it was isaac.
“what are you expecting to hear right now?” he said.
“i have no idea,” i answered.
“i think we got it,” michael said.
“you got it! congratulations! i’ll be sending over the paperwork soon.”
we were stunned.
“have you ever had this happen before, a client looking the first day, offering, and getting the property?” i was incredulous.
“oh yeah, i was that client; i bought my house the first day. but look, you guys have been preparing for this since june,” he said. “you did your research, you knew what to expect, and you came to play.”
we expected that this would take months.
the deal is set to close in 30 days.
i discovered this morning that our new house is less than 1,000 meters from the first home i ever lived in.
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