And the packing continues, and continues…
Actually this weekend I got a lot of packing done, not much else, but a lot of packing. I am actually finding the packing to be somewhat cathartic. I like the process of cleaning everything out, of sorting and purging. AB has even gotten in trouble a few times for packing things that I wanted to tackle.
But okay, that phase is nearly behind me. Now I am to the just dump it all in a box stage and my mother in law is working hard on that aspect for me today.
Nearly nothing about this process is going smoothly. Once we surmount one hurdle we have another thing pop up. Last week we finished off the inspection documents and the whole water damage thing only to have an appraisal pop up. After being told for weeks that we didn’t need one, the underwriter changed their minds at the last minute. Seriously last minute. Like as in send my husband reeling over the edge last minute. Like last minute in may not be able to close on time, last minute.
All the ranting at least resulted in one thing good, we at least don’t have to pay for the appraisal now.
Our biggest issue that no one seems to get is that we don’t want to move on the weekend. Yes, we have wonderful friends who we can shuttle our kids around to. But we value our time with our kids and want to be in the house getting them settled in, not moving.
We will see what happens.
In other news, I am driving to Oregon to pick up “Skeeter” on Sunday. Her new name is tentatively going to be Freya, named by AB. We keep repeatedly nixing “Obi Wan Kenobi” as her new name. (That one really isn’t bad though compared to the prior options.)
Thank you Leif.
One day at a time. Today I have successfully made it through work obligations. We will see what tomorrow holds.
Showing posts with label house hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house hunting. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
An update of sorts
We have been a house of sickos since Sunday. Skadi spent Sunday afternoon throwing up, then it hit AB on Tuesday and finally landed on Leif and I last night late. He and I hung around the house today and recovered. I am hoping now that we are all on the mend and able to escape with healthy bodies this weekend. We have been talking about putting Leif on skis for a year now and if we don't take advantage of the snow now, it won't happen this year. We are meeting some friends with children of the same ages at Silver Mountain for a weekend of ski and water park. The plan is to put the boys in ski school Saturday morning and do a variety of things with the girls, go out and play in the snow and play at the water park and parents will rotate kid duty with skiing.
We are poor right now... or at least we don't want to spend money, so aside from the condo and the ski school for the boys, we are going budget style and cooking meals at the condos instead. I have a big list of stuff to get at the grocery store tomorrow. AB and I really need a mental break from both work (since we have both been high stress with work lately) as well as dealing with home stuff.
First things first though - thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for my mom. The tumor on her liver was cancerous, however was surgically removed in its entirety with clean margins. The cancer was the primary cancer and no other sources could be found. She will spend the next 5-6 weeks recovering and will be closely monitored from now till eternity for more tumors. We are praying that it was a single episode and not another will ever be found.
Speaking of praying, apparently we have been saying a lot of prayers for grandma. Skadi has taken to walking around and saying, "Grandma A-MEN!"
I am sure I speak for the collective that you don't realize how lucky and blessed you are to have people in your life until you are faced with the fact that we are all mortals. Really makes you step back and put things into perspective.
The last thing we are stressing right now about is our new house that we are to close on in a few short weeks. We have been working hard to pack our house up and get ready to move.
Of course wouldn't you know that SOMETHING had to pop up. When we first met with our agents they told us that "something different always pops up that you have to work through on a house, it never fails". Or something like that. My house was going to be the first for them that went smoothly.
Was.
Nearly two weeks ago I phoned our insurance company to get a quote on insurance. They phoned me later and asked that dreaded question, "did you know there was a claim filed on the house last July for water loss?"
I replied that I didn't know this.
And not a minor claim either, $21.8K.
This isn't just a pipe breaking, this is either major excavation for a ruptured main or complete removation of walls inside.
And not on the disclosures either.
The relo company we are purchasing from denies knowing anything and has said they would attempt to find the former owners.
Supposidly they have attempted, though we are skeptical since they keep responding that they can't find them when in the stack of documents we got from them has their names (which I Googled and found their current locale) as well as his business e-mail. Once I had our agent's blessing I popped an e-mail out there to him asking what the situation was.
We really want the house. AB who was once on the fence with the house is now in love with it, I have always thought it was the right house for us. So we want the house, we just want to know what happened and what we need to watch out for, who made the repairs and any warranty information.
So far, no news. This is not one of those cases where no news is good news. No news for us right now is a big red flag. What is being hidden?
We are stressed about what we are supposed to do now? Proceed with caution? Or jump ship?
Stay tuned.
We are poor right now... or at least we don't want to spend money, so aside from the condo and the ski school for the boys, we are going budget style and cooking meals at the condos instead. I have a big list of stuff to get at the grocery store tomorrow. AB and I really need a mental break from both work (since we have both been high stress with work lately) as well as dealing with home stuff.
First things first though - thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for my mom. The tumor on her liver was cancerous, however was surgically removed in its entirety with clean margins. The cancer was the primary cancer and no other sources could be found. She will spend the next 5-6 weeks recovering and will be closely monitored from now till eternity for more tumors. We are praying that it was a single episode and not another will ever be found.
Speaking of praying, apparently we have been saying a lot of prayers for grandma. Skadi has taken to walking around and saying, "Grandma A-MEN!"
I am sure I speak for the collective that you don't realize how lucky and blessed you are to have people in your life until you are faced with the fact that we are all mortals. Really makes you step back and put things into perspective.
The last thing we are stressing right now about is our new house that we are to close on in a few short weeks. We have been working hard to pack our house up and get ready to move.
Of course wouldn't you know that SOMETHING had to pop up. When we first met with our agents they told us that "something different always pops up that you have to work through on a house, it never fails". Or something like that. My house was going to be the first for them that went smoothly.
Was.
Nearly two weeks ago I phoned our insurance company to get a quote on insurance. They phoned me later and asked that dreaded question, "did you know there was a claim filed on the house last July for water loss?"
I replied that I didn't know this.
And not a minor claim either, $21.8K.
This isn't just a pipe breaking, this is either major excavation for a ruptured main or complete removation of walls inside.
And not on the disclosures either.
The relo company we are purchasing from denies knowing anything and has said they would attempt to find the former owners.
Supposidly they have attempted, though we are skeptical since they keep responding that they can't find them when in the stack of documents we got from them has their names (which I Googled and found their current locale) as well as his business e-mail. Once I had our agent's blessing I popped an e-mail out there to him asking what the situation was.
We really want the house. AB who was once on the fence with the house is now in love with it, I have always thought it was the right house for us. So we want the house, we just want to know what happened and what we need to watch out for, who made the repairs and any warranty information.
So far, no news. This is not one of those cases where no news is good news. No news for us right now is a big red flag. What is being hidden?
We are stressed about what we are supposed to do now? Proceed with caution? Or jump ship?
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Our new house...
Great curb appeal. A corner lot. You can't see the waterfall, but there is a waterfall - that will be AB's responsibility. I am going to have my hands full in maintaining the fabulous foliage.
The bathtub and one of the two vanities in the Master bath. What you don't see here is the very small, ugly shower that AB is going to make a priority to do something with. We each have our things - I want new floors in the entry room areas, he wants a "real" shower.
The bonus room. Someone came in and painted because the red wall was not there. Note the ceiling fans - every room has a ceiling fan, which is kind of neat!
Family room below the bonus room and open to the kitchen. Note though that the doors on the right hand side are the only doors that access the back yard from the house. This is a weird location since you have to walk through the family room to get to the BBQ area - and it is the BBQ area since there is propane plumbed there.
The kitchen. The previous owner had obviously started to upgrade the house and started in the kitchen. It is an awesome kitchen. I would like to try and fit an island in there. And I am already neurosing on the fridge opening. All the appliances are Kitchen Aid - so presumably there was a Kitchen Aid fridge in there at one point? AB measured the opening and it was 40" - he swears. But there are no 40" fridges - they are 36" or some select 42". And there is a Kitchen Aid 42" (well 41.25") fridge... did AB measure right?
Check out the 6 burner gas range - AB is looking forward to that beast. I am not so thrilled with the knobs on the front in a home with small children, but oh well. More knob covers.
The early 90's style formal dining room in a home built in 2000. That will be changing.
Side view. The room over the garage will be Leif's. You would think it was a bonus room, but the bonus room is on the other side of the house. The entire area over the smaller garage is the closet for that room. That closet *may* be bigger than the Master closet. It's a playroom in its own right.
Oh and if you haven't figured it out yet? Yes, our offer was accepted.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Offer number two
This morning our agent made our offer on the current house of interest.
The house was built in 2000, is a two story home with great curb appeal - even a waterfall in the front yard which AB will be solely responsible for maintaining and cleaning. It has a great kitchen and a large pantry. Under stair storage next to the kitchen which would likely be a kids' hideaway. The rest of the house, while quite functional, needs some updating. The paint is old, the carpets are old. The first floor has a great kitchen (that WAS recently updated), formal living room (office), formal dining room, dining area and family room. Two staircases that go upstairs to four bedrooms and a bonus room. Each bedroom has its own walk in closet and access to a bathroom - two of the bedrooms share a jack and jill bath. The Master suite is large with a big bathroom, two linen closets and a large walk in closet. The laundry room is upstairs as well. There is a three car garage and the lot is right at a quarter acre.
The house has everything we have lined out as wanting - with the potential for more. It is at an inexpensive price compared to what we have been looking at - which is a bonus. This is likely because the house does need a little work.
To this point we have taken our time with the house since it has been on the market for about a year and "no movement" in the last few months according to the listing agent when our agent inquired a week ago. We took our time with the offer and looked at a few more houses - rounding out our list so we could now say we saw everything in our price range. On Friday evening we told our agents we wanted to make an offer. Since it is owned by a company and she couldn't present the offer on a weekend, we elected to write up the offer on Sunday and have her present Monday.
We wrote the offer up and she phoned the listing agent to schedule the offer, whereby he said, "interesting, this house has suddenly moved up on the radar, it has suddenly seen lots of activity and at least one other offer this weekend".
Of course it has. Because in *this* housing market, you would expect people to be jumping on houses left and right, wouldn't you?? Of course another house that has been on the market for "going on a year" would suddenly get two offers in one weekend.
So here's the deal. Have a house that you are trying to sell that has been on the market for awhile? Let my husband and I take a crack at it. We will make the offer and you are guaranteed to have a run on the house. Just don't pick our offer okay, particularly if you live out of state. All this for a finders fee of say 1%?
Ok. All joking aside... we did end up verbally bumping up our offer after our agent probed the listing agent to find out that our offer was less than the other. She crossed out our offer and we added $15K to our offer over the phone. She said she felt pretty optimistic after the meeting this morning.
Is it a good sign that the mortgage company affiliated with the listing agent's company called AB today with an unsolicited "good faith estimate" on a new loan for our offer?
Tune in later for this story and more brought to you by the letter N and M and the number 8.
