Archive for March, 2010

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Congratulations. You Are Now Officially Homeless


2010
03.30

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Posted in Closing, Headaches of Selling Your Home, Moving, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Day 92 - A bit behind due to lack of internet.

 

Day 88 -

 

I have never been so tired in my life. Two days of moving has turned into four with an additional two days of clean-up. When did I accumulate so much stuff? It just kept multiplying. It seemed every time we took a box out of the house there were two more in its place. The movers were even baffled. They couldn’t believe they underestimated our move by so much. Apparently, that’s never happened to them before. They have only ever underestimated by an hour in the past. Guess we were too much for them.

 

So, here I sit at my in-laws typing my blog that I can’t post because we haven’t had the time to figure out the internet connection. But we are comfortable here amongst our boxes and are grateful for that. I have to head back to the house today to finish sanding the map wall, clean the kitchen, the basement and grab the remaining things in the house and in the yard. Yesterday, at the end of the day, I was so tired I actually taped shut an empty box and asked my husband to carry it to the truck for me. Once he picked it up, it was so light he almost flung it across the room. I was so embarrassed. I crawled inside it and tried to shut out the world. The streams of light that flowed in were actually quite beautiful… but anyway…

 

It looks like the closing is on for tomorrow at 10 am. Right after the 9 am walk-through. Guess they are going to buy it after all. We have the final signed addendum in our hands. They did ask if we could call the home warranty folks about the sump pump. Had to laugh at that one… ahh, no. It’s going to be your house in a day, you call! I have a feeling three months down the road they will be asking my husband to make the appointment to open the pool for them. Do these people know how to do anything themselves? I could have sworn they were in their 30’s, not their teens.

 

 

Day 91 -

 

Congratulations family! We are now officially homeless. We closed on the house yesterday and I have to say, I feel relieved.

 

The whole closing process made for an interesting learning experience… Life has them waiting around every corner. You see, we received the estimated settlement sheet a few days before, and I immediately took a look at the bottom line… Wouldn’t you? I wanted to see what kind of money I was getting out of this house, our down payment on the next one was depending on it. To my utter shock and awe, (seriously I think I actually dropped to my knees), it said we were only getting $18,000. What? Are you serious? You’ve got to be kidding me! I quickly picked up my cell phone and called my husband who was at Home Depot getting another pad lock for the fourth POD we needed to order at the last minute. I was practically in tears, ok… I’ll fess up. I was completely exhausted, my defenses were down and I WAS in tears. I expressed my concerns to my husband through my hyperventilated mumbles and he called Roxie, our agent, to investigate while I tried to calm down in a much needed hot shower.

 

After calming down, I took it upon myself to find out what the hell was going on. Closing costs, they call them. More like, lets-see-how-much-we-can-rip-you-off-costs. Well, if you’re not careful you will end up paying much more than you bargained for, and NO ONE is going to help you or tell you different unless, YOU call them on it. For starters, “$350 for Water Escrow”… Water escrow? How can there be a water escrow… we have a well not public water! The brokers fees I figured were set at 9% instead of 5%. Wow, now this is the buyers agent putting this all together with the title company. Nine percent? Glad I didn’t hire him. We were paying upwards of $500.00 to the title company for “document preparation”. Again, why should I pay someone I didn’t hire. It also states in the contract of sale, (yes, I read it!) that the buyers are responsible for all fees associated with the title work. The contract also states we would split the transfer taxes 50/50. Well, looking at this statement it seems a bit unbalanced. More like 70/30. It took a few back and forths to try to straighten this out, yet still, it was slightly wrong at the closing table. I have to say, I’m damn proud of myself for sticking to my moral high road here and making sure I wasn’t ripped off. It was a double team for the books. My husband drew the agents and buyers attention away and I stuck it to Mr. Title Company.

 

We ended up walking away with $24,000.00 extra dollars than they wanted to give us. Can you imagine if I didn’t take a stand? Makes me wonder if the buyers didn’t get ripped off too. They just sat there and nodded as Mr. Title explained, all to quickly, every charge. How much money do you think agents and title companies make unethically every year? Well, when I buy the next house, I’m going through that settlement sheet with a fine tooth comb. No more Mr. Nice Guy! And you know what… It feels good!

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Stumbling Block


2010
03.24

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Posted in Contractor, Economy, Headaches of Selling Your Home, Moving | No Comments »

Day 86 - 5 days to go!

 

My house is almost empty. These movers are super efficient. We’ve used them before and just love these guys. They have one POD so neatly packed, to the top! They still need to attack the large pieces, bedroom furniture, couches, etc. Then, tomorrow, the home office.

 

As far as the sale of this house goes… Well, we’ve run into a few snags. Come on… Didn’t we all know there would be snags.

 

Two nights ago was our last night in the house. We were about to be celebrating with the tenderloins I had marinating in the fridge and the bottle of red just waiting to be uncorked. The next day would be filled with moving all the stuff we need to survive for a few months, the kids and the dog to the in-law’s. The movers were coming on wednesday (today) and we were suppose to be closing on monday. All was in the works.

 

Just before the steaks were to go on the grill we received word that out buyers aren’t happy with what we have done regarding the home inspection. Really? Hmmm. They wait til now to tell us this!?! We remediated the mold, we fixed the broken heat pump, we had the oil guy come and give recommendations on the oil that strangely appears on the wall by the oil tank, but they want more. There were a total of eleven issues they wanted us to address regarding the home inspection. I think they actually expected us to take care of each and every one! Who does that? But we did what we could afford, addressed all “health and safety” issues, and we’re done!

