Saturday morning, we headed out in search of certain things needed for our growing family. One was for a house with a yard and space for Gerhard's business. The other, for a car with four doors and space for the stroller.
We've been doing some Internet research in the last weeks for a car and I've been keeping an eye out on the realstate market for well over a year. Saturday brought to an end both searches.
First, we toured a house I found on the Internet. It is located 12 minutes (8,4km /5 miles) into the Black Forest from where we live now. It is also a small town, but much less noisy. There is no major traffic street running through the town. Here, one runs by right by our front door & the traffic has gotten much worse over the past couple of years. We'll have to move into the next county of Calw. That means changing our car tags, telephone number and zip code too. So many new numbers to remember! Here, we have an ATM and a Pizza place. The new town has a café, a hotel, a couple of restaurants, a bakery, a drink store (meaning bottled water, etc.), several small businesses, a Biergarden, a Putt-Putt and an 18-hole golf course. Though it's a small town, seemingly in the boonies, it's not completely without. The town is a holiday village called Monakam & belongs to a larger Wellness city called Bad Liebenzell. Naturally Bad Liebenzell, just down the hill, has even more shopping & entertainment to offer since it is also a tourist town (even with it's own ice skating rink).
The house is of a good size with a large fenced in yard. I am very much looking forward to planting a garden of veggies. In the basement, there is a special room that will keep veggies longer. There is also a two car garage, so that is good. There is a bit of space between neighbors as well. In Germany, land is very expensive, so living space is very close.
Touring the house, it was difficult to see through the chaos of packing of the family currently living there. All in all though, we felt a peace about this being where we should move. As long as I've been reading the Ad's and searching the Internet, nothing has fit our budget and needs as this one. Sure, there are some things that we'll have to work around. The house comes with two kitchens, one upstairs and one down, since the house can be converted for two families. We also have a kitchen that we are to take with us from our current apartment. Since there is so much space in the laundry room, there shouldn't be a problem to set up an extra kitchen in the basement till we figure out what works best for us in the house. Gerhard has lived in Weil der Stadt (Merklingen & now Hausen) for 36 years, so he has to take a big leap to move, even though it's only two towns over. He knows it's easier for me, I moved from a country, many towns and an ocean over to live here, but I can still empathise with him. For me, there is no issue with driving a few more minutes to the major shopping center in Weil der Stadt or to the farms I'm familiar with. Under normal circumstances I go grocery shopping only once a week anyway. I'm not the type to have to go every day or two. I'm used to planning ahead and having extra in the freezer. Actually saves money not buying spur of the moment things. Right now however, we are not living under normal circumstances due to the pregnancy. Gerhard does a lot of grocery shopping for me since he is already out and about. He tends to buy more snacky foods than I, but he needs treats from time to time, so that's ok. He will also pick up things I don't normally buy, like the expensive Häagen-Dazs Choc Choc Chip that I've craved this past week. He does a good job and I've very thankful for him taking such good care of me.
Back to the house. We'll be moving in March. For the helpers, we'll grill some yummy burgers & wursts. I'm so looking forward to finally being able to grill when ever I want. Here we don't have a yard so have to grill out practically on the street. Below are the floor layout's to give you an idea of the house. We'll post photos of the painting & moving in March. Also, the landlady told the agent on Saturday that if we decided to take the house, he should cancel the appointment scheduled for this week & give the house to us. Cool huh?
Here is the ground floor layout:
Here is the upstairs layout:
Here is the basement layout:
After we left the house on Saturday, we drove to the VW dealer in Weil der Stadt. We found a VW Touran on the Internet that looked as if it could be the right one for us. I had the same impression with this car as I did with the Opel Agila I found online that Gerhard's been driving the past few years. We've rented Touran's when Julie and Wally came to visit and also when Tania, Lori and Jeanne visited. We liked the car & thought we might choose that one when we were ever blessed with a baby. So, with my organization insanity, I made a chart comparing about 10 different cars that could fit our needs. It's not all about size and gas you know. We also have to take into consideration insurance costs. So many people run out and buy the car want only to find out the next day how much insurance cost. The Touran fell into a very low insurance category, so that was a major plus. We test drove the car for about 30 minutes. Before we even left the parking lot Gerhard said "We get it!". He is too funny. So, we drove back to the dealer and started dealing. Winter tires did not come with the car, so I suggested they take off the price of the Winter tires that we would have to purchase in order to drive the rest of this Winter. That didn't seem too pleasing, so the salesman called to ask for new Winter tires to be put on the car for free. That is a good deal. Here, we have two sets of tires, Winter and Summer, meaning two sets of rims which adds up. Also, Gerhard can beat the insurance price by almost half of what the salesman offered. Well done Gerhard! We are able to pick up the car on the 23rd. It takes a bit till for the inspection, tire changing, tag ordering, car cleaning and all that good stuff here in Germany.
Here is the Touran:
So we had a weekend full of blessings of answered prayers. Soon, everything will be really ready for the baby to arrive! How exciting is that?
