Archive for the ‘Buying a Home’ Category

« Older Entries
No Comments

Pop the Champagne!


2010
04.15

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Closing, Real Estate Agent, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Day 12 -

 

We are now the proud owners of a home!

 

Closing today was pretty uneventful. We did our good cop/bad cop routine, made sure transfer taxes were split 50/50, and that we weren’t paying for homeowners insurance through escrow, and tried to combat the incredibly high property taxes (we will have to go to the mattresses with the county on this one). All in all, not too shabby. And it’s over! YES!

 

The interesting part of the day was the final walk-through. Now, I mentioned how we found in the contract that the seller had to fix all prior termite damage. Well, I was thinking it was a few baseboards and maybe a square foot of drywall. What awaited us in the basement was surely not that. These people had to replace two whole walls! Like 8 sheets of drywall, insulation and framing. The contractor took photos of the termite damage as they were doing demo, and then more demo, and more… These little critters were not just a colony of termites out for a picnic. Oh, no, this was a whole country of termites feasting on Christmas Dinner (the whole 12 days of Christmas and New Years too). I could not believe these pictures. But… (happy sigh) It’s all fixed! Thank God! Just imagine if we had not read the contract through and not insisted on having that repaired. It was only a matter of time before those basement walls crumbled and took the rest of the house with them. And we would never have known the extent of the damage had the sellers not refused to remediate the mold and radon! Oh ho ho, I’m glad they were stubborn. Just desserts indeed!

 

As we close this chapter of our adventures in real estate I’d like to give a couple of shout outs. Thank you Ann for the wine, the advice, answering all our questions and helping us keep our sense of humor! You rock! And special thanks to Roxie, our fantastic real estate agent, for the sweet gift, for thinking of the kids and for being there for us throughout this incredible journey. We found ourselves the best agent around! Couldn’t imagine this adventure without you! Hope we will be remembered in your future endeavors as the fun and… not too demanding… clients who made you laugh along the way. ;)

 

Oh, but my friends… for you, it’s not over. We are now remodeling a house! Stay tuned!

No Comments

The House with the View


2010
04.05

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Contract, Mold, The Offer | No Comments »

Day 2 - Out for blood!

 

Push back. Yeah, that’s what I’m calling it. Let’s see, so much going on, how to jump in… Home inspections.

 

Well, there wasn’t anything major, a few things that needed to be fixed, circa 1970 washing machine that leaks, sump pump that doesn’t work, a baffle that won’t close on the septic system, a skylight that was installed incorrectly, a shower faucet that you can’t turn, a slight mold problem (we all know how I feel about that one), some radon, old termite damage, etc.

 

After a few back and forths with the seller we decided to ask for the health issues to be addressed. Radon, mold, sump pump (if that fails, well… leads to more mold). We waited, no response… and we waited, still nothing. And we waited, the required 5 days. Turns out they have elected not to respond.

 

The sellers, we now know, are elderly. In their 80’s to be exact. And have recently entered an assisted living facility. These people have been the only owners of the house which was built in the 1970’s. So, needless to say… They are just a bit attached. Old sweater syndrome kicking in.

 

What is old sweater syndrome… Well, you give your friend a sweater you no longer like or need, you see it on them and immediately want it back.

 

The sellers think that they got ripped off on the purchase price. Well then, I ask you… Why did they accept our offer? In their minds, it should have sold for more and now they are refusing to budge. Hmmm. I’d like to see them get more for the house once it sits on the market a few more months with radon and mold issues, which they now must disclose. How much do you think people will offer for a totally peach house with spores partying with radon gas? Anyway, they weren’t budging, not even in writing and our deadline was here. Today we have to decide if we want to go forward with them not concedeing to anything, or find the contract null and void and walk away.

