Woot Woot! (For those of you not in the know that's what people who play video games say when they do something good or are congratulating someone) Since we are now officially "Under Contract" this will be my future way of entertaining myself and maybe Kendal because after we have a mortgage, most other extracurricular activites are not going to be possible until we get a handle on finances and coping with sticker shock. Being the financial juggernaut I am, I have already devised a budget, that is in no way grounded in reality, because let's face it, this is a total unknown to me and Kendal. But hey, we are excited, and only better things are yet to come, because god knows I feared for my life a few times when I went to bed within the last two weeks. Let's just say the negotations were stressful and it was starting to show. F*#&%_G LAWYER!
I know, that's not what everyone is interested in, the house is what everyone is interested in. I really like the house, not love yet, really like. Kendal I believe feels the same way and I know we agree that we can make it loveable. Well we can make it loveable if I decorate, if Kendal decorates I am relatively sure we will have a house full of second, third, fourth, possibly fifth, and a chance of sixth hand furniture. No, no, we have been furniture shopping for new furniture and get this I am the one being and I quote "parsimonious." We are defnitiely going to be house poor for awhile because between the two of us combined we have nothing that is useable and I mean nothing. So we have set out priorities and have already purchased a kitchen table - priority. A couch for the living room - priority. A master bedroom set - priority. A refrigerator - definite priority. An oven - not a huge priority, but the oven is super old (20 years) and probably not energy efficient. And finally a very large TV - the biggest, most gigantic, and humongous of all priorities. That leaves, the dining room - empty. The front sitting room - empty. Two guest bedrooms - empty, though we did find one relatively inexpensive queen bedroom set that we might purchase after we see how much money we have for purchases. Office/4th bedroom - empty. The entire basement - empty, this, of course will be locked and have one of those 8 year old signs that reads, Robbie's Basement - KEEP OUT! We will also need porch furniture, my grill will suffice for now, and a myriad of other blinds, fixtures, and other things here and there that I am also sure that I cannot fully comprehend. The one thing we are struggling with is the master bathroom, for some odd reason, it is carpeted in there, and while it's not a huge deal, it seems to bother both of us a lot. It just seems gross. I mean a carpeted bathroom, it will get wet, and nasty, and Kendal sheds like a long haired werewolf during the change of season. I know we want to tile it, I know we need to tile it, I just can't decide if our best course of action is to tile it right now or wait. I was in Lowe's and the it didn't seem overly expensive to buy the tools and materials to tile. The labor, well we all know I am more of the supervisor type, so Kendal will get to do it and apparently she has experience. Also Kendal's brother used to tile for a job, so we can bring him over while I sit and watch with a nice glass of ice tea and point out what they are doing wrong. Sounds perfect to me! If that was only the reality. Generally speaking I look forward to doing all this stuff which is why I spent my entire lunchbreak in Lowe's and I really enjoyed it. Thankfully, I also have a construction skill set, it's called going to outside of Home Depot and hiring the day laborers for $10 an hour, and they do a magnificent job.
It seems I have a lot on my mind as you can tell by this complete rambling, but know this I am super excited, like little kid going to the circus excited. I am even happier to be buying the house with the woman I love. I know we are in for a lot of headache and disagreements, but in the end, I also know that this is what I want and where I want to be!
