Category Archives: manifesting

Selling My Dream House

With the original cobblestone fireplace from 1876, this grand entrance welcomes you into this one-of-a-kind home.

Do you have a dream of owning an amazing historic Craftsman home? I did.

Surprisingly, I’m truly excited to share that my dream house is now for sale. Check out the listing for 726 7th Street Astoria OR.

With a cobblestone fire place from 1876, it’s an incredible example of Craftsman architecture, and in my not-so-humble opinion, it’s one of the most beautiful homes in Astoria, if not the planet. Plus, the most amazing view and location, just blocks from Buoy and all of downtown.

I know living in such a grand home isn’t for everyone, but I loved it. I truly worked my ass off to make it not just my dream house, but our home. I loved transforming it from a dusty, dark, cluttered and slightly run down house to one that felt lived in and loved. When we had the house on the Assistance League’s Home and Chef Tour (which raised over $18k for kids who need clothing), it felt so wonderful to get compliments from guests who said they could feel the love when they entered the door. 🙂

I shared the story two years ago about how I manifested my dream house, and a year later about how it had become My Historic Money Pit. On my family blog I shared how we wanted to attract co-housing renters in the basement, but what I never shared how I worked for months to turn the Theater into an Aibnb rental, where at $40 a night, we’ve made over $1k a month in the winter months, and more in the summer. Between the two rentals, it nearly pays the mortgage (and if we had stayed we would have refinanced with the new policy that allows home owners to count Airbnb income to lower their rate/payment). For someone who wants to have an Airbnb lifestyle, hosting guests from near and far, the place is perfect.

That had been our plan, along with happily ever after, but as it turns out, I started the new year deciding that it was time to end my marriage. Blessedly, we’ve been as amicable as possible, but I also felt in my heart that I had to let go of my dream house to actually live my dreams.

In this case, our loss will be someone’s gain. We’ve priced the house $20k below what our realtor thinks we could have listed at in order to get buyers to bite faster. We’ve worked hard for the past two months to move my stuff and get the place gleaming. I am certain that the house hasn’t looked this good in a hundred years!

The good news is that since the listing went live, we’ve gotten over forty hearts on Zillow. I know many will admire it, but we only need one buyer who is ready to own their dream home. 🙂

Lastly, I just want to sent out a little woo-woo vibes for an easy sale. Who knows, maybe this post will randomly get sent to a friend of a friend whose inspired to live in Goonieville. Believe me, if I was independently wealthy, I would buy the place again in a heartbeat. 🙂

Peace,

Darcy Rose

PS Talk to me if you too have the dream of creating a boarding house for women and children who are transitioning due to divorce. 😉

The most amazing sun room overlooking the mighty Columbia River. My favorite place for tea or wine.

Beautiful music parlor, and we’re planning to sell the piano and most of the furnishing for a great price.

It’s hard to pick a favorite room…too bad they couldn’t take a pick up the no-so-secret room. 😉

Year End Giving

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Anybody who has ever worked for a non-profit organization knows that the last quarter of the year makes all the difference in an annual budget. As someone who started giving philanthropically early on, I also take time to reflect at this time of year and consider what causes are most important to me that I may not have had a chance to give to thus far this year.

Everyone’s giving looks different, but I find it personally interesting to see how and why people choose where they give (or don’t give). Here is an overview at what my giving looks like this year, and why.

Rotary International Foundation – As anyone who is an avid reader knows, I’m a big Rotarian and highly support the great work that Rotary does around the world. I started doing a $25 monthly contribution last year, ironically when I was first on maternity leave and without a consistent income in the future. I did it in part to manifest wealth and giving in my life. At the end of the year I also contributed extra to make use of a matching that was offered by our club. My total giving for the year will be $400, plus additional credit will be matched.

InStove.org – I am also now on the Board of Directors for InStove.org, which makes the cleanest, safest, most fuel efficient stove in the world. As a new board member I have chosen to stretch myself and give an initial donation of $1000, along with my time and volunteer hours to leverage that funding even further. I realize that my grant making capacity makes a monetary contribution minimal in comparison, but I feel that it helps to show faith in the mission and support this incredible work.

Lewis & Clark College – I have also contributed to Lewis & Clark College for a number of years. Since I initially had a difficult time paying my way through LC, I feel particularly indebted to the institution that changed my life in so many ways for the better. I typically give $100 per year to LC. Perhaps one day I will increase this.

Kiva.org – I haven’t gone to the same level of commitment as my sister has, with her experiment giving $1000 through loans with Kiva. I figured I should at least top off my current account and be inspired to give a bit more. I just gave to a women’s group in Burkina Faso. It is only hard to choose between so many worthy folks wanting a little help.

