Oof, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last posting. Sorry about that.
FABJ has started doing camogie at our local GAA club. GAA is the Gaelic Athletic Association, but it's always referred to as GAA. In fact, it took me a while to find the explanation on the GAA's website. Anyway, a friend of LBJ's suggested team sports for FABJ. We asked FABJ which team sport she wanted, and she chose camogie. Of course, two weeks later she saw someone she knew doing Gaelic football (which is right before camogie), so she wanted to switch. Fortunately, she has since forgotten about it.
Now, on to house hunting. The market here is crazy. There is basically no supply and the banks are dysfunctional. So, even though housing prices should drop, they instead have been rising in nice parts of Dublin (and a few other places). Not good for us. We can't get a mortgage because LBJ switched jobs recently and I apparently could be deported to Wisconsin at any moment.
That being said, we found a house that ticks nearly all the boxes. The only one it doesn't is that it is rather ugly from the outside. What idiot came up with the idea of pebble dash for houses? Anyway, the house is in a great location for us. Reasonable commute for both (with public transport options), lots of family-friendly activities, etc. And the house had been sitting on the market for a while, so maybe we could get a reasonable price. Nope. It was sitting on the market because the owner would only consider an offer very close to the asking price. We were ready to capitulate and provide that price, when, out of nowhere, another person bid on the house. We made one counter, and then other bidder offered a price above the asking. The last thing we wanted was a bidding war, so we told the agent that the asking price - cash - was our final offer. We'll see - apparently the owner is considering it because the other offer is not cash. Did I mention the challenges of actually getting a mortgage? Banks here will also say "yes" in principle to a mortgage but then not provide the funds for the actual house. I'll update in the next posting, which will be from Finland ...
FABJ has started doing camogie at our local GAA club. GAA is the Gaelic Athletic Association, but it's always referred to as GAA. In fact, it took me a while to find the explanation on the GAA's website. Anyway, a friend of LBJ's suggested team sports for FABJ. We asked FABJ which team sport she wanted, and she chose camogie. Of course, two weeks later she saw someone she knew doing Gaelic football (which is right before camogie), so she wanted to switch. Fortunately, she has since forgotten about it.
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| Our camogie player and her sinister-looking sister |
That being said, we found a house that ticks nearly all the boxes. The only one it doesn't is that it is rather ugly from the outside. What idiot came up with the idea of pebble dash for houses? Anyway, the house is in a great location for us. Reasonable commute for both (with public transport options), lots of family-friendly activities, etc. And the house had been sitting on the market for a while, so maybe we could get a reasonable price. Nope. It was sitting on the market because the owner would only consider an offer very close to the asking price. We were ready to capitulate and provide that price, when, out of nowhere, another person bid on the house. We made one counter, and then other bidder offered a price above the asking. The last thing we wanted was a bidding war, so we told the agent that the asking price - cash - was our final offer. We'll see - apparently the owner is considering it because the other offer is not cash. Did I mention the challenges of actually getting a mortgage? Banks here will also say "yes" in principle to a mortgage but then not provide the funds for the actual house. I'll update in the next posting, which will be from Finland ...
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