The house was built in 2000, is a two story home with great curb appeal - even a waterfall in the front yard which AB will be solely responsible for maintaining and cleaning. It has a great kitchen and a large pantry. Under stair storage next to the kitchen which would likely be a kids' hideaway. The rest of the house, while quite functional, needs some updating. The paint is old, the carpets are old. The first floor has a great kitchen (that WAS recently updated), formal living room (office), formal dining room, dining area and family room. Two staircases that go upstairs to four bedrooms and a bonus room. Each bedroom has its own walk in closet and access to a bathroom - two of the bedrooms share a jack and jill bath. The Master suite is large with a big bathroom, two linen closets and a large walk in closet. The laundry room is upstairs as well. There is a three car garage and the lot is right at a quarter acre.
The house has everything we have lined out as wanting - with the potential for more. It is at an inexpensive price compared to what we have been looking at - which is a bonus. This is likely because the house does need a little work.
To this point we have taken our time with the house since it has been on the market for about a year and "no movement" in the last few months according to the listing agent when our agent inquired a week ago. We took our time with the offer and looked at a few more houses - rounding out our list so we could now say we saw everything in our price range. On Friday evening we told our agents we wanted to make an offer. Since it is owned by a company and she couldn't present the offer on a weekend, we elected to write up the offer on Sunday and have her present Monday.
We wrote the offer up and she phoned the listing agent to schedule the offer, whereby he said, "interesting, this house has suddenly moved up on the radar, it has suddenly seen lots of activity and at least one other offer this weekend".
Of course it has. Because in *this* housing market, you would expect people to be jumping on houses left and right, wouldn't you?? Of course another house that has been on the market for "going on a year" would suddenly get two offers in one weekend.
So here's the deal. Have a house that you are trying to sell that has been on the market for awhile? Let my husband and I take a crack at it. We will make the offer and you are guaranteed to have a run on the house. Just don't pick our offer okay, particularly if you live out of state. All this for a finders fee of say 1%?
Ok. All joking aside... we did end up verbally bumping up our offer after our agent probed the listing agent to find out that our offer was less than the other. She crossed out our offer and we added $15K to our offer over the phone. She said she felt pretty optimistic after the meeting this morning.
Is it a good sign that the mortgage company affiliated with the listing agent's company called AB today with an unsolicited "good faith estimate" on a new loan for our offer?
Tune in later for this story and more brought to you by the letter N and M and the number 8.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Bargain hunting
AB and I put a lot of credence into what our family advises us with respect to houses. At least on my in laws side - they have a lot of experience both professionally (my MIL is a real estate agent and my FIL is a mortgage lender) and through real estate investments. If there are two people who know the business it is them.
There are typically two different schools of thought in purchasing real estate. One thought is that you buy as much house as you possibly can. You stretch yourself to the max knowing that you will get promotions and eventually your payment won't be so tight. And the people who do this tend to make a fortune in real estate. The other school of thought says that you buy what you need and make sure to live well within your means. Neither method is wrong.
Both methods have merit... with the first you might make a mint on a home, particularly if you can afford to buy during down times. The flip side is that a number of these failed ventures lands us where we are now with the economy. Too many people with mortgages that are too big. With the second method, if you always play it safe you are never going to get the big payoff.
Our family has offered differing perspectives on how to handle house shopping. But one thing everyone agrees on is that right now is the time for bargain shopping.
This last weekend we saw both of these perspectives in action and had to (or still are) making a decision on our path forward.
We viewed nine houses this weekend. Four houses on Friday afternoon/evening and five houses Sunday morning.
We had planned on seeing two or three houses on Friday afternoon and were a little surprised when our agent apologized about adding in one more. No problem, we said, we were anxious to see what she found for us.
It was this fourth house that is an explicit example of the first perspective on home buying.
AB and I have established with our agents our upper limit. That doesn't mean we won't look at houses over that amount, but our agents know that we will not offer anything above that amount and that it has to be one amazing house to even bring us to our knees... I mean to our max point. Our agent told us the story behind this house.
Big long unfamiliar story of "they need to sell". Ok, not a big long unfamiliar story, quite the opposite actually. We hear that a lot. "Seller is motivated" or "bring an offer". She told us that the house was WAY outside our price range, but the listing agent begged her to show it to us and that they will entertain any offer.
A house on the hill in a gated community on a fabulous corner lot with an amazing view. The house was amazingly grand.
But as I walked through, it wasn't my house. Yes, it had everything that I want in a house. But I couldn't see myself in this Barbie dream house.
AB and I actually kicked it around and drove back up to see it on Saturday in the light. It was still amazing. And we were essentially told to make an offer at the high end of our price tag and the house was ours.
It was tempting. Damn tempting. It is still tempting. Because when the economy turns - and we know it will, we could sell it and make some big money. We may not be able to vacation or get out of debt, or take our kids to the movies, for the next couple years, but we would have one amazing house.
The problem was I didn't love it. I still don't love it. It wasn't my house, it was some rich person's house. And gated community? Like there are any kids on a gated community.
Sunday morning the first house we went to helped us exercise perspective two. The first house we looked at was a little over half the price of the Barbie Dream House. And I fell in love with the house. I have even had a hard time not calling it "my house" already. And we haven't even made an offer.
It's a pretty house on an ordinary street. It has a great kitchen and walk in pantry, but it needs work. It needs a new shower upstairs. It needs paint... badly. It screams for new carpets. It needs some love.
I love that house. It IS my house and thinking about all the options is a lot of fun.
And we can still go on vacations... and buy a minivan... and buy land to build a cabin... and pay for our house cleaner...
Now I just have to finish selling my husband on this. He doesn't see himself in that house... yet. He wants something "just a touch more grand, but not the big house grand".
I will work on him. I will succeed. Resistance is futile. (Or we will find something else between now and Friday... you never know.)
There are typically two different schools of thought in purchasing real estate. One thought is that you buy as much house as you possibly can. You stretch yourself to the max knowing that you will get promotions and eventually your payment won't be so tight. And the people who do this tend to make a fortune in real estate. The other school of thought says that you buy what you need and make sure to live well within your means. Neither method is wrong.
Both methods have merit... with the first you might make a mint on a home, particularly if you can afford to buy during down times. The flip side is that a number of these failed ventures lands us where we are now with the economy. Too many people with mortgages that are too big. With the second method, if you always play it safe you are never going to get the big payoff.
Our family has offered differing perspectives on how to handle house shopping. But one thing everyone agrees on is that right now is the time for bargain shopping.
This last weekend we saw both of these perspectives in action and had to (or still are) making a decision on our path forward.
We viewed nine houses this weekend. Four houses on Friday afternoon/evening and five houses Sunday morning.
We had planned on seeing two or three houses on Friday afternoon and were a little surprised when our agent apologized about adding in one more. No problem, we said, we were anxious to see what she found for us.
It was this fourth house that is an explicit example of the first perspective on home buying.
AB and I have established with our agents our upper limit. That doesn't mean we won't look at houses over that amount, but our agents know that we will not offer anything above that amount and that it has to be one amazing house to even bring us to our knees... I mean to our max point. Our agent told us the story behind this house.
Big long unfamiliar story of "they need to sell". Ok, not a big long unfamiliar story, quite the opposite actually. We hear that a lot. "Seller is motivated" or "bring an offer". She told us that the house was WAY outside our price range, but the listing agent begged her to show it to us and that they will entertain any offer.
A house on the hill in a gated community on a fabulous corner lot with an amazing view. The house was amazingly grand.
But as I walked through, it wasn't my house. Yes, it had everything that I want in a house. But I couldn't see myself in this Barbie dream house.
AB and I actually kicked it around and drove back up to see it on Saturday in the light. It was still amazing. And we were essentially told to make an offer at the high end of our price tag and the house was ours.
It was tempting. Damn tempting. It is still tempting. Because when the economy turns - and we know it will, we could sell it and make some big money. We may not be able to vacation or get out of debt, or take our kids to the movies, for the next couple years, but we would have one amazing house.
The problem was I didn't love it. I still don't love it. It wasn't my house, it was some rich person's house. And gated community? Like there are any kids on a gated community.
Sunday morning the first house we went to helped us exercise perspective two. The first house we looked at was a little over half the price of the Barbie Dream House. And I fell in love with the house. I have even had a hard time not calling it "my house" already. And we haven't even made an offer.
It's a pretty house on an ordinary street. It has a great kitchen and walk in pantry, but it needs work. It needs a new shower upstairs. It needs paint... badly. It screams for new carpets. It needs some love.
I love that house. It IS my house and thinking about all the options is a lot of fun.
And we can still go on vacations... and buy a minivan... and buy land to build a cabin... and pay for our house cleaner...
Now I just have to finish selling my husband on this. He doesn't see himself in that house... yet. He wants something "just a touch more grand, but not the big house grand".
I will work on him. I will succeed. Resistance is futile. (Or we will find something else between now and Friday... you never know.)
Sunday, January 04, 2009
How it went down...
So for those of you following the house saga... here is how it went down.
This last long weekend AB and I spent a fair amount of time wandering houses with our agents. We actually had a great time with them. Or at least I really enjoyed it. Even for the houses that we just aren't interested in, it was fun to get ideas. We also had in there an appointment with one of the local builders mostly for information gathering.
On Friday we hit five houses. The third house struck us. We both fell immediately in love with it and it was the first house we have seen so far where we knew we needed to get an offer in.
I am kicking myself because it has been on and off the market for awhile now. The first picture of the exterior... not something I would have been interested in. So while I was going through finding houses to check out when we started looking, I probably flipped right by it. It wasn't until we were starting to exhaust listings that fit our criteria that it popped back up again. This time I took a better look and immediately said we had to see the house.
We saw it, we loved it. It wasn't a grand house. It had a stellar view, but was a pretty modest house on a half acre lot. But we left the house knowing there wasn't anything we would change about it and feeling we could live in that house forever.
Saturday we got our act together and scheduled another viewing. When we arrived we found out that an offer had been received for the house and so we knew we would need to move fast. We went and saw the house again and went directly to our agents office and made an offer - which took forever since there was also a rent-back agreement to be filed. The couple are older, wife's health is declining and they need a smaller house and are building one which will be finished in May. They didn't want to move twice and so we readily wrote up a rental agreement with our offer letter.
Our agent presented the offer in person as she likes to do. She explained that it isn't done so much anymore, but she likes to make a personal connection and tell the seller a little about the potential buyer. In this case I tuned her into the fact that I knew the husband through work, how I knew him and she ran with it.
We waited Saturday evening. We waited Sunday. Finally at 5pm our agent called us with the answer.
In the listing agents experience she has never had a case like this. Offer letters came in within hours of each other for the exact same price and the exact same rent back agreement. The difference? We had asked they split the closing costs with us and the other buyers did not.
This should be an easy decision for the seller right? Except that the wife liked Terese and really wanted to sell the house to a family. She debated with her (very analytical analytical) husband all day, which was why we didn't get the answer quicker today. In the end, the husband won out and we lost on the offer.
Back to the drawing board.
AB is more disappointed then he thought he was going to be. I am less disappointed than I thought I was going to be. AB actually has said he is a little ticked too. The sellers never countered. Who doesn't counter offer? If they wanted to sell the house to a family, why not counter and ask for the same offer as the other buyer? Or more? Because we could have and would have done it.
