The Anna Articles

We had always planned on staying in our starter home for just a few years, but once we realized we'd be staying in the Twin Cities area (originally, we thought Mike would go into academia, likely with a move out of state) we figured we'd wait 1-2 years to upgrade our house. The whole process to get into our new house moved both faster than we expected and slower than I'd have liked at times. Starting the process From our financial planning, we figured we'd have the down payment for a house at the top of our budget by July/August 2020. I'd been casually browsing Redfin regularly for fun ever since we bought our last house and one day last July a house on Como Lake caught my eye. There was an open house and, as it was just a couple miles away, we checked it out. Turned out it was a flip and definitely not for us, but it led to months of going to open houses nearly every weekend. As many as we could fit in each weekend before Mike got sick of them for a bit (he...

A few weeks ago (when the world seemed relatively normal still), we moved out of the first home we purchased and into our "upgrade home," an 1889 Victorian. Boxes are still everywhere; we've made some progress in unpacking, with lots of organizing left to do. Some of that won't fully happen until we do our remodel. While we closed back on NYE, we wanted to refinish the floors before moving in and with a vacation in February, it took a while to get in here. Now that we're working from home for the time being, we're so glad to be doing so in a larger space! Every contractor or inspector who's seen the house so far has commented on how nice it is for the age. All the major things have been well taken care of - electrical was all replaced, major renovations were done by the previous owner, even the basement feels nice for an unfinished space. Now for a little tour. The below photos are mostly taken from the listing. New House Tour Entryway Ab...