i started a blog entry early yesterday morning but before i was even half way through, the little ones woke and i didn't finish.
i woke up early again today. hello? can you say i'm turning into my mother? please don't, even if i am. but i woke up early again today in hopes of completing yesterday's entry but the desktop monitor is all hosed and i was going to restart the computer but decided against it because i always hate to do that if awesome papa is in the middle of something, which is most all of the time and maybe he knows a trick for getting the monitor to turn on that doesn't involve powering off the entire system. or maybe he doesn't, but it's his computer and i feel better when i don't have to reboot it.
that said, i could not access the photos i was going to post yesterday so here i am. nursing, with coffee in hand, about to talk about the housing situation even though i was going to take a break from the whole thing.
so let's back up...my last house update was probably near non-sensical. i didn't edit it well, i haven't re-read it since i posted it, and i have no idea what i was talking about or at what point in the process i wrote it because i think after that update i found the perfect house! it was so beautiful and had the greatest backyard and was actually a home we were supposed to look at several days before we did but it kept making it's way to the bottom of our priority list.
it had a spacious chef's kitchen, oversized bedrooms, tile throughout the kitchen, dining area, foyer, laundry room and bathrooms. the his and her vanities were separate which was awesome. there were medicine cabinets! such a small, inconsequential thing that means a lot to me since so many homes are built without them nowadays unless you want to pay a god-awful amount extra to have them installed as the home is being built. anyway, i could go on but i won't because as awesome papa reminded me, we're not chefs.
he is of the opinion that the builders of this most awesome home did not make "practical use of the space" so he couldn't have cared less that the bedrooms were oversized, that the foyer was nice and inviting and had room for a bench and coat rack. he didn't like the kitchen because he couldn't "pivot" around a small area containing the sink, stove, and fridge. i told him, i'd cook more, no doubt because that kitchen inspired me...i don't like to pivot, i don't like to feel cramped. and did i mention this kitchen had two pantries? and the laundry room had a utility sink? so cool, but we did not agree on the importance of these features and we were back to considering older homes, built in neighborhoods that lack sidewalks, and generally possess all the traits i've grown to hate about the homes in this area.
after i accepted that my husband really didn't like this house, i got weepy. i'd looked at more than 20 homes and never felt so defeated at the thought of not getting a single one, except this one. i wanted to give up, i was upset, i got over it but was still uninterested in looking at anything else.
*then* we got our loan approval. i had resigned myself to waiting another weekend when the mortgage guy texted my husband at 5:00 on friday afternoon. i thought i'd make the case for this home again but *then* we sat down to talk hardcore about our decision to rent or sell our existing home and it occurred to us that the very first house we both fell in love with - the only house we both agreed on - was the first short sale we happened upon. we went to look at it, unaware that it was a short sale because the listing agent had conveniently entered it into the MLS incorrectly. this began our long journey through the world of incorrectly listed homes but anyway, yes! this house had everything we needed...two separate living spaces, a tiled eat-in kitchen, four bedrooms upstairs, an office (which would be my studio) downstairs, a pantry, under-the-stairs harry potter closet...it was damn near perfect so we agreed that maybe, just maybe we'd go through the short sale process and make an offer.
i got online only to find (of course) it is now off the market. soooooooooooo.
there is one more next to perfect house that the kids and i saw without papa. it's been high on my list of possible homes but it's bank owned. putting in an offer on a bank owned property isn't as long winded as a short sale can be but i have no way of knowing the status of that home until our realtor gets back to us, since it was never listed online. i am not good at being patient. it's actually listed a little out of our range, too, BUT with comps in the area, it would be possible to put in a more reasonable offer considering some of the damages to the home. they're minor, but would need immediate attention. it's been sitting in the hands of the bank since at least november, according to the winterization notice but it was only put on the market this month. it has a broken window and several holes in the wall from large works of art and LCD TVs. these are things that might be worth negotiating if we put in a lower offer than the market value the bank is trying to get.
but. before i get ahead of myself. must. hear. back. from. realtor.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
August 15, 2010
August 10, 2010
letdown or house update #3
i am so tired of looking at houses already. have i said that before? because i don't think you understand...i really used to enjoy this sort of thing. of course, i have never in all of my life had to do this with another person or with other people in mind so i'm not complaining at all, but between what matters to me and what bothers me and what matters to my husband and what bothers him, we are two picky pears! and because, like i mentioned earlier, what usually appeals to us and bothers us about homes, are not identical it is all the more complicated. add to that that it now has to narrowed down to one zip code and well. it's limiting and i'm throwing out every single ideal and standard i had right out the window. the green, efficient, low-impact house we had decided on is like an impossibility in the area we have to move. of course, i already know, six months to a year after we're settled into whatever house we finally settle into, that builder will be in the zip code we need now. i just know it. this is the story of my life and whoa, i'm on the verge of complaining.
