Meet Electra
We Zillowed, we saw, we bought.
Oh, if it were so simple…
Let’s back up - I’m Megan, that’s Jason. We started our home buying journey slowly - that was the plan. J moved to Napa in November 2019, we were all set to get married April 2020, the pandemic hit and that didn’t happen (a story for another time.) In August, still not married, we decided to start cruising around our general area in Northern California and look at houses. I mean, if a wedding couldn’t happen during a pandemic, why not buy a house? Way to pile on the stress…
After J found out that he was able to work remotely, removing all possibility of having to stay near San Francisco, I thought, well, hey, what about Southern Oregon? I’d always dreamed of moving to Oregon, so I flicked open Zillow once again and looked at Medford. Instantly I spotted my dream home - a 1900 Victorian for the right price. I had to concede on my “must-haves” in a new house, like big yard, outbuildings, no close neighbors… This house though had all the charm and character that would be millions in the Bay Area. I showed J the morning of October 24, and as the amazing human he is, said, “Well, want to drive to Medford tomorrow morning?” I said, “Sure…?” So we did. I hit the “Contact Agent” button on Zillow, we were connected with Stephanie that morning. She arranged for us to see the Victorian on Sunday afternoon, along with some others.
Sunday morning, October 25, J and I left Napa super early and hit the road. We got to Medford in about 5.5 hours (it’s not a long drive at all! *Wink wink nudge nudge* my Bay Area peeps…), dropped our stuff at the hotel, J sent the mortgage officer paperwork to get the pre-approvals finalized, and we headed over to the house to check it out. We walked in and were stunned by the woodwork, the super high ceilings, the size and all the details. It had some not-my-style decor like grape wallpaper (hello, 1987 Napa Valley, of course) but that stuff is fixable. S took us to another 3 houses that day and another 3 the next morning before we left town, but none could compare to the Victorian. We left Medford on Monday, October 25, around noon, got back to Napa around 5, talked at length about everything we saw, the town, could we do this, what are we doing, are we moving to Medford, what is happening and a lot of “are we crazy? Is this crazy?” Yes, yes it was.
We put an offer in on October 26 and everything was set in motion. This was J’s first home buying experience (yay first time homebuyer programs!) and my third and it was STILL quite the process. Things move more slowly in Oregon, including buying a house, and that’s something we both have to get used to across the board. The whole thing finalized and the house was ours, closed, wrapped up with a bow (I wish!) on December 16. Between December 16 and when the movers finally came to get our stuff on December 22, a lot went down, but again, that’s a story for another time.
The night of December 22, 5:45pm, J and I drove to Medford to get the keys to our new home, the Earl Fehl House, set in the Historic District of southwest Medford.
Everyone, meet Electra.
