Our House
Our House... in the middle of our street... Our House... was our castle and our keep... Our House... that was where we used to sleep..

Well like that well known 80's pop ditty Heather and I now have Our House. I really fell in love with South Bend and knew Heather would love it. Each time she would visit, and I would have Novali we explored more and more of the city. I grew to enjoy the location, the cost of living, my job, and the people. So we started house hunting. Not very serious at first, we looked here and there, drove by some areas and learned more about South Bend.

On Labor Day Weekend, we scheduled visits to a couple houses. One was out of our price range but we figured, hey, why not? When we got to house we learned it had a huge price drop, bringing it closer to our range. Talk about good timing right?

Well let us introduce you to Our House

It was built in 1939, full brick and plaster with a unique slate roof. The house is nearly 2600 sqft on the main floor, about a 1/5 of that is an addition. It has an attached two car garage, beautiful hardwood floors, interesting antique door handles, trim and light fixtures, and the plaster walls are in great shape.

Main floor has a open space kitchen, formal dinning room, large living room with a fireplace, a cozy family room, and a den/guest bedroom. There is a full bath on the 1st floor with shower and laundry. The backdoor opens into a large backyard with a playset with swings and a slide.

Upstairs are three bedrooms and a full bath. The master bedroom is very large but no closet space. The bathroom is pretty dated but large enough so when its renovation time we'll have lots of options. The other two bedrooms are good size and will serve as great rooms for kids.

The basement has potential, and the first thing to go will be the huge boiler. Hopefully it holds on for a few more years... the house also has a 2 zone sprinkler system, decorative crab apple trees in front, and an alarm by ADT.

Our area is called Ridgedale and is considered a top neighborhood in South Bend. It is near the big golf course, good schools, and close to a 24 hour grocery store. It is a Jewish neighborhood and has a beautiful Synagogue as well as a big Methodist Church we visited once already. Its an old neighborhood with rolling hills and very unique homes including one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (Mossberg House) just four blocks from our house.

This will put me about 2 miles from work and close to the highway to head to Chicago for Novali or to the South Bend airport. So after nearly two months of negotiation, paperwork, and lots of lost sleep... today at 1 PM Heather and I closed on the house. We are now proud first time homeowners and couldn't be more excited. Thanks to everyone for their advice and support through this tough process.

Ciao!