At this point we have looked at everything in our region fitting our criteria. We are hoping to see some new homes hit the market in the next month or so. We will also start looking for lots and considering building. But given that we were willing to not have a house until May potentially, it also says to us that we should not be in a hurry. Interest rates aren't as great as they were initially touted - so that isn't a reason to push it either.
We will just take our time and see what hits the market here in the next few months while we look for lots and decide what the layout of our house would be - if we build.
This last long weekend AB and I spent a fair amount of time wandering houses with our agents. We actually had a great time with them. Or at least I really enjoyed it. Even for the houses that we just aren't interested in, it was fun to get ideas. We also had in there an appointment with one of the local builders mostly for information gathering.
On Friday we hit five houses. The third house struck us. We both fell immediately in love with it and it was the first house we have seen so far where we knew we needed to get an offer in.
I am kicking myself because it has been on and off the market for awhile now. The first picture of the exterior... not something I would have been interested in. So while I was going through finding houses to check out when we started looking, I probably flipped right by it. It wasn't until we were starting to exhaust listings that fit our criteria that it popped back up again. This time I took a better look and immediately said we had to see the house.
We saw it, we loved it. It wasn't a grand house. It had a stellar view, but was a pretty modest house on a half acre lot. But we left the house knowing there wasn't anything we would change about it and feeling we could live in that house forever.
Saturday we got our act together and scheduled another viewing. When we arrived we found out that an offer had been received for the house and so we knew we would need to move fast. We went and saw the house again and went directly to our agents office and made an offer - which took forever since there was also a rent-back agreement to be filed. The couple are older, wife's health is declining and they need a smaller house and are building one which will be finished in May. They didn't want to move twice and so we readily wrote up a rental agreement with our offer letter.
Our agent presented the offer in person as she likes to do. She explained that it isn't done so much anymore, but she likes to make a personal connection and tell the seller a little about the potential buyer. In this case I tuned her into the fact that I knew the husband through work, how I knew him and she ran with it.
We waited Saturday evening. We waited Sunday. Finally at 5pm our agent called us with the answer.
In the listing agents experience she has never had a case like this. Offer letters came in within hours of each other for the exact same price and the exact same rent back agreement. The difference? We had asked they split the closing costs with us and the other buyers did not.
This should be an easy decision for the seller right? Except that the wife liked Terese and really wanted to sell the house to a family. She debated with her (very analytical analytical) husband all day, which was why we didn't get the answer quicker today. In the end, the husband won out and we lost on the offer.
Back to the drawing board.
AB is more disappointed then he thought he was going to be. I am less disappointed than I thought I was going to be. AB actually has said he is a little ticked too. The sellers never countered. Who doesn't counter offer? If they wanted to sell the house to a family, why not counter and ask for the same offer as the other buyer? Or more? Because we could have and would have done it.
At this point we have looked at everything in our region fitting our criteria. We are hoping to see some new homes hit the market in the next month or so. We will also start looking for lots and considering building. But given that we were willing to not have a house until May potentially, it also says to us that we should not be in a hurry. Interest rates aren't as great as they were initially touted - so that isn't a reason to push it either.
We will just take our time and see what hits the market here in the next few months while we look for lots and decide what the layout of our house would be - if we build.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The ups and downs of househunting
This past weekend we went out twice with our agents - who we really adore. I was thrilled when they reported to us that their afternoons didn't feel like working - felt like hanging out with friends instead. We picked the right agents.
Before we were truly househunting - just browsing - we met them at an open house and immediately fell into a good rapport with them. It is a husband-wife team and they have four kids ranging in age from a month older than Skadi to 16 years old. Lucky for them they also have a good support network locally since they both grew up in the area.
So far (crossing my fingers) our real estate agents are just superb. When we moved here 6.5 years ago we hooked up with a woman who we considered firing a number of times.
KayJay.
My MIL found her through her referral network in a boom time. That should have given us a hint there. Houses were moving like hotcakes - we lost out on a few - and here was an agent who was willing to give up a portion of her fee to my MIL for the referral. And then we discovered she was NOT a go-getter. She didn't listen and was determined to find us some awful little house in a neighboring town. She would get us in her car and "yes we will go look at this house over here, but first..." and then she would drive us across the river and exclaim about the virtues of the town. Great place, I am sure. I know now that it is a nice place, but I still won't live there if only for the long drive to work. And she would just drive around, and drive around. She wouldn't call first before showing houses - we walked in on people more than once - and her reply was "well they want to sell their house don't they?" (It is agents like her I fear when we eventually list our house.)
And in the end, we found our house and asked her to show it to us. She said as she showed us that she had skipped over the MLS listing because it didn't have pictures. (Rolling my eyes.)
This time around we opted to skip the referral. We had met a number of agents throughout the last 6 years through a variety of interactions from friends and from open houses and the Parade of Homes. We met Kevin and Therese and instantly knew we could easily work with them. And like they said the other day, it is nice when you look forward to "hanging out looking at houses" with a couple instead of dreading getting in some old ladies Caddy that stunk of perfume to drive around imprisoned.
We hit five houses this last weekend. The first we walked in and loved. Loved the house completely. AB pointed out minor things - the enclosure that holds the fridge limits you to that size of fridge and we would like a slightly larger one. AB wants a double fridge... *sigh*. And there was no cable outlet in the library for those of us using cable internet. Things that a home sold by a builder could be remedied. The house was on a nice view lot in a neighborhood I am quite fond of and was about 4200 square feet, rambler with a walk out basement on a large lot with about 1200 sq ft of the basement unfinished. It was exactly what we are looking for.
At about $25K higher than our highest end price we think we can stomach. Therese suggested an offer at that highest end price. But even then we are talking $75K more than the house we are looking to build, for essentially a very similar home. That house still looms out there... but the price just was a show stopper.
Another home that we wanted to love was also a rambler with walk out basement and similar in size with 5 bedrooms on an extraordinary view lot. The one problem with that house could not be remedied. The kitchen was smaller than the one we have now. The kitchen made the house a no go for us. Everything else about the house we loved and would have probably been willing to make an offer on our high end for this home. But that kitchen... nope, couldn't do it.
We hit three others - a funky geriatric smelling three level (most likely custom designed) house built to take advantage of views in a great neighborhood at a great price. But the stairs. The stairs that never ended. And the stairs that my daughter tumbled down while there. The stairs killed the house. As well as the geriatric smell.
Another house on a fabulous lot across the street from one of our favorite parks and at the foot of a great hiking trail. But the house was too small at 3 bedrooms with a bonus room. The last house was a really fantastically finished rambler on a large view lot - though little of the house took in the views. It had a fabulous kitchen and family room and the finish work was truly amazing. But it had two rooms that are a waste of space for our family - a formal formal living room and formal formal dining room. Sure I have these now but we have worked with it and changed their purpose - the formal living room is our office and formal dining room a playroom. But the layout of these rooms in this other house was just not great for dual purpose. Loved the finish work, but not the right house.
Where are we now?
It is interesting where your mind goes when you are talking about such a large chunk-o-change.
We have both had our waffling periods. AB admitted he was in one last night.
"What are we doing? We just got to a point financially where we can do and buy extra things, where we can take off for a long weekend for skiing or swimming and buy nice things that we want. Why are we going down this road now?"
I understand. I have been there too. I still love our house much of the time. I really love our patio and pergola and the thought of leaving that makes my heart ache. The thought of leaving the house I brought my babies home to tears me up. Of leaving that wall that has the kids height marks written. I told AB that all I have to do to remedy that is open the pantry. Or look at Skadi's "bedroom". Or think about where we would put our guests who visit.
I waffle in what a good house for us is. Do we take the path suggested by many who have made money in real estate to buy the biggest and best house you can afford? Or do we go the economical route and go with good enough to get us by. Do we build and get *exactly* what we want - gourmet kitchen and all. Or do we listen to what everyone has told us about the headache that is and wait and wait until we find our dream home? What if we never find our dream home? Is a dream home realistic? What are we doing?
Leif also decided the other day that he isn't sure he wants a new house. One of the houses we saw this past weekend had lots of very neat toys for a boy just older than Leif. He was sure we would buy the house based off of this. When we told him no, this house wouldn't be ours a switch went off and he has since decided it wouldn't be a good idea to get a new house. Even he has started waffling.
I am hoping that by the end of the day Friday we will have gathered enough information to start narrowing down our path forward. We are looking at about six houses - two of which AB and I are both very interested in based off of size, styles and locations. Others we feel probably aren't for us, but that we need to see to check off the list. And really... who knows - maybe they are for us - a few photographs only say so much. After we look at houses we have a meeting with the builder of the Parade Home.
I am really hoping that by the end of the day Friday that AB and I have decided on a direction to go with regards to a new home.
Before we were truly househunting - just browsing - we met them at an open house and immediately fell into a good rapport with them. It is a husband-wife team and they have four kids ranging in age from a month older than Skadi to 16 years old. Lucky for them they also have a good support network locally since they both grew up in the area.
So far (crossing my fingers) our real estate agents are just superb. When we moved here 6.5 years ago we hooked up with a woman who we considered firing a number of times.
KayJay.
My MIL found her through her referral network in a boom time. That should have given us a hint there. Houses were moving like hotcakes - we lost out on a few - and here was an agent who was willing to give up a portion of her fee to my MIL for the referral. And then we discovered she was NOT a go-getter. She didn't listen and was determined to find us some awful little house in a neighboring town. She would get us in her car and "yes we will go look at this house over here, but first..." and then she would drive us across the river and exclaim about the virtues of the town. Great place, I am sure. I know now that it is a nice place, but I still won't live there if only for the long drive to work. And she would just drive around, and drive around. She wouldn't call first before showing houses - we walked in on people more than once - and her reply was "well they want to sell their house don't they?" (It is agents like her I fear when we eventually list our house.)
And in the end, we found our house and asked her to show it to us. She said as she showed us that she had skipped over the MLS listing because it didn't have pictures. (Rolling my eyes.)
This time around we opted to skip the referral. We had met a number of agents throughout the last 6 years through a variety of interactions from friends and from open houses and the Parade of Homes. We met Kevin and Therese and instantly knew we could easily work with them. And like they said the other day, it is nice when you look forward to "hanging out looking at houses" with a couple instead of dreading getting in some old ladies Caddy that stunk of perfume to drive around imprisoned.
We hit five houses this last weekend. The first we walked in and loved. Loved the house completely. AB pointed out minor things - the enclosure that holds the fridge limits you to that size of fridge and we would like a slightly larger one. AB wants a double fridge... *sigh*. And there was no cable outlet in the library for those of us using cable internet. Things that a home sold by a builder could be remedied. The house was on a nice view lot in a neighborhood I am quite fond of and was about 4200 square feet, rambler with a walk out basement on a large lot with about 1200 sq ft of the basement unfinished. It was exactly what we are looking for.
At about $25K higher than our highest end price we think we can stomach. Therese suggested an offer at that highest end price. But even then we are talking $75K more than the house we are looking to build, for essentially a very similar home. That house still looms out there... but the price just was a show stopper.