 

Well, my friends, I thought about it long and hard. Even slept on it. Skipped doing my morning exercises to do some research and here is what I have concluded. First of all, there is no law stipulating that a seller must fix a radon issue. Quite frankly, I think there should be. Also, it looks like if we walk today we should be able to get our deposit back. We have, however, forked over around $1,300 in inspection costs, which we will have to do again on another house. Locked-in on an interest rate that seems to be rising by the minute. Spent countless hours with Roxie marching around town seeing what’s for sale. And quite frankly there isn’t much out there that compares this house. Actually, if the sellers would watch some of the shows on HGTV they would see, some fresh paint (not peachy) and a few minor updates they probably would have gotten another $40,000 for the house. So, my conclusion, We’re going forward… with the tricks I have in my back pocket.

 

The contract… ahh, The Contract (yes, read this one too, three times.) Here are my favorite “legally binding” highlights:

 

#21 (on my contract) “Condition of Property and Possession” which states the following:

 

“All electrical, heating, air conditioning, plumbing (including well and septic), and any other mechanical systems and related equipment, appliances, and smoke detector(s) included in this Contract shall be in working condition.”

 

Oooo, that covers the broken washing machine, the master bedroom shower handle that doesn’t turn and the sump pump, which happens to be a “plumbing” issue.

 

Also, #18 “Wood Destroying Insect Inspection”:

 

“If there is evidence of present infestation as described above, or if damage caused by present or prior infestation is discovered, Seller, at Seller’s expense, shall repair any damage caused by present or prior infestation and have the present infestation treated by a licensed pest control company.”

 

Ok, we’ll have that “prior infestation” fixed too. Thank you very much.

 

I know you think I’m being a bit of a sore loser here and kinda mean toward the old people. I’m sorry your old. I’m sorry I’m 40, I’m sorry it’s my turn to get a better break. You see, early on we agreed to play nice and pay for the heating oil that was left in the tank and according to the contract… we didn’t have to. Wouldn’t you think they would be kind in return and fix the health issues of the house, that’s all we ever really wanted. I do have cute children who would be inhaling poisonous gas and I would like them to grow as old as you are.

 

So, if I have to fork out more money for remediation, well — I’m going to get my just desserts.

No Comments

Locking In


2010
04.04

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Finances, Mortgage, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Day 1 - This being Easter (and Happy Easter Everyone) it is a time for new beginnings & rebirth, so my count down changes. Day 1 of my families new adventure into a new home.

 

Locking in, gambling the monthly payment away… Oh, the fun never ends.

 

Once we were under contract with our “house-with-the-view” we received a estimated settlement sheet from our mortgage broker. To my amazement and glee right there written at the bottom was printed our projected monthly payment. It was… Beautiful. Less than I was expecting. I was very happy. This whole move seems to be working. We are going to have less of an outlay and actually save money! The quoted interest rate was 4.875%. Pretty damn good. I was happy. So I tucked that thought into the “happy place” in the back of my mind where I tend to venture when I’m feeling down. Since then my brain has been occupied by moving, inspections, contractors estimates and work…

 

Drawing closer to settlement means the beginning of lots of papers to sign with the mortgage company. Things that have to do with our identity, social security numbers, blah, blah, blah. These were all signed in the middle of the moving process (not kidding, I believe I signed them on the floor because the table was in a POD somewhere). I actually can’t really remember what they were regarding, but I remember reading them and them making sense.

 

I’m not sure how we got here, but all of a sudden we couldn’t get the 4.875% interest rate anymore. But that’s what was on the estimated settlement sheet. Doesn’t that mean that’s our rate? No, you have to officially “Lock-in” But I thought we had. I’m confused. It was right there in print. OK, so I didn’t actually say the words “Lock me in” out loud, apparently you need to do that. Oh, the rules… Ok, so where do we stand today? Well, we could still get that rate if we take a point. A point, what’s a point? Apparently it’s 1% of the loan amount. 1.5 points… 1.5% of the loan amount and so on. And it’s not like you can wrap that into the loan amount, you have to pay cash up front. AARRGHH! There goes my renovation budget.

 

Well, what should we do? Now that the rate has gone up? Lock in at 5% or take the point. I don’t know, let’s think about it and get back to the broker tomorrow. Oh, my friends… you can’t do that. The next day the rates and point spread went up. What? Point spread? When did I wake up in Vegas? Ok, so we could do 5.125% or 5% with .675 points, or 4.875% with 1.5 points. The whole thing makes me dizzy and my dream monthly payment keeps rising. Should we gamble and “let it ride?” (Vegas again) hoping the rates fall? Well, we did. Wrong choice… The next day, even worse. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? What happened to 4.875% with no points that we had a few weeks ago? That’s what I had always believed was ours. Why can’t it be?

