I finally have time to sit down and create a blog, for what I'm calling the Urban Queen Anne. Preliminary pictures can be found here.

We're located in Seattle, a few miles East of downtown in a fairly diverse neighborhood. A link describing the neighborhood can be found on the Seattle P.I.'s website here.

The lot is small, coming in at around 3600 square feet, but is an average size lot, taking into account lots that fall within a few miles radius of downtown Seattle. The lawn is pretty much a war zone; it has been abandond for the last 15 years.

The house itself is an unusual style of Queen Anne Victorian, in which I'm still investigating its exact classification. Its a two story structure, with a logarithmic slopping side roofs to north and south. The south being more pronounced. With dual 'A' frames, 90 degrees on one another. It was once a 4 bedroom, but has been converted to a two bedroom. It contains 1.75 baths, a formal library, a large dining room, a good size living and kitchen and a hall way upstairs that leads to no where (more on that later).

This blog will describe (in detail) my over all experiences, for the last four months as well. From:

• Putting offers on the house that where ignored
• Dealing with the the extremes of a great buying agent (John L. Scott) to crooked selling agents (Windermere)* and manic relocation companies.
• Going though the seven different expections that where preformed on the house
• The negotiations that went on after first acceptance, from what was really fixed versus what was on the contract
• The actual closing
• And the whole lending aspect on this endeavour.

This information should be very valuable to anyone attempting to buy a house and avoiding the pit falls that I happen to stumble into.

And over time, the blog will also document the restoration of house Urban Queen Anne, from its very beginnings, to its completion, while adhearing to specifications on preserving landmarks that are layed out by the Dept of Interior (US). I'll be proceeding through the City Landmark application process in the coming months as well, with hopes of a successful landmark (but nothing is certain).

Welcome.