if you're an unsympathetic male please make arrangements to stop reading now.
we're now looking at homes that are so old that nothing about them is energy efficient and in order to make them energy efficient it will take thousands of dollars. i don't mind older homes, but these have very little charm and very shitty windows. the one we looked at today, the one i was all excited about? meh.
actually i did like it. we both did but it was too close to a busy road and awesome papa just can't deal with that level of noise. being a city and suburb girl to the core, it doesn't even bother me. i lived in apartments half of my life and if it wasn't a busy road nearby it was a parking lot outside of my window, you know? if you want quiet country life, move to the country. okay, had to get that off of my chest but i'm not going to get all resentful of him. i'm not...i completely respect and understand his complaints i just don't think they're all such a big damn deal. ugh. but the carpets and wallpaper and linoleum and bathrooms were hid-e-ous and not the types of things that awesome papa would have wanted to replace right away but were the types of things that would make me want to barf every day. i mean, i'd be ill, literally. and then? there was no shower in the master bath, just a jet tub (and as cool as it sounds, in theory, jet tubs gross me out) and then in the hall bath there was only a shower. like wtf? i was to bathe my kids in my bedroom all the time? yeah, no.
so it wasn't perfect, but close. we both agreed that if it had refrigerated air, a shower in the master, and a tub in the hall (and wasn't too close to a busy street) (and didn't have ugly carpet) (and didn't have ugly linoleum) we would have made an offer.
i didn't even mind the countertops and while the placemats were, in fact, the padded icky vinyl i thought they were, it was actually lovebirds on them and NOT country geese. but yeah, not perfect.
i know we're limiting ourselves to this zip code for the right reasons and i know the right house will come along but then there's also the issue of money money money. no matter what we get approved for, awesome papa is going to want to spend like $50,000 less and that is another huge, limiting factor. i understand, i'm not working, i can't contribute yet but it's like we're close. and still so far away.
if you're an unsympathetic male please make arrangements to stop reading now.
we're now looking at homes that are so old that nothing about them is energy efficient and in order to make them energy efficient it will take thousands of dollars. i don't mind older homes, but these have very little charm and very shitty windows. the one we looked at today, the one i was all excited about? meh.
actually i did like it. we both did but it was too close to a busy road and awesome papa just can't deal with that level of noise. being a city and suburb girl to the core, it doesn't even bother me. i lived in apartments half of my life and if it wasn't a busy road nearby it was a parking lot outside of my window, you know? if you want quiet country life, move to the country. okay, had to get that off of my chest but i'm not going to get all resentful of him. i'm not...i completely respect and understand his complaints i just don't think they're all such a big damn deal. ugh. but the carpets and wallpaper and linoleum and bathrooms were hid-e-ous and not the types of things that awesome papa would have wanted to replace right away but were the types of things that would make me want to barf every day. i mean, i'd be ill, literally. and then? there was no shower in the master bath, just a jet tub (and as cool as it sounds, in theory, jet tubs gross me out) and then in the hall bath there was only a shower. like wtf? i was to bathe my kids in my bedroom all the time? yeah, no.
so it wasn't perfect, but close. we both agreed that if it had refrigerated air, a shower in the master, and a tub in the hall (and wasn't too close to a busy street) (and didn't have ugly carpet) (and didn't have ugly linoleum) we would have made an offer.
i didn't even mind the countertops and while the placemats were, in fact, the padded icky vinyl i thought they were, it was actually lovebirds on them and NOT country geese. but yeah, not perfect.
i know we're limiting ourselves to this zip code for the right reasons and i know the right house will come along but then there's also the issue of money money money. no matter what we get approved for, awesome papa is going to want to spend like $50,000 less and that is another huge, limiting factor. i understand, i'm not working, i can't contribute yet but it's like we're close. and still so far away.