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting! (Is this even appropriate anymore?)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
She's crafty - and she's just my type
Well lookie here we may have ourselves a house or at least we have a preliminary deal for a house. Let me set up how all this happened :
Last Friday I was starting to get sick and tired of all the doom and gloom talk we were getting from other real estate agents, lawyers, gardeners, next of kin, priests, the local ice cream shop purveyor, and Crazy Carl the guy who fixes stuff in our new apartment building, but most importantly, our mortgage broker was seriously starting to irk me. Since Kendal is in the "business" I mostly let her handle that end of our housing search, actually I was letting her handle the real estate sales side, the legal, and the mortgage stuff. What can I say? I know how to delegate! (Just so you know I was doing the finance part of the deal meaning I was determining the pricing/offers we were putting on houses, if you want to see my spreadsheet it will both scare and excite you, I know it does both to me) So I was getting a lot of my information second hand from the mortgage broker, who I used to have a nasty nickname for, but have since redacted it. OK, I will tell you - llama vomit, I know it doesn't make sense, but all the verbal diaharrea I was hearing made me think of an annoying spitting llama who gives you a sideways glance then proceeds to spew some frothy material all over you. I, of course, only referred to him as this during my sessions of mumbling to myself, which happen more often than not when I get stressed because stressed for me is a foreign object. It just doesn't happen that often and when it does, I handle it the way a little girl handles having worms thrown at them at the playground. Which if translated correctly means not well at all! OK, back to the point of the blog. Kendal calls me to tell me that redacted [llama vomit] the mortgage broker informed her that we should be looking for a house in the 100-200K range, which if you have even glanced at housing in the last few years, hasn't existed since somewhere in the early 80's. A current house costing 100-200K would be considered a crack house in almost every corner of the US except for the Deep South, which Atlanta, is not a part of, nor has it been since it's population growth accelerated to the point of ludicrous speed (if you know your Spaceballs reference you will get the joke here). Upon hearing this I had pretty much crossed the line of anger/resentment/belief/faith/religious fervor/believing in Santa Claus and had to talk to redacted [llama vomit] the mortgage broker myself. Well turns out he is a nice guy and trying to do right by us, but was trying to make a point that most people's first house is in the 200K range, we both agreed the reality of the situation is that this is just not feasible with today's housing environment and we aren't looking for a 5 and done, because you may not make a dime with that outlook, because of this our top end price is more. During our conversation I kept referring to a particular house as my example and he ended taking down the address so that his FHA appraiser could do some checking for us. The appraiser came back about 15K more than I was going to offer on this particular house, but he happened to mention another home in the area that had its listing expired. It looked nice and was right at our price range so we called the agent to see if it was still for sale and if we could go see it. Turns out it was and so we perused the property, it is pretty nice, definitely has potential, needs some work here and there with upgrades, but for the most part is ready to be moved into. We went home and had a few lengthy discussions about what we wanted to do which came down to, offer on the expired house, offer on a house that was pricier, but slightly nicer in the neighborhood, or continue to look. The problem with continuing to look is there is NO inventory out there and no guarantees that it would change, this scared us, the pricier house was nice and is still an option, but we decided to pursue the expired house. This is where is gets interesting and somewhat underhanded by Kendal, she went behind the listing agents back, because technically he doesn't represent the owner anymore and tracked down the owner himself. God, I was impressed! She got all the goods from him including the tidbit that he hasn't had one offer on the place which helped me justify my pricing, of course everything couldn't be all hugs, kisses, butterflies, and warm fuzzy feelings, the guys is a, duh duh duh, lawyer! Which means at some point he is going to be a complete and utter jackass! So I did my math, looked at comparables, and Kendal called to tell him our number. He didn't outright accept it, but he said it was an offer he could counter off of, but my pricing is pretty solid and I have enough info to back it up, sans maybe 5K, but this would still be a significant reduction compared to every other house for sale or that has sold in the neighborhood, something like 35K. So I feel pretty confident. The real story is Kendal, I cannot belive that kind of gumption, I love it and in the immortal words of the Beastie Boys:
She's crafty - she's gets around
She's crafty - she's always down
She's crafty - she's got a gripe
She's crafty - and she's just my type
She's crafty
(take out the obvious sexual references and replace them with business references and this makes more sense)
More updates to come!