Another home that we wanted to love was also a rambler with walk out basement and similar in size with 5 bedrooms on an extraordinary view lot. The one problem with that house could not be remedied. The kitchen was smaller than the one we have now. The kitchen made the house a no go for us. Everything else about the house we loved and would have probably been willing to make an offer on our high end for this home. But that kitchen... nope, couldn't do it.
We hit three others - a funky geriatric smelling three level (most likely custom designed) house built to take advantage of views in a great neighborhood at a great price. But the stairs. The stairs that never ended. And the stairs that my daughter tumbled down while there. The stairs killed the house. As well as the geriatric smell.
Another house on a fabulous lot across the street from one of our favorite parks and at the foot of a great hiking trail. But the house was too small at 3 bedrooms with a bonus room. The last house was a really fantastically finished rambler on a large view lot - though little of the house took in the views. It had a fabulous kitchen and family room and the finish work was truly amazing. But it had two rooms that are a waste of space for our family - a formal formal living room and formal formal dining room. Sure I have these now but we have worked with it and changed their purpose - the formal living room is our office and formal dining room a playroom. But the layout of these rooms in this other house was just not great for dual purpose. Loved the finish work, but not the right house.
Where are we now?
It is interesting where your mind goes when you are talking about such a large chunk-o-change.
We have both had our waffling periods. AB admitted he was in one last night.
"What are we doing? We just got to a point financially where we can do and buy extra things, where we can take off for a long weekend for skiing or swimming and buy nice things that we want. Why are we going down this road now?"
I understand. I have been there too. I still love our house much of the time. I really love our patio and pergola and the thought of leaving that makes my heart ache. The thought of leaving the house I brought my babies home to tears me up. Of leaving that wall that has the kids height marks written. I told AB that all I have to do to remedy that is open the pantry. Or look at Skadi's "bedroom". Or think about where we would put our guests who visit.
I waffle in what a good house for us is. Do we take the path suggested by many who have made money in real estate to buy the biggest and best house you can afford? Or do we go the economical route and go with good enough to get us by. Do we build and get *exactly* what we want - gourmet kitchen and all. Or do we listen to what everyone has told us about the headache that is and wait and wait until we find our dream home? What if we never find our dream home? Is a dream home realistic? What are we doing?
Leif also decided the other day that he isn't sure he wants a new house. One of the houses we saw this past weekend had lots of very neat toys for a boy just older than Leif. He was sure we would buy the house based off of this. When we told him no, this house wouldn't be ours a switch went off and he has since decided it wouldn't be a good idea to get a new house. Even he has started waffling.
I am hoping that by the end of the day Friday we will have gathered enough information to start narrowing down our path forward. We are looking at about six houses - two of which AB and I are both very interested in based off of size, styles and locations. Others we feel probably aren't for us, but that we need to see to check off the list. And really... who knows - maybe they are for us - a few photographs only say so much. After we look at houses we have a meeting with the builder of the Parade Home.
I am really hoping that by the end of the day Friday that AB and I have decided on a direction to go with regards to a new home.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Our path to a new house
I gave a brief thought about starting a different blog for house stuff. Then I laughed. I am having a hard enough time keeping up with two active blogs. So if you don't want to wade through house post - click away.
Our real estate agent came back with shocking news this afternoon. The Parade Home that we would like built on the corner view lot in Badger Den? "About the same price" as the Parade Home.
I was glad this conversation was not in person as my agent would have gotten a view of my tonsils.
You see this is a view lot in a great location and the other lot was a great location, but a view of a drainage pond and neighboring houses. Sure when you think about it there are things that were probably added to the Parade Home price - like probably landscaping, most new houses around here include minimal (i.e., front yard only) landscaping. Fencing is another. The media equipment in the media room. The wine fridge in the bar. All the extras - drawer knobs and pulls, custom window coverings, basically all the things that make it a Parade Home and not just another house for sale.
AB and I rely on my FIL's advice on houses and loans a lot. He is in the mortgage loan business and has made a lot of money in real estate. He has advised us to keep our house as a rental and we have had a number of people concur with this stating it would be a great rental property. We will refinance this house and buy another.
His advice is to start talking to the builder - because another surprise is that they could have the new house built in 4 months - however, still look around. We do have about 10 more houses we need to see before making our decision. But comparable quality houses of the same style - rambler with a walk out basement are selling for $100K more in the same general neighborhood. However, we haven't seen them... yet.
And I am not kidding myself that our home probably will cost more than the Parade home once I add two walls to make a 5th (small) bedroom in the basement instead of a huge wetbar, move one wall to make a larger walk in closet (it was obviously designed by a man), have a laundry chute or dumbwaiter put in (because I am not hauling laundry from the Master across the house, down a flight of stairs and back across the house when the laundry room is below the Master to start. Sort of. Oh and the kitchen - I plan to kill the eat in area and extend the island for both a larger work area and a place to put some bar stools since the dining room is like steps away. And I don't have a cafe type table or want a cafe type table in that tiny area.
But other things we may decide to kill to save money on - no fancy wooden inlays in the bamboo hardwood. Built in office components not really necessary. AB is considering killing the deck and having his brother(s) come out and help build a deck themselves. And we *can* do the landscaping ourselves... I suppose.
And before I get too far down this road I do need to e-mail the list of homes we still want to see to the agent. Though my FIL did advise starting to sit down with the builder here soon.
Our real estate agent came back with shocking news this afternoon. The Parade Home that we would like built on the corner view lot in Badger Den? "About the same price" as the Parade Home.
I was glad this conversation was not in person as my agent would have gotten a view of my tonsils.
You see this is a view lot in a great location and the other lot was a great location, but a view of a drainage pond and neighboring houses. Sure when you think about it there are things that were probably added to the Parade Home price - like probably landscaping, most new houses around here include minimal (i.e., front yard only) landscaping. Fencing is another. The media equipment in the media room. The wine fridge in the bar. All the extras - drawer knobs and pulls, custom window coverings, basically all the things that make it a Parade Home and not just another house for sale.
AB and I rely on my FIL's advice on houses and loans a lot. He is in the mortgage loan business and has made a lot of money in real estate. He has advised us to keep our house as a rental and we have had a number of people concur with this stating it would be a great rental property. We will refinance this house and buy another.
His advice is to start talking to the builder - because another surprise is that they could have the new house built in 4 months - however, still look around. We do have about 10 more houses we need to see before making our decision. But comparable quality houses of the same style - rambler with a walk out basement are selling for $100K more in the same general neighborhood. However, we haven't seen them... yet.
And I am not kidding myself that our home probably will cost more than the Parade home once I add two walls to make a 5th (small) bedroom in the basement instead of a huge wetbar, move one wall to make a larger walk in closet (it was obviously designed by a man), have a laundry chute or dumbwaiter put in (because I am not hauling laundry from the Master across the house, down a flight of stairs and back across the house when the laundry room is below the Master to start. Sort of. Oh and the kitchen - I plan to kill the eat in area and extend the island for both a larger work area and a place to put some bar stools since the dining room is like steps away. And I don't have a cafe type table or want a cafe type table in that tiny area.
But other things we may decide to kill to save money on - no fancy wooden inlays in the bamboo hardwood. Built in office components not really necessary. AB is considering killing the deck and having his brother(s) come out and help build a deck themselves. And we *can* do the landscaping ourselves... I suppose.
One thing we are excited about with this builder is the house is Energy Star compliant and "green built". Important things!
And before I get too far down this road I do need to e-mail the list of homes we still want to see to the agent. Though my FIL did advise starting to sit down with the builder here soon.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Catching up
It's been awhile since I have felt my blogging mojo. I was worried it got up and went. But seems it was just a momentary lapse and I have a whole list of things to blog about now. My biggest obstacle is time.
Since we returned from Colorado I have been very busy with work (in a good way), getting ready for that big holiday that is lurking just around the corner and just trying to keep up with the daily grind. Oh and not to mention we have undertaken a new task... finding a new home to buy.
So while the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese cooks, Skadi sleeps, Leif and AB are outside shoveling snow (Leif is trying to sled down our driveway that has no slant to it), I will get on it.
I have found my love for this time of year again. I was worried I was going to have a funk of a holiday season. This has never really happened to me, but I was seeing how easily people could slip into this. Then Leif found his love for Christmas, Skadi started screaming "SANTA", and it started snowing. And snowing.
And it's snowing right now!
So first bit of news is that we were gently nudged off the fence with regards to buying a new house. It didn't take much pushing to get us moving since this is something we have wanted/needed for a long time. We have come to know the market in the area pretty well over the last almost a year or so as we frequent open houses and drive around dreaming. We have met a number of real estate agents and this last week we picked one. Or two actually. A husband-wife team with kids our kids ages who are really nice people. And they seem to get us and understand what we are looking for.
Thursday they came over to start the market analysis on our home and Friday we went out and looked at five houses with them. We hit one more yesterday.
After seeing six houses AB and I both agreed on what needs to be done.
We needed to make an offer on a Parade Home we visited in September.
Unfortunately for us our agent told us Friday night that the house was under contract and set to close on Monday.
It was probably good that we felt the strong sense of missing out and regret for not having moved on the house because it emphasized to us what we want in a house. And we may have stumbled upon the better alternative - a view lot in a local neighborhood owned by the builder of the Parade Home. It is a most awesome lot - an end lot on a "loop" where the only people accessing the loop will be the people living there. The houses "below" are a good grade down the hill and so nobody to impair the view.
Our agent is on the case and will hopefully get us information here soon that will help us decide if we are building. In the meantime we are listing the things we would change in the Parade Home - we have no need for a wet bar in the basement of the size they built - we would rather have another bedroom. AB is insisting the theater room stays, though he is finding other places to cut expenses as we are pretty sure the price tag is going to come in higher than that of the Parade Home given the view lot.
We are on pins and needles waiting and are hoping not to be disappointed.
All in all though, we are doing great here. We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with a great meal (providing we don't get snowed in and have to make do with what we have in the house). Ok and we wouldn't be snowed in - AB and I are quite versatile in the snow. However, we have been here when the town was shut down due to snow. AB is smoking a prime rib, which makes me drool just thinking about it. We will have broccollini (and the kids will rejoice in their favorite vegetable - seriously), mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, some fabulous wine and Pioneer Woman's pumpkin cake (sans raisins of course) for dessert.
Since we returned from Colorado I have been very busy with work (in a good way), getting ready for that big holiday that is lurking just around the corner and just trying to keep up with the daily grind. Oh and not to mention we have undertaken a new task... finding a new home to buy.
So while the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese cooks, Skadi sleeps, Leif and AB are outside shoveling snow (Leif is trying to sled down our driveway that has no slant to it), I will get on it.
I have found my love for this time of year again. I was worried I was going to have a funk of a holiday season. This has never really happened to me, but I was seeing how easily people could slip into this. Then Leif found his love for Christmas, Skadi started screaming "SANTA", and it started snowing. And snowing.
And it's snowing right now!
