3 Weeks to Go...

What we are trying to avoid.

After nearly five months of house hunting, just as many offers, and countless hours of uncertainty and excitement, our tumultuous journey to home ownership has finally hit a lull.  With the inspection and requested repairs completed, our loan application submitted, and a closing date scheduled, it appears the only task left for us is the dreaded process of packing and moving.

As soon as we both recovered from the shock and horror of realizing how much interest we would pay should we stay for the term of the mortgage, we began to mobilize and execute Operation: Avoid Being the Next Crazies on "Hoarders".  With three moves under our belts since we've lived together, it seems there are always a bunch of sneaky boxes of stuff that follow us from place to place, especially as each place we move to is bigger than the last and of course requires more things.  However, after watching too many episodes of "Hoarders", we have found it much easier to part anything that might be useful at some time down the line, maybe.  As much as I hate cleaning/organizing/packing, I would hate to find cat mummies in my house even more. 

Armed with a stack of new boxes fresh from Home Depot and packing tape I can never quite figure out how to properly use, I managed to pack up our entire DVD and video game collection last night.  Seeing the four boxes all neatly stacked and ready to go, I thought, "I could have bought a lot of shoes with all the money we've spent on those..." followed by a sense of excitement that we really are moving soon into our very own home.  I know we're both glad to finally have a sense of place after living a transient life for the last seven or eight years.  And I'm sure our poor friends are glad they won't have to lug our junk around for at least five more years, as we've reached our lifetime limit of asking them to help us move.

So, that's all the news we have for now.  Now back to some obsessive Craigslist shopping.  Seriously, I cannot believe some of the hideous things people allow into their homes, but who can resist the lure of a sweet deal?  :)

Moving right along!

This house buying is a piece of cake! Just kidding. It's actually filled with both constant stress and never ending excitement. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We're still a bit over a month away from our closing, but we've almost done all that is required of us. Yesterday I purchased homeowners/hazard insurance which was fairly confusing, and I'm glad to have it behind me. I called around and got quotes from a couple companies so I'm fairly sure I got a competitive annual premium. We have all our mortgage documents in order awaiting our signatures, which we can send off tomorrow or Monday. The survey and appraisal are ordered and scheduled (I think, our realtor and mortgage broker are handling those...but I know they're ordered). Now we wait.

I picked Amanda up at her office this afternoon for lunch. We went over to the nearby mall and had Panda Express. It was a nice pick-me-up in the middle of a slow moving Friday. On our way out we stopped by a new modern furniture store called "Z Gallerie." It was pretty ok. The furniture seemed to be of decent quality, and the prices were much better than West Elm, Arhaus, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and other similar home furnishing stores. Amanda and I both found a few things we liked and I see us returning after closing to buy some house warming gifts to ourselves. :)

Have a nice weekend!

Photos!

Here is an album of some photos John took during the home inspection. I think we flip through it several times a day mentally decorating and landscaping. Soon enough we'll be able to add some "after" pictures!


Click on the house to enter!



Escaping a most certain death...

The house.

Our journey toward home ownership continues and we’ve managed to narrowly escape with our lives… this time.  During our home inspection, our extremely knowledgeable and detailed inspector, Chuck, noticed there was some signs of settling and quite possibly a lack of proper support in the basement.  Of course, we were thrown into a tizzy imagining the house caving in, our precious boys being crushed, and being left with an incredibly expensive crater.  We tried to convince the seller to hire a structural engineer to further inspect and evaluate the situation, but that was to no avail.  Panicking even further, we spent a sleepless night deciding whether to spend another $400 on inspections that the seller thought unnecessary or hope for the best.  But then we were saved by Raul and Junior, the contractor and his helper who previously renovated the house.  Armed with a saw, they carved away at the wall and our fear.  Behind the drywall where Chuck could not see were good, sturdy beams placed closer together than need be and thus ensuring our Cape Cod would not become a Cave Cod (too much…?).  The next day, we received the results of our radon test and with very low levels, we have no worries of becoming poisoned and dying an agonizing death from lung cancer.

So, with two of our three contingencies removed, we’re another step closer to closing.  We received a letter today from our settlement company providing some preliminary details of closing.  It seems unreal that everything is falling into place for us so easily this time around, and in about a month, we’ll own our first home.  With our list of about 50 projects to tackle, it’s sure to be an exciting experience.  Or maybe we’ll wish we could have just been poisoned and crushed early on…