EduCongo – Another great cause that I support and just gave a to. My dear friend Lou Radja is a fellow Rotarian and does tremendous work with a school that he and his father built in DRCongo. For now I’m giving enough to pay for a year of school fees for a student ($60), but I will be attending a fundraiser for EduCongo in the spring and plan to give more then. I also hope to make it out to visit the school at some point as well.

While I may not feel as flush without a steady paycheck coming in, as I have most often enjoyed, I still feel that it is important to give. It creates a virtuous cycle and keeps the giving going.

Cheers,

Miel

Manifesting My Dream Home

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Manifesting our dream home has taken us 15 years, but only because we had to believe in our dream before it came true…then it happened very quickly.

Early in our relationship, Hubby and I went to two parties at beautiful Craftsman homes (at his professor’s and a fundraiser…not exactly grad school housing ;-). All these years later, I remember the feeling of falling in love with the spectacular woodwork and charming details. I vividly remember looking at each other with the earnest hope that we would some day be able to live in such an amazing home. Now we do. My jaw still drops into a gaping smile when I pass my own threshold. (Check out my virtual home tour…it really doesn’t do the place justice with the narrow lens, but it gives you an idea).

I shared recently about how I manifested our first dream homes, but it’s been truly amazing to manifest our current home. It feels like nothing short of a miracle, but I know that it happened because I was methodical in my manifesting and took action to make it a reality. It’s similar to what I’ve read in books like Notes from the Universe, but these are my personal notes.

1) Daydream from a place of security, rather than scarcity. I loved our home in inner NE Portland, and at the time when we moved in six years ago, I honestly couldn’t have imagined any place better suited for our growing family. Yet, after we had grown by two daughters, it came to mind that there would come a day when a one shower would be a challenge (and yes, I do think about how many people don’t even have plumbing or amazing water flowing from the tap, but I don’t recommend focusing on this too much while manifesting, unless you are ready and willing to manifest some real world change…so far, I’ve mostly left that job to my twin sister ;-). My point is that I came to the decision that we should move from a place of pondering the possibilities and building faith, rather than panic and doubt.

2) As soon I/we had make up my mind that we should move, I also declared my love for our home. Feeling the abundance is the best way to create more. When we shared our plans with our kids, I made a point to let the kids know that we should still feel blessed to live in our home. Our home would still make a lovely home for someone else and that stage of their lives. I made a point of mentally thanking and blessing our home as we steadily prepared it for sale.

3) From that place of feeling secure and blessed, I moved to expressing my gratitude. I made a full list of all the things I love(d) about our San Rafael home:

Charming & historic (1904 Farmhouse Victorian built by a former city councilor)
Beautiful and flowing layout (every inch of the space was well planned and spacious)
Nice size, big enough but not too big
Close-in in location – next to streetcar/MAX/bus, walkable to the Pearl and downtown
Shops and restaurants nearby…more every year
Huge backyard, shed, sand pit & fire pit, nice patio
Front and back porches
3 bedrooms upstairs
Colorful and cheery
High ceilings and nice light

4) Next, I enlisted my family to write a list together of all the things we wanted in a home (I would hate to manifest something that didn’t work for all of us!) The trick with manifesting is to dream big and write a very detailed list (or visual collage if you want to get creative).

So, our family wrote out a “Wish List to the Universe.”

Historic charm, modern updates
Chimney for Santa & cozy fires, with a beautiful mantle
Space for an outdoor fire pit
4 bedrooms (Kieran requested that his be “wide open for a queen bed”)
2 bathroom, one with a bath tub, one with a nice tiled shower
Lots of light, lovely colors
Tall ceilings
Front porch
Room for picnic table, BBQ, hammock, garden pots and growing veggies
Finished basement – room for ping pong and playing
Close to the park, Miel, school, restaurants and shops
Insulated and efficient
Beautiful and peaceful
No need to fix much or remodel (I actually added the word “much” in the line after, thinking to myself that I couldn’t imagine being able to afford a house that wouldn’t need any work…now I wish that I hadn’t added that caveat…)

5) Immediately after coming up with our gratitude and wish lists, we came up with a list of actions we would need to take in order to sell our home. Everything from hire a real estate agent to stage our home. We prioritized what we needed to get done with a time line of about six tasks each month and a five month timeline to get our house ready for sell. We had made a similar list when selling our first home and with both where able to pace ourselves while somewhat smaller tasks while reaching a pretty huge goal. We posted this five month timeline on our refrigerator and checked off at least a task week until suddenly we had reached our initial goal of putting our place on the market by Memorial Day. The only radical change in our plan was that Kevin was offered his dream job in Astoria in early May, so we took a road trip to find our dream home. Yet, I know that his job offer wasn’t a fluke, but fate, manifesting our deepest dreams. The fact that we were able to sell our home in just a weekend for $51k above asking may seem like just a lucky market, but it was really a combination between believing in our dream home and taking consistent action.

