The Journey Begins

Our house-hunting journey started last week after my husband and I received money from the sale of his father's home. My father-in-law owned an incredible Eichler house in Marin County in California, but after he passed away due to complications from cancer last year the family followed his wishes to sell the house and divide the money between his two sons and second wife. My husband really wanted to keep the house in the family and wished he could have purchased it, but unfortunately we just didn’t have the means to buy the Eichler home for ourselves.








Photos of my father-in-law's Eichler Home

After saying goodbye to the fabulous Eichler house we set out on our own journey to find a mid-century home that would fit our budget.

Home prices in California have dropped dramatically in the last year due to the troubled economy. In some areas prices are down as much as 75% and lower than they've been in decades. But we're not alone in our quest for a house and we're competing with many other first time home buyers right now as well as wealthy flippers in the area who are trying to build up their real estate portfolios.

One of the most disappointing aspects of our journey so far is coming across a fabulous older home with it's original kitchen and many original fixtures intact only to be outbid by someone who plans to gut the house and tear out the kitchen so they can replace it with ugly cabinets and granite counter tops.

We hope to find a mid-century home with much of it's original charm intact and restore it. We're not interested in tearing it down and replacing it with a McMansion. Unfortunately we seem to be in the minority, but we're trying not to get discouraged. We know our home is out there somewhere in some long forgotten post-war suburban development and we're determined to find it!