find a house

Yesterday was a really good day, despite the rain and cold. Todd left work early and we went to lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Just walking in (the proprietress called out, “Irasshaimase!”) and the smell of green onions and dashi…She set edamame in front of us and we ordered hot green tea and gyoza (gyoza!) and I got a sushi set that came with salad (Japanese dressing!) and rice. Todd got tempura udon and I ended up wishing I’d gotten that. It’s funny, when we got to Japan, I searched everywhere I could to find any other restaurant but one that served that sort of food and now I crave it. Udon, green tea…oishii…

Anyway, then we went to the title agency and listened to an attorney explain the ream of papers we had to sign until my head was spinning (didn’t we already sign this one?) and then we were free.
Actually, I don’t think I felt any different when we walked out than I’d felt walking in.

Afterward, we stopped at the house to meet with another window salesman. His quote was much higher but for better windows. I took some pictures and we took stock of what the owner had left in the house: a riding lawnmower, a very cool, very large gold-framed mirror and other treasures. And a lot of junk.
Time to get to work!

The credit union we are using had set the closing for Monday afternoon at 1:30 and Todd had already trumpeted the news far and wide and was going to call for delivery of a dumpster for Tuesday until… hold up! You said “bank”! You assumed things would go as planned now. You got your hopes up and we’re gonna shoot ‘em right back down!

Todd got a call from the lady at the c.u. today who informed him that (and don’t quote me on this bankese I’m about to spout) the title agency still needed payoff paperwork (didn’t we already do this?) from the seller’s bank and that it would take about 3 days. Right. I know that someone at that bank has only to push a few buttons on a keyboard to get that information emailed or faxed over…but it will take him 3 days! The lady at the c.u. also that there was no point in calling that bank because it could anger someone and they were fairly likely to halt the whole proceeding and put the home into foreclosure after all.

Is that the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard?! Really? They’d rather foreclose and wait months to get their money than speed up the proceedings (original closing date was set for September 30) and get their money now?! Or hell, I don’t know, September 30! I just want a house! I’m living in one room right now! Foreclose on that house and it will fall even further into disrepair. What a waste on the part of the house and the time of everyone who has already been involved in this. Now what’s the problem with the economy?

Sorry for the rant. Thanks for listening…

Closing on the house is set for the 16th but Dusty claims it will happen before that. Ok, Dusty. So, another week of boredom, waiting, paper-shuffling and phone calls and then everything will explode and we’ll have way more than enough to do!

The appraiser came Monday (actually, he works faster than anyone else so far) but the house didn’t appraise for enough. Todd told me this with the preface of, “I don’t know whether this is good news or bad.” After showing my brother the house the other day, I was really down in the dumps. It is…a dump. I mean, there is great potential and great structure and all that. But I keep worrying about the lack of closets and the weeks and weeks of work we’ll have to put into it before we can even move in, let alone get our boxes and possessions out of storage (we have no winter clothes!) And for what? I am crippled with indecision about how to remodel the bathroom and where and, even though I had my mind made up, my brother and sister came right in and were adamant that this and this and that needed to be done…and then, of course, I go over all that in my head because I want to stay true to the house and our needs in it and the possibility of selling it easily someday, too. (Sound familiar, little_terry?)
So, that brought up the possibility of the other house we liked, the one in the country with the pool. Dusty says it is in contract but, though I love Dusty, he’s not really a go-getter who will check on that right away and then get things moving on either house right after that. And so basically, we have made no headway in the past week! We’re still right where we were and I’m feeling worse because the amount of work keeps seeming to double before my eyes!
Aaurgh!
Thanks for listening.

Lost in this system. I’m not really sure where we are. The loan was approved, but we were pretty sure that wasn’t a problem. This week, we’re waiting on the appraisal and title search. Then something else after that and then it’s done…even though Dusty put that closing should be on September 30. Oh well.

But it doesn’t end there. The house needs plaster work, windows and a new bathroom and kitchen not to mention major cleaning!

We were finally able to show Sophie and Will yesterday. The key is now under the mat so Dusty can let the appraiser in…also we can start calling some contractors to get estimates on the work.

I am excited about the things I was excited about before: the woodwork, the hardwood floors in good shape, the front stairs, the tunnel, the huge yard, the huge amount of space in the house…but there are also issues I’d overlooked or glossed over. I really hate the kitchen but the bathroom is the first priority.

Sigh.
Maybe I’m just feeling the crunch of time. Moving in with my mom on Wednesday and I foresee many problems with that…:)

I’ve never done this before. I never understood why people tell others “good luck” when they’re buying a house. Why would I need luck? If I offer someone who wants to sell his house some money for it, why doesn’t it just happen? Well, cuz, I guess it just doesn’t. Because life is not that simple and honest. Because everyone wants more and banks are the biggest culprits and the people you thought were good, upstanding members of your community sometimes turn out to be not so much.

Anyway, Mr. G. didn’t like the offer we made him. He didn’t like it even though he didn’t really have the house for sale and he owed more on the house than he paid for it or than it is worth and was going to foreclose on it. He still wanted to come away with money in his pocket. Wow.

We made another offer and waited and in the meantime, another house we’d been watching finally came up on the market and we went to look at it. It is an old farmhouse on 4 acres with an inground pool and barns and lots of storage…but not as much character or living space as the other we originally liked…
They both need a lot of work and have their good points and bad and so we were faced with another decision. But, because we could potentially be in Mr. G.’s house by the end of the month and maybe not get the other at all, let alone within the next 2 months, we will be going for the former.

Sigh.

