On Saturday, the estate agent phoned Imraan to say she had a few promising houses lined up that fit our requirements. We decided to make a Sunday of it and took a drive up yesterday to view these 'promosing' listings...
I hardly slept on the drive to PMB, I was so excited, talking to Imraan and building castles in the air...
We had a list of the houses and when we met the estate agent she was very sure of herself...she even told me that I would just fall in love with one of the top three, she's sure of it!
As we followed her from burger street to loop street, from center street to the Suburbs of Northdale, Edendale and Raisethop...one by one, our spirits began to sink.
Every house we saw was far from the ones we had been dreaming off...non even seemed suitable...
Too old, too modern, too run down, too small, too big, no garden, too much of a garden, no privacy, too secluded...
None were what Imraan and I were expecting and we started questioning our expectations. By the time we were half way through the list, we were tired.
We didn't want an ancient house, we didn't want something too new and modern...we wanted a garden for the children but not an orchard and yard that will be difficult to maintain.
We wanted space but not so huge that the children's room would have its own GPS co-ordinate's.
We had thought that we would see a couple of houses and one would just feel like home!
There were a few on the list that didn't tick every single block but seemed workable, but the full disclosure clause that Imraan insisted on ment that we were told the background of each home, something that Imraan and I are both very fussy about...
The reasons for sale on one home was a divorce, neither partners wanted to keep the house, to many bad memories...
Another was a bank-repo.
One house was the scene of terrifying hold up that left the family too shattered to even continue living there ...
We didn't want to start our family on the crumbled dreams of another.
So the two houses that made it to our 'maybe' list had normal backgrounds of familys that inevitably had out grown the home...one was older than we liked but we could compromise, the other was humongous but that's not such a bad thing...
By the 8th house we were ready to call it a day...this was the last one we wanted to see...the estate agent herself wasn't to hopeful but Imraan and I had energy for one more...
This one was in Mountain Rise, as we turned into a leafy surban cal-de-sac the street name caught my eye, 'Paradise', I almost laughed...
We were told that this house wasn't vacant yet, the owners were still here till the sale because they were relocating overseas and only after they were sure of a sale.
The estate agent stopped outside a beautiful beigh and blue home...I felt sure the one we would be seeing would be next door or across the road. Nobody would sell this beautiful place!
When she walked to the intercom, I held my breath and looked at Imraan. I could see it in his eyes too...if this was the house, this was it!
We got out excitedly...at the door we were met by an elderly couple, upon seeing us they smiled warmly.
"As Salaamu Alikum, aww aww..." the man welcomed us.
Stepping inside, I immediately felt at home.
The furniture wasn't my style, but the home had a warm inviting feeling, the place was well maintained and I could easily imagine living here. It was spacious but not so big that it felt cold...everything felt, well...homely.
"Welcome to Chateau le Fatima.", the man continued with a laugh.
"My wife's name is Fatima, she choose this home for us 35 years ago.", he continued
"My wife is Fatima too!", Imraan said laughing.
The older Fatima smiled at me, "Come Il show you around"
She led me from room to room, while she showed me the house she shared some of her memories of raising her family.
Two of her sons now lived in Canada and wanted their parents to join them, her daughter lived in Australia.
They were ready for a new experience she explained, they didn't want to miss out on their grandchildren .
When I rejoined Imraan and the Uncle, I could see that Imraan felt the same way as me...
The Ahmed's led us to their spacious country kitchen, seeing it just sealed the deal for me.
Ofcorse they insisted we have tea with them, our agent knew she had made this sale and politely told us she needed to leave, she would call tomorrow.
We spent another half an hour with the Ahmed's, touring the garden and outdoor braai area one of their sons had added in while still living with them a few years ago.
When we finally left for Durban, we had made up our mind...this was the home we would buy and start our family in. We hoped for many happy year's raising our children here, Insha'Allah.
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