House Hunters Trondheim

Maybe you’re familiar with the TV show House Hunters. A couple with strange jobs and a confusingly large budget are moving (“He breeds badgers, and she’s an artist who works with trash bags and discarded food. Their budget is $2.4 million dollars.”). HGTV first shows the couple exploring three houses. Then we see what is clearly at least the fifth take of a stilted conversation about the pros and cons of each. Then the show goes on an extended break to advertise BetterHelp and Ruggable while the viewers think about which they’d buy.

Let’s give the format a shot! We’ll briefly introduce each home we’re considering, and then ask a series of probing questions to capture the essential nature of each. House 3 has a more expensive list price, but 1, 2, and 4 cost about the same. All homes are walking distance to a grocery store, pharmacy, etc. We’ve ruled out a single-family home as we’re likely to be gone for stretches in the summer, and we’d like others to be aware of maintenance issues while we’re gone.

House 1

After World War II, Norway set out to construct lots of housing. There weren’t enough people to need high-rises, but individual houses were too expensive and took too much space. Enter the firemansbolig, or the four-person home, which is a building with four separate units that is something between a duplex and a small condo building. The unit in this firemansbolig has two levels, a roomy one-car garage, exterior storage, and a view of the fjord.

In case you’re really digging in on the floor plans, here’s a useful glossary:
– Soverom: bedroom
– Bad: bathroom
– Bod: storage
– Stue: living room
– Kjøkken: kitchen
– Gang: hallway

What are the vital statistics?
Built: 1949, renovated this year
Size: 140 square meters / 1500 square feet, plus a garage, plus an outdoor storage unit
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2
Distance to elementary school: 0.6 km

Are there ghosts?
Probably not.

American or Communist?
Communist.

Back in college, I used to enjoy a game called “American or Communist,” where participants were challenged to classify items as American or Communist, in a purely vibes-based way, divorced from any political or economic theory. To start with a simple example, corn is American, quinoa is Communist. Jeans are American, capris are Communist. A single-family home is American, a firemansbolig is Communist.

Firemansboliger are all about formalized cooperation. Every unit has say in communal decisions, and scheduled meetings of the residents are held often. Residents also regularly have a dugnad, which is a communal volunteer experience to take care of the property (any community organization, such as sports clubs, schools, etc. is likely to have one or two dugnad a year – it’s like a volunteer day, but the cultural expectation to participate is strong). Though there’s no governmental ownership or involvement in a firemansbolig, this structured and scheduled cooperation is clearly Communist, vibes-wise.

How’s Gavin’s commute?
There’s no parking at work – commutes have to happen by bus or bike (obviously this, too, is Communist). Unless the weather is truly terrible, I’ll be on an e-bike.

Commute by bus: 15 minutes, including 8 minutes of walking to the nearest bus stop
By e-bike: Downhill (to work) is 4 minutes. Here’s too much information about the uphill return, courtesy of my sports watch.

1.1 km, less than 6 minutes, and 61 m of elevation gain. One meter of altitude every 5.5 seconds. With my e-bike it’s a very comfortable commute. The commute goes right by the elementary school, too.

Pros
– Newly refurbished
– Lots of storage, including a garage
– Roomy
– Good, close schools

Cons
– Appointments feel a bit flipped-house-ish. Maybe made to look nice, rather than be nice.
– View of the fjord exists, but is a bit obstructed
– The lower level is a bit of a cave
– Lower level will have cold floors due to the old construction

House 2

House 2 is a pretty new penthouse in great shape with a wonderful view of the fjord. Lots of light. A very nice place to be.

What are the vital statistics?
Built: 2019
Size: 98 square meters / 1,050 square feet, plus a parking spot in an underground garage and a storage unit. Bike parking exists but looks pretty competitive
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Distance to elementary school: 1.4 km

Are there ghosts?
No ghosts.

American or Communist?
Nothing more American than a penthouse.

How’s Gavin’s commute?
By bus, 30 minutes because there’s no good bus route.
By bike, 10 minutes. The ride runs along a ridgeline with a view of the fjord the whole way. Really pretty.

2.9 km, 68 m of climb.