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
Last Friday I was starting to get sick and tired of all the doom and gloom talk we were getting from other real estate agents, lawyers, gardeners, next of kin, priests, the local ice cream shop purveyor, and Crazy Carl the guy who fixes stuff in our new apartment building, but most importantly, our mortgage broker was seriously starting to irk me. Since Kendal is in the "business" I mostly let her handle that end of our housing search, actually I was letting her handle the real estate sales side, the legal, and the mortgage stuff. What can I say? I know how to delegate! (Just so you know I was doing the finance part of the deal meaning I was determining the pricing/offers we were putting on houses, if you want to see my spreadsheet it will both scare and excite you, I know it does both to me) So I was getting a lot of my information second hand from the mortgage broker, who I used to have a nasty nickname for, but have since redacted it. OK, I will tell you - llama vomit, I know it doesn't make sense, but all the verbal diaharrea I was hearing made me think of an annoying spitting llama who gives you a sideways glance then proceeds to spew some frothy material all over you. I, of course, only referred to him as this during my sessions of mumbling to myself, which happen more often than not when I get stressed because stressed for me is a foreign object. It just doesn't happen that often and when it does, I handle it the way a little girl handles having worms thrown at them at the playground. Which if translated correctly means not well at all! OK, back to the point of the blog. Kendal calls me to tell me that redacted [llama vomit] the mortgage broker informed her that we should be looking for a house in the 100-200K range, which if you have even glanced at housing in the last few years, hasn't existed since somewhere in the early 80's. A current house costing 100-200K would be considered a crack house in almost every corner of the US except for the Deep South, which Atlanta, is not a part of, nor has it been since it's population growth accelerated to the point of ludicrous speed (if you know your Spaceballs reference you will get the joke here). Upon hearing this I had pretty much crossed the line of anger/resentment/belief/faith/religious fervor/believing in Santa Claus and had to talk to redacted [llama vomit] the mortgage broker myself. Well turns out he is a nice guy and trying to do right by us, but was trying to make a point that most people's first house is in the 200K range, we both agreed the reality of the situation is that this is just not feasible with today's housing environment and we aren't looking for a 5 and done, because you may not make a dime with that outlook, because of this our top end price is more. During our conversation I kept referring to a particular house as my example and he ended taking down the address so that his FHA appraiser could do some checking for us. The appraiser came back about 15K more than I was going to offer on this particular house, but he happened to mention another home in the area that had its listing expired. It looked nice and was right at our price range so we called the agent to see if it was still for sale and if we could go see it. Turns out it was and so we perused the property, it is pretty nice, definitely has potential, needs some work here and there with upgrades, but for the most part is ready to be moved into. We went home and had a few lengthy discussions about what we wanted to do which came down to, offer on the expired house, offer on a house that was pricier, but slightly nicer in the neighborhood, or continue to look. The problem with continuing to look is there is NO inventory out there and no guarantees that it would change, this scared us, the pricier house was nice and is still an option, but we decided to pursue the expired house. This is where is gets interesting and somewhat underhanded by Kendal, she went behind the listing agents back, because technically he doesn't represent the owner anymore and tracked down the owner himself. God, I was impressed! She got all the goods from him including the tidbit that he hasn't had one offer on the place which helped me justify my pricing, of course everything couldn't be all hugs, kisses, butterflies, and warm fuzzy feelings, the guys is a, duh duh duh, lawyer! Which means at some point he is going to be a complete and utter jackass! So I did my math, looked at comparables, and Kendal called to tell him our number. He didn't outright accept it, but he said it was an offer he could counter off of, but my pricing is pretty solid and I have enough info to back it up, sans maybe 5K, but this would still be a significant reduction compared to every other house for sale or that has sold in the neighborhood, something like 35K. So I feel pretty confident. The real story is Kendal, I cannot belive that kind of gumption, I love it and in the immortal words of the Beastie Boys:
She's crafty - she's gets around
She's crafty - she's always down
She's crafty - she's got a gripe
She's crafty - and she's just my type
She's crafty
(take out the obvious sexual references and replace them with business references and this makes more sense)
More updates to come!
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Blending Together
I feel like I have seen a bajillion houses now, actuality is that we have seen like 5, but I have peeked in numerous windows and learned that almost no house is totally secure when someone is motivated to get a look inside. I am not saying that I am breaking and entering, however, on occasion I have been known to test the locking capability of a few windows here and there. The most humorous thing I find is when I gain access to a house that I hear Kendal crashing in behind me in a less subtle manner. Always fun to see her half hanging in a window asking me for help, I wonder what would happen if I left her to her own devices. I would probably be going to the hospital! For me, not because she bit it onto the floor!
So I guess an update is in order? You would think that with a purchase this big and life changing I would be a little more discerning considering the circumstances, with almost every major purchase, I meticulously look into every little area to see if it is the correct purchase. It seems with houses I have some sort of fire under my ass, because every time I see one I like, it immediately becomes a fire drill, and we have to immediately start the contract process. I think this is two fold: 1) because Kendal is going to go into stress out melt down mode if we are not under contract in the next month with the impending end of the 8K tax credit 2) I believe there is a certain amount of inability to relax in a place that isn't truly your own. The first one is self explanatory. While this has not come to fruition I know my girl and I can feel that magma starting to rise to the surface, like any dormant volcano, the pressure has to build before it can pass through the layers of earth that prevent it from exploding. The steam has not yet begun to come out her ears, but I got the first warning sign the other day when she told me she was worried. Doesn't sound like much, but worried with Kendal can turn into full blown Titanic like disaster if you don't plug the hole quickly. So for the sake of sanity and overall well being, my usual anal desire to dig right down to the foundations of the house myself has been replaced with a cursory overview of the rooms and hallways. I am not allowed to actually dig and I love my girl, and want to make her happy, so I will do whatever it takes, even if it means changing the way I conduct myself. The second reason is that after 33 years I realize that I have never been able to do exactly what I wanted because I have never had a place of my own. I am very relaxed in my parents house, but I grew up there, I am very relaxed at my brothers place because it is just a nice place to be, but I can't say that you are 100% at home until you pay the bills. So that seems to be playing into my discomfort and impatience.
