Getting Boulder Part 2 (read part 1)
May 2010
A couple days later, we had a small party at our house for friends and afterward a close friend/client whom I had been working with for months to find the right home in Hancock Park said to me “maybe we should look for a house like yours”.
‘Like ours’ meant more than the comment it sounds like. We had converted a large 1926 Spanish duplex into a single-family home. It wasn’t the easiest project and although there were many duplexes in the area, they rarely came available and not all were set up for conversion. Opportunity knocking? Maybe.
Our plan to move to Boulder was so new we hadn’t taken a single step in that direction. The house was not on the market. We hadn’t told a single person about the possibility and we hadn’t even applied to The Hillside School. Might be too early for opportunity to knock. But if we were to pull this off in time to have my daughter in school for fall, there was no time to waste. Be Bold.
So I mustered the courage to say, “Would you guys want to buy our house?” Then I cringed, waiting for a response. Might sound silly but houses are so personal. It’s difficult to work with a friend sometimes and even tougher to ask a friend to consider your own personal home. I was forcing her into an awkward spot. How would she tactfully say, “Your style sucks. I wouldn’t be caught dead buying your house.” Or if by some crazy stroke of luck she thought it might work, how do I then handle the negotiations of the transaction without loosing a good friend.
Her response, “Oh…I…well…”
Uh oh.