Josh Bought a Condominium

Since the Illinois condo worked well — built to suit, sold it five years to the day after I bought it, because my job moved across the country — I did it again. I went ahead and bought a condo in Saline, Michigan, outside of Ann Arbor in July 2009. Originally built in late 2003 by Peters Building Company, it's a 1576 square feet ranch condo with another 700+ square feet of partially-finished basement. It includes:

• 3 bedrooms (one of which is the library and one of which is the home office in the basement)
• 3 full bathrooms (one of which is in the basement)
• 2-car attached (side-by-side) garage
• 9-foot ceilings on the entry level, with cathedral ceiling in the master bedroom
• Ceiling fans
• Central air
• Gas fireplace
• Humidifier on the furnace
• Oak railings on and around the stairwell
• Private entryway
• Reverse-osmosis water filtration system

I can't find floor plan pictures online, but will have pictures up as soon as possible.

In May 2015, I replaced the flooring on the main level: I had the wall-to-wall carpet removed from the dining room hallway, library, living room, and master bedroom; the medium-brown wood removed from the foyer, and the vinyl removed from the kitchen and garage entry hallway. In its place, I put in solid hardwood: Red oak, ¾x4" planks, in a smoky gray color.

In December 2018, I replaced all of the windows (except the eyebrow window in the basement utility room) with energy-efficient triple-pane insulated vinyl windows.

In May 2022, I added a 14kW natural gas generator.

In September 2022, I replaced the deck.

In September–December 2022, I renovated the kitchen and upstairs bathrooms: I replaced the countertops (from the default builder-grade beige formica-analog with grey-marbled off-white quartz), commodes, fixtures, and accessories (brushed nickel in the kitchen and master bath and stainless steel in the hall bath), and all the sinks are now under-mounted for easier cleaning. I upgraded the kitchen garbage disposal to ¾ HP. The two bathroom floors are now tile (12x12" in the hall bath and 24x24" in the master bath). The master bathroom shower is now curbless and tiled, with a rainfall showerhead and detachable wand, and separated from the rest of the bathroom with a clear and colorless glass wall and door.

Independent of the renovations I also replaced my dead refrigerator (October), dying stove (December), and dead dishwasher (TBD). I also had to call for warranty service on my microwave (December).

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