So first bit of news is that we were gently nudged off the fence with regards to buying a new house. It didn't take much pushing to get us moving since this is something we have wanted/needed for a long time. We have come to know the market in the area pretty well over the last almost a year or so as we frequent open houses and drive around dreaming. We have met a number of real estate agents and this last week we picked one. Or two actually. A husband-wife team with kids our kids ages who are really nice people. And they seem to get us and understand what we are looking for.
Thursday they came over to start the market analysis on our home and Friday we went out and looked at five houses with them. We hit one more yesterday.
After seeing six houses AB and I both agreed on what needs to be done.
We needed to make an offer on a Parade Home we visited in September.
Unfortunately for us our agent told us Friday night that the house was under contract and set to close on Monday.
It was probably good that we felt the strong sense of missing out and regret for not having moved on the house because it emphasized to us what we want in a house. And we may have stumbled upon the better alternative - a view lot in a local neighborhood owned by the builder of the Parade Home. It is a most awesome lot - an end lot on a "loop" where the only people accessing the loop will be the people living there. The houses "below" are a good grade down the hill and so nobody to impair the view.
Our agent is on the case and will hopefully get us information here soon that will help us decide if we are building. In the meantime we are listing the things we would change in the Parade Home - we have no need for a wet bar in the basement of the size they built - we would rather have another bedroom. AB is insisting the theater room stays, though he is finding other places to cut expenses as we are pretty sure the price tag is going to come in higher than that of the Parade Home given the view lot.
We are on pins and needles waiting and are hoping not to be disappointed.
All in all though, we are doing great here. We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with a great meal (providing we don't get snowed in and have to make do with what we have in the house). Ok and we wouldn't be snowed in - AB and I are quite versatile in the snow. However, we have been here when the town was shut down due to snow. AB is smoking a prime rib, which makes me drool just thinking about it. We will have broccollini (and the kids will rejoice in their favorite vegetable - seriously), mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, some fabulous wine and Pioneer Woman's pumpkin cake (sans raisins of course) for dessert.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Just when we *think* we are going to have a relaxing weekend...
Because apparently we can't just have a weekend with little planned.
Yesterday the kids had swimming lessons and for the first time in months I didn't put my swimsuit on. AB got in with Skadi instead and I got to sit on the side and chat with the mom of one of Leif's and Skadi's friends while her husband got in the pool with their son and our older kids enjoyed their lesson. It was a luxury really. I do love getting in the pool with Skadi, but it is really nice to have an occasion to just sit and chat.
Afterwards Leif and I headed out to a special outing. Contrary to his belief, the "special outting" was NOT to Chuckee Cheese's. Instead we headed out to take care of some Christmas presents. Leif never ceases to amaze me really. We headed in and I had a plan in my head. He waylayed it pretty quickly since Leif isn't one to not be "in control". He picked out ALL of the three gifts on Saturday. AB's made sense and IS really awesome though not what I would have picked. Next he picked my mom. I kept chuckling to myself when he insisted on this particular item for her. I tried making other suggestions and then finally just reminded myself that my mom will love it because Leif was SO passionate over the item. Last was a gift for Bompa. Leif beelined to it, picked it up and said, "this is perfect for Bompa's money!" And it is.
On Saturday afternoon we had intentions of climbing a local "mountain" with the kids. Then we got waylayed by "open house" signs. By the time we made our way to the "mountain" it was late and so we did a short hike (vowing to get back Sunday morning) and then played on the playground equipment.
After dinner the kids crashed quickly while AB and I moved back to the realm of "what if" regarding a new house. AB became quite passionate over the thought of getting a new house - again. Don't think that I wasn't right there with him. The houses that have now moved into the "tied for first" list were in a subdivision we had once ruled out as "not interested".
AB and I are walkers/hikers and always have been. We walk with the kids most nights after work and make a point to get out for a longer walk with the dog every weekend. After checking out the park and the short part of the trail up the "mountain" - not to mention the views of the city, we returned to considering that neighborhood and vowed to hike the hill and check out any open houses on Sunday. Having the great park and the trailhead near our future house would be wonderful.
Saturday night the kids both crashed early and we downloaded "Sex and the City" (so cannot believe it has taken me THIS long to see it!). And I am SO not a Miranda like the Facebook test told me...
This morning the kids woke bright and early (both were up before 6am - sometime I would like for them to understand and implement a return to standard time from daylight savings time). I made a big apple pufff pancake and we finally got out to climb our hill.
AB and I thought it was a great idea, wear the kids out and check out the most beautiful views of the entire area. Kids weren't quite so sure of our idea. They are normally good sports when it comes to hiking - but I fear we got a late start and just ended up with crankies instead. A little over halfway up the hill we happened upon Leif's good friend C as well as a set of twins from his preschool and their older brother and father. This completely rejuvenated our kids. Skadi (who had been about to sleep) was revitalized when she saw C and Leif was just thrilled to see all the kids.
I didn't hear another word about "let's turn around now".
It took us (four adults, two dogs and six children) about 2 hours to reach the summit, then turn around and head down. For one of the first times I got a sense of really looking forward to Leif as a "kid". When he was born I cried and cried about him growing up so quickly. And though nearly every stage has been better than the previous one (I keep reminding myself of this now with Skadi in her Tasmanian Devil stage) I always fear a little what is around the next corner.
Leif is now to the age where he can tell us a lot, though carrying on an intelligent conversation isn't on our plate right now. We will have two lines of conversation typically followed by randomness. On the way down I lead the pack and found myself running at times to keep up with Leif and the 8 year old - who I didn't know before, but have discovered is a really awesome kid. We talked quite a bit about Leif at school - what he does at recess, who he plays with and how he plays. We talked about dogs, how to train them and funny things our dogs do. I had a great conversation and hike with him (and Leif) and it really made me look forward to this age with my kids without the sense of dread that time is flying way too fast.
Ok, so that feeling did return quickly, because time IS flying way too fast. But it reminded me I have something neat to look forward to... intelligent conversation with my kids.
It is now Sunday evening and since we couldn't get Skadi down for a nap (the hike took longer than we had anticipated), she has crashed out and is snoring on the couch. Leif is watching the Polar Express and AB has cooked dinner - a new concoction of chili that so far is showing signs of fantastic-ness.
I didn't get to my "goal" of cleaning out the Utility Room. Next weekend will be focused on packing up for our trip to Colorado and hopefully pulling out Christmas decorations so I can get a little done before we leave. Oh and one birthday party in there too. We plan to switch over to some new outdoor lights from our "way too 90's" icicle lights. 10 days and counting till we get on the airplane.
Yesterday the kids had swimming lessons and for the first time in months I didn't put my swimsuit on. AB got in with Skadi instead and I got to sit on the side and chat with the mom of one of Leif's and Skadi's friends while her husband got in the pool with their son and our older kids enjoyed their lesson. It was a luxury really. I do love getting in the pool with Skadi, but it is really nice to have an occasion to just sit and chat.
Afterwards Leif and I headed out to a special outing. Contrary to his belief, the "special outting" was NOT to Chuckee Cheese's. Instead we headed out to take care of some Christmas presents. Leif never ceases to amaze me really. We headed in and I had a plan in my head. He waylayed it pretty quickly since Leif isn't one to not be "in control". He picked out ALL of the three gifts on Saturday. AB's made sense and IS really awesome though not what I would have picked. Next he picked my mom. I kept chuckling to myself when he insisted on this particular item for her. I tried making other suggestions and then finally just reminded myself that my mom will love it because Leif was SO passionate over the item. Last was a gift for Bompa. Leif beelined to it, picked it up and said, "this is perfect for Bompa's money!" And it is.
On Saturday afternoon we had intentions of climbing a local "mountain" with the kids. Then we got waylayed by "open house" signs. By the time we made our way to the "mountain" it was late and so we did a short hike (vowing to get back Sunday morning) and then played on the playground equipment.
After dinner the kids crashed quickly while AB and I moved back to the realm of "what if" regarding a new house. AB became quite passionate over the thought of getting a new house - again. Don't think that I wasn't right there with him. The houses that have now moved into the "tied for first" list were in a subdivision we had once ruled out as "not interested".
AB and I are walkers/hikers and always have been. We walk with the kids most nights after work and make a point to get out for a longer walk with the dog every weekend. After checking out the park and the short part of the trail up the "mountain" - not to mention the views of the city, we returned to considering that neighborhood and vowed to hike the hill and check out any open houses on Sunday. Having the great park and the trailhead near our future house would be wonderful.
Saturday night the kids both crashed early and we downloaded "Sex and the City" (so cannot believe it has taken me THIS long to see it!). And I am SO not a Miranda like the Facebook test told me...
This morning the kids woke bright and early (both were up before 6am - sometime I would like for them to understand and implement a return to standard time from daylight savings time). I made a big apple pufff pancake and we finally got out to climb our hill.
AB and I thought it was a great idea, wear the kids out and check out the most beautiful views of the entire area. Kids weren't quite so sure of our idea. They are normally good sports when it comes to hiking - but I fear we got a late start and just ended up with crankies instead. A little over halfway up the hill we happened upon Leif's good friend C as well as a set of twins from his preschool and their older brother and father. This completely rejuvenated our kids. Skadi (who had been about to sleep) was revitalized when she saw C and Leif was just thrilled to see all the kids.
I didn't hear another word about "let's turn around now".
It took us (four adults, two dogs and six children) about 2 hours to reach the summit, then turn around and head down. For one of the first times I got a sense of really looking forward to Leif as a "kid". When he was born I cried and cried about him growing up so quickly. And though nearly every stage has been better than the previous one (I keep reminding myself of this now with Skadi in her Tasmanian Devil stage) I always fear a little what is around the next corner.
Leif is now to the age where he can tell us a lot, though carrying on an intelligent conversation isn't on our plate right now. We will have two lines of conversation typically followed by randomness. On the way down I lead the pack and found myself running at times to keep up with Leif and the 8 year old - who I didn't know before, but have discovered is a really awesome kid. We talked quite a bit about Leif at school - what he does at recess, who he plays with and how he plays. We talked about dogs, how to train them and funny things our dogs do. I had a great conversation and hike with him (and Leif) and it really made me look forward to this age with my kids without the sense of dread that time is flying way too fast.
Ok, so that feeling did return quickly, because time IS flying way too fast. But it reminded me I have something neat to look forward to... intelligent conversation with my kids.
It is now Sunday evening and since we couldn't get Skadi down for a nap (the hike took longer than we had anticipated), she has crashed out and is snoring on the couch. Leif is watching the Polar Express and AB has cooked dinner - a new concoction of chili that so far is showing signs of fantastic-ness.
I didn't get to my "goal" of cleaning out the Utility Room. Next weekend will be focused on packing up for our trip to Colorado and hopefully pulling out Christmas decorations so I can get a little done before we leave. Oh and one birthday party in there too. We plan to switch over to some new outdoor lights from our "way too 90's" icicle lights. 10 days and counting till we get on the airplane.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Samblich Pie
"Time for bed honey pie!" I called to Leif.
"Why did you call me that?" he asked.
