The tale of a dream...

As a teen, I dreamed of a white house with a wrap-around porch and a white picket fence. I imagined I'd have five kids, and be married to a wonderful man. I'll have to type out my paper that I wrote when I was 16. You may come to think of me as a psychic. Really, I'm just determined...and lucky.

Over the years, my taste transformed from farm house and shabby chic, to bohemian and mid-century modern. Ever since Stephen and I lived in the little cabin on Lake Samish in Bellingham, we knew we wanted to live on waterfront. We were open to living on fresh water or salt water but the ever changing beauty and vastness of waterfront was a goal.

We purchased our duplex as a stepping stone; an investment to get us closer to the dream. We labored hard and have a bit of a hate-hate relationship with that one. But one step closer we became. And then we purchased our 61st Ct. house. It was cute and fit us so well for the season we were in. But far too quickly we outgrew the roomy 3 bedroom home with our 5 lively kids. And so we decided it was time to sell and look for property to build that mid-century modern, bohemian, waterfront home.

Let's rewind a few months. The summer prior to Hazel's birth, I found a waterfront piece of property. It was 3 acres on Cooper Pt. I thought I found IT. We toiled back and forth with offers and counter-offers. We spent months testing the soil, having a septic design written up and submitted to the county, driving out to this property, tromping around, estimating the costs to build, and thinking through what trees we'd have to remove to get a view. This property was nice, but the buildable plot was 150 feet or more from the water and had a very high bank at that. It was heavily forested. And the soil was muddy clay. We were within days of closing on this piece of property when Stephen and I both felt we were in over our heads. Hazel was only 3 weeks old. We just found out my dad had cancer. And we realized continuing on with our dream might just break us. We backed out.

Fast forward a year. We sold our house on 61st Ct. as a stepping stone to have equity for a substantial down payment on a construction loan/property. We decided to rent a home while we searched for the right piece of property. I found a beautiful big house in....Hawks Prairie. I was a little bummed. Why would I want to live there? I'd never thought I'd live in Lacey. But here we were, in a hot market with a couple of weeks to find a house as we were given a cash offer for our 61st Ct. home, and this was the only feasible option. We moved in.

The next year was spent searching. It's actually a little scary how much I can find about a person and their property. It's scary because I'm not the only one. But I would spend my nap time searching the satellite view of a map, (like what you see here to the left.) I had given up on the MLS. Property listed through the MLS seemed less than ideal. There was a problem with something or the other or it was beyond our budget. But remember, determined and a little lucky is my mantra.

This home we were renting was in a subdivision just a mile away from Tolmie State Park. One morning Stephen wanted to drive over and walk along the beach, so we all went. We turned the corner on Hill Rd. And my jaw dropped a little. "Wouldn't it be cool to live in one of those houses?" I thought. That first trip to Tolmie lead to many more. I found myself going there every other week just to toss rocks or see what sea creatures we'd find. And every time I'd drive to Tolmie, I'd look down at a heavily treed lot with a rundown cabin and multiple sheds of junk and a driveway full of beat up cars.


I cold called many different property owners, whom I found through assessors database and satellite views of a map that showed the lot was undeveloped. I was turned down over and over again with responses like, "sorry, we're holding that for our kids if they ever return home. Oh, and how did you get my number?" When I explained my story, they never seemed irritated and always wished me well. So I continued my search. One day, I decided to give this little cabin owner a call. We hadn't previously considered buying a home that needed remodeled because usually that meant it was over our budget or needed a lot of work which we'd rather just build new. But I thought I'd give it a go. I found out, through my research, that it was inherited by a brother and sister. They lived in Montana. I found their phone numbers. I left a voice mail.

Waiting. Dreaming. Wondering. I drove by the property, imagining what it would be like with our house sitting on it. I wondered if this gorgeous property, which was sandwiched on both sides with trees, would have a view like the houses next to it. I knew in my heart it was mine. I was so sure this was it.

Three weeks later, I got a return call. Jan (the sister) left a voicemail back. I squeeled with joy as I listened to her call. My heart raced. She WAS interested in selling. She wanted to have the soil testing done to determine the eligibility for a septic system before agreeing on a price. I recommended the man we'd previously worked with on our Cooper Pt. endeavor and when she agreed, I called him up and met him onsite. We hadn't signed any documents or sales agreements or even a contingent offer yet, but Stephen and I met the septic designer at the property, and when he said he thought it would be a 3 bedroom septic plan, we gave him our plans and asked if there was any way to make it work.

A few weeks later I received a call from Jan saying that, "the septic design has been approved. And for some reason the designer did a 4 bedroom plan." He designed it for our exact house plans. She didn't know that. A few more weeks went by with communication back and forth and we finally signed an agreement.