 

Oh, let’s just lock-in and get it over with. The longer we compare and discuss it just keeps getting worse. Oh, anger was brewing in my soul. As you can see, I’m still not over it… So, in the end we put it to rest. We got 5% and 1.75 points. Wow, I feel like money is just disappearing. This raises my dream monthly payment by about $30 per month. And forking out the “points” is killing my future hardwood floors. Oh the humanity! Not quite sure I understand why we were so screwed. Guess, that’s just the way the world works. But, in the end… the next day it all went up again. So we locked in at the right time… two weeks too late. :(

No Comments

Moving


2010
03.22

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Moving | No Comments »

Day 84 - 7 days to go!

 

Well, we finally got a signed contract on the-house-with-the-view. Whew! Now we have to go through all the inspections on that place and try to close on April 15th. Mold inspection tomorrow morning. Whoo, hoo, mold, can’t wait.

 

But my thoughts are not on the new house, it’s focused on getting out of this one. My brain is a struggling through a logistical nightmare of shredded chaos. You see, we are not moving into our new house right away. That would be too easy. Noooo, life has to be difficult. We are temporarily moving in with my in-laws for a few months until we can close on the new house and fix up a bit. My husband hangs his head in shame every time we tell someone this. He looks at the ground, moves his foot back and forth like a child and says… “Yes, I’m 41 and moving back in with my parents, never thought I’d see the day.”

 

So, I ask you, how on earth does one prepare for this? What do you bring to tide a family of four over for a few months? And where do we put all our other stuff? Deep storage, that’s where! We have just witnessed the skillful delivery of 3, 16-foot PODs into my little driveway. The movers are coming on Wednesday to pack us up and stick us in the PODs, well, not us exactly… Then the POD people come and take away all my things and store them somewhere in East-shit-hole Baltimore until we are ready to move into our new house. At which time they will re-deliver them, the movers will show up once again and bring everything into the house. Then… we live out of boxes until I can muster the energy to go through them all and find new places for all my stuff to go. I should be unpacked by Christmas. I’m exhausted just typing it. I need to take a break……… Ok, better. I’m trying to think of all the things we will need through the month of May. Clothes, toys, favorite stuffed animals, valuables, all our food, some pots and pans, hockey, tennis and karate equipment, bikes, tv’s, video games and anything we may need for the new house like cleaning supplies, ladders, tools, paint brushes. My head is swimming again, Ok, I need to lie down.

 

Last night I was up til 11pm with my distraught daughter who was sad, crying and will desperately miss her house… Yeah, honey, me too. Then I woke up at 1:30 am and could not get back to sleep. Thoughts of what needed to still be done flooded my mind. I think I finally fell asleep again sometime after 3:30am. It’s hard to turn off my brain. Believe me, many have tried.

 

This past weekend was spent moving random things to the in-laws and going through the boxes we never unpacked from the last time we moved. We went through the “junk” drawer in the kitchen, old toys, old rugs, old bikes, old papers, until our driveway was covered with stuff we needed to take to the dump. A whole truck load. This was very therapeutic. I feel cleansed!

 

Now, I’ve got to start thinking about getting everything out of this house that is… well, nailed down. Two chandeliers, still have to take those down, a couple of sconces, still up, yeah… can you tell we love doing electrical work? The brass door knocker, some shelving, the shed, lawn furniture, flower pots (I have quite a few of those), my dog who is buried in the backyard. I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not leaving him behind! Besides, he was cremated and is in a box under the dogwood tree. I’m not digging up bones here! And of course… my map.