"I always call you that, I like it," I said.
"Well I think you should call me 'samblich pie' instead, okay!" he tells me.
....
Leif lived in his cape the entire weekend. Seriously I am not sure it was off of him for more than an hour for a bike ride. On Saturday Leif went to answer the door as one of his friends was visiting. We opened the door to see the other little boy standing there... also wearing a cape. The caped crusaders played hard.
It was a busy weekend. Skadi and I went to swimming, then we all hit some Parade Homes. We went home for nap and I cooked dinner in preparation for guests.
Sunday our doorbell rang at 9am while we were finishing up breakfast (pumpkin waffles) and it was our babysitter. Only three hours early for her babysitting stint.
"NOON, not NINE!"
AB pointed her towards home and asked her to be back in a few hours.
AB and I had nine homes to finish up on the Parade of Homes route and we decided to tackle that last day sans children. They would rather stay home and play anyways.
Our sitter came back at noon and we chit chatted while AB finished showering. I asked how her trip to the cabin was and she told me she confused the weekends and she is going next weekend.
"Next weekend?" I asked her.
"Mmm hmmm!" she nodded with a mouthful of macaroni and cheese.
"So you aren't going to be able to housesit for me then?" I asked her.
She had that characterizeable blank look on her face for about 20 seconds. Then the bell dinged and she stammered trying to figure it out.
I made her promise that she get back to me asap. In the meantime AB has put plans in motion to just bring Winny along to the condo, which is probably a better option anyways.
I think she has the ding dong, ditzy teenager thing going on. It has been something with every single of the last three scheduled sitting jobs. Her mom is super and I am trying to be uber understanding. But this flightiness has me concerned and unimpressed.
Not to mention the fact that when we got home four hours later she was on the couch with Leif (while Skadi played on the floor) and he exclaimed, "we watched Tarzan, Mulan 2 [which I had put aside unopened in reserve as a reward] AND the Spiderman movie?"
"Spiderman movie?" I inquired with my eyebrow raised.
"Yeah," he wanted to watch it she said.
"It's rated PG I think," I told her.
She looked at me.
"He's four," I reminded her.
Ok, so I remember a babysitter letting my sister and I watch Friday the 13th all the while we declared, "it won't scare me". (HA HA HA HA HA.)
Yeah... our neighbor girl has been put on hold for babysitting pending a little growing up, or something.
So anyways... Parade of Homes. Mediocre. It's a Parade. I want to be wow'd. I wasn't wow'd very often. Only a few houses wow'd me. One we want to buy. Though there are enough little things I would change that I have trouble pulling the trigger. AB a little less so. I am thinking building the same house with a few modifications is more likely.
There were too many homes that were seriously just "open houses" with no decor. That's just a waste of my time.
So anyways. Weekend was good. Busy, but good. I cleaned out my dresser and threw away clothes, made another stack for keep (but not here) and a bigger stack for Goodwill. It was my effort to at least *try* and get started on my September goal before the end of the month. AB rolled his eyes at me when I mentioned the word "paint" this afternoon.
SO maybe my kitchen will be in November...
"Why did you call me that?" he asked.
"I always call you that, I like it," I said.
"Well I think you should call me 'samblich pie' instead, okay!" he tells me.
....
Leif lived in his cape the entire weekend. Seriously I am not sure it was off of him for more than an hour for a bike ride. On Saturday Leif went to answer the door as one of his friends was visiting. We opened the door to see the other little boy standing there... also wearing a cape. The caped crusaders played hard.
It was a busy weekend. Skadi and I went to swimming, then we all hit some Parade Homes. We went home for nap and I cooked dinner in preparation for guests.
Sunday our doorbell rang at 9am while we were finishing up breakfast (pumpkin waffles) and it was our babysitter. Only three hours early for her babysitting stint.
"NOON, not NINE!"
AB pointed her towards home and asked her to be back in a few hours.
AB and I had nine homes to finish up on the Parade of Homes route and we decided to tackle that last day sans children. They would rather stay home and play anyways.
Our sitter came back at noon and we chit chatted while AB finished showering. I asked how her trip to the cabin was and she told me she confused the weekends and she is going next weekend.
"Next weekend?" I asked her.
"Mmm hmmm!" she nodded with a mouthful of macaroni and cheese.
"So you aren't going to be able to housesit for me then?" I asked her.
She had that characterizeable blank look on her face for about 20 seconds. Then the bell dinged and she stammered trying to figure it out.
I made her promise that she get back to me asap. In the meantime AB has put plans in motion to just bring Winny along to the condo, which is probably a better option anyways.
I think she has the ding dong, ditzy teenager thing going on. It has been something with every single of the last three scheduled sitting jobs. Her mom is super and I am trying to be uber understanding. But this flightiness has me concerned and unimpressed.
Not to mention the fact that when we got home four hours later she was on the couch with Leif (while Skadi played on the floor) and he exclaimed, "we watched Tarzan, Mulan 2 [which I had put aside unopened in reserve as a reward] AND the Spiderman movie?"
"Spiderman movie?" I inquired with my eyebrow raised.
"Yeah," he wanted to watch it she said.
"It's rated PG I think," I told her.
She looked at me.
"He's four," I reminded her.
Ok, so I remember a babysitter letting my sister and I watch Friday the 13th all the while we declared, "it won't scare me". (HA HA HA HA HA.)
Yeah... our neighbor girl has been put on hold for babysitting pending a little growing up, or something.
So anyways... Parade of Homes. Mediocre. It's a Parade. I want to be wow'd. I wasn't wow'd very often. Only a few houses wow'd me. One we want to buy. Though there are enough little things I would change that I have trouble pulling the trigger. AB a little less so. I am thinking building the same house with a few modifications is more likely.
There were too many homes that were seriously just "open houses" with no decor. That's just a waste of my time.
So anyways. Weekend was good. Busy, but good. I cleaned out my dresser and threw away clothes, made another stack for keep (but not here) and a bigger stack for Goodwill. It was my effort to at least *try* and get started on my September goal before the end of the month. AB rolled his eyes at me when I mentioned the word "paint" this afternoon.
SO maybe my kitchen will be in November...
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Finding our place
I am stop and go, start and end, confused all around, regarding a house. I want one, but I don't know what I want. AB wants one and doesn't know what he wants. We can't agree, then we can agree, then we aren't sure.
After spending a good part of today wandering open houses we walked away settled.
We walked through a model house (littered with Parade Home awards) and loved the style. We got to talking to the agent, told him what we were looking for and he sent us to a seemingly obscure address.
"What? I housing development there? I didn't know there was one there, that's only like a half mile from our house. Are you sure that's the cross street?!"
He assured us he had a house we would love and if it wasn't perfect (based on his 15 minute discussion with us) he would make it perfect. We would love it.
We raced across town - he phoned his partner to have her wait there for us.
We stood in the driveway admitting that there was really no reason for us to walk in. We loved it already. And loved the location with a park just down the block. We could tell it was exactly what we wanted and in a fantastic location. One of my qualms about moving to this point has been that I do love being blocks to the grocery store, a half mile to Costco, etc. If it weren't for the apartments, we might have considered adding on.
Something beckoned us and we walked through the double doors. Leif carried his new plastic, highly obnoxious sounding nail gun in. I apologized to the agent, explaining what a long afternoon it had been for him. She shrugged and smiled - thinking I am sure, about her potential commission.
Yep, we loved it still.
Four bedrooms, wonderful hardwood floors, a huge Master Suite, a huge gourmet kitchen with a pantry as big as our second full bathroom now. An oversize three car garage you could play basketball in, a shop, a bonus room with a full bathroom and closet, a covered patio with outside ceiling fan on a half acre lot. Everything. It had everything.
AB commented if we were house hunting in earnest he would have wanted to make an offer right there. But we aren't house hunting in earnest.
The development is in phase one of four - and not filling overly fast.
We have time.
We now have two house designs (this one and the other where we met the agent at) we like from the same builder and two neighborhoods we could build either house in. (I like the new neighborhood - AB favors the other.)
And for the first time I am not feeling rushed or freaked out. I feel as though we have made our decision and we just need time to save the money to build our dream house.
We have agreed that we are done driving around. Our lazy afternoons from here on out are going to be spent getting the house ready to sell. Painting the exterior trim... fixing the baseboard and plaster in the bathroom... getting the ducts blown out... getting pictures of the house with our backyard looking lush... putting in blinds... painting... epoxying the concrete patio...
The list goes on and on...
After spending a good part of today wandering open houses we walked away settled.
We walked through a model house (littered with Parade Home awards) and loved the style. We got to talking to the agent, told him what we were looking for and he sent us to a seemingly obscure address.
"What? I housing development there? I didn't know there was one there, that's only like a half mile from our house. Are you sure that's the cross street?!"
He assured us he had a house we would love and if it wasn't perfect (based on his 15 minute discussion with us) he would make it perfect. We would love it.
We raced across town - he phoned his partner to have her wait there for us.
We stood in the driveway admitting that there was really no reason for us to walk in. We loved it already. And loved the location with a park just down the block. We could tell it was exactly what we wanted and in a fantastic location. One of my qualms about moving to this point has been that I do love being blocks to the grocery store, a half mile to Costco, etc. If it weren't for the apartments, we might have considered adding on.
Something beckoned us and we walked through the double doors. Leif carried his new plastic, highly obnoxious sounding nail gun in. I apologized to the agent, explaining what a long afternoon it had been for him. She shrugged and smiled - thinking I am sure, about her potential commission.
Yep, we loved it still.
Four bedrooms, wonderful hardwood floors, a huge Master Suite, a huge gourmet kitchen with a pantry as big as our second full bathroom now. An oversize three car garage you could play basketball in, a shop, a bonus room with a full bathroom and closet, a covered patio with outside ceiling fan on a half acre lot. Everything. It had everything.
AB commented if we were house hunting in earnest he would have wanted to make an offer right there. But we aren't house hunting in earnest.
The development is in phase one of four - and not filling overly fast.
We have time.
We now have two house designs (this one and the other where we met the agent at) we like from the same builder and two neighborhoods we could build either house in. (I like the new neighborhood - AB favors the other.)
And for the first time I am not feeling rushed or freaked out. I feel as though we have made our decision and we just need time to save the money to build our dream house.
We have agreed that we are done driving around. Our lazy afternoons from here on out are going to be spent getting the house ready to sell. Painting the exterior trim... fixing the baseboard and plaster in the bathroom... getting the ducts blown out... getting pictures of the house with our backyard looking lush... putting in blinds... painting... epoxying the concrete patio...
The list goes on and on...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Catching up
Summers in this region really are fabulous. I can say this with enthusiasm right now since the number of 100+ degree days have been few (most so far were while we were in Alaska), making the weather very tolerable and our desire to get outside insatiable.
The entire family wants outside. Skadi is a grump? Take her outside, it cures her.
I was comparing this past weekend to prior colder months regarding progress on my monthly cleaning and organization goals. It has taken me nearly 6 weeks to get my Master bathroom and closet picked up and organized. And it wasn't *that* bad beforehand. Two weeks to do my linen closet? Really... it isn't that bad... it is that we are just never home anymore.
