Now we have a project

It’s been a busy few weeks

It’s been 7 weeks since we arrived in Lewiston, Idaho (pop. 35,033), and the time has gone by fast. We are still in a transition phase – living in an AirBnB and learning our way around the area. Some days I feel very much at home here and other days I feel like I’m just visiting. The different parts of town are becoming familiar, and I have a rapidly expanding mental map so I’m not always dependent on Google Maps.

Overall we are happy to be here. It’s been great to be close to family. The people here are exceptionally friendly. And we’ve found that there is less friction in our daily lives.

Here are a few of the activities that have kept us busy.

Job 1: Buy a car

While we were in Europe, we didn’t own a car. Everywhere we lived had good public transportation – trains, the Metro, buses, and taxis.  Ubers and Lyfts were easy to arrange. But we knew that back in the US our options would be limited.   Once we arrived in Lewiston, we found out how limited.

There is a bus system that has some some limited routes, but we’ve not explored that yet. I haven’t found any taxis, and there are no Ubers, so in order for us to get around, we had to buy a car. 

We decided we wanted an electric car. We knew there would be some challenges, like being dependent on a limited number of public charging stations while we are in temporary lodging.

But we persisted. We read reviews of different models and articles about how to effectively own one. After a few days of concentrated research, we bought a 2022 Hyundai Kona EV from Carvana. That was another new experience: Pick it out online, pay for it online, get assigned a pickup location and time.  Our pickup was to be in Boise, about 300 miles away.  

A side note:  My dad loved to go shopping for cars.  I remember that one year, while we were on vacation, our excursion was to a dealership so he could check out a late model Oldsmobile that had caught his eye.  He might have been horrified that I bought a car that I hadn’t seen, hadn’t driven, and hadn’t had inspected by my local mechanic.  But then again, he was a bit of a computer nut, too, and would probably have been fascinated by the process. 

The purchase and delivery transaction had a couple hiccups and delays, but ultimately they met us halfway between Lewiston and Boise in the little town of McCall, Idaho.  It was pretty cool to see our new car arrive on the back of a truck. 

So far, after about a month, It has been great. It’s a fun car to drive, and we look forward to having it for a long time. 

Job #2: Find a place to live

Now we could turn our attention full time to finding a place to live. We’d rented an Airbnb for the first month, to give us time to scout the area.  Our initial goal was to rent a house, but we quickly discovered that the supply was very limited and what was available generally just weren’t places we wanted to live in. 

So we started reading the real estate listings.  We saved searches on Zillow and Realtor.com.  Our requirements were pretty basic:  Two bedrooms, minimum.  Two bathrooms, minimum.  A place that didn’t need a ton of work.  A workshop space for Mike to tinker in.  

As listings appeared in our inboxes, we mapped them out and drove around to assess the houses from the street.  We noted neighborhoods that we were interested in and others that we weren’t.  Out of almost 30 properties that we thought would fit the bill, we zeroed in on five. 

Our son introduced us to Chelsea Blewett, the real estate agent who had helped them find a house when they moved here.  Chelsea arranged tours for four of the five houses and we spent a morning going through and looking at them. We quickly eliminated two. 

Evaluating the houses

One was a really shoddily done flip.  The other was a 1980s vintage house that hadn’t been updated and was in pretty poor shape.  It had a view of the Snake River and across the valley (a bonus), but sat directly above a local ammunition plant.  When we stood on the back deck, all we could hear was machinery noise from the plant.  No sale.  

That left two possibilities.  One was a craftsman home, built in 1925 and remodeled in 1988.  It had some interesting features, but needed some serious work.  It had a really quirky floor plan.  (Chelsea said there were lot of those in the area.)  But we just couldn’t picture how we would live in that space. so we eliminated that one. 

The other was right down the block. It was a bigger house, built in 1925 and had been fully restored in the last year. It was at the top of our price range, but was what they call “move in ready”. During our second visit, we discovered with that there was no heat in the upstairs, where there were four bedrooms. 

Having lived in Portugal with no heat for the last 18 months, we decided that it wasn’t a good option. So that house was out. 

The final option

There was a fifth house that we hadn’t toured yet.  It was one that our kids had suggested we look at.  Mary had found it online. She commented that it had “good bones”, which meant it was pretty solid, but was going to need a fair amount of work.  It was actually bigger than our requirements – 4 bedrooms, 4 baths.  But the basement had a bedroom, bath, and second kitchen.  We could envision it as a place for visiting relatives to stay or, later, an apartment for a live-in caregiver.  (Geez, when did we get so old we have to think about that?) 

We toured it once and were interested enough that we went back for a second look.  We thought about it for a few days and then saw that the price had been significantly reduced. It was being sold by the estate of the former owner and had been on the market for a long time.  The new price was about what we had thought of offering, so we took a deep breath and submitted an offer below the new asking price.  The next day Chelsea told us our offer had been accepted. 

After a little more dickering over the inspection results, we signed the papers on election day.  That seemed like the most optimistic thing we could do.  The next day we were shocked by the election outcome, but we had the keys. 

So there’s our project

We’ve started working through a punch list from the inspection report, getting quotes from an electrician, a guy who refinishes wood floors, a plumber, and a roofer.  And we’ve spent every day getting it ready to move into.  

The house was built in 1960.  It’s sort of mid century modern.  Not quite, but it’s got some features of that kind of house.  It also has old carpet and old wallpaper and old paint.   We’ve been working on those things. 

Mary’s been removing wallpaper, and finding some surprises.  She started in the dining room, which had a deep red paper with some stereotypical images of Chinese houses and old men.  That layer came off, and surprise! there’s another layer, and then surprise! there’s a third layer under that. So that room took a lot of work. 

I spent the first few days pulling up old carpet (gross!) and removing baseboards.  Now I’m sanding the walls to get them ready for paint.  

We booked the Airbnb for November so we can continue to do work on the house, get the place painted, and buy some furniture.  We expect to move in sometime after Thanksgiving.

The pros and cons 

No house is perfect, at least none of the ones we’ve owned.  This one is no different.  There’s good news and bad news about this house. 

The good news is the house is across the street from our son, daughter-in-law and grandson, so it’s going to be very convenient for us to see each other. 

The bad news is the house is across the street from our son, daughter-in-law and grandson.  And yes, we had a serious heart-to-heart conversation with them before we made the offer.

We’ve joked that the background music for this phase of our life is going to be the theme from Everybody Loves Raymond .

And I guess that means we get to play Marie and Frank. 

In future posts we’ll share some pictures of the ongoing work in the house. But for today, here’s a sneak peek.

This is a view facing the house from the street. The driveway goes up a hill and the front “yard” is full of trees and bushes. Even on a cloudy day the colors were glorious. 

Until next time,

Mary and Mike

The Cook and The Writer

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