 

My map, I love my map. It’s a map of the United States and it’s 12 feet long and 8 feet high, yes HUGE! I had a hard time finding another house with a wall that big so it could be rehung. The map was glued to my dining room wall until yesterday. We originally put it up with a big jug of Elmers glue, a paint roller and 3 people. It worked quite well, then we framed it out with some wood trim and got many compliments over the years. I thought taking it down would be really hard, on the contrary it was easy… a bit too easy. The map came down without a hitch because all the glue… stayed on the wall. Oh the wall looks like crap. First, I never painted behind the map, just the wall next to the map, so the wall is two-toned. Add to that the hardened, cloudy, and sharp in parts, Elmers glue. Yes, sharp. I actually sliced my finger on Elmers glue when I was running my hand over the wall. And now there’s blood on there too! We have tried soaking the wall with water, using GooGone, peeling it, hand sanding it, nothing seems to be taking off the glue. I can’t leave a dining room wall completely covered in glue… Can I? No, that would be mean. So we will try to power sand it this afternoon. We’ll see if that works. If not, I may have to test my skills at plastering.

No Comments

Stall Tactics


2010
03.17

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home | No Comments »

Day 79 - 12 days to go!

 

Stalling. That’s what these people are doing. Before our last walk-through of “the-house-with-the-view” we had agreed to a purchase price and fully expected that to be, well… that. We resubmitted the paperwork for a purchase price of $435,000, after we got home… Done.

 

There agent actually had the gall to say to us, “Would you do… $442?” Laughable! Yeah, right! Do they want to sell this house or not? Do they actually think one more stroll around puke peach lane would actually make us just want to give these people more money? I truely think they pictured us just tossing bills into the air as we walked around the grounds. “Oh, my God, honey… This house is worth so much more, let’s give them another $7,000.” “NO WAY!,” was all we could say.

 

I feel like they submissively hung their heads mumbling to themselves… “OK, just checking…”

 

But it’s now two days later and still, No Signed Contract. What seems to be the deal? We inquired about the hold up today to find out they had to have their lawyer ‘take a look’. It’s a standard real estate contract… but, OK, whatever floats your boat.

 

Turns out the lawyer has ‘recommended’ that we pay for the heating oil that was recently delivered. All $434.00 dollars worth. Now isn’t that interesting? It just happens to be the almost exact the same number as the purchase price, minus a few zeros. Really? So, they paid their lawyer, I dont’ know… maybe, $500.00 to tell them we should give them $434 for the oil? Sounds, reasonable.

 

Sure, we will pay them for the damn oil, right after we have someone actually measure what’s in the tank… the day before closing, not a month out with them still running the heat. Stall — Stall — Stall. That’s what I’m thinking.

 

Still no contract. Curious… What other amateur magic tricks do you suppose — they feel they have up their sleeve? We, my friends, shall see.

No Comments

The Art of Negotiation


2010
03.15

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Counter Offer, The Offer | No Comments »

Day 77 - Two weeks to go! Wow! That’s soon!

 

As you know we put an offer in on “the-house-with-the-view”…

 

Our overall objective in this battle of life’s financial snags was to start over in a new house on a economic scale that would allow us to actually save money and maybe be able to someday send our children to college. We feel this is important so they could grow up, get good jobs and when we are old, support their parents. During the house hunting process, our mission was not to find the most fabulous house no matter the cost… we did that last time, but simply to keep our mortgage payment under a certain amount each month. This, my friends in the state of Maryland, in the areas we want to live in, is not an easy thing to accomplish! But it was our goal, and damn it… we feel we deserve it and we were going to achieve it. My husband and I have been screwed over more times lately than most people we know. We think it’s because we are just too nice. Well, we are sick of being nice! We have decided to start being mean! We have pledged to say “NO” more often, fight a bit harder for what we feel is right, and take this world by storm! It’s time things took a turn for the better. Our plan now was to lowball a bunch of offers around town til we got what we wanted.

 

So, “the-house-with-the-view” was listed at, not using real numbers here, so lets just say for argument’s sake… $479,000, and it really needed a loving touch and bit of updating. First of all, the entire house was peach, with the exception of the exterior which was baby shit brown. It need a new kitchen, new bathrooms, and it has never seen an inch of hardwood in it’s life. But it has good bones, a great blank canvas I must say, and of course that view. We offered $419. The comps in the area went both ways. Some were more, some less, depending on the house. We were kind of expecting a counter of about $449, because these people were motivated. We were utterly shocked when the counter came back at $469. What kind of motivation is that? “Just make an offer,” was what their agent had said to ours… So what do we do now?.. This was not the plan I had concocted in my head. AARRGHH! Animosity mounting.

