House Hunters International** with MsCaroline, Part II: Which One Did They Choose?

(MsCaroline's posts are not in any way connected with the awesome HGTV show House Hunters International, but she wishes they were.)

MsCaroline is well aware that, in her last post, she promised to reveal the results of the Asia Vu family's search for a new apartment in Seoul on "Monday or Tuesday."

Astute readers will be aware that it is now Thursday (almost Friday in Seoul.)

Just like the airlines, MsCaroline regrets the delay, but due to circumstances beyond our control, the apartment situation was not finalized until today.

Those of you who know MsC personally know that she does not do well with uncertainty and vagueness, so these last few days have been, shall we say, 'character-building' for her.

The delay was due to a little bit of real estate drama, which - thanks to an oddly-worded e-mail - gave the Asia Vus the impression that their first choice had already been taken.  This meant that MsCaroline spent part of Monday afternoon looking at more villas, including one with a beaten copper sink in what would have been the boys' bathroom, hahahahahaha - I don't think so.

After that viewing, MsCaroline slumped dejectdly back into the realtor's car  and expressed her sadness at having had her first choice slip through her fingers.  The realtor cocked her head, looked quizzically at her, and said, "But didn't you understand my e-mail? I said you can have the villa! Maybe my English is not so good?"

(Well, yes, that was the problem, but since MsCaroline got her first choice, she's going to overlook it.)

As it transpired, the villa was, indeed, being negotiated for by another couple and their realtor at the same time MsC and MrL made their offer.  However (and this was very unclear for quite a while) what the realtor had meant to say was that she had managed to get the landlord to accept their offer first.  So her e-mail, which was supposed to convey the message, "Rejoice! I have narrowly averted a disaster for you!" actually sounded like, "So sorry! The apartment is already under contract!"

 Language.  It is a tricky thing.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, the Asia Vus finally got their offer in on Monday, and the last few days have been a back-and-forth negotiation between themselves, the landlord, and their realtor, as they dicker about whether a water cooler is included in the rent (it is); whether the water delivery is included in the rent (it is, but only 2 bottles per month, and they use 4;) whether internet is included in the rent (it is,) whether the landlord will replace the nightmarish window treatment in front of the patio window that gets caught in the door when it is opened (he will); whether a full-size Western washer and dryer are included in the rent (no, but this can be arranged for a fee.)

All of this has been discussed exhaustively via text (best way to communicate with anyone in Korea), e-mail, and the occasional phone call.

Oh, and in the middle of it, Son#1 arrived home from the US for his summer break.

But finally, today at noon, MrL sent a text saying that the company had approved and signed the lease, and that the Asia Vu family would soon be on the move.

And so....without further ado (yes, yes, MsCaroline realizes that this has been an entire post just overflowing with ado) .....which one did they choose?

You will recall the choices were:

#1:  Spacious kitchen, gloomy, no outdoors

 
#2:  Smallest property, minimal storage, but with gorgeous outdoor decks:

#3:  Spacious and light, medium kitchen, small (but usable) patios - sort of like Paris.

Interestingly, the majority of commenters on the blog and on Facebook ignored #1, assuming (rightly) that it came down to a decision between #2 and #3.  In all fairness, the kitchen in #1 was enormous, and MsC did feel a twinge of regret when she passed it up, but at the end of the day, she is very satisfied with her choice:

The winner:  #3 - 'Paris'

MsCaroline is impressed with her readers' insight: even those of you who didn't pick Paris had excellent logic behind your choices. Most of you realized that MsCaroline's yearning for the outdoors would outweigh anything else and quickly removed #1 from consideration.  The few who picked #1 did so for that kitchen (oh, that kitchen!) which really was its saving grace.  

Those of you who chose #2 were closer than you would think.  In fact, MrLogical and MsCaroline had decided to make an offer on 'The Deck House' (as they had come to call it) and viewed it no less than 4 times with growing satisfaction.  On the fourth visit, however, they did something they should have done on the first visit:  they brought along a tape measure, which clearly illustrated just how small the rooms were.  While they still could have shoehorned their furniture into it managed it, at the end of the day, the lack of storage would have ended up being overwhelming (not to mention several items of furniture would have had to be gotten rid of.)  In addition, as more than one reader observed, the decks, while they were quite lovely, can only be used for approximately 4 months of the year in Seoul.  The unbearably hot and humid summers, weeks-long rains of monsoon season, and  at least 5 months of bitterly cold winter mean that any outdoor space can only be used a small percentage of the time.

Readers might also have noted that #2 was described as not having very much light and being on the ground floor.  MsCaroline did some thinking about how difficult the last 2 winters had been even in her flooded-with-light high rise apartment full of floor-to-ceiling windows, and she realized that signing on to live in an apartment that was already somewhat dark in the Spring- and undoubtedly even more tomblike in the winter- would be the final nail in the coffin of her Seasonal Affective Disorder.   MsCaroline had a few dark hours grieving the loss of the Western-sized oven, but at the end of her night of grief, she had made her peace with 2 more years of cooking in what amounts to an Easy-Bake Oven,  (and determined to buy herself the biggest damn toaster oven procurable for money when she was in the US in July - now that she has a place to store it, she might as well, right?)

#3, while offering very little in the way of a view, seemed to provide the best compromise:  it was bigger and lighter than #2, full of storage, and provided a little bit of that 'outdoors' that MsCaroline and MrLogical had been craving.  It had a dining room (the Asia Vu family has spent the last 2 years eating on a table wedged between the kitchen island and the back of the living room couch, flanked by a refrigerator,) an actual foyer, and a laundry room in which one could turn around. The closet space in the master bedroom was twice what they'd had in the 'luxury high-rise," and MrLogical's bicycle gear would no longer block the view out of the bedroom window.   And the best part? The patio - while not quite a Texas-sized deck, was large enough to hold a few chairs, a small table, and a grill. Which is really all MsCaroline had been hoping for.  Besides, as soon as she realized that they would probably end up in #3, she immediately began combing every Pinterest design board that featured balcony decor.

After a few days of intensive searching, she knows exactly what she's going to be doing with that plain 'Paris' balcony:

Just give her a little time.