August 7, 2010
serenity now
this week's edition of "where is it?", much like last week's, is non-existent.
my lists aren't changing much from week to week and that got boring really fast.
in other news, i'm tired of looking at houses, already.
there is such an abundance of short sales and bank owned homes currently on the market and unless a price is alarmingly low, there's no way to tell. some agents aren't listing them as such (maybe intentionally, maybe not) and some aren't advertising their status except in the MLS and the general population doesn't have MLS access. it is so discouraging and you'd think that banks would be eager to get rid of so much inventory but the short sale route can be a headache and foreclosed properties are often listed at market value based on comparable homes in the area despite the fact that they often have tons of damage and need major repairs.
did i say i was discouraged?
it's suddenly not fun anymore.
every single home that i've recently looked at that would work, and work well for us, was complicated. i'm sure there are some properties out there that might be a breeze to deal with, maybe the seller's didn't buy their home during the past few years when home prices were grossly inflated, maybe they're willing to take just what they owe so they can walk away without any penalty, i'm sure there are motivated sellers but so far, all i've come across has been home and after home where the owner has already or is about to jump ship. and i'm tired.
on top of that, we don't even have our pre-approval letter yet. i know our situation was complicated and involved massive amounts of paperwork and two file folders were submitted to underwriting, not just one. yeah, we're those people (though the mortgage guy assures me there have been worse). but i can only be patient for so long, or i guess i should say, i can only be patient for a certain amount of time, then i get all crazy whacked out anxious. or to sum it up in one word: twitchy. then i take a deep breath and a bunch of smaller breaths and talk myself down but the longer this goes on, the quicker it cycles so i can maintain calm for much shorter amounts of time and when i've been waiting for something important like this for more than two weeks no one can even tell that i'm chill at all. ugh.
wow. so here's an entry that pretty much went nowhere. the boys are not letting me complete a thought and we do have to leave for pea's gymnastics class in about 15 minutes and this slacker mama isn't even dressed. it should count for something that the boys are all fed and ready to go, but yeah. i should probably not to try to bring this blog entry to any sort of meaningful close.
although, i could add one more thing to my list of things to find, afterall....
my serenity.
my lists aren't changing much from week to week and that got boring really fast.
in other news, i'm tired of looking at houses, already.
there is such an abundance of short sales and bank owned homes currently on the market and unless a price is alarmingly low, there's no way to tell. some agents aren't listing them as such (maybe intentionally, maybe not) and some aren't advertising their status except in the MLS and the general population doesn't have MLS access. it is so discouraging and you'd think that banks would be eager to get rid of so much inventory but the short sale route can be a headache and foreclosed properties are often listed at market value based on comparable homes in the area despite the fact that they often have tons of damage and need major repairs.
did i say i was discouraged?
it's suddenly not fun anymore.
every single home that i've recently looked at that would work, and work well for us, was complicated. i'm sure there are some properties out there that might be a breeze to deal with, maybe the seller's didn't buy their home during the past few years when home prices were grossly inflated, maybe they're willing to take just what they owe so they can walk away without any penalty, i'm sure there are motivated sellers but so far, all i've come across has been home and after home where the owner has already or is about to jump ship. and i'm tired.
on top of that, we don't even have our pre-approval letter yet. i know our situation was complicated and involved massive amounts of paperwork and two file folders were submitted to underwriting, not just one. yeah, we're those people (though the mortgage guy assures me there have been worse). but i can only be patient for so long, or i guess i should say, i can only be patient for a certain amount of time, then i get all crazy whacked out anxious. or to sum it up in one word: twitchy. then i take a deep breath and a bunch of smaller breaths and talk myself down but the longer this goes on, the quicker it cycles so i can maintain calm for much shorter amounts of time and when i've been waiting for something important like this for more than two weeks no one can even tell that i'm chill at all. ugh.
wow. so here's an entry that pretty much went nowhere. the boys are not letting me complete a thought and we do have to leave for pea's gymnastics class in about 15 minutes and this slacker mama isn't even dressed. it should count for something that the boys are all fed and ready to go, but yeah. i should probably not to try to bring this blog entry to any sort of meaningful close.
although, i could add one more thing to my list of things to find, afterall....
my serenity.
August 4, 2010
no sexy house for us!
i don't even want to explain but this would have been similar to what our new home would have looked like.
but it's not going to happen.
not because of funding, we're still okay there as far as we know - but we don't even actually know yet because for some reason mortgage guy still hadn't sent our paperwork to underwriting, as of this afternoon. we thought he did it last friday.
it's not going to happen, though, because we are going to move to a neighboring city in order to allow my oldest to go a particular highschool. so even though it's for the greater good and i've actually wanted to move back to that community for a while, i'm a little bit weepy over something i never had.
all funky and modern, yet simple, with traditional elements
but it's not going to happen.
not because of funding, we're still okay there as far as we know - but we don't even actually know yet because for some reason mortgage guy still hadn't sent our paperwork to underwriting, as of this afternoon. we thought he did it last friday.
it's not going to happen, though, because we are going to move to a neighboring city in order to allow my oldest to go a particular highschool. so even though it's for the greater good and i've actually wanted to move back to that community for a while, i'm a little bit weepy over something i never had.
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