 

We thought about it long and hard and decided… Screw this whole real estate game! I’m not in the mood to play! Games went out of style in my 20’s. I’m now a down to business, just tell me what’s what, 40 year old. So let’s just tell them our final offer… so we did. We told them $430. This number would allow us to keep our mortgage under a certain amount and allow for some minor improvements. Roxie told their agent that was all we could do and it was our final offer. Take it, or leave it. We actually expected them to just say NO. I started scanning the internet for our next conquest. That night we received a phone call from Roxie. She said they had countered again, even though she was clear that it was our final offer. They countered at $450. What seriously! We were convinced it was over and done. There was no way we could keep our monthly bills down with a $450 purchase price. We were considering moving on!

 

We thought about it a while, made some drinks and tried to contemplate different ways to make this happen. I really wasn’t looking forward to spending time looking at more houses. Were they concerned with the property values of the neighborhood? Was that it? Maybe we should say $440 and have them pay closing costs, which would bring us back, in actuality to $430. Our creative juices were flowing.

 

As we were weighing our options, my brother came through the door. We sat down, talked about his new job, his wife, daughter and the daughter he was expecting. Talked a bit of politics regarding the guy my mother single handedly got elected to congress who was now resigning. Then finally, about our house hunting prospects. He joined us in our drunken state as we filled him in. He then told us about my brother-in-law who when buying his current house, which was a foreclosure, went through the same thing… and how he stood his ground with the bank. “I told you… This was all I could afford, quit playing games, accept it or just don’t call me back.” Wow! You know what! He’s right. Screw this! We told them our final was $430, well… our final it shall be! If they don’t take it, and I’m sure they won’t we’ll drag Roxie to another 20 houses, we are getting what we want no matter how long it takes! Stick’n to our Guns!

 

So, we told Roxie $430 was our final and we weren’t budging. Not 30 minutes later she emailed and said “Their agent wants to know if you’ll take $435.”

 

What!?! Really!!!! Whoo, hoo! That’s fantastic!. You see what no one knew, not even Roxie was that $435 was always our top number! Kept that one in the vault. I was flabbergasted! Are you serious? That really worked? You’ve got to be kidding me…

 

Well, we asked for one more day to think about it and take another walk around the house. This time with the in-laws and our contractor, to see if he can pull us out of the peach grove with the budgeted amount of cash. So, we just resubmitted the papers for an offer of $435. Which was what we wanted all along. :) We feel we are getting a great deal for the house and it’s property. And my friends… once I’m done with it, it’s going to be fabulous! Overall, a great investment. High fivin’ myself right now! Slight right turn towards Deservingville up ahead!

 

As we were taking our final pre-purchase tour of the house, my husband filled Roxie in on our little secret of what our final price actually was. Damn him! Can’t keep a secret! Did we loose a little trust in our friend Roxie? Hope not… Hope she just thought us clever, and liked us just a little bit more! Especially because she won’t have to loose her shoes in the snow anymore at mold ridden homes. Now let’s just hope these people sign on the dotted line and not rethink things… That would suck.

 

And I have to say thanks to my brother for sharing, and my brother in-law for sticking to his paintball guns! :)

No Comments

Less Stress


2010
03.10

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Foreclosure, Mold | No Comments »

Day 72 - 19 to go.

 

So we did another whirlwind day of house hunting. Seven homes all in under 4 hrs. It all started with a trip into the boonies to take a gander at a foreclosure in Glen Arm. We had to park on the side of the road, because, even though it was 60 degrees and sunny, the driveway hadn’t been plowed and there was still much to melt. Climbing the driveway tundra was a challenge. Especially since Roxie was wearing clogs. We took a peak inside the window and could not believe what we saw. “Oh, no. We can’t go in there” Roxie exclaimed. “That’s just not sanitary.” The place was caked in mold! It was visible on every surface you could see through that window. Oh, disgusting! So we turned to leave. As we were falling on our asses down the snowy driveway, Roxie through a jab in my direction…”That one was your wifes idea, not mine.” She directed at my husband with a giggle in her voice. Yes, that one was mine. I take full ownership. I’m now done with foreclosures!