Pros
– Really pretty, lots of light, a happy place to live and come home to
– Fjord view is awesome
– We have no questions or doubts, and there are no complications. It’s in good shape, in a well-maintained building with reasonable communal costs

Cons
– No separate bedroom to serve as Allison’s home office, which is not ideal for a remote worker
– Smallest house we’re considering
– Furthest from its elementary school of all our options
– This building is the first in a long-term “densification” project, so the quiet single-family homes will be replaced with more condo buildings like this one. None will obstruct the view, but lots of construction.

House 3

We refer to this one as “The Fraud One.” Another penthouse, only two years old, with two balconies, one of which is enclosed for full-year use. This is a level or two nicer than the others; it’s also listed as the most expensive one, but as you’ll see, we wouldn’t buy it if we had to pay full price (and we don’t think anyone else will, either).

A little while ago, this building needed work on its underground garage and got hosed when board members signed some things they shouldn’t have signed. A board member made off with a lot of money, and the communal costs of this building skyrocketed to roughly 3X what they should be. The board member was found liable, but damages were small in comparison to the cost incurred by the community. An appeal is ongoing…

Without that whole mess, this would be worth the higher price, but it is quite the mess.

What are the vital statistics?
Built: 2024
Size: 142 square meters / 1,500 square feet, plus the deck, plus a parking spot in an underground garage and a storage unit
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 2
Distance to elementary school: 0.8 km

Are there ghosts?
Only financial ones

American or Communist?
A penthouse built atop fraud is as American as the fourth of July.

How’s Gavin’s commute?
By bus: 25 minutes
By bike: 9 minutes, 2.75 km, 69 m of elevation gain. We’d just ride straight up a hill for a big chunk of it, passing some truly suffering people who don’t have e-bikes.

Pros
– In terms of just the apartment, this is objectively the best one
– Fjord view is great
– Everything is new and clean
– All-weather deck is unique and we’d use it

Cons
– Annalise’s room is small
– High monthly costs
– Ongoing litigation!

House 4

House 4 is a unit in a historic 275-year-old building, converted from another purpose, in downtown Trondheim. It is simultaneously two blocks from the very center of the city, and yet in a quiet pocket without much traffic. It is close to everything, and has a delightful shared interior garden and gathering space. Its bones are old, but it has been lovingly and beautifully redone by a professor of historic preservation who works at the cathedral in Trondheim. The building is famous, historically protected, and is better known as Tukthuset.

What are the vital statistics?
Built: 1772, refurbished over the last three years, including new plumbing, electric, etc.
Size: 202 square meters / 2200 square feet
Bedrooms: 3, including a separate studio apartment for guests or renting
Bathrooms: 2.5
Distance to elementary school: 0.7 km

Are there ghosts?
Oh, yeah. And they aren’t happy.

A tukthus was a forced labor penitentiary where beggars, prostitutes, etc. were kept against their will and “reformed” through discipline and hard work. It was not a place you wanted to find yourself, and many people had their worst days in Tukthuset. It has also served as a prison and military hospital. Cheery!

American or Communist?
Feudal

How’s Gavin’s commute?
By bus: 15 minutes
By e-bike: Downhill (from work) is 6 minutes.

I’d get to work in 9 minutes, on what is mostly an easy and beautiful cruise along the river. 49m of elevation gain, all at once.

Pros
– Biggest by a lot
– The included stand-alone studio apartment is good for hosting guests or for AirBnB
– Great location for the city
– Interesting and a good story – this choice would be funny to us for a long time

Cons
– Most kids at the elementary school come in by bus from outside the city, so Annalise wouldn’t be living near her friends
– No parking (though there is covered bike parking) or storage unit – furniture for storage would have to be put in inside
– It’s a historic building, which makes it complicated. We would have a relationship with the historical society, which has to approve changes. We’d be limited in materials and construction techniques to preserve its historic status (for example, no modern windows). This makes things more expensive, but we could get grants from the city to cover that expense, but it’s still more steps.

Your turn!

OK! It’s time for the commercial break! You think about what you’d buy, and we’ll update you once it’s all done!