Introducing the Palm House

We bought a house!

This little house is a classic Craftsman Bungalow or California Bungalow, built in 1912, and located on the outskirts of the Rockridge neighborhood in Oakland, CA. Its 986 square feet is full of promise, sunlight, and potential. We named it the Palm House after the 40 foot palm tree that acts as a beacon to our home when walking through the neighborhood. We hope to chronicle our journey to making this house our home with this blog.

Jessica found the house on an internet search in late April 2010. The dutiful parents they are, Mila and Larry went the very next day to the open house and called us that evening to say, "we may have something here..." The previous owners were in bankruptcy and they wanted to sell the property quickly. That, combined with the fact that their real estate agent did a sad job of staging and showing the house, meant that we had little competition with our offer. Our offer was accepted in less than a week and we quickly moved into inspections. Andy and Jessica hopped on a last-minute plane to see the house the very first weekend, and with the combined eyeballs of family and many friends, we gave this crazy project the green light.

In the meantime, back in Chicago (where A+J were living at the time), life was tumultuous. We were moving out of our house on May 13, and in the interim Andy was tasked with finishing up grad school and graduating, and Jessica was wrapping up work. We successfully graduated and moved out of the house, and during a one week trip to Denver we signed our papers via a notary within 36 hours of getting on a plane for a 3 week vacation to Peru.

During our time in Denver, we began to suspect that Jessica may be pregnant. Three positive pregnancy tests later, we began to believe our suspicions. Peru was a stunning vacation, but we were anxious to get home and start our lives as expecting parents and new homeowners. As life would have it, things were not so simple.

After about a week back in the states, Jessica's beloved grandmother Shirley passed away after a long and beautiful 90 years on this earth. A whirlwind trip to New Jersey for the funeral, and finally, finally, we were back in the Bay.