 

We saw a couple of great places too, one that was a zen-like tree house, and one that was over 4,000 sq. ft. They were both on the high end of our scale and I think we have decided to keep things on the down low. Saving money in the long run with a smaller mortgage will result in… let’s face it, less stress. And my friends, isn’t that what we all really need in life… LESS STRESS. I think I might be able to slow the population of gray hairs, improve my complection and maybe even loose a few pounds… all with less stress. I could actually RELAX with a martini in the evening instead of escaping my reality with a martini in the evening. Less stress could make for a happier marriage, happier family, all-in-all… a happier life.

 

With that said, we have turned our attention to the house with “the view that saved it”. That we saw earlier, see Here We Go Again. It’s a perfect size, optimal for great sunrises, it has garage and basement storage, a fireplace and the future makings of a possible mudroom. It needs my creative touch and a little… ok A LOT of love (as my mortgage broker put it… “It’s just peachy”.) Yes, lots of painting and ripping out of apricot colored wallpaper and carpet awaits. But, I think we could make it a wonderful place for my kids to grow up. The neighborhood is quiet with a lot of not-so-busy-streets to ride bikes on. That is a drastic change from the high speed road where we currently live. There is a nice yard for a vegetable garden and a place for the play set. Sorry kids… no pool, but the in-laws are 15 min up the road and they have one!

 

So, at the end of our second flurry of homes, we took a second look at the house with the view. I have been asked if a second showing means an offer is on its way. Well, I have to say, in this case… Yes. Roxie is on her way over tonight to finalize the details on our offer. Initially, we were thinking we would try to close on the 31st, this being the 10th. That way, moving would be more actual moving and less storing, but logistically… it’s not going to happen. It’s too much to accomplish in such a short amount of time… Didn’t I just determine my life would be better with less stress? So, less stress it is! Of course, now we have to see if they accept our offer. Oh no, not out of the stress woods yet… but I’m getting closer.

1 Comment

Dazed and Confused


2010
03.04

Tags: , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Counter Offer, Foreclosure | 1 Comment »

Day 66 - 25 to go.

 

Well, it looks like the mean ol’ bank has rejected our offer on the foreclosure house. Well, we think they did… Unofficially. Roxie spoke to the banks agent to find out where our offer stood. All he said back was that the bank has authorized him to lower the listing price to $7,000 over their previous counter offer to us. What?!? So basically we’re out. I don’t know about you, but I find that just plain rude. Whatever happened to common courtesies? Couldn’t they officially decline our offer instead of just throwing us into foreclosure purgatory? I mean, pick up the damn phone and communicate, people! Poor manners! Your mothers would not be proud! So, we remain in limbo, we may submit another offer to them, we may not. Don’t know, kind of pissed at the whole situation. It’s horribly poor form.

 

Yesterday we did the whirlwind of house tours. We were originally scheduled with Roxie to see 7 of them, but when we met her, she smartly reduced it to six, all in 2 1/2 hrs. Today, I’m suffering house shopping hangover. I can’t remember much, bit of a blur really. And it’s all topped off with one big headache! There were split levels, ranches and traditional homes all with doors… all with walls. Some with fireplaces and some without. Some had garages, some did not. Some had basements, some had the master bedroom in the basement. (Yeah right, let’s snuggle up in there!) There were dogs with tennis balls, parakeets, fish, renegade squirrels and one mean, angry cat. I remember being warm and I remember freezing. I barely recall the one that was my favorite of the day. I believe that it was too far out, or on the wrong side of town or… road… or… something, I can’t be sure. I also vaguely remember the one my husband liked, but something was amiss. No backyard or perhaps the front yard was an exposed urban wastland with apparitions of crosswalk guards yelling at school children… I don’t know. Anyway, none were all that noteworthy and I wouldn’t really be happy waking up in any of them… at least I don’t think so.