 

It seems their biggest issue is the subfloor in the master bedroom, it kind of bounces in one place when you walk over it. Now, I have ran on this floor, exercised on it, put furniture on it all with no problem, but they would like it fixed. I think it’s just not nailed down properly to the joist under the floor, or it has come unnailed over time. Either way, I say get out your own damn hammer and fix it.

 

Our biggest issue is the fact that we are planning on moving… like NOW! If these people decide they don’t want the house, well, hell… I don’t want to move in with the in-law’s. I… and I’m sure they, would rather us stay here. Plus we’ve already paid for the PODs that are in my driveway, a deposit on the movers, a mold inspection at the new house (that we won’t be buying if we can’t sell this one), and we have scheduled cancelations of BGE, the phone, DirecTv and the alarm company. We have even gone to the extremes of scheduling an installation of high speed internet at the in-law’s so we can work. Oh, my what a mess…

 

Wow! What a way to ruin a beautiful evening and dinner. So, we were thinking of calling their bluff. They must have movers lined up too, right? And really, I don’t think we are being unreasonable. We did the necessary fixes. Come on… Nothing is perfect. No, you get no more money from me! Buy it or don’t buy it, I just need to know ASAP! If they screw us my husband will not rest til someone pays for all the expenses we have accrued to be able to be out of here by closing. He basically told our agent to tell them they don’t know who they are fucking with, but I’m sure our Roxie would never use that kind of language with their agent.

 

In the end we caved, ever so slightly. We had our contractor come by and take a look, just to make sure we were right about the floor and the building won’t be caving in on the new residents. And he confirmed what we thought all along, a few screws and nails and we’d be all set. In any other situation, I’d grab the hammer myself, but, no, I’d have to have some kind of receipt that a licensed contract took care of it. So the guys are coming by on Thursday to screw my floor! So, I’m pissed that we caved and are forking out more money to sell this place. But the alternative scares the shit out of me, and that would be they hire some hard-up structural engineer who’s business has been really slow lately due to the economy and he recommends to them that they need a whole new floor system and support beams.

 

Well, my house is half empty and we still don’t know if we are solid and going through with the sale. God willing, signatures will come.

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Moving


2010
03.22

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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.

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Stall Tactics


2010
03.17

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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.

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The Art of Negotiation


2010
03.15

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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! :)

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Mold… What Mold?


2010
03.11

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Posted in Mold | 2 Comments »

Day 73 - 18 to go. – Offer has been submitted on our house with the view. No word yet.

 

Ok, so we had the mold retested and the results are in… Whoa! Drastic! The numbers were so much lower than the initial reading, I’m talking by thousands! Even the NOW-baseline (remember, there wasn’t one before) said the Penicillium/Aspergillus spore count was larger outside! WTF? We had to do a double take… What’s going on here? Did the lab guy stick the decimal point in the wrong place or something?

 

The mold inspector guy, who I will now refer to as MIG, had no great explanation for why the numbers were so different except to ask if we had run a house fan, opened windows, or sprayed Lysol. Oh, really… is that all it takes? Spraying Lysol? I could have saved myself $1,500.00 with a $2.00 can of Lysol? Really? Come on… I don’t think so.

 

The MIG then advised us that someone would have to pay for the redone test and his clearance test (yet to come) and wanted to know if he should bill us directly. Hold on, wait… What?!? This was the first mention by anyone that we may be responsible for the cost of further testing. We did not hire this guy and we feel that he should take the matter up with those who had. Why would we hire and pay someone so clearly incompetent? Get someone else to do the clearance test, that’s what I say. Thankfully, our Brit remediation specialist offered to take care of it for us… (for FREE!) In your face inspector dude! However, we don’t know if this is kosher in the Mold World. You know, we have to maintain all those extremely specific regulations and guidelines (being facetious here.)

 

Well, we still needed to have the mold remediated. The count in the basement was still high enough to indicate a “problem”, and my friends… I can see the damn mold! It’s plain as day (now that I know where to look.) And the buyers can see it too! So, the mold was finally taken care of the other day. An entire day of fogging, spraying and then a day of clean-up… OK, done. We now have to get the “after/clearance” test to see if it actually worked, (well… cross those fingers).

 

MIG was trying to accuse us of cleaning the mold ourselves or already having it remediated prior to the second test. Now, why on earth would we do that? Obviously, we would be far better served to show a drastic change after professional remediation than meager results from opened windows and Lysol, don’t you think? We just wanted MIG to do his job correctly the first time and show an outdoor baseline.

 

So, this is what I think happened with the first test. The samples were possibly contaminated by MIG because the air samples were taken after he did physical swabs. Now, I’m not a micro-biologists or anything, but it seems logical that if you swab for mold, scraping it off the surface, some of those spores might end up on your arm, clothes, etc. And then you go and turn on a powerful vacuum to suck in the house air to test that? Don’t you think it might just collect what has gathered on you also? Hell, I do! I think a standard should be set where the air test should always be done before any swabbing. Just using the common sense my parents gave me here folks.

 

What a pain in the ass this whole mold thing has become. I’m sooo sick of it! I’m sick of strange spore names I can’t pronounce! Sick of people traipsing through my home. I so sick of mold, I don’t even want to go near cheese anymore. “Would you like some roquefort on that burger, ma’am?” HELL, NO!

 

But don’t you know… When we buy our new house… I’m having a mold inspection done… A competent one!

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Less Stress


2010
03.10

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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.

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Dazed and Confused


2010
03.04

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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!

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Things To Do Today


2010
03.03

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

1. Get up
2. Survive
3. Go back to bed.

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Here We Go Again


2010
03.02

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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.

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