Yes, we finally bought our first home after many years of renting. The interest rates were very good, and even though prices were high and the market competitive, we managed to make and get an offer accepted (maybe someday, I'll write up the story and put an actual link here.
We started looking in November of 1997, and began reading some things about the process. We started seriously looking in mid-December. We are very happy with the service we received from a number of people and would recommend any/all of them to anyone looking to buy a house in the Seattle area.
Above page now password protected. Look here to see what you should enter. Use no spaces or caps in the password unless specified
Username to use Password
family1 Dale and Mary each have a sister whose name starts
with J. These sisters share the same middle name.
Enter that common middle name.
family2 Enter the name of the pet dog we had from 1969-79.
family3 My Dad and Mom both attended this college or
University
friend1 Enter the first name of Arjun's son.
friend2 Give the LAST name of the missing Bridesmaid (from
our wedding):
Suz, Kim, Kristin, Jonna.
friend3 Email me something good to use here.
bbuser always.has.nicks.like.this
work The drink of choice with pizza (full name).
If you don't know any of the above even though you think you
should, feel free to send me email. I ask that those of you with
the answers be careful in who you give info out too (other things
like pictures may go under protection in the near future).
The house was last used an an elderly care facility so it's generally sprawling and large and wide open. It's 60+ years old, and the finish materials aren't very good. But the house is structurally good and we can do things like paint and remodel ourselves. If we had wanted to buy a newer home, we probably could have bought an 1100 sf 2 bd/1 ba on a 5000 sf lot.
We closed on February 26, 1998, and started moving the next day, with our big move on Saturday the 28th.