 

People, I’m beginning to feel a bit defeated. I’m told by many that spring will bring new arrivals to the housing market. Really? Spring??… When is that? A few more weeks? Months? We have to be out of here in 20 some odd days. My future seems bleak. I’m about to be 40 and homeless.

 

Time to face facts… Call the In-Laws… We’re movin in!

No Comments

Here We Go Again


2010
03.02

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home | No Comments »

Day 64 - 27 to go. Mold dude just left with his new air samples and the snow is also almost off the roof, exterior inspection coming soon.

 

Yesterday, Roxie, our realtor, picked us up to go and take a look at a few more houses sans kids. Thank God. No bickering under the age of 40… Love you honey! :)

 

The first house was nice. Not very big, but just right with a nice fireplace and a great den. Outstanding views! A contemporary which was built in 1978 and boy, it looked it. I don’t think anything was ever updated in that place. First of all the exterior, blah yuck! 2 different shades of 70’s brown, I don’t think I could live there til that was painted. The bedrooms were a tad on the small side with barely a closet. The basement had a built-in bar complete with a padded patten leather arm rest around the entire top of it. This place would need a lot of work, a lot of paint and days of scraping off “ooo ugly” wall paper. It did have a skylight in one of the bathrooms which was pretty cool. Plus it had a garage and storage in the basement. All and all, the view saved it and pushed it on to the next level. Not too shabby.

 

The next house I found on-line, but it didn’t have any photos associated with it. Priced to sell on a sought after street. But what would await us there? Hmmm. As we pulled in I immediately knew it wasn’t for us. Tiny… Teeny tiny. We went in anyway. We couldn’t just leave, the owner was pacing, waiting for us outside. The entire house had just been redone. Very nice. Floors were gorgeous! Three bedrooms, one bath and I still don’t know how they fit those things into that box of a home. It will make a very nice place for someone who is perpetually single. On we go…

 

The third house of the day was another foreclosure home as sold “As Is”. I’ve been eyeing it online for a while. It’s in a prime location surrounded by million dollar homes, the photo of the exterior on-line was very nice. Cheap and cute. What the hell could be wrong with it? Why is it still there? As we pulled up I got very excited. I loved the street, the setting, the house from the road was beautiful and seemed big. Then… we got closer. The outside, even though it was brick, looked very shabby and in need of much love. It took us a while to unlock the front door. It seemed to be stuck and I was getting cold standing outside. Once we forced our way in, we were greeted with an abandoned and very cold home and… a living room full of boxes. We soon realized they were kitchen cabinets. Were they meant for this home or was someone just storing them there? As we walked into the dining room we saw something unexpected. A HUGE addition that was mid rough-in construction condition. This thing must have been 1,000 sq. ft. on it’s own with vaulted ceilings. Just framing however, nothing more. It was left totally in a state of disregard. It was sad, and… it was leaking.

 

The kitchen, circa 1950 baby blue was completely trashed. Things were torn out and strewn all over the room. Paint was peeling off the ceiling, trash was on the floor. Oh my, major renovation needed. The thing about this house was that it just kept going. Wow it was BIG. We walked down a level to 3 bedrooms, a den which overlooked a pool and 2 baths. Then down another level to a basement with 3-4 rooms. Upstairs there were another 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. Or, one full bath and one… well, just let me say this… I thought I had a mold problem. Honey, I’ve got one mushroom compared to this place. This bathroom was a Mold Hot House! Just swarming, swarming with black mold. It was on everything. The walls, ceiling, floor, tub, sink. Oh, I felt dirty just looking at it. I needed a shower, but just thinking of taking a shower while looking at that bathroom made me cringe! Oh, if this place was in better shape I’d scoop it up! This house with the in-process addition must have been over 4,000 sq. ft. The kids wouldn’t have to argue over bedrooms, they could each have 3. But even if someone gave us that place for a dollar, I don’t think we could ever afford to bring it up to livable and healthy conditions. Oh, and the pool area was so incredibly lovely. Sad, so sad…

 

