The house is the only really complicated thing that we have to figure out how to handle. We only bought it a year ago, and while the market in Santa Barbara hasn't tanked like it has in other parts of California, I seriously doubt we could break even at this point. So, we'll probably refinance it (which was the plan when we originally purchased) to something a little more manageable for one or the other of us (most likely with renters), and the other will officially move out. It would seem obvious that I would be the one to move out, since GB actually has a job there and I don't, but looks can be deceiving. He's on the short list for a tenure-track faculty position, so that could mean he'd be moving, and I'd be the one to take over the homestead. Ugh. I hate limbo. I'm ready to make some decisions and move forward. He should hear on that in the next couple of weeks, and then we'll go from there.
We also have a lot of other stuff that we've accumulated in the last 10+ years. Excessive accumulation has occurred in the book department. We have four full bookshelves of books, as well as the boxes of books that we've never had a place for. I guess that happens when many Friday nights were spent at bookstores. I think when we moved out from Austin, we had 20 boxes of just books.
And then GB told me about a dream he had last week. Apparently, in the dream, we were trying to divide up all the stuff, and we were fighting about it. Not fighting about who was going to get anything in particular, but about who was going to HAVE to take stuff.
"No, no, no. Like hell I'm going to take the books."
"Well I don't want the f*ing books!"
"Goddammit, you *have* to take them. 'Cause I sure as hell don't want them!"
"If you're going to be that way about it...You have to take the house if I take the books."
And I just laughed and laughed. Partly because I am really enjoying laughing again, and partly out of relief. The subconscious mind does some crazy stuff while sorting through things, and this little subconscious moment in GB's head says that we can probably work this all out as adults. It really shouldn't be that hard for us to do as reasonable humans, but this was the first indicator that we might not be completely crazy for trying approach this as a mediated (rather than all-lawyered-up) divorce.
Showing posts with label buying and selling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buying and selling. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, May 04, 2008
In the Not-Sure-How-That-Happened Camp
The six-month offer process on our hours came to a close about a week ago. I haven't written about it, mostly, because of a whole host of reasons. Let me try to go into them here.
1. I'm not completely convinced it was real. Besides the fact that in this state you sign documents and then wait a couple of days for the really anti-climactic "closing" to happen, maybe, it really feels like the second shoe is waiting to drop.
2. I'm not sure that buying a house in an expensive market in an economy that is approaching depression (or at least recession) during a mortgage crisis is the smartest financial move we've made. More likely the worst one.
3. Until the owner removes her belongings from the house (circa 2030 at the current rate of things), it's pretty hard for us to start doing the remodeling that I know will get me all excited about owning a house again.
4. The first mortgage bill hasn't come, and until that happens, I can't really be sure the loan went through (see item #1).
5. I don't have another reason, but five reasons just seemed more symmetrical than four.
So, we have a house. And I'm a little freaked out. But I expect that to pass as we start doing more and more crazy things to it. Fast-forward to the nifty idea we just discussed about a secret passageway to the basement from the stairs in the living room for an idea of the direction we're planning to head. Expect pictures to chronicle the craziness that will be our improvements.
1. I'm not completely convinced it was real. Besides the fact that in this state you sign documents and then wait a couple of days for the really anti-climactic "closing" to happen, maybe, it really feels like the second shoe is waiting to drop.
2. I'm not sure that buying a house in an expensive market in an economy that is approaching depression (or at least recession) during a mortgage crisis is the smartest financial move we've made. More likely the worst one.
3. Until the owner removes her belongings from the house (circa 2030 at the current rate of things), it's pretty hard for us to start doing the remodeling that I know will get me all excited about owning a house again.
4. The first mortgage bill hasn't come, and until that happens, I can't really be sure the loan went through (see item #1).
5. I don't have another reason, but five reasons just seemed more symmetrical than four.
So, we have a house. And I'm a little freaked out. But I expect that to pass as we start doing more and more crazy things to it. Fast-forward to the nifty idea we just discussed about a secret passageway to the basement from the stairs in the living room for an idea of the direction we're planning to head. Expect pictures to chronicle the craziness that will be our improvements.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
House Update
The pests have been exterminated, the rotted wood has been replaced, the deposit has been wired, and lots of other details have been figured out. I'm returning from Hawaii (another post to come) today, GB returns from his work trip Thursday morning, and we will be signing lots of paperwork that afternoon. Then I leave on Saturday for a week in Austin during which we officially become house owners in California. Nothing like cramming a few too many things into a few too few days.
Anyone have ideas for gifts for the many people involved in pulling this all together? My current list looks like this:
1. Our realtor -- Above and beyond doesn't begin to describe what she's done over the last seven months. Everything from updates during the nothing-is-happening part of this process to pulling strings to make a pest fumigation occur with 24 hours notice. She's gotten quotes on custom spindles for the front porch, and her contacts for various parts of the necessary renovation and repairs have been wonderful, professional people. I can recommend her whole-heartedly to anyone that needs a realtor out in this area -- just drop me a line! And some ideas on an appropriate gift!
2. Our mortgage broker -- GB and I are beyond financially risk averse. Any more afeared and we'd just cash our paychecks and keep the money in our mattress. Combine that with a sketchy mortgage market and a significant hike in real estate prices and you have a couple of nervous nellies that need a whole lot of assurance that we can really do this thing. He did more calculations and comparisons among different possible products and options and payments and craziness than any person should have to do. To make us comfortable with what we're doing would take superman, and that's what we got. (No worries -- we're not getting in over our heads...at least not too badly.)
3. The bank manager -- At the last minute, we needed to wire money from our bank account while we were in Hawaii. The bank manager, while indicating that she couldn't wire money without our original signature, came up with the alternate solution that we could do a cashier's check without said signature. Deposit crisis averted!
What great people we've had to work with through this process. Now I just have to figure out now to properly thanks them.