On Friday I picked Leif up from preschool (Skadi already being home sick with AB... I will avoid going into details of that day since in staying home for my four hours in the morning I came far too close to telling off a co-PI who decided to ask me that I "make sure my kids aren't sick on Tuesday". Because she either thought I was lying, would rather be home with a sick kid instead of working with her in the lab, or should find something else to do with my sick kid rather than stay home with her. Anyways...)
We made a quick run by the fire station to check out the details a second time before the birthday party the next morning. Then we grabbed dinner from the Korean place and ran home.
Saturday morning Leif had his birthday party at the fire station. I was quite pleased with how it went and how well we were able to keep things flowing. The kids and parents seemed to enjoy the tour and I, for one, learned a lot. (Did you know that 80% of the calls are medical?) After the tour we had pizza on the back lawn, a pinata and then cake (ice cream was forgotten in the cooler). The kids ran and played. Leif only had a few turkey moments. I will post pictures later.
We went home and put Skadi down for a nap and hoped Leif would nap. It was silly to think that he maybe would I suppose. Not like AB and I weren't near complete exhaustion ourselves.
Once Skadi woke up we headed out to the Art in the Park festival. This is one of my favorites every year. And every year I think about in 2004 how very pregnant I was and how very hot it was. We wandered through the artisans booths. Had dinner with a guy I work with and his "5 3/4 year old" daughter (who took Leif under her wing) and just had a plain good time. AB took Leif to play on the playground equipment while I wandered the last 1/3 of the show with Skadi. We did, however, get stuck at one booth. "Me and Mom's Hats".
After painstacking decisions, Skadi has two hats for this fall and winter. I loved the brown beanie with the big pink flower, but also fell for the bluebell hat as well. Skadi could care less of the bluebell hat, but loves her brown beanie with the floppy pink flower. If I put the bluebell hat on her she rips it off and puts her beanie on. She was a kick at the booth and the artist told me she hadn't had such good advertisement all day, as Skadi tore through her hats, pulling them randomly (and sometimes two at a time) onto her head and oogling, "ooooh!"
We left the park as the show was closing and managed to keep the sleepy kids awake in the car so they would fall asleep in their beds at home.
On Sunday we let Leif open his presents from grandma, Bompa and my sister over the webcam. He was thrilled with the fishing pole. Skadi was thrilled with the tackle box once she got all the tackle out and could replace it with her Little People and AB and I were thrilled with the huge box of Lincoln Logs. I also hope Leif will come to love the Richard Scarry's Greatest Storybook Ever as much as I did - many thanks to my sister.
After the present unwrapping we loaded into the car and headed to the orchard to pick donut peaches. Unfortunately they were still a week or so away from prime picking, but AB (being his normal inquisitive self) did manage to purvey a bunch of cherry and apple wood for his smoker. Since we had packed a lunch we didn't see any reason to head home.
Instead we drove around looking for open houses (not many on this boat race weekend) and houses and lots for sale while stuffing food into the kids in the car.
We found two houses that if we actually got the guts to call an agent we are very interested in seeing. Very interested.
But I am just scared of heading down that path again when we aren't completely ready. I am afraid of falling in love with a house. Our intention is to go out and get ideas for eventually building our own since we had pretty much decided on buying a lot at the end of the year and then building. The one that really has me stopping though is seeing a newly for sale house in the small development containing the lots we like. It is the style we like, 4 bedrooms and TWO pantries. And affordable. Reasonably. At least it is within the range we are eyeing.
AB is waiting for me (I think) to say I want to look at it. I do, I really do. And then I don't out of fear. So I am trying to ignore it exists for now.
Trying.
So we realized that no good could come from house hunting and headed home to put Beaner down for a nap. While she napped it dawned on me how many times I have declared needing an external hard drive to back up my photos. Suddenly while I was printing up pictures for Leif's birthday day at school, I was overwhelmed with a fear that my hard drive was going to crash any second and lose every single photo I had ever taken. As soon as I mentioned wanting a hard drive, AB jumped on the opportunity to go to Costco.
We ended our Sunday outtings with the trip to Costco (also examining the treadmills there) then AB and Leif went to fly a kite at the park since it was awfully cold for swimming, while Skadi and I got groceries.
And after writing this, I think I am dead tired all over again.
The entire family wants outside. Skadi is a grump? Take her outside, it cures her.
I was comparing this past weekend to prior colder months regarding progress on my monthly cleaning and organization goals. It has taken me nearly 6 weeks to get my Master bathroom and closet picked up and organized. And it wasn't *that* bad beforehand. Two weeks to do my linen closet? Really... it isn't that bad... it is that we are just never home anymore.
On Friday I picked Leif up from preschool (Skadi already being home sick with AB... I will avoid going into details of that day since in staying home for my four hours in the morning I came far too close to telling off a co-PI who decided to ask me that I "make sure my kids aren't sick on Tuesday". Because she either thought I was lying, would rather be home with a sick kid instead of working with her in the lab, or should find something else to do with my sick kid rather than stay home with her. Anyways...)
We made a quick run by the fire station to check out the details a second time before the birthday party the next morning. Then we grabbed dinner from the Korean place and ran home.
Saturday morning Leif had his birthday party at the fire station. I was quite pleased with how it went and how well we were able to keep things flowing. The kids and parents seemed to enjoy the tour and I, for one, learned a lot. (Did you know that 80% of the calls are medical?) After the tour we had pizza on the back lawn, a pinata and then cake (ice cream was forgotten in the cooler). The kids ran and played. Leif only had a few turkey moments. I will post pictures later.
We went home and put Skadi down for a nap and hoped Leif would nap. It was silly to think that he maybe would I suppose. Not like AB and I weren't near complete exhaustion ourselves.
Once Skadi woke up we headed out to the Art in the Park festival. This is one of my favorites every year. And every year I think about in 2004 how very pregnant I was and how very hot it was. We wandered through the artisans booths. Had dinner with a guy I work with and his "5 3/4 year old" daughter (who took Leif under her wing) and just had a plain good time. AB took Leif to play on the playground equipment while I wandered the last 1/3 of the show with Skadi. We did, however, get stuck at one booth. "Me and Mom's Hats".
After painstacking decisions, Skadi has two hats for this fall and winter. I loved the brown beanie with the big pink flower, but also fell for the bluebell hat as well. Skadi could care less of the bluebell hat, but loves her brown beanie with the floppy pink flower. If I put the bluebell hat on her she rips it off and puts her beanie on. She was a kick at the booth and the artist told me she hadn't had such good advertisement all day, as Skadi tore through her hats, pulling them randomly (and sometimes two at a time) onto her head and oogling, "ooooh!"
We left the park as the show was closing and managed to keep the sleepy kids awake in the car so they would fall asleep in their beds at home.
On Sunday we let Leif open his presents from grandma, Bompa and my sister over the webcam. He was thrilled with the fishing pole. Skadi was thrilled with the tackle box once she got all the tackle out and could replace it with her Little People and AB and I were thrilled with the huge box of Lincoln Logs. I also hope Leif will come to love the Richard Scarry's Greatest Storybook Ever as much as I did - many thanks to my sister.
After the present unwrapping we loaded into the car and headed to the orchard to pick donut peaches. Unfortunately they were still a week or so away from prime picking, but AB (being his normal inquisitive self) did manage to purvey a bunch of cherry and apple wood for his smoker. Since we had packed a lunch we didn't see any reason to head home.
Instead we drove around looking for open houses (not many on this boat race weekend) and houses and lots for sale while stuffing food into the kids in the car.
We found two houses that if we actually got the guts to call an agent we are very interested in seeing. Very interested.
But I am just scared of heading down that path again when we aren't completely ready. I am afraid of falling in love with a house. Our intention is to go out and get ideas for eventually building our own since we had pretty much decided on buying a lot at the end of the year and then building. The one that really has me stopping though is seeing a newly for sale house in the small development containing the lots we like. It is the style we like, 4 bedrooms and TWO pantries. And affordable. Reasonably. At least it is within the range we are eyeing.
AB is waiting for me (I think) to say I want to look at it. I do, I really do. And then I don't out of fear. So I am trying to ignore it exists for now.
Trying.
So we realized that no good could come from house hunting and headed home to put Beaner down for a nap. While she napped it dawned on me how many times I have declared needing an external hard drive to back up my photos. Suddenly while I was printing up pictures for Leif's birthday day at school, I was overwhelmed with a fear that my hard drive was going to crash any second and lose every single photo I had ever taken. As soon as I mentioned wanting a hard drive, AB jumped on the opportunity to go to Costco.
We ended our Sunday outtings with the trip to Costco (also examining the treadmills there) then AB and Leif went to fly a kite at the park since it was awfully cold for swimming, while Skadi and I got groceries.
And after writing this, I think I am dead tired all over again.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Poof went the house!
So in case you are following along... My MIL arrived today and after she and AB did a Costco trip that packed my husband's Outback to epic proportions then we all met the real estate agent at the house. (My MIL was my Costco mentor - she taught me well and it is always her first stop when visiting.)
She agreed that it is a beautiful house. But here is where I understand why my MIL makes a great living as a real estate agent. She rocks at it. Not only does she know houses, but she knows lots and utilities and "typical" city/county markings and construction.
Things I had glossed over... she pointed to the seams of the carpet and how poorly they were adhered. She pointed out the size of the "kid's rooms". Yep, tiny.
She grilled the agent and came to the conclusion that he knows more than he is sharing about the land behind the house.
She is intuitive that way.
Then she spied the neighboring diagonal shaped lot that wouldn't have an obstructed view if the county land was built on, that would have only one neighbor.
"Well I see why they love the house," she told the agent, "it is a gorgeous house. And there are things that will really work for them in this house. And some things that won't. So thanks so much for the time you have spent thus far. Could you get the information on the two neighboring lots to this one, we might be very interested in those."
See how she seamlessly handled this? This type of thing is not my forte.
And why I am thrilled she was here to help us find clarity.
We have a plan we are going to put forward. One that AB and I haven't been wondering if it was the best thing for us...
Find a lot, buy it. Wait a year and get our finances in better shape while we design our house.
Then build.
I am very happy with this path forward.
She agreed that it is a beautiful house. But here is where I understand why my MIL makes a great living as a real estate agent. She rocks at it. Not only does she know houses, but she knows lots and utilities and "typical" city/county markings and construction.
Things I had glossed over... she pointed to the seams of the carpet and how poorly they were adhered. She pointed out the size of the "kid's rooms". Yep, tiny.
She grilled the agent and came to the conclusion that he knows more than he is sharing about the land behind the house.
She is intuitive that way.
Then she spied the neighboring diagonal shaped lot that wouldn't have an obstructed view if the county land was built on, that would have only one neighbor.
"Well I see why they love the house," she told the agent, "it is a gorgeous house. And there are things that will really work for them in this house. And some things that won't. So thanks so much for the time you have spent thus far. Could you get the information on the two neighboring lots to this one, we might be very interested in those."