The fourth house of the day was just down the street from the contemporary Open House we loved on Sunday, only this one had a garage (storage!) and a pool (BONUS!). We took a look inside. Oooo… funky. Funky in a good way and funky in a weird, yeah I’ll have to replace that, way too. It was on a hill which meant walking up a flight of stairs to get to the front door. I didn’t mind this though, the view from the front porch was pretty cool. The kitchen was outdated and small, but doable. The rest of that floor was in good shape with the exception of the main bathroom. There was a mirror on every square inch of that bathroom including the ceiling. These owners must be beautiful people with a vanity problem. I think we’d have to leave it just for a conversation piece. The basement was a whole other experience. I felt like I entered the choice swingers pad. Mirrors everywhere, hidden doors that lead to wet bars, wine racks, shelves, closets, the garage, and other strange shaped rooms. Totally bizarre. The basement was also where we located the mirror surrounded fireplace. Why they don’t put fireplaces on the main level of the home is beyond me. Anyway, we liked it. It was funky, weird, and totally us. Needed a lot of work and we’d be compromising a bit on space and yard. The backyard was just a pool and patio, no actual grass, with a screened-in porch off the kitchen. The only downfall is that it’s in the city and Baltimore knows how to tax. The taxes, oh the taxes. I could buy a car with the taxes on that place. Well, we’ll keep that one in the back of our minds.

 

I don’t know folks, It’s looking grim. Kinda running out of time here. Nothing feels comfortable, nothing feels right, like our foreclosure home does. I wish we’d hear back from the bank on our counter offer soon. But, in the meantime we will soldier on, that’s what we do. We are circling again with Roxie on Wednesday to tackle the other end of town. She has 7 houses lined up and 3 hours to view them in. It will be a sprint! Better wear my running shoes. Stay tuned.

No Comments

Kids… Let’s Go See Some Open Houses


2010
03.01

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Open House | No Comments »

Day 63 - 28 to go. We are having the mold retested on tuesday and have postponed the remediation til the 8th. The inspector (using term loosely here) didn’t do a baseline comparison of the exterior and we have found out that this is definitely something you do when testing for mold. Geez! How hard is it to do a job right the first time these days?

 

Well, we still haven’t heard regarding our counter offer on the foreclosure house that we submitted nine days ago. In the spirit of keeping our housing options open, we went ‘Open Housing’… with the kids.

 

The first house we didn’t even go in. My husband and I just didn’t vibe with the neighborhood. Way to suburban for us. I felt like I was on the set of Edward Scissorhands, so we drove onto the next locale. My kids didn’t even notice, they were both thumbing away on their machines.

 

The second house was cute, in a nice ‘normal’ neighborhood but it was a bit small. The kids started arguing over which bedroom was going to be theirs even after we told them we weren’t even going to buy this house. My daughter gave up and decided she would room in the basement using the pool table for her bed. She was quite excited about this.

 

The third house was in the Homeland section of Baltimore City. Big house on a busy road. 4 bedrooms, large basement detached garage, and a kitchen that needed updating. My son looked at me with a big smile on his face and nodded… “I like this one.” Again the two of them started fighting over claiming rights to bedrooms. My daughter even stood in the one that was “hers” with her arms crossed and a mean pouty look on her face that said… “I’m not moving from this spot… Go get my things, I’m moving in!” It was nice, but didn’t feel right.

 

The fourth house was in the Mt. Washington neighborhood. A contemporary that was very nicely and recently redone. We really liked it. Nice sized kitchen, large floor to ceiling windows, beautiful bathrooms, and… one of my favorite things, a sun porch. The only problem was where would we put all our junk? There was no garage and no basement. We did walk around it a few times soaking it all in, trying to picture living there, but we couldn’t get past the storage issue. Yeah, where would I put my collection of “I can’t remember what’s in that box, but I know I need it” things. As we were leaving I realized I only had one child. Where was my daughter? I couldn’t find her. She had closed herself in a closet, again pouting over the bedroom choices. This time she wanted the master because it had it’s own bathroom.

 

Today Roxie, our real estate agent, is taking us around to a few more places… this time without the kids.

 

BTW – A birthday “shout out” to my Mom and my niece. Have a Happy Birthday!

« Older Entries