Janine Sieja writes and edits from Santa Fe, N.M., where she has owned houses that range from an 1890s adobe to a 1980s ranch. Her latest home endeavor was a backyard makeover featuring a hot tub and prodigious amounts of flagstone. Sieja has served as an editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines including the Chicago Tribune and Outside. She joined Cyberhomes as editor in December 2007.
When I think about my experiences buying and selling three homes in Santa Fe, N.M., where I’ve lived for 12 years, it’s the funny moments — not the serious ones — that stand out. I’ve nearly forgotten the anxiety over whether I could afford the yellow hacienda I fell for (no). But I fondly recall the seller, a friend of a friend, who included a mountain bike ride with him as a stipulation of the purchase contract. I loved the house; I agreed. At closing, the title officer couldn’t believe that mountain biking was a requirement of the sale. In all the transactions he had reviewed, he had never seen anything like it. Homeownership is continually a surprise and an education."