Anyone have ideas for gifts for the many people involved in pulling this all together? My current list looks like this:
1. Our realtor -- Above and beyond doesn't begin to describe what she's done over the last seven months. Everything from updates during the nothing-is-happening part of this process to pulling strings to make a pest fumigation occur with 24 hours notice. She's gotten quotes on custom spindles for the front porch, and her contacts for various parts of the necessary renovation and repairs have been wonderful, professional people. I can recommend her whole-heartedly to anyone that needs a realtor out in this area -- just drop me a line! And some ideas on an appropriate gift!
2. Our mortgage broker -- GB and I are beyond financially risk averse. Any more afeared and we'd just cash our paychecks and keep the money in our mattress. Combine that with a sketchy mortgage market and a significant hike in real estate prices and you have a couple of nervous nellies that need a whole lot of assurance that we can really do this thing. He did more calculations and comparisons among different possible products and options and payments and craziness than any person should have to do. To make us comfortable with what we're doing would take superman, and that's what we got. (No worries -- we're not getting in over our heads...at least not too badly.)
3. The bank manager -- At the last minute, we needed to wire money from our bank account while we were in Hawaii. The bank manager, while indicating that she couldn't wire money without our original signature, came up with the alternate solution that we could do a cashier's check without said signature. Deposit crisis averted!
What great people we've had to work with through this process. Now I just have to figure out now to properly thanks them.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
The Foolish Man Built His House Upon The Sand
Do you remember that old Sunday school song?
Something like that. And then there is a verse about the wise man building on the rock and doing so much better, but hey, that doesn't apply to us and our house.
After our offer was accepted, we went into inspection overdrive. We started with the physical inspection, which uncovered some concerns. So, we had a pest company, three electricians, a plumber, and four foundation experts come out over a two-week perios. We'd had the pest report done before when this process stalled out six months ago, so we knew what to expect there. The electrical review looked pretty much like we expected. However, the plumber found that our water heater under the house is incorrectly vented, so we are at risk for carbon monoxide in the living areas. I haven't keeled over dead yet, but I'm all for blaming any slow down in my productivity on low-level CO poisoning. :) Meanwhile, the foundation review was the most disheartening of them all. We knew that some retrofitting of the foundation had been done, but it was less that what was necessary, so we now need a full perimeter redo and some drainage correction (there was a lot of moisture under the house and rotting boards in the existing foundation). I guess this is common out here, but there's something about a repair that is half the cost of your last house that is downright depressing. But, we really like this house. So we put together our request for repair, and sent it to the owner who, shockingly, approved it.
At this point, we're targeting a closing for two weeks from now. With all the scare about mortgages, the lender won't give us a loan without a whole lot more paperwork, including the pest work being done. While we were in Oregon, they did the tenting and fumigation of the house for the flying termites that appear to get every house out here about every 10 years. This house had had them for a while, and there was also dry rot, so now we've got carpenters at the house every day working on replacing the rotted or eaten porch boards and siding areas and whatnot. They are expecting to be done next week some time, so the painter can get in and do his thing, so the pest company can say the house is pest free so the lender will give us the biggest debt we'd never imagined. The hoops, I tell you!!
In order for the fumigation process to be done, the gas company had to turn out the gas. When they came out today to turn it back on, they said they couldn't legally turn on the water heater because of the venting problem. They left us with no hot water. Ugh. We turned the water heater on anyway, but it's clear we're going to have to take care of that issue pretty quickly. With all the work we need done, all kinds of folks will be in and out of here with permits, etc., and it just won't do if they all complain about the heater.
Who knew that in addition to an unstable wreck, we were also getting ourselves into a death trap? We've been living here a year, and paying rent, and that just makes me grumpy. Soon enough we'll be able to take care of these issues and get the house back to where it belongs.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand,
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up.
The rains came down and the floods came up,
And the house on the sand went splat.
Something like that. And then there is a verse about the wise man building on the rock and doing so much better, but hey, that doesn't apply to us and our house.
After our offer was accepted, we went into inspection overdrive. We started with the physical inspection, which uncovered some concerns. So, we had a pest company, three electricians, a plumber, and four foundation experts come out over a two-week perios. We'd had the pest report done before when this process stalled out six months ago, so we knew what to expect there. The electrical review looked pretty much like we expected. However, the plumber found that our water heater under the house is incorrectly vented, so we are at risk for carbon monoxide in the living areas. I haven't keeled over dead yet, but I'm all for blaming any slow down in my productivity on low-level CO poisoning. :) Meanwhile, the foundation review was the most disheartening of them all. We knew that some retrofitting of the foundation had been done, but it was less that what was necessary, so we now need a full perimeter redo and some drainage correction (there was a lot of moisture under the house and rotting boards in the existing foundation). I guess this is common out here, but there's something about a repair that is half the cost of your last house that is downright depressing. But, we really like this house. So we put together our request for repair, and sent it to the owner who, shockingly, approved it.
At this point, we're targeting a closing for two weeks from now. With all the scare about mortgages, the lender won't give us a loan without a whole lot more paperwork, including the pest work being done. While we were in Oregon, they did the tenting and fumigation of the house for the flying termites that appear to get every house out here about every 10 years. This house had had them for a while, and there was also dry rot, so now we've got carpenters at the house every day working on replacing the rotted or eaten porch boards and siding areas and whatnot. They are expecting to be done next week some time, so the painter can get in and do his thing, so the pest company can say the house is pest free so the lender will give us the biggest debt we'd never imagined. The hoops, I tell you!!
In order for the fumigation process to be done, the gas company had to turn out the gas. When they came out today to turn it back on, they said they couldn't legally turn on the water heater because of the venting problem. They left us with no hot water. Ugh. We turned the water heater on anyway, but it's clear we're going to have to take care of that issue pretty quickly. With all the work we need done, all kinds of folks will be in and out of here with permits, etc., and it just won't do if they all complain about the heater.
