The House That Got Away...

I have a confession...we've been looking at other houses this summer.  You see, we love our house deeply (as regular readers will know), but having the two apartments in our house all rented out this summer has made us realize that it is set up perfectly as an income property.

So...we've been looking around.  Looking at duplexes, triplexes, and even fourplexes that have at least one unit large enough for us to live in for several years while renting the others (plus our current house) out.  We've seen quite a few properties, and even had an accepted offer on one, until we found structural issues and backed out.  Still...nothing seemed quite right...until this week, that is.

For the first time, we found a house that we like as much (or maybe even more) than our current house.  The best part is, it too is a duplex with a 3 bedroom unit on the ground floor and a 4 bedroom unit on the second and third floor.  Yup - it's huge!  Either unit would be large enough for our needs with some great rental income from the other unit.  Unfortunately, the sellers underpriced the house, creating a bidding war...a war in which we came in second.  So alas, it won't ever be ours (unless by some small chance the winning offer falls through...)

It didn't surprise us that there was an article in the local paper this weekend talking about how hot Hamilton's housing market has become, attracting investors and residents from Toronto and other cities.

I'm sure you'll agree, this is one beautiful house.  Here are some pictures from the listing.

The ground floor apartment:

Amazing, right?  Just wait until you see the 2nd & 3rd floor apartment:

And to top it all off, it has a beautiful private roof deck, is overlooking one of the best parks in the city, and even has views to the harbour!

Sigh...gorgeous, eh?  Right now we are just trying to accept that as much as we can't understand why, this house just isn't meant to be ours.  Maybe someday it will all make sense...or as impossible as it seems, maybe something better is just around the corner...