We have made the jump to home-ownership.

It has taken more energy, time, and anxiety than I had expected it would, and a significant change in perspective and long-range goals was required. We are happy, though, waiting for late May when we can wrap up the process, get the keys, and start making the space our own.

We had thought in prior months that the state of our future would be as so: Rebecca would quit her job to work on art full-time, and we would perhaps purchase a home with friends to turn to a studio building (which, one day, I think would be worthwhile), or we would await a future time to buy a home for ourselves. After looking around, seeing the state of Real Estate in Seattle, and quickly realizing that we were on the verge of becoming priced out of the market, we figured that it was necessary to act. If we waited much longer we would either be (1) renting forever, (2) chased out of the city or (3) under the burden of an impossibly painful mortgage, with little time or energy to complete anything artistic.

Rebecca unfortunately had to concede that this was the wrong time to stop working a day-job.

So… we interviewed Real Estate agents (ultimately choosing an agent that handles a number of homes sold by artists) and Mortgage agents (choosing one that has helped close transactions for many artist friends), went to free seminars, read books, and studied any information we could gather. Over the period of the past two months we went from knowing absolutely nothing about the process of buying a home to feeling rather confident and prepared.

Our criteria were simple: the home should have clean creative space (read: studio), messy creative space (for sawing/drilling/etc.), a reasonably large yard, and should be as close to Seattle as we could find.

We spent a number of days doing research on the internet and we were quickly disappointed. Here in Seattle (as in many other larger cities) the rise in price of homes has far outpaced increases in income – we saw very, very few homes within a range we felt that we would be able to pay for; this despite the fact that we both work during the day. I fear that if we waited another year we would be completely unable to find anything reasonable.

A few weeks ago, Rebecca and I went out to view homes with our agent: 5 homes were found that weekend within our modest price range, matching the majority of our base criteria in theory. We were quickly ushered from the first home by our agent, who was significantly shocked (appalled) by it and commented that she could not in good conscience permit us to think more on it. The following two homes were small, cinderblock homes, cold and depressing. The fourth home was cute and tidy, but tiny, with little space for art making (it also had a hall so narrow that both of my shoulders nearly touched the facing walls simultaneously). We could see that someone would likely purchase the home quickly, but it was not the option for us.

The fifth home was somewhat an accident. Our agent thought it was much closer to the city of Seattle than it was – it is in a neighboring county, but rather close to my day-job. We nearly decided to turn back. Plus, the listing photos were less than fully appealing, and, after the homes we saw earlier in the day, our expectations were not high.

When we pulled up to the home, we were a little anxious, as the home was not very impressive from the front. We entered the door and we were surprised to see a large room that was the perfect size and layout for a studio! It was almost 3 times the size of the room we currently use for a studio, had wood laminate floors, good light, track-lighting, and high ceilings! The (hopefully) soon-to-be-former-owners apparently did not know what to do with the room, and it had the appearance of a dance floor.

We walked though the room, up three steps, through an arched doorway, and entered a large loft-style room – living room, dining room and kitchen all-in-one. In the middle of the high-ceilinged room was a large stone fireplace. Three bedrooms were down the hall.

To add to our excitement, the property is on .25 acres, and has a shed in back (which needs some TLC) for woodworking!

So… despite the distance from Seattle (40+ minutes), we made an offer, had the offer accepted, and had the home inspected. By the time this is posted, hopefully we will have concluded negotiating and will be packing for the move. Rebecca is pondering how and where she will be working in the future, a little depressed that she won’t be painting full-time as we recently proposed, but she is very excited that we will soon own a home (especially one with such amazing space)!

Keeping with the subject, I am writing this now at Art Night, at the studio/loft of our friends Tim and Steph, in the middle of a conversation about how everyone in this old industrial building is being forced out by the Summer. It is a shame: another lovely, creative space devoured by rising Real Estate values and increasing city density. I feel very lucky that we will soon have a home (despite the fact that we will be paying twice what we currently pay for rent) and feel privileged to have a job that permits us to own a home. I worry for my friends, many of whom have a steeper challenge ahead.

I hope that one day, before we are old and drained of inspiration by our employments, Rebecca and I are able to find a way to both meet our goal of full-time art-making while maintaining shelter and a reasonably good quality-of-life. I am not always optimistic, but am certain that the only choice is to face the challenge and see where the effort takes us.

I am not including images of the home now, for fear of jinxing the process, but instead am including some pictures of last week’s Art Night at our friend Tim Marsden’s studio (with his permission, of course) – not the same Tim mentioned earlier.

Looking forward to making art in the new space, looking forward to the National Portrait Gallery in late June, looking forward to the potential that the future holds…

Best wishes to all; thanks for reading!

Demi

Website http://demiart.com if you are so inclined...

Image 1: Rebecca hard at work on a new portrait 
Image 2: Art Night, Wednesday, 4/12/06, at Tim Marsden's studio