Who knew that in addition to an unstable wreck, we were also getting ourselves into a death trap? We've been living here a year, and paying rent, and that just makes me grumpy. Soon enough we'll be able to take care of these issues and get the house back to where it belongs.
Monday, March 03, 2008
I Guess We're In Escrow
For the strangest house-buying story in these many years, you've come to the right place.
Labor Day week, 2007 -- We made our first offer on this house a full six months ago. The owner said she had to get a few things in place to be ready for that. By the end of September, we were already steeling our resolve for this process.
October, 2007 -- By this point, we'd mostly figured we were in to waiting for the old year to leave and the new year to appear before there would be any moment.
November, 2007 -- The owner has the gall to say something to the effect of "I'm still not ready to deal in writing, but let's talk verbally. If I would have come back in September, XX would have been the number." I was ready to walk away. The number was only 4% off her asking price that was excessive. (Why do you think she's had this house on and off the market for two years with no offers? hmmmm...priced too high, maybe??) Besides being disgusted with the number, what's that about pretending that two months hadn't passed since we put our offer in? Doesn't that count for anything? We say thanks, but no thanks, we'll wait until she can deal in writing.
December, 2007 -- We keep getting updates every couple of days that she's "really close now."
January, 2008 -- We get the word that she's ready to deal in writing! Hallelujah! We submit a new offer that looks remarkably like our offer from September. The market here basically hadn't changed, so that seemed reasonable to us. Two days later we get a request for a 5-day extension. The extension is granted. And expires. Apparently she wasn't as ready to deal in writing as things were presented to us. Meanwhile, there are a lot of new houses going on the market, so we get out and look at the new inventory. There's not a lot we're interested in, so we keep waiting.
February, 2008 -- Crisis! We find a house we LOVE! It's quirky, cute, in great shape, cheaper than the house we're in, and quirky. Ultimately, we decide it's too quirky and that limits resale potential (and there's nothing we want less than to be stuck with a piece of expensive California real estate we can't sell). We go back to waiting.
Last Wednesday -- We hear she's ready to deal in writing. Yeah right. Pardon my skepticism, but we've heard that one before. So, we resubmit our same offer a third time. Friday afternoon I get a call from our realtor. Sit down -- we have a written, signed counter! And even better, it's in the ballpark of our offer!! We sleep on it, and send our counter back on Saturday (split evenly between our offer and her counter, and magically, our target price). We have counter 3 back to us within a few hours (just $5k more -- she apparently had some superstitious issue about the number we countered with, and over 30 years, that's just $43/month, so I think we can handle that). She signs it, and we have an executed contract Saturday night. Wait -- did that actually happen? After six months of waiting, we have a deal in three days?? And it's a deal I'm happy with?
Well, I've slept since then and rechecked the docs. We do actually have a signed contract. She wanted a 30-day close, too, rather than the 60-day one we proposed. So, that would put us closing on April Fools Day. I think we found the joke. Since we'll be on a train that day, we'll actually likely close on the 2nd or 3rd and avoid all that. Why will we be on a train? We've got a long weekend we planned to Oregon back in our we're-never-buying-a-house-anyway days. In the meantime, there is a lot to do. And since I'm the one with the early afternoon schedule, I'll be dealing with most of it. Tomorrow we have the inspection scheduled. Tuesday I meet with the mortgage company. The pest inspection will be no later than Wednesday. We'll probably have to have a carpenter out for a quote on some of the pest work that will result in some wood replacements. All needs to be done by Friday. Why Friday? Well, we leave for Orlando on Friday, and we'll be gone for the week on a trip we planned back in (you guessed it!) our we're-never-buying-a-house-anyway days. Since we're pretty confident the house will need to be tented for pest issues, we want that to happen while we're gone. Plus, with these two trips, we'll be gone 14 of our 30-day escrow, which means we have some really busy days the 16 we're actually in town.
I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. But I'm smiling, too. Can't you tell how excited I am by all the punctuation I've used in this post? That and the run-ons and sentence fragments? Hee hee. :)
Labor Day week, 2007 -- We made our first offer on this house a full six months ago. The owner said she had to get a few things in place to be ready for that. By the end of September, we were already steeling our resolve for this process.
October, 2007 -- By this point, we'd mostly figured we were in to waiting for the old year to leave and the new year to appear before there would be any moment.
November, 2007 -- The owner has the gall to say something to the effect of "I'm still not ready to deal in writing, but let's talk verbally. If I would have come back in September, XX would have been the number." I was ready to walk away. The number was only 4% off her asking price that was excessive. (Why do you think she's had this house on and off the market for two years with no offers? hmmmm...priced too high, maybe??) Besides being disgusted with the number, what's that about pretending that two months hadn't passed since we put our offer in? Doesn't that count for anything? We say thanks, but no thanks, we'll wait until she can deal in writing.
December, 2007 -- We keep getting updates every couple of days that she's "really close now."
January, 2008 -- We get the word that she's ready to deal in writing! Hallelujah! We submit a new offer that looks remarkably like our offer from September. The market here basically hadn't changed, so that seemed reasonable to us. Two days later we get a request for a 5-day extension. The extension is granted. And expires. Apparently she wasn't as ready to deal in writing as things were presented to us. Meanwhile, there are a lot of new houses going on the market, so we get out and look at the new inventory. There's not a lot we're interested in, so we keep waiting.
February, 2008 -- Crisis! We find a house we LOVE! It's quirky, cute, in great shape, cheaper than the house we're in, and quirky. Ultimately, we decide it's too quirky and that limits resale potential (and there's nothing we want less than to be stuck with a piece of expensive California real estate we can't sell). We go back to waiting.