We've been doing some Internet research in the last weeks for a car and I've been keeping an eye out on the realstate market for well over a year. Saturday brought to an end both searches.
First, we toured a house I found on the Internet. It is located 12 minutes (8,4km /5 miles) into the Black Forest from where we live now. It is also a small town, but much less noisy. There is no major traffic street running through the town. Here, one runs by right by our front door & the traffic has gotten much worse over the past couple of years. We'll have to move into the next county of Calw. That means changing our car tags, telephone number and zip code too. So many new numbers to remember! Here, we have an ATM and a Pizza place. The new town has a café, a hotel, a couple of restaurants, a bakery, a drink store (meaning bottled water, etc.), several small businesses, a Biergarden, a Putt-Putt and an 18-hole golf course. Though it's a small town, seemingly in the boonies, it's not completely without. The town is a holiday village called Monakam & belongs to a larger Wellness city called Bad Liebenzell. Naturally Bad Liebenzell, just down the hill, has even more shopping & entertainment to offer since it is also a tourist town (even with it's own ice skating rink).
The house is of a good size with a large fenced in yard. I am very much looking forward to planting a garden of veggies. In the basement, there is a special room that will keep veggies longer. There is also a two car garage, so that is good. There is a bit of space between neighbors as well. In Germany, land is very expensive, so living space is very close.
Touring the house, it was difficult to see through the chaos of packing of the family currently living there. All in all though, we felt a peace about this being where we should move. As long as I've been reading the Ad's and searching the Internet, nothing has fit our budget and needs as this one. Sure, there are some things that we'll have to work around. The house comes with two kitchens, one upstairs and one down, since the house can be converted for two families. We also have a kitchen that we are to take with us from our current apartment. Since there is so much space in the laundry room, there shouldn't be a problem to set up an extra kitchen in the basement till we figure out what works best for us in the house. Gerhard has lived in Weil der Stadt (Merklingen & now Hausen) for 36 years, so he has to take a big leap to move, even though it's only two towns over. He knows it's easier for me, I moved from a country, many towns and an ocean over to live here, but I can still empathise with him. For me, there is no issue with driving a few more minutes to the major shopping center in Weil der Stadt or to the farms I'm familiar with. Under normal circumstances I go grocery shopping only once a week anyway. I'm not the type to have to go every day or two. I'm used to planning ahead and having extra in the freezer. Actually saves money not buying spur of the moment things. Right now however, we are not living under normal circumstances due to the pregnancy. Gerhard does a lot of grocery shopping for me since he is already out and about. He tends to buy more snacky foods than I, but he needs treats from time to time, so that's ok. He will also pick up things I don't normally buy, like the expensive Häagen-Dazs Choc Choc Chip that I've craved this past week. He does a good job and I've very thankful for him taking such good care of me.
Back to the house. We'll be moving in March. For the helpers, we'll grill some yummy burgers & wursts. I'm so looking forward to finally being able to grill when ever I want. Here we don't have a yard so have to grill out practically on the street. Below are the floor layout's to give you an idea of the house. We'll post photos of the painting & moving in March. Also, the landlady told the agent on Saturday that if we decided to take the house, he should cancel the appointment scheduled for this week & give the house to us. Cool huh?
Here is the ground floor layout:
Here is the upstairs layout:
Here is the basement layout:
After we left the house on Saturday, we drove to the VW dealer in Weil der Stadt. We found a VW Touran on the Internet that looked as if it could be the right one for us. I had the same impression with this car as I did with the Opel Agila I found online that Gerhard's been driving the past few years. We've rented Touran's when Julie and Wally came to visit and also when Tania, Lori and Jeanne visited. We liked the car & thought we might choose that one when we were ever blessed with a baby. So, with my organization insanity, I made a chart comparing about 10 different cars that could fit our needs. It's not all about size and gas you know. We also have to take into consideration insurance costs. So many people run out and buy the car want only to find out the next day how much insurance cost. The Touran fell into a very low insurance category, so that was a major plus. We test drove the car for about 30 minutes. Before we even left the parking lot Gerhard said "We get it!". He is too funny. So, we drove back to the dealer and started dealing. Winter tires did not come with the car, so I suggested they take off the price of the Winter tires that we would have to purchase in order to drive the rest of this Winter. That didn't seem too pleasing, so the salesman called to ask for new Winter tires to be put on the car for free. That is a good deal. Here, we have two sets of tires, Winter and Summer, meaning two sets of rims which adds up. Also, Gerhard can beat the insurance price by almost half of what the salesman offered. Well done Gerhard! We are able to pick up the car on the 23rd. It takes a bit till for the inspection, tire changing, tag ordering, car cleaning and all that good stuff here in Germany.
Here is the Touran:
So we had a weekend full of blessings of answered prayers. Soon, everything will be really ready for the baby to arrive! How exciting is that?
1 comment:
How cool! Definitely a weekend full of blessings. I'm glad to see that the house finding is finally coming through and that you found the car to fit your needs all in one weekend. It all works out in God's timing!
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