Finding Closure

So I found it. After months of feeling like I wouldn't, watching the same houses stare back at me on the market, and of dreading the thought of living another day in my parents house, it happened. She is a beauty. She is in rough shape. And she is going to be mine.

So I'm tentatively to close on Good Friday. Maybe that means something. I put my offer in for the house on Ash Wednesday. Needless to say Lent has been more about patience then normal.

I really can't wait. I lie awake at night thinking about my plan of action. I don't have the vision of what it will look like in the end yet, but I can see the start perfectly in motion. I can't wait. Seriously.


After all the bureaucracy of loans, liens, insurance, purchase agreements, licences and taxes it will be a home. A place where I can call my own and invite others into.

So here is hoping for a Good Friday, a very Holy Saturday, a Joyous Easter Sunday, the day our Lord has risen, and a Happy Demolition Monday.

The Search Begins...

I started my search in June when I moved back from Toronto. I thought it would take a few weeks-a few months at absolute most. Little did I know the Michigan economy wasn't going to help me out. While I listened to everyone telling me how lucky I was because it was a "buyers market" I had to really deal with a stagnant one that wasn't turning any houses over. At all.


I considered 3 neighborhoods on the southwestern side of Detroit. Corktown, Woodbridge and Hubbard Farms. Each with their own distinctive architecture, culture and layout.

I saw a lot of houses and a lot of variation. It's not the suburbs where every house is 2000sqft and has beige vinyl siding on it. I saw houses that were 900sqft to over 4200sqft. I saw ones in pristine historical condition to rotting carcasses that should of been torn down. I saw a house that had a sink behind every door, one that had been gutted to the frame and another that had electrical wires stapled into the front side of the drywall. Some strange stuff.



All in all I seriously considered 17 houses that were in my three neighborhoods. I walked 9 of them.

But then came my ideal house.

The first time I walked it, my initial reaction was that it was unsalvageable. the floors were lumpy, the walls were curvy and the layout made zero sense. I felt like I was in a funhouse without the fun and serious cat smell. Within five minutes I was thinking I had seen enough.

It was my fellow habitater who I asked to walk the house with me who convinced me otherwise. For the price pretty much anything could be done. I could gut it and start fresh making everything straight, level, plumb and laid out how I liked it. After a couple hours to mill it over I was sold. I was basically buying a frame, some siding and a little bit of basement, oh and an amazing location.

What feels like home?

In the year 2000 I started an affair. She was much older and more distinguished. She was weary and i've always been drawn to need. Over the years I found myself caring more and more about her.

In 2005 I moved away to Toronto. When I came back there was only one place I wanted to be. And that was with her.

She was Detroit. I was going to buy a house, and it was going to be within the city limits of Detroit. With her rich history her pocket young vibrant hopeful culture and her real dirt and gears day to day operation this is where i wanted to live. I was willing to deal with high insurance premiums, petty crime, city income tax, and lack of grocery stores to trade for close neighbors, unique restaurants, real people, rich history, amazing architecture, and being able to walk to church.

On June 12 I read an article about a young business man who with his brother opened up side by side businesses on Michigan Ave in Detroit. His was a branch of his grandfathers realty and his brothers was a barbecue restaurant. He was a big shot in Chicago living it up, but he saw hope and opportunity in southwest Detroit. After some thought and planning he packed up and moved to michigan to open his business.

If you ever need anything realestate related in Detroit use O'Connor. Seriously. http://www.oconnordetroit.com

The story hit home with me. I immediately identified with him being young, hopeful, and sold on detroit. And so i'd embark on my search for a home in the Motor City.