Last Wednesday -- We hear she's ready to deal in writing. Yeah right. Pardon my skepticism, but we've heard that one before. So, we resubmit our same offer a third time. Friday afternoon I get a call from our realtor. Sit down -- we have a written, signed counter! And even better, it's in the ballpark of our offer!! We sleep on it, and send our counter back on Saturday (split evenly between our offer and her counter, and magically, our target price). We have counter 3 back to us within a few hours (just $5k more -- she apparently had some superstitious issue about the number we countered with, and over 30 years, that's just $43/month, so I think we can handle that). She signs it, and we have an executed contract Saturday night. Wait -- did that actually happen? After six months of waiting, we have a deal in three days?? And it's a deal I'm happy with?
Well, I've slept since then and rechecked the docs. We do actually have a signed contract. She wanted a 30-day close, too, rather than the 60-day one we proposed. So, that would put us closing on April Fools Day. I think we found the joke. Since we'll be on a train that day, we'll actually likely close on the 2nd or 3rd and avoid all that. Why will we be on a train? We've got a long weekend we planned to Oregon back in our we're-never-buying-a-house-anyway days. In the meantime, there is a lot to do. And since I'm the one with the early afternoon schedule, I'll be dealing with most of it. Tomorrow we have the inspection scheduled. Tuesday I meet with the mortgage company. The pest inspection will be no later than Wednesday. We'll probably have to have a carpenter out for a quote on some of the pest work that will result in some wood replacements. All needs to be done by Friday. Why Friday? Well, we leave for Orlando on Friday, and we'll be gone for the week on a trip we planned back in (you guessed it!) our we're-never-buying-a-house-anyway days. Since we're pretty confident the house will need to be tented for pest issues, we want that to happen while we're gone. Plus, with these two trips, we'll be gone 14 of our 30-day escrow, which means we have some really busy days the 16 we're actually in town.
I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. But I'm smiling, too. Can't you tell how excited I am by all the punctuation I've used in this post? That and the run-ons and sentence fragments? Hee hee. :)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
No News Is Good News?
It's been six weeks since we made an offer on the house we live in. We still don't have a response, but they are "working on a counter". Every indication we have is that she really would like to sell it to us, so we'll just have to wait and see what she comes back with. I've decided to go with the old adage. It may be foolish, but we're living in the house we want in the meantime, so that's good enough for me.
Plus, yesterday we had a toilet leak, and that got fixed on the landlady's dime. I really think I am content for us to stay renters for a very long time. We'll be here, at least, through all the scheduled visitors for the fall, so that's good.
I feel like our realtor. She checks in periodically just to tell us she's talked with the seller's realtor and has no news. One day, when the longest offer period EVER is over, I'll let you know that we actually have news. If that day ever comes, that is.
Plus, yesterday we had a toilet leak, and that got fixed on the landlady's dime. I really think I am content for us to stay renters for a very long time. We'll be here, at least, through all the scheduled visitors for the fall, so that's good.
I feel like our realtor. She checks in periodically just to tell us she's talked with the seller's realtor and has no news. One day, when the longest offer period EVER is over, I'll let you know that we actually have news. If that day ever comes, that is.
Monday, September 24, 2007
House Update
Just so you don't think I'm ignoring you on this front, I thought I'd just post to say we have no news. Yes, we made an offer two and a half weeks ago, and yes, that's a really long time to not get an acceptance or counter-offer, and yes, legally there's no offer on the table any more (effectively declined). However, we are still in offer limbo, as the seller keeps asking for more time to figure things out on her side. In exchange for our patience, there are no open houses or showings until we hear back from them.
It's fine with us. We're still living in the house in the meantime, and with no showings or open houses, it's like the house isn't on the market anymore. And it's way cheaper to rent the house than it is to own it, so we'll take a few more weeks/months of the lower payment. It does mean we can't start to get to work on some of the changes we want to do, but that's okay. Instead we'll just keep socking away money so that when we do buy a house we have more that we can do. Plus, interest rates keep going down and we keep getting farther and farther away from the crazy mortgage panic that means we might be able to get a decently priced mortgage.
It's all fine. My husband is getting itchy, but I can be as patient (read that as "stubborn") as they need me to be. I figure the more time they ask for to consider the offer, the harder it will be for them to counter (since we'll just say no the longer we wait), and we may just get it for what we've asked. I'm pretty okay with that. So, as I'm in the optimistic no-news-is-good-news camp, I just thought I'd let you know that's where we are.
It's fine with us. We're still living in the house in the meantime, and with no showings or open houses, it's like the house isn't on the market anymore. And it's way cheaper to rent the house than it is to own it, so we'll take a few more weeks/months of the lower payment. It does mean we can't start to get to work on some of the changes we want to do, but that's okay. Instead we'll just keep socking away money so that when we do buy a house we have more that we can do. Plus, interest rates keep going down and we keep getting farther and farther away from the crazy mortgage panic that means we might be able to get a decently priced mortgage.
It's all fine. My husband is getting itchy, but I can be as patient (read that as "stubborn") as they need me to be. I figure the more time they ask for to consider the offer, the harder it will be for them to counter (since we'll just say no the longer we wait), and we may just get it for what we've asked. I'm pretty okay with that. So, as I'm in the optimistic no-news-is-good-news camp, I just thought I'd let you know that's where we are.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Purge...Didn't...Work
I thought that by typing out the thoughts I have over and over and over again that I would be able to move on to other topics. Well, by the lack of posts lately you should all be assuming that didn't so much happen.
So, while the frustration hasn't abated, I've decided to come back and bore you about our current disconnect. My husband is concerned that we have to be a certain amount of stable in order to expand our family beyond the two of this. I agree, to some extent. We are both very responsible, we have great credit, we live below our means (at least until we buy a house -- HA!), we're healthy, we're done with school, we're both employed at jobs we like that compensate us appropriately, our only debt is a 2005 Mini that'll be paid off in the next year without trying (at least until we buy a house -- HA!). We're in a good spot. Expecting to be in a more stable place seems akin to trying to buy the moon. Right now, he harps on the fact that we're renting a house that is on the market, and so we could have to move at any time. I say "So?" in my head, but I know it's a concern of his, so I try to treat it with respect. Now we've made an offer and things are moving slowly on that front, which is good, because I think we may have to back out of it.
