At the beginning I almost chose the starter home but after I came across this house, I think this is a better starter home even though it's not marketed as a full Sylvanian home/house.
*image from the internet
*image from the internet
I like it better than the starter home 'cause it has not one but three outdoor spaces, and the 2nd floor is divided into two rooms with a door. Lol. So you can combine it with not just interior Sylvanian Families furniture stuff but also non-interior sets in one house (i.e. garden, stores, etc). Kill two birds with one stone. Best value methinks, especially when I don't intend to buy another Sylvanian Families home. Plus I like the color theme they chose. The walls aren't dark and the roof is light blue. Light and happy colors. Looks cleaner. I love it.
*image from the internet
Cute eh? But apparently this house was released way back in 2008 and major or toy retailers no longer sell this model, not even new on the big online auction site, not these days anyway. Too bad.
So in the end, when I found at least one to three used ones available on the auction site, I bid for one of them. Since these are used items, only some of the accessories in the pics above come with the house. And also comes with other Sylvanian Families set/furniture/figures that the seller is including in the auction for the house.
The auction duration for this item is like a week, and it feels too long when you're the bidder, 'cause you won't know if you won 'til after the auction time has finally ended, about a few days later (depends at which point during the auction time you first chanced upon it). Lol!!
For at least the two days before the auction end time, no one else was outbidding me. It was quiet. But on the last day, wow, I knew that's when some would start outbidding my bid. I had to fend off at least two bidders with auto-bids, the latter of whom was really determined. The latter also bid on the other available one at that auction site and lost so I guess that's why that bidder was particularly determined that they even tried to outbid me again about 1 minute before auction-end time. Last minute. Can't believe it.
I actually made use of the auction site's auto-bid settings twice or thrice during the whole process since my first bid for it. Auto bid is like the site's system will do the subsequent bids for you if you provide them your max bid now and the system will then outbid for you any new bids coming in, up to the maximum amount you entered (since you can't be around all the time to monitor the auction). The last auto-bid I did was for the determined other bidder 'cause I notice they were really going for it and I might not get this item after waiting several days for it. I don't wanna wait and look again. It's tiring. Lol! And I bid for it before they did for some days already.
So I did some deductive calculations then come up with my auto-bid/max bid each time I had to fend off the new outbidders. Hehe! I'm glad it worked as the other bidder tried again to outbid me at the last minute and my auto-bid/max bid calculation efforts paid off. I hadn't expected the last minute outbidding at all as that bidder got quiet for about 2 hours before bid end time then they did the last minute thing.
Anyway, long story short, I won the auction. Lol! By about 2 bucks vs the determined bidder and 2 bucks less than my final max bid. I think the other bidder ran out of time since they tried to outbid again only last minute, but my max bid was rather higher/rounded off instead of an exact match to the other same models also currently at auction at the time. Whew! Lol! This auction thing, especially when another keeps outbidding you, was kinda stressful and made my heart pound. haha! So thank goodness that's over. I don't want another auction experience to be like this.
This order should arrive before end of July. Can't wait. I might place it at the corner of the kitchen countertop where I can always see it while doing dishes, and get rid of the mess that's currently occupying that corner. That corner is actually not easy to reach too and also gets stuffed by messy items that aren't always being used so I think that might be the best spot for this Sylvanian Families house.
I have another Sylvanian Families item that I'm bidding for and it's not a house. And no other bidder for it yet either. 'Cause I think the seller labeled the item name wrong so it probably doesn't come up when people search for it at the auction site. Shhh!! Lol! Hopefully that works out and then I've all the big Sylvanian Families stuff that I find interesting purchased and done and won't have to buy a big Sylvanian Families item again.