So we found a house we like and guess what it is in Roswell, yes the suburbs...ACCCCKKKK. CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD! It's a nice neighborhood and it feels homey. We are going to see two more this weekend and they are comparable so I will update you on what we find, but I think we are getting closer. I mean I gave away my life history to the mortgage guy the other day so that is at least progress.
Keep your fingers crossed, I think our dream house is out there, if it was completely my choice I would have scrambled the team and bid on the open house we saw, but then again I am only 49.9% of the decision making.
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
So I guess an update is in order? You would think that with a purchase this big and life changing I would be a little more discerning considering the circumstances, with almost every major purchase, I meticulously look into every little area to see if it is the correct purchase. It seems with houses I have some sort of fire under my ass, because every time I see one I like, it immediately becomes a fire drill, and we have to immediately start the contract process. I think this is two fold: 1) because Kendal is going to go into stress out melt down mode if we are not under contract in the next month with the impending end of the 8K tax credit 2) I believe there is a certain amount of inability to relax in a place that isn't truly your own. The first one is self explanatory. While this has not come to fruition I know my girl and I can feel that magma starting to rise to the surface, like any dormant volcano, the pressure has to build before it can pass through the layers of earth that prevent it from exploding. The steam has not yet begun to come out her ears, but I got the first warning sign the other day when she told me she was worried. Doesn't sound like much, but worried with Kendal can turn into full blown Titanic like disaster if you don't plug the hole quickly. So for the sake of sanity and overall well being, my usual anal desire to dig right down to the foundations of the house myself has been replaced with a cursory overview of the rooms and hallways. I am not allowed to actually dig and I love my girl, and want to make her happy, so I will do whatever it takes, even if it means changing the way I conduct myself. The second reason is that after 33 years I realize that I have never been able to do exactly what I wanted because I have never had a place of my own. I am very relaxed in my parents house, but I grew up there, I am very relaxed at my brothers place because it is just a nice place to be, but I can't say that you are 100% at home until you pay the bills. So that seems to be playing into my discomfort and impatience.
So we found a house we like and guess what it is in Roswell, yes the suburbs...ACCCCKKKK. CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD! It's a nice neighborhood and it feels homey. We are going to see two more this weekend and they are comparable so I will update you on what we find, but I think we are getting closer. I mean I gave away my life history to the mortgage guy the other day so that is at least progress.
Keep your fingers crossed, I think our dream house is out there, if it was completely my choice I would have scrambled the team and bid on the open house we saw, but then again I am only 49.9% of the decision making.
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
A comparison
Alright, I have now recovered enough from NYE festivities to get back to the blog, we didn't over do it, but we definitely suffered from lack of sleep and dehydration. It got me thinking about the similarities between the geographical area of Atlanta and people going out to drink. Simply put I believe there are three types of people in the world, on one extreme you have drinkers, these are people who who might label as alcoholics, you might label them as partiers, it doesn't really matter. On the other end are what I call people who don't drink, either they don't handle their alcohol well and become emotional or sick or any other number of reasons that they don't drink or in some cases shouldn't drink. Right in the middle of these two extremes are the people who can drink, they neither overindulge or are scary to be around when they do drink. There are, of course, varying levels inbetween the types, but everyone basically falls into these three categories. Now, how in the world does this relate to house hunting? Well if you know anything about the city of Atlanta, it has two main highways, I-75 and I-85, cutting through the city which actually intersect into what we call the Connector, why the city engineers decided to do this still flummoxes the masses that use it on a daily basis. Also if you actually consider the fact that a third road called 400 dumps into 85 and then the Connector, you have a whole lot of people and not a whole lot of lanes. Surrounding the periphery of the city is I-285, designed to bypass the city, the traffic on this road does nothing but divert most big rigs away from what may be considered some of the worst drivers in the continental United States, and I grew up driving with the Blue Hairs of South Florida. OK, based on the roadway boundaries that these Interstates and Highways make we have three distinct areas OTP (outside the perimeter), ITP (inside the perimeter), and the actual Perimeter. Depending on your point of view and since I am writing this blog I get to choose the parallels, but I believe ITP to be the drinkers, always in the mix, looking for the next big thing, and a train wreck. OTP, the non-drinkers, white bread, know what to expect, and basically even keel. Then there is the Perimeter, people who can drink, fun, good to be around, and generally can hang with both the OTP crowd and the ITP crowd.