Here's the background on my husband that you have to understand for this to make sense. He loves the idea of home. You could say he's obsessed with it. Every time he sees a "Home for Sale" sign he goes ballistic. See "home" is where you go to feel safe and loved and you're almost invincible there. People sell houses. You couldn't buy a home with all the money in the world. I have worked tirelessly to create something that he could call home. It'll never be as perfect and safe as he has in his mind (have I ever mentioned that he's such a girl sometimes?), but I think I'm getting the hang of what he's looking for: a place with discussion and debate, but not fighting; a place where projects can be done, but don't have to be; a place where good food is eaten and available for all-hours snacking; a place where people work hard and see the results; a place where one knows the surroundings, and feels reasonably sure they will stay there. I don't always manage to create all of this, but the closer I come to making our house meet these sorts of criteria the happier he is, and the more I get the things I want. I don't mean to say that I do things to try and get a measured response from him, I mean that we have a positively reinforced cycle -- one that I generally get as much out of as I put in, even if not the same sorts of things. I don't want you all to get the impression that I'm a 1950s housewife, either. He cleans and does laundry and does various projects with the best of them. I'm just home more to do more of the mundane house stuff. But he so appreciates it since he's not so depressed anymore. All this would point to buying a house and being able to be more settled -- being able to do projects around the house without a landlord's approval, etc.
But...and there is always a "but" with these things...he get's buyer's remorse more than anyone I've ever heard of. This is seriously difficult because he buys way more stuff than I do. This year, his major purchases have included some zany-looking speakers, an original-style camera, an iPhone, and more computer equipment than I care to think about. And each time, he remembers how much money this all costs, and he's sad or mad for days. The more money something costs the longer the sadness/madness lasts. When we bought his car, it lasted about a month. A house costs more than a car. I'll let you do the math. Oh, and the house has termites. And dry rot. And possibly structural issues.
So, here we are. Buy a house and help him feel more "stable" (not honestly sure that anything will make him feel more stable) and likely have buyer's remorse for a very long time OR don't buy a house and try to convince him that we're stable as we are. Neither sounds like Heather will be a parent for the next several years. Oh, and either way there's no moving -- just the same house we're living in now which we both really like. And, while it's a really big move for us, his employer is helping out a lot, so it's actually a manageable house purchase for us.
And different posts are coming. I promise to force myself to post about other topics for a while. Here are some topics that I will be posting about soon:
privacy vs. openness
our recent bike tour of the area
attempts at running in this town
updates on the house we're trying to buy
I might even try a week of posting every day, but let's not get too crazy here in our expectations.
So, while the frustration hasn't abated, I've decided to come back and bore you about our current disconnect. My husband is concerned that we have to be a certain amount of stable in order to expand our family beyond the two of this. I agree, to some extent. We are both very responsible, we have great credit, we live below our means (at least until we buy a house -- HA!), we're healthy, we're done with school, we're both employed at jobs we like that compensate us appropriately, our only debt is a 2005 Mini that'll be paid off in the next year without trying (at least until we buy a house -- HA!). We're in a good spot. Expecting to be in a more stable place seems akin to trying to buy the moon. Right now, he harps on the fact that we're renting a house that is on the market, and so we could have to move at any time. I say "So?" in my head, but I know it's a concern of his, so I try to treat it with respect. Now we've made an offer and things are moving slowly on that front, which is good, because I think we may have to back out of it.
Here's the background on my husband that you have to understand for this to make sense. He loves the idea of home. You could say he's obsessed with it. Every time he sees a "Home for Sale" sign he goes ballistic. See "home" is where you go to feel safe and loved and you're almost invincible there. People sell houses. You couldn't buy a home with all the money in the world. I have worked tirelessly to create something that he could call home. It'll never be as perfect and safe as he has in his mind (have I ever mentioned that he's such a girl sometimes?), but I think I'm getting the hang of what he's looking for: a place with discussion and debate, but not fighting; a place where projects can be done, but don't have to be; a place where good food is eaten and available for all-hours snacking; a place where people work hard and see the results; a place where one knows the surroundings, and feels reasonably sure they will stay there. I don't always manage to create all of this, but the closer I come to making our house meet these sorts of criteria the happier he is, and the more I get the things I want. I don't mean to say that I do things to try and get a measured response from him, I mean that we have a positively reinforced cycle -- one that I generally get as much out of as I put in, even if not the same sorts of things. I don't want you all to get the impression that I'm a 1950s housewife, either. He cleans and does laundry and does various projects with the best of them. I'm just home more to do more of the mundane house stuff. But he so appreciates it since he's not so depressed anymore. All this would point to buying a house and being able to be more settled -- being able to do projects around the house without a landlord's approval, etc.
But...and there is always a "but" with these things...he get's buyer's remorse more than anyone I've ever heard of. This is seriously difficult because he buys way more stuff than I do. This year, his major purchases have included some zany-looking speakers, an original-style camera, an iPhone, and more computer equipment than I care to think about. And each time, he remembers how much money this all costs, and he's sad or mad for days. The more money something costs the longer the sadness/madness lasts. When we bought his car, it lasted about a month. A house costs more than a car. I'll let you do the math. Oh, and the house has termites. And dry rot. And possibly structural issues.
So, here we are. Buy a house and help him feel more "stable" (not honestly sure that anything will make him feel more stable) and likely have buyer's remorse for a very long time OR don't buy a house and try to convince him that we're stable as we are. Neither sounds like Heather will be a parent for the next several years. Oh, and either way there's no moving -- just the same house we're living in now which we both really like. And, while it's a really big move for us, his employer is helping out a lot, so it's actually a manageable house purchase for us.