See how she seamlessly handled this? This type of thing is not my forte.
And why I am thrilled she was here to help us find clarity.
We have a plan we are going to put forward. One that AB and I haven't been wondering if it was the best thing for us...
Find a lot, buy it. Wait a year and get our finances in better shape while we design our house.
Then build.
I am very happy with this path forward.
Toying with my emotions
Real estate agent called again.
The sellers motivation is showing.
He has some proposals to make to us regarding getting out of our house and into the new house.
Funny since we haven't even made an offer on the new house.
We had written it off pretty well.
And curse you internet for letting me find out way too easy what our new mortgage payment would be.
And Excel isn't helping by letting me plug this number into my budget sheet to see what it does to our monthly expenses (yes I did bump up heating and air conditioning costs as well).
I need clarity. I need my mother in law.
(I never thought I would write those sentences next to each other before.)
The sellers motivation is showing.
He has some proposals to make to us regarding getting out of our house and into the new house.
Funny since we haven't even made an offer on the new house.
We had written it off pretty well.
And curse you internet for letting me find out way too easy what our new mortgage payment would be.
And Excel isn't helping by letting me plug this number into my budget sheet to see what it does to our monthly expenses (yes I did bump up heating and air conditioning costs as well).
I need clarity. I need my mother in law.
(I never thought I would write those sentences next to each other before.)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Where the wild and weird things are
My house.
To give you an idea of the state of my home... my son sitting at breakfast yesterday told me, "I think it is time the housecleaner came again".
Yeah, me too. She came today, my house is clean again. Weekly housecleaning is my ultimate indulgence and something I am not sure I could ever live without again. I am sure I have completely forgotten how to clean anything myself. Postive actually.
The things that come out of his mouth just keep getting funnier... and weirder. He still has a weird opposition to messes. This is my mom coming through in him. He told me the other day that the table was just too messy. Of course I responded that he could feel free to clean it.
He did.
I am routinely being corrected in my manners lately. Apparently I suck at saying "no thank you". I am working on this. Mostly because I am really tired of hearing, "I don't think that is how we say no is it? You need to be polite mommy and say no thank you."
At my prompting this evening, I got the first picture of a person out of him. We had a conference last week about Leif at school. I complained that he doesn't seem to be learning anything creative, he just wants to do numbers work. I didn't really complain as much as it was an observation that he doesn't do art. And I worried about that. As someone who loved art (and math) I want to see my son create. Turns out he can do it just fine and is on par with his peers his age. I handed him a piece of paper and a pencil tonight and he drew me... ears, two eyes, a nose on my forehead, a smile on my chin, a mess of scribbly hair on my head and two legs protruding from my chin. I am satisfied.
Skadi is just over 2 weeks shy of being a year old. I don't know how this happened. All week she has been a smiley, giggley thing. She chipped a front tooth on Saturday pretty massively. Enough so that when I took her to the dentist on Monday they repaired it. She did amazingly and only squealed when they decided to push the envelope and try to smooth out the repair job. Dental masochism? At least my kids don't mind having dental work... that's something isn't it?
Oh and a last note on the house... the real estate agent called this evening and gave AB some more information. Then added that he was under authority by the seller to offer us the house for $24K less than the listing price. Officially $55K under the appraised value. Wow, it was tempting. We had pretty well written it off, no plans to make an offer though my MIL is anxious to see it when she comes out.
Well I still think it is probably off the block for us. I still love the house, but am just not sure I can take the leap right now. AB is on the fence though is about to tip off based on new information about the owner of the 65 acre county parcel behind it... a conglomeration... whatever that means. Who really knows what it means in the grand scheme of things really. But after having apartments go up behind us once, we won't be making that mistake again.
To give you an idea of the state of my home... my son sitting at breakfast yesterday told me, "I think it is time the housecleaner came again".
Yeah, me too. She came today, my house is clean again. Weekly housecleaning is my ultimate indulgence and something I am not sure I could ever live without again. I am sure I have completely forgotten how to clean anything myself. Postive actually.
The things that come out of his mouth just keep getting funnier... and weirder. He still has a weird opposition to messes. This is my mom coming through in him. He told me the other day that the table was just too messy. Of course I responded that he could feel free to clean it.
He did.
I am routinely being corrected in my manners lately. Apparently I suck at saying "no thank you". I am working on this. Mostly because I am really tired of hearing, "I don't think that is how we say no is it? You need to be polite mommy and say no thank you."
At my prompting this evening, I got the first picture of a person out of him. We had a conference last week about Leif at school. I complained that he doesn't seem to be learning anything creative, he just wants to do numbers work. I didn't really complain as much as it was an observation that he doesn't do art. And I worried about that. As someone who loved art (and math) I want to see my son create. Turns out he can do it just fine and is on par with his peers his age. I handed him a piece of paper and a pencil tonight and he drew me... ears, two eyes, a nose on my forehead, a smile on my chin, a mess of scribbly hair on my head and two legs protruding from my chin. I am satisfied.
Skadi is just over 2 weeks shy of being a year old. I don't know how this happened. All week she has been a smiley, giggley thing. She chipped a front tooth on Saturday pretty massively. Enough so that when I took her to the dentist on Monday they repaired it. She did amazingly and only squealed when they decided to push the envelope and try to smooth out the repair job. Dental masochism? At least my kids don't mind having dental work... that's something isn't it?
Oh and a last note on the house... the real estate agent called this evening and gave AB some more information. Then added that he was under authority by the seller to offer us the house for $24K less than the listing price. Officially $55K under the appraised value. Wow, it was tempting. We had pretty well written it off, no plans to make an offer though my MIL is anxious to see it when she comes out.
Well I still think it is probably off the block for us. I still love the house, but am just not sure I can take the leap right now. AB is on the fence though is about to tip off based on new information about the owner of the 65 acre county parcel behind it... a conglomeration... whatever that means. Who really knows what it means in the grand scheme of things really. But after having apartments go up behind us once, we won't be making that mistake again.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
House status
I really love that house. I really do.
And even though my husband took the initiative today and called to schedule a carpet cleaning, and I scheduled a meeting with a financial advisor, we think we are going to let it slide.
See here's the problem... right now (and ignoring two upcoming family visits where a guest room would be nice) our house is fine. I still love my pergola. I am looking forward to growing pumpkins and eating fresh nectarines. I still love my orange kitchen - even if my cupboards don't have pull outs and are over crowded.
Yeah, it's only three bedrooms, and 95% of the year, that is fine. Our garage is cramped. The pantry is a disaster area that is impossible to organize because of the deep dark depths. And to top it off we have an apartment building looming behind us.
I like my big huge tub that I can easily fit into with the kids. I like my library and the decorating in the kids rooms.
And I love my pergola and patio. (Thanks AB and everyone else who helped pour concrete.)
I like having money. This may sound obvious... but after a year of AB being unemployed and in school, a year where we slid into debt while gambling on our future, it is paying off. We have made substantial gains in the past 6 months of permanent employment to better our financial situation. I like the fact that we have plans to go to Hawaii with my mom and stepdad this year... and that we will be able to pay cash for the trip.
I like knowing that every month we can easily make ends meet.
I am enjoying my monthly goals lined out to improve the house little by little, purge things and prepare for a move. A move that in one year, we will be monetarily ready to make. We will be able to afford to make.
I still love that house. But for now it is a little too far out of our reach.
And even though my husband took the initiative today and called to schedule a carpet cleaning, and I scheduled a meeting with a financial advisor, we think we are going to let it slide.
See here's the problem... right now (and ignoring two upcoming family visits where a guest room would be nice) our house is fine. I still love my pergola. I am looking forward to growing pumpkins and eating fresh nectarines. I still love my orange kitchen - even if my cupboards don't have pull outs and are over crowded.
Yeah, it's only three bedrooms, and 95% of the year, that is fine. Our garage is cramped. The pantry is a disaster area that is impossible to organize because of the deep dark depths. And to top it off we have an apartment building looming behind us.
I like my big huge tub that I can easily fit into with the kids. I like my library and the decorating in the kids rooms.
And I love my pergola and patio. (Thanks AB and everyone else who helped pour concrete.)
I like having money. This may sound obvious... but after a year of AB being unemployed and in school, a year where we slid into debt while gambling on our future, it is paying off. We have made substantial gains in the past 6 months of permanent employment to better our financial situation. I like the fact that we have plans to go to Hawaii with my mom and stepdad this year... and that we will be able to pay cash for the trip.
I like knowing that every month we can easily make ends meet.
I am enjoying my monthly goals lined out to improve the house little by little, purge things and prepare for a move. A move that in one year, we will be monetarily ready to make. We will be able to afford to make.
I still love that house. But for now it is a little too far out of our reach.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
When you go out to breakfast early...
If you have children who wake with the sun, you might consider one day going out to breakfast a little early.
You might envision a quiet morning at the local bakery sipping coffee.
And this might happen... for a record of about 30 minutes.
Then you might look at your watch and realize you have 30 minutes before swimming class starts.
You might consider going home.
Then you might realize that it is a pain to drive home, unload the kids from the car and reload them 20 minutes later.
So you might decide to go look at the coveted lots to see which ones have sold.
You might not be surprised to still see available lots.
Then you might drive down a street not normally travelled.
And you might see some really big, huge and very expensive houses.
Then you might see this house perched by itself.
You might envision a quiet morning at the local bakery sipping coffee.
And this might happen... for a record of about 30 minutes.
Then you might look at your watch and realize you have 30 minutes before swimming class starts.
You might consider going home.
Then you might realize that it is a pain to drive home, unload the kids from the car and reload them 20 minutes later.
So you might decide to go look at the coveted lots to see which ones have sold.
You might not be surprised to still see available lots.
Then you might drive down a street not normally travelled.
And you might see some really big, huge and very expensive houses.
Then you might see this house perched by itself.
Then your spouse might pick up the sheet of paper like he always does while commenting about the sweeping views.
And he might announce that this house is not so huge and not so expensive as all the other houses in the neighborhood.
Then you might forget about it for awhile while you pay attention to kids swimming.
Then after swimming you might start talking about the house again.
And during naptime, your husband might just pick up the phone and call the real estate agent.
And you might just schedule an appointment to see the house.
The kitchen might look something like this:
And there might be a wine cooler built in.
And you might love the house.
And the agent might tell you about the "very motivated to sell builder" who has had this house "on the market for 6 months" and beg you to "just make an offer please".
And you jolt yourself back to reality and keep your lips tight.
And you might have to comfort your son who fell down the stairs.
And you might leave.
And this might be the topic of conversation for the rest of your weekend.
Your spouse might even use the words "obviously meant to be".
You might try to figure out how to buy this house.
You might start phoning family in real estate and mortgage lending for their thoughts.
You might just ache looking at the pictures.
You might cry thinking about someone else getting this house.
You might sob when you think about how it appraised for $40K more than the listing price.
You might feel a little sick to your stomach trying to figure out how to get your own house fixed up and on the market.
Then you might just go sit down and watch a movie and try to forget about it all.
You might be able to.
And then again, you might not.
All because you went to breakfast early.
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