Have you ever intentionally visualized and manifested your home?

Cheers!

Darcy

Finding a New Tax Accountant

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I lost my tax accountant in our recent divorce. I’m taking it as a reminder of the value of starting fresh and getting my finances in order. Besides, there are some advantages to having a tax accountant more locally (ours was still out in DC). While I never actually met our accountant face to face, Nancy Tao with Tax Masters, was extremely good about scheduling at flexible times and giving us guidance around various tax situations. If you are looking for an accountant in the DC area, I would highly recommend her. Our lowest tax year was paying just under 5% in federal taxes (while both in grad school and having business income as writeoffs).

I’ve been working with a tax accountant for the last thirteen years and think that tax accountants are money well spent. In fact, my first time filing taxes as an 18-year-old resulted in getting an expected tax refund (that I hadn’t calculated properly), because I didn’t think that I could possibly get that much back (turns out that I was just working my arse off at Crater Lake Lodge for the summer between high school and college). I lived off that refund as I saved money for the next semester at Lewis & Clark College.

Now I am in search of a new tax accountant, for both my personal taxes and those of our Olivia Beach Camp Cabins.

If you are a regular reader of Sustainable Family Finances, you know that we are all about manifesting what we want in life. Here is what I’m looking for in an accountant. If you have anyone that you would recommend, please drop us a comment.

Great to work with (after all, you are dealing with less than fun subjects)
Savvy with tax benefits of small business ownership and juggling multiple LLCs
Knowledgeable in real estate (i.e. 1031 exchanges, vacation and rental properties, etc.)
Experience with blogging or online publishing
Willing to give helpful advice throughout the year for planning taxes
High level of integrity and attention to details
Aggressive approach to writing off legitimate expenses
Preferably located in Portland, Oregon

We’d love to hear if you have a tax accountant that you love, and what tips you’ve learned over the years.

Cheers,

Miel

Manifesting Our Dream Homes

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The listing photo for our San Rafael home.

I actually wrote this a full year ago (before we sold our Portland house, and bought our dream home in Astoria), but never posted it. I think I must have been too scared to believe, since it really didn’t feel possible at the time. Yet, before I share about manifesting our newest dream home, I thought I should finally post about our first experiences:

Our first dream home was a simple northwest-style cottage with cedar siding, hardwoods and plenty of lovely vintage windows. Before starting our search, we made up our wish list. The house matched it perfectly. It had just been flipped, so interior didn’t need much work, and we were able to focus our energy on designing and implementing my permaculture plan. We really wanted to be close to a park, and our place was so close to Arbor Lodge Park that I could watch dogs frolic as I washed the dishes. It was the perfect size for a couple, but as soon as I had Kieran, we suddenly felt cramped…for good reason; his nursery had previously been my closet.

So, we started to house hunt. We looked at just one home that we fell in love with, which had almost an identical layout as our current home…our Realtor could hardly believe how similar the two homes were. But we quickly realized that we couldn’t afford what we wanted…de ja vu to my recent experience of feeling a big financial gap.

By another year later, we did both save and grow our income enough to afford the house we really wanted. It’s good to remember how I manifested it to begin with. I’ve told the story to plenty of friends about how when we were house shopping we had found a descent place in the Beaumont neighborhood near many friends, but the yard was tiny, the layout wasn’t great, and the kitchen was atrocious (think pink tiles with inset electric burners!). So, one night as I was debating whether I could manage a full kitchen remodel, I decided that I needed to envision what it would look like. In my mind I created an open floor plan with a butcher block island in the center, open white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, pantry space, and a cozy kitchen nook. Then I painted it purple and smiled as I drifted to sleep…

Then, just as we accepted a fantastic offer on our first home, I found the listing. Touring the house felt like a dream come true, as I checked off all the details on our wish list, including my perfect purple kitchen.

We’ve lived in our lovely 1904 Victorian for six years now, moving in when I was pregnant with Makenna. Kieran was a chubby faced toddler when we moved in. Our family has literally grown here with peaceful home birth memories for both of my daughters. It feels like home in the best of ways, and it is a sentimental place for me.

Lately our home no longer feels like my current dream home, even though I kind of nudge myself to be grateful for all the beauty and comfort that surrounds me. I’m simply ready to manifest a new dream home.

So, my first step is coming up a detailed list of my new dream home…then feeling the joy inside…then keeping the faith that we will be able to make the leap.

Do you live in your dream home? Do you believe in manifesting one?

Darcy