And different posts are coming. I promise to force myself to post about other topics for a while. Here are some topics that I will be posting about soon:
privacy vs. openness
our recent bike tour of the area
attempts at running in this town
updates on the house we're trying to buy
I might even try a week of posting every day, but let's not get too crazy here in our expectations.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Lease on Life
Moving from the Austin housing market to the Santa Barbara housing market made this an easy choice for us. When you can't buy, you have to rent. Closed case. This wouldn't have been our first choice, but there are a couple of things we had forgotten about renting, and we have become reacquainted with those benefits.
The biggest benefit is the house maintenance, or the lack thereof. When we moved in there was a non-working furnace. Since then we've had poles fall over in the back yard, a mouse infestation, and a garbage can mishap. In every case we just call the landlady and magically people fix things without expecting money from us. It's been shockingly great. We haven't had to dig through the phone book to find someone that is (hopefully) reputable, and we just generally haven't had to worry about anything. I did change one light bulb once, but that's about it in the maintenance department.
Then, since it's not our house, the owner is the one who is responsible for the yard. I can't remember the last weekend when we didn't need to work in the yard. Not that we worked in the yard every weekend by any means, but we needed to. Now, we don't. A gardening trio comes every other Monday to make the yard beautiful, and we just eat the ginger and the oranges that grow there. And the grapes, once those are ready. We're not even responsible for the water bill. Crazy, I tell you!
Renting is phenomenally cheaper than buying in this town. We are living in a much more expensive part of town than we could afford to buy in, and we're sort of getting spoiled. We have a bigger place than we did in Austin, but we're still putting away a decent amount each month. How weird is that? By the way, we love this part of town -- anyone want to donate to the Help-Heather-Buy-The-House-She-Lives-In fund? Nobody buy this house while we're working on building up that fund, okay? Fat chance, I know. Our furniture has made this place seriously appealling and it's starting to annoy me. If one more realtor tells me how great our furniture looks in the house (grrrr)...but back to the point at hand...
With all the time and money we save not working on the house or in the yard, we can actually enjoy our weekends. Some of this comes from my fancy schedule where I'm done working at 3pm and have this whole giant afternoon to do the stuff that has to get done, but some of it is that there is just less stuff to be done. This weekend we went to the Botanic Gardens, and figured out what that nifty tree we saw on our first hike was. It had this dark, smooth bark, and these light green leaves, and the almost backward-ness of this coloring was really pretty. Well, now we know it was a variety of manzanita. And now we've seen about 30 more varieties from groundcovers to bushes to trees, some with berries and some without, and I believe I am smitten. Then we drove to the top of La Cumbre peak. It's only 4000 feet, but next time we go to the top of that mountain, it'll be on bikes.
Next weekend we have an appointment with the chalk-drawing festival that goes down on the grounds of the Old Mission. No worries -- you'll get an update of that, but I'm looking forward to it. The great weekend excursion opportunities make me want to cancel that trip to Texas in a couple of weeks for the company summer party and the annual triathlon of the women in my family. But I won't -- it'll just make me enjoy the weekends when I'm in town that much more.
The biggest benefit is the house maintenance, or the lack thereof. When we moved in there was a non-working furnace. Since then we've had poles fall over in the back yard, a mouse infestation, and a garbage can mishap. In every case we just call the landlady and magically people fix things without expecting money from us. It's been shockingly great. We haven't had to dig through the phone book to find someone that is (hopefully) reputable, and we just generally haven't had to worry about anything. I did change one light bulb once, but that's about it in the maintenance department.
Then, since it's not our house, the owner is the one who is responsible for the yard. I can't remember the last weekend when we didn't need to work in the yard. Not that we worked in the yard every weekend by any means, but we needed to. Now, we don't. A gardening trio comes every other Monday to make the yard beautiful, and we just eat the ginger and the oranges that grow there. And the grapes, once those are ready. We're not even responsible for the water bill. Crazy, I tell you!
Renting is phenomenally cheaper than buying in this town. We are living in a much more expensive part of town than we could afford to buy in, and we're sort of getting spoiled. We have a bigger place than we did in Austin, but we're still putting away a decent amount each month. How weird is that? By the way, we love this part of town -- anyone want to donate to the Help-Heather-Buy-The-House-She-Lives-In fund? Nobody buy this house while we're working on building up that fund, okay? Fat chance, I know. Our furniture has made this place seriously appealling and it's starting to annoy me. If one more realtor tells me how great our furniture looks in the house (grrrr)...but back to the point at hand...
With all the time and money we save not working on the house or in the yard, we can actually enjoy our weekends. Some of this comes from my fancy schedule where I'm done working at 3pm and have this whole giant afternoon to do the stuff that has to get done, but some of it is that there is just less stuff to be done. This weekend we went to the Botanic Gardens, and figured out what that nifty tree we saw on our first hike was. It had this dark, smooth bark, and these light green leaves, and the almost backward-ness of this coloring was really pretty. Well, now we know it was a variety of manzanita. And now we've seen about 30 more varieties from groundcovers to bushes to trees, some with berries and some without, and I believe I am smitten. Then we drove to the top of La Cumbre peak. It's only 4000 feet, but next time we go to the top of that mountain, it'll be on bikes.
Next weekend we have an appointment with the chalk-drawing festival that goes down on the grounds of the Old Mission. No worries -- you'll get an update of that, but I'm looking forward to it. The great weekend excursion opportunities make me want to cancel that trip to Texas in a couple of weeks for the company summer party and the annual triathlon of the women in my family. But I won't -- it'll just make me enjoy the weekends when I'm in town that much more.