I’m not getting up my hopes too high just yet…

After waiting over 2 weeks for the owner’s bank to simply fax the payoff information to Mr. G. (they mailed it), we have gotten so much done this week! Mr. G. faxed Dusty the information and Dusty wrote up a contract and I signed it yesterday!
Now we wait, with fingers crossed, to see if Mr. G. will accept and then wait on banks and credit unions. Again. Settling in for another long wait.

I forget how Sarah and I decided that we’d go look in the windows of the old brick house down from the school. We were aware the owners aren’t living there anymore and I think Dusty had mentioned saying it was cool inside. Anyway, we tiptoed through the tall grass and peeked in the front rooms: tall ceilings, huge rooms and beautiful woodwork. The front door has those narrow windows along the sides and through them we could see the staircase curving up in the front hallway. The doorbell on the front door is an old number that you twist to ring an actual bell.

Less encouraging were the side windows: porches full of the owner’s junk but I told Dusty we wanted to pursue it and he called Mr. G and simply told him he had clients who had were interested. Mr. G. wasn’t. He was insistent that he was just going to foreclose on it. His new wife had just built a house in her name and what did he care if his credit was forever tarnished if he had a new house! Dusty kept pressing him and finally mentioned that his clients (us) had just moved back into the country and something snapped in Mr. G.’s head. He asked if the clients were the B. family (us). He said he’d been thinking about us, wondering if we were back yet. He thought we would take care of the house and he was interested in trying to work with us! Whoopee!

So last weekend, we saw inside the house. It is beautiful. There’s all that woodwork and the floors are all hardwood in remarkable condition. I think the whole time the G. family lived there, they didn’t do a thing to it…which is bad and good. There is very little wallpaper to peel off and what there is is rather cool in a 1940’s retro way. There are 4 huge rooms downstairs and a giant kitchen. The side porch was at one point turned into 4 smaller rooms: 2 porches, a laundry room and the one and only bathroom. This will need to be remedied. But there is a garage and a double-sized backyard with room for many gardens.

Here’s the best part. There’s a secret tunnel upstairs. I kid you not. In fact, the back bedroom can only be reached by the secret tunnel or the back staircase. We finally decided that it must have been a nanny or maid’s room who didn’t need to use the front staircase but did need to be ready to aid children in the night. My children haven’t seen the house yet but I have them more than excited just about that tunnel.

There are problems, of course. There are only 2 closets in the whole house and that bathroom will need to be dealt with. The plaster and the windows need repaired and replaced but for some reason, I’m in the mood for a project. I am already imagining Christmas here, or sitting on the curved front porch in the swing. The bottom line is that, for all its faults, I can “see my family living here” and that is making the waiting that much more difficult.

We’re waiting on information to be faxed from bank to owner to realtor to bank and on and on…It’s a waiting game and I’m just stuck in the limbo.

One night 2 weeks ago, we saw a few really promising places. We saw a pretty mundane, though well-kept, ranch house out in a development near town. There was a hot tub on the back porch and a fully-stocked bar in the finished basement. A separate pantry boasted space to keep canned foods as well as the washer and dryer. Looking back now, the appeal of this one was the bar, of course. Couldn’t we just see ourselves in the retro-decorated basement (we wouldn’t change a thing!) for cocktail hour. It smelled like and reminded us of my grandma’s house from the bowl of nuts on the sideboard to the whole basement setup (including the bar).

That night, we also saw another ranch house out in the country. This one is currently being remodeled and will certainly be something to behold once it is finished. This basement, too, is fully finished…with a bar! and what used to be the garage. Huge! There are 4 bedrooms (hello guests!) a “master suite” and giant great room with a fireplace that you step down into. Actually, this one is still a front-runner for me though Todd has dismissed it as overpriced.

A third property has 15 acres, about 10 of which are just an open field. There is a barn and chicken house and garage, grape arbor, herb garden and other established beds. But the house is pretty problematic. It’s just a plain old farmhouse, but a story and a half, really. There are only 2 bedrooms upstairs and the 3rd bedroom is jacked in off the living room at the front of the house. This room sticks out like a sore thumb with modern wallpaper and a hotel-style bathroom (the sink is in the room and the tub and toilet are separate). I mean, I could get past this if the rest of the house were a dream…but it’s not. The ceilings have all been lowered and the main entrance is now the back porch/dining room…? Weird. I mean, I could “see our family living there” but what if we fixed that place up? What are we left with? A mediocre house for which we paid a lot of money and put a lot of work into…

The new owner is selling it again already. She did many good things to it such as taking out the old carpet to uncover the hardwood floors beneath, something we’d always planned to do. There is also a new coat of paint on everything, though not always a color I would have chosen. Unfortunately, she also basically ruined those coats of paint by tacking up crap decorations on every available square inch of wall space. Dusty, my realtor, calls it “Crafts2000.” The front yard looks the same complete with a hay wagon loaded with flowers and garden tools. Guys, there is actually some sort of plaster pig hanging upside down in the fireplace as if it is roasting there. Wow.

Other problems in houses include the one with four bedrooms that are really no bigger than closets and a backyard as narrow as the house. Sun shines straight down on the front of this one with no porch. Another is reported to be a one-time meth lab. There’s a newer house out in the country with a full-on horse ranch decorating theme down to the switchplates on the wall. It’s a sad one. My sister commented it could be a nice house for someone who didn’t know any better. Maybe we’re just too critical.

We looked at one in town that needed waaaay more in the renovation department than we are willing to commit to. It is a beautiful old Victorian that unfortunately has a side apartment, a big ugly garage and a sad backyard. Also, the current owners are flea market fans who have literally filled the home with every manner of junk: good, bad, old and ugly. I mean, all the porcelain dolls in their polyester finery are arranged on shelves together and the purses are tagged and lined up on the dining room table. Fascinating.

I guess if nothing else, we’re learning a lot and getting a nice window into the lives of our neighbors.