In the hands of fate

Happy Year of the Ox!

I posted a friends entry today.

Erik and I have put in a rental application for an absolutely wonderful house in the San Pablo/El Sobrante hills. We didn’t expect to move so soon, but if we get this house we will be moving in just a few weeks. When we viewed the house on Saturday we were flipping out because it’s so gorgeous and so perfect for us, but then we learned it’s on the Hayward Fault. It’s also expensive (the very top of our range), and farther north than we intended to live. After much consideration and a lot of research, we finally decided to just apply, and leave it in the hands of God or the universe! I figure if we’re meant to live there, we’ll get it, and if not, it was never meant to be. Both the pros and cons are formidable and compelling, so we can be happy either way.

Some of the pros:
-incredible light and cross-breezes
-dishwasher, gas range, kitchen island, washer-dryer hookups, and truly ridiculously enormous storage space in the kitchen, garage, and basement
-house is on a hillside, with a big two-story deck that has a spectacular view of the bay
-excellent office space
-extensive hiking trails close by (we can hike to Tilden in Berkeley!)
-the neighborhood itself is safe — the mayor of San Pablo lives up the street

Some of the cons:
-being on top of a fault line AND on a hillside*
-high rent is made even higher by us having to move earlier than we planned
-we would have to move very soon, and pay double rent for a few weeks
-San Pablo is not the safest city (though the hills are, as I mentioned above)
-no rent control
-if Erik needed to go to the Peninsula for work/consulting gigs, he’d have a long drive (45 minutes without traffic, but traffic would almost certainly be really bad)
-we’d probably end up doing most of our errands, and spending most of our not-at-home leisure time, in other cities

In short, the house itself leaves nothing to be desired, while the location and cost are both less than ideal. We’re expected to find out by Thursday morning whether we’ll get it, so I will keep you posted for sure!

*Everyone keeps saying, “Oh, but the fault line doesn’t matter if you’re renting. It’d only be a problem if you were buying the house.” While it’s true that it would be folly to buy a house on a fault line, that doesn’t mean it’s any safer to rent — if an earthquake hits, it’s not going to stop and ask us whether we’re renters or buyers before it totals the house! We all know the Big One will hit eventually, but we like to think it’ll be “later” as opposed to “in the next couple of years” — as if anyone can really be sure. As I say, we’re leaving ourselves in the hands of fate here… but so are we always, so I’m okay with that. And the house has been seismically retrofitted, so at least we have that much protection against what may come.