Friday, February 23, 2007
I'm So Proud
I haven't ever posted pictures here on the Strangeness site, but I am so proud of the pictures we put together for selling the house, that I want to share them. And by 
"we put together", I mean my husband took them, and I stole them directly from the email he sent to the realtor for the flyers. But, it just took something of this magnitude to finally decide it's high time for me to figure out the picture attaching stuff. Well, not so much the attaching part, but the arrangement within the post part of it.
First, we have a couple of pictures of the front of the house, from
two different vantage points. Please be sure to notice how nice the flowerbeds look, and how good the paint job is. These items required much pain and suffering, so I want to be sure to get credit for that. At least as much credit as one can get from a blog post. I know you can't tell how many flowers are really there, so let me fill you in. There are 60 blue pansies, 30 burgundy pansies, 2 marigolds, 8 cyclamens, 10 gerbera daisies, 1 hydrangea, 2 birds 
of paradise and 4 calla lilies. Those all got planted on Sunday. Whew!
Then, we have a panoramic-type picture of the backyard. This makes our backyard look bigger than it really is. And for some reason, people seem to like that stone picnic table. We tried to get rid of that thing so many times, but how do you dispose of a 300-
pound stone object? and then we never really wanted to deal with the dead patch of grass that we'd surely have had to do something about. So, it stayed. At least termites don't eat stone picnic tables, and they don't rot, so we've never had to repair it, and that's always good.
Finally, there are pictures of the inside. Again, be sure to admire the quality paint job that we finally found had done, after much effort finding a contractor that actually wanted to take our money.
Also, notice how clean everything is. I would even say the place is spotless. The living room is a nice big room, so we were able to accomodate the baby grand piano, which makes the possibilities for that room seem even grander than they should. And that picture of the kitchen makes that room look really appealing, even if you can still tell that there is blue painting tape on the French doors.
My husband sure can take pictures that make a small space look desirable. And I sure can steal them for my own uses.
"we put together", I mean my husband took them, and I stole them directly from the email he sent to the realtor for the flyers. But, it just took something of this magnitude to finally decide it's high time for me to figure out the picture attaching stuff. Well, not so much the attaching part, but the arrangement within the post part of it.First, we have a couple of pictures of the front of the house, from
two different vantage points. Please be sure to notice how nice the flowerbeds look, and how good the paint job is. These items required much pain and suffering, so I want to be sure to get credit for that. At least as much credit as one can get from a blog post. I know you can't tell how many flowers are really there, so let me fill you in. There are 60 blue pansies, 30 burgundy pansies, 2 marigolds, 8 cyclamens, 10 gerbera daisies, 1 hydrangea, 2 birds 
of paradise and 4 calla lilies. Those all got planted on Sunday. Whew!Then, we have a panoramic-type picture of the backyard. This makes our backyard look bigger than it really is. And for some reason, people seem to like that stone picnic table. We tried to get rid of that thing so many times, but how do you dispose of a 300-
pound stone object? and then we never really wanted to deal with the dead patch of grass that we'd surely have had to do something about. So, it stayed. At least termites don't eat stone picnic tables, and they don't rot, so we've never had to repair it, and that's always good.Finally, there are pictures of the inside. Again, be sure to admire the quality paint job that we finally found had done, after much effort finding a contractor that actually wanted to take our money.
Also, notice how clean everything is. I would even say the place is spotless. The living room is a nice big room, so we were able to accomodate the baby grand piano, which makes the possibilities for that room seem even grander than they should. And that picture of the kitchen makes that room look really appealing, even if you can still tell that there is blue painting tape on the French doors.My husband sure can take pictures that make a small space look desirable. And I sure can steal them for my own uses.
Homeless
Well, we've sold our house. It didn't take long, and we now have a signed/escrowed contract and a backup contract. Pretty crazy. The option period on the contract is up on Tuesday night, and then we are going to closing mid-March.
Meanwhile, we weren't planning to move to Santa Barbara until the first week of April. We don't have a place there, yet, so for the time being, we are homeless people. No home in Austin, none in California. I guess we should get working on fixing that.
Meanwhile, we weren't planning to move to Santa Barbara until the first week of April. We don't have a place there, yet, so for the time being, we are homeless people. No home in Austin, none in California. I guess we should get working on fixing that.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Heather MIA
Sorry I've been missing or otherwise sporadic in my posting. We've been working excessively hard to get the house on the market. I'm happy to say that today is the day, and we are officially listed.
Now, I've never sold a house before. My parents have, but I've never been involved in the transaction itself until now. I bought a house once...seven years ago, and now I'm trying to sell it. We got the house freshly painted, inside and out. We removed several pieces of furniture, lots of pictures from the walls, and quite a bit of stuff from surfaces, so it wouldn't look cluttered. We finally got around to getting a bedskirt for our bed. We finished the staining and poly-urethaning of the French doors that we put in nearly a year ago. The windows and curtains all got washed and preaned. We put $200 worth of mulch and flowers in the front yard for that all-too-important curb appeal. I have to say, after all this work, the house looks good enough that even I might buy it.
Then we found a realtor and together we based the list price on comparable house sales in the past six months, and went up a little bit. The average selling time for houses in our area in 23 days, so I figured we'd put it on the market, have a few people take a look at it this weekend, and start the negotiating process in the next few weeks. That's how I thought things would go.
I was completely off base.
Within an hour of listing the house, we have three offers in hand. I am completely floored. There are a couple of things this can mean:
While I would love to believe it's option three, more likely, it's option 2, and we just didn't do a good enough job of predicting how much to list the property at. And now we have a multiple offer situation which could be really good, or everyone could back out and we end up waiting for the next thing to come through.
Who knew we'd have so much activity and interest in the first day? I haven't even had a chance to bake cookies and put on some light jazz for the house to show great. That was my plan for the weekend, and we may not even get there with the house still open for business.