Why is this important?
Well I have longed considered myself an ITP person, not to say I drink too much or anything of that nature, but in my 20's when I first moved here I always wanted to be in the know. Kendal considers herself an OTP person. I moved to the city to be in the city, Kendal grew up in the suburbs and like a Salmon is determined to return there to spawn or live or whatever you want to label it. This obviously creates a division in our ability to house hunt and agree upon an area. She has a point, the schools are better, crime is almost nonexistent and maybe most importantly you get more for your money. Over time and after considering the various reasons that go into choosing a house, I believe I am now more of a Perimeter person and even going so far as to concede the fact that I would live OTP, but my first reaction is to live Perimeter or ITP just inside the Perimeter. It will be interesting going into the future house hunting how this plays out with our ability to lock into an area we both agree upon. My main concerns with moving into No Man's Land is that I don't think I will be working in Duluth forever and I know Kendal won't be working outside the Perimeter forever, or even at the end of this year. Fingers crossed :)! What is the point of having a terrific house in a great area if it takes you two hours to get to it from work everyday? That is my main concern with the whole OTP argument. I truly believe most of the jobs are going to be in the city moving forward and that when the day comes that we move onto other jobs we will suddenly be facing a commute that does not exactly improve our quality of life. I also like to entertain and so does Kendal, when you live 25 miles from your nearest friend, they aren't going to come see you. I don't do it and neither do they, I don't think that will change with time, but maybe it will, there are just so many unknowns with a decision like this, but hey that's the fun of it. Looking into the tea cup and trying to read the leaves. I think it will all work our for the best and I guess we can always remember, no house has to be a permanent 30 year hold for us, and most likely won't be. I guess that's all I got to say for today, I believe we are going to drive some neighborhoods tomorrow, so maybe I will let Kendal take me OTP, I better bring some Tums!
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
Why is this important?
Well I have longed considered myself an ITP person, not to say I drink too much or anything of that nature, but in my 20's when I first moved here I always wanted to be in the know. Kendal considers herself an OTP person. I moved to the city to be in the city, Kendal grew up in the suburbs and like a Salmon is determined to return there to spawn or live or whatever you want to label it. This obviously creates a division in our ability to house hunt and agree upon an area. She has a point, the schools are better, crime is almost nonexistent and maybe most importantly you get more for your money. Over time and after considering the various reasons that go into choosing a house, I believe I am now more of a Perimeter person and even going so far as to concede the fact that I would live OTP, but my first reaction is to live Perimeter or ITP just inside the Perimeter. It will be interesting going into the future house hunting how this plays out with our ability to lock into an area we both agree upon. My main concerns with moving into No Man's Land is that I don't think I will be working in Duluth forever and I know Kendal won't be working outside the Perimeter forever, or even at the end of this year. Fingers crossed :)! What is the point of having a terrific house in a great area if it takes you two hours to get to it from work everyday? That is my main concern with the whole OTP argument. I truly believe most of the jobs are going to be in the city moving forward and that when the day comes that we move onto other jobs we will suddenly be facing a commute that does not exactly improve our quality of life. I also like to entertain and so does Kendal, when you live 25 miles from your nearest friend, they aren't going to come see you. I don't do it and neither do they, I don't think that will change with time, but maybe it will, there are just so many unknowns with a decision like this, but hey that's the fun of it. Looking into the tea cup and trying to read the leaves. I think it will all work our for the best and I guess we can always remember, no house has to be a permanent 30 year hold for us, and most likely won't be. I guess that's all I got to say for today, I believe we are going to drive some neighborhoods tomorrow, so maybe I will let Kendal take me OTP, I better bring some Tums!
So wishing us good luck and happy hunting!
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