Now, I've never sold a house before. My parents have, but I've never been involved in the transaction itself until now. I bought a house once...seven years ago, and now I'm trying to sell it. We got the house freshly painted, inside and out. We removed several pieces of furniture, lots of pictures from the walls, and quite a bit of stuff from surfaces, so it wouldn't look cluttered. We finally got around to getting a bedskirt for our bed. We finished the staining and poly-urethaning of the French doors that we put in nearly a year ago. The windows and curtains all got washed and preaned. We put $200 worth of mulch and flowers in the front yard for that all-too-important curb appeal. I have to say, after all this work, the house looks good enough that even I might buy it.
Then we found a realtor and together we based the list price on comparable house sales in the past six months, and went up a little bit. The average selling time for houses in our area in 23 days, so I figured we'd put it on the market, have a few people take a look at it this weekend, and start the negotiating process in the next few weeks. That's how I thought things would go.
I was completely off base.
Within an hour of listing the house, we have three offers in hand. I am completely floored. There are a couple of things this can mean:
- There is a shortage of quality houses on the market right now.
- We listed it way too cheap.
- Our house just rocks, and all that work on the house has paid off.
While I would love to believe it's option three, more likely, it's option 2, and we just didn't do a good enough job of predicting how much to list the property at. And now we have a multiple offer situation which could be really good, or everyone could back out and we end up waiting for the next thing to come through.
Who knew we'd have so much activity and interest in the first day? I haven't even had a chance to bake cookies and put on some light jazz for the house to show great. That was my plan for the weekend, and we may not even get there with the house still open for business.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Do You Want My Money?
I feel like I should start asking that question of the so-called "contractors" that I've been working with over the last few weeks. In trying to get the house on the market, we really need to paint it. The paint is peeling in some places, and it looks bad. Since the fabled curb appeal is lacking in a house with peeling paint, we're trying to correct that.
First, I called a guy who came very highly recommended from a friend. I was told he did good work, and was actually pretty cheap. Apparently, he was too cheap, and forgot to pay his phone bill. I was never able to get through to him.
Then, I called a guy who was recommended by a neighbor. I was able to get through to him, but he said he wouldn't be able to get to our house until the end of February. Since we want the house on the market sooner than that, I thanked him for his time and moved on.
Third, I called another recommended dude. This time, the guy had been told that we needed some work done, and I came home to a message on the machine from him that he was available to do the work. I figured, we're on the right track now! So, I called him back, and he came the next night to walk through the house and get an idea of what we wanted to do. He said he would get back to us with a quote in a day or two. At the end of day two, no contact. I left a message. The next day I sent an email. Still no response.
All I can figure is these people don't want my money. I guess I'm done with recommendations, and am moving on to the phone book. Maybe I'll have better luck there. And I'll start my queries with the title question. I'm sure that will help.
First, I called a guy who came very highly recommended from a friend. I was told he did good work, and was actually pretty cheap. Apparently, he was too cheap, and forgot to pay his phone bill. I was never able to get through to him.
Then, I called a guy who was recommended by a neighbor. I was able to get through to him, but he said he wouldn't be able to get to our house until the end of February. Since we want the house on the market sooner than that, I thanked him for his time and moved on.
Third, I called another recommended dude. This time, the guy had been told that we needed some work done, and I came home to a message on the machine from him that he was available to do the work. I figured, we're on the right track now! So, I called him back, and he came the next night to walk through the house and get an idea of what we wanted to do. He said he would get back to us with a quote in a day or two. At the end of day two, no contact. I left a message. The next day I sent an email. Still no response.
All I can figure is these people don't want my money. I guess I'm done with recommendations, and am moving on to the phone book. Maybe I'll have better luck there. And I'll start my queries with the title question. I'm sure that will help.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Addicted to Craig's List
It appears we are officially moving. My husband accepted a job offer out in Santa Barbara, California, so we are headed out there the beginning of April.
We are excited, but can you believe how much there is to do? It's insane how much we've collected in seven years in our house, and the likelihood of moving into an apartment again means that a bunch of stuff must go. As we're at the beginning of this process, we're just trying to declutter our house, and take inventory of what we don't want to move with us.
Thus enters Craigslist. I feel like a posting fiend. I mean, there is tons of stuff that we'll just give to Goodwill or throw in the trash, but there are a lot of things that we should be able to get money for, so those things we're putting out on the 'list first.
It's an interesting experiment to see which things have appeal and which don't. Who knew a bunch of wood we'd bought for a project a long time ago but never did would have been the first thing we sold? Who knew we'd get more inquiries for a set of chairs that Shiner used as a chew toy than anything else we've posted? Go figure. It's all very interesting, and we just keep adding things to the list, since we can't seem to predict which things will be interesting to people. Currently we have 15 ads posted. There'll be more as we get closer to being ready to empty the house, but it's a start.
If you're a regular reviewer of the list, who knows -- you could end up with a piece of Heather Strangeness of your very own!
We are excited, but can you believe how much there is to do? It's insane how much we've collected in seven years in our house, and the likelihood of moving into an apartment again means that a bunch of stuff must go. As we're at the beginning of this process, we're just trying to declutter our house, and take inventory of what we don't want to move with us.
Thus enters Craigslist. I feel like a posting fiend. I mean, there is tons of stuff that we'll just give to Goodwill or throw in the trash, but there are a lot of things that we should be able to get money for, so those things we're putting out on the 'list first.
It's an interesting experiment to see which things have appeal and which don't. Who knew a bunch of wood we'd bought for a project a long time ago but never did would have been the first thing we sold? Who knew we'd get more inquiries for a set of chairs that Shiner used as a chew toy than anything else we've posted? Go figure. It's all very interesting, and we just keep adding things to the list, since we can't seem to predict which things will be interesting to people. Currently we have 15 ads posted. There'll be more as we get closer to being ready to empty the house, but it's a start.
If you're a regular reviewer of the list, who knows -- you could end up with a piece of Heather Strangeness of your very own!
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