DW and OTR MW

The microwave didnt fit over the range so now i have to bring it back to Best Buy or have them come get it and get my money back. Its good and bad. I will get my money back (it was expensive to have it installed) so I can buy a cheaper microwave and save a little. But the new one will have to sit on the counter. Oh well, I have plenty of counter space. Also, the dishwasher was installed though and it looks good.

quantify

1,000,000 how much i'm gonna love it when its done
120 days since I've started looking
75 days since I found the house (estim.)
30 k in reno
15 times going out to the house
9 days to close
6 mirrors for my studio
5 hundred sq feet in the studio
4 rooms to paint
3 occupants (hopefully?)
2 bathrooms
1 house

slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched....

Got my full appraisal via email today. It was pretty cool. Comparisons to other nearby houses, pictures of my house and comparison houses, flood maps, house maps, all the features of the house, and a list of all the renovations I am having done. 35 pages of info.

Stayed up too late last night and had to get up early to be at the house to receive delivery of the rest of my appliances. Fridge is all plugged in, dishwasher and microwave are sitting on the floor- they need to be hooked up. I'm a little concerned about the microwave not being able to fit over the range, the hood is currently very low and if it was taken out it still wouldn't leave much room for the microwave. I guess we will see. Maybe I can return it and buy a counter microwave.

Spent some time this evening looking at couches, rugs, a vanity online. I'm going to check out a vanity tomorrow or so. My sister is buying me a living room rug tonight. I found this awesome purple and yellow rug I want for my room but I think its $350. Tree fitty. Thats too much for a rug. I mean I'm just going to be walking on it. But maybe I will stick with purple and yellow as my color combo in my room. I have to pick paint colors for every room in my house. I also looked at some bedroom sets. I need a dresser for my clothes. My closet is a little smaller than the one I have now.

I got back my appraisal results today. Decent news. I have to go be at the house for the appliance delivery tomorrow morning between 7:30 and 9:30. Hopefully I won't miss too much work. Closing date is tentatively still June 9.

when it rains...

The septic guy called last night. He gave me the estimate for the new drain field, its about $3800. About 1k more than I thought. He said it needs to be put in the backyard cause the front yard is too small and there's a tree there that's probably attacking my drain field. And if we wanted to put it in the fron yard we would have to take out the tree first. So I said- go for it.

I think maybe my appraisal was today. I'm not sure but it has to be darn soon!

Best Buy called last night. The fridge I ordered is back ordered and they cant get it to me the 27th (Thursday) so they are going to get me a different one. Same brand, also Energy Star. Same color. And they told me this new one is more expensive, its the new fridge from the same line. So I said- well ok go ahead since I'm out and I can't look at it on the internet right now. I looked today and this fridge is like $50 cheaper! They lied to me about the fridge. So I am going to call and ask about it.

My sister is trying to help me pick out colors since I need to paint before I put in the flooring. So I have to look at couches, and rugs, and comforter sets and pick colors and interior design-ize. This part is hard too. I'm not sure exactly what I want. There are too many options!

rehabs

In the process of having to hurry up and make decisions on the renovations, there were a couple things I wasn't sure about and felt kinda pressured to make a decision quickly. My original list of renovations:

hard wood flooring- garage
laminate flooring- 3 bedrooms and living
new AC
snake the washer drain
fix the leaky facuet- kitchen
patch small holes in the wall
new electical panel
lighting - garage
drywall- garage
demo bar area
demo sitting area
add a fan - living room
replace vanity- master bath
cap weird electrical
drywall the extra panel room

well that total came out to be way too high. so i knocked off the unimportant things and we decided to do the laminate ourselves. I had a hard time with the AC because I had 3 different quotes, and ended up going with the most efficient one, and it has a rebate. decided to put in the new electrical panel and to have HD put in the vanity. I dont really want to fuss with plumbing.

the hardest decision I had for this was the flooring for the garage. i wanted to be sure i got the right flooring for dancing and i didnt want it to cost me a million dollars. i looked up lots of dance flooring options on the internet and thought about doing laminate instead, but I really wanted something legitimate. well i went for the hardwood and i think it will be awesome. I guess i will find out. it will be floating also so it will have a little cushion underneath (something else i was concerned about since it is over concrete) and will be semi-mobile if i ever move.

Rounding 3rd

Got my stove delivered today. It looks nice. I'm a teensy bit concerned with it sitting in the house by itself for a week but I think it will be okay. Faxed the inspection to the insurance company. Need to fill out one more sheet and fax it back, I will do that Monday. Need to do termite inspection also.

Current status:
Waiting on a bid from the approved septic company
Waiting on Appraisal
Waiting on Tax Forms

The rest of my appliances get delivered next week and installed the next day. It will be pretty cool to have all my appliances in the house. Invited a friend I havent seen in a while last night to come live with me.

Possible closing date June 1.

Que sera, sera.

I guess its my own fault. I chose a difficult project and difficult has it been.

Found out today the bank is angry that we've taken so long on getting the appraisal done. They think the house is worth such-and-such and won't budge a dime on paying the septic. Alright then. Take a shovel and throw that bad boy on top of the pile. Whats $3000 between friends? They did sign my extension though and gave me an extra month to close. Dandy!

I bought my HOI and flood insurance today also. Sent in the flood disclosure and I-bought-a-stove forms to Jocelyn and Reynold. Stove will arrive tomorrow so I'll have to wait at the house to collect it. The sooner we will be able to close the better. Lets git'er done!

I bought myself a mortgage/Sing-A-Long Blog

Someone cynical once said- you don't really buy a house you buy a mortgage. You only own 3% (or whatever you put down) of your house. Thats like not even one full room. Thats like, maybe the toilet. Youre not even allowed to wash your hands cause you don't own it...

Anyway, I saw when I sign that final piece of paper on closing day I will feel like singing, cause that house is mine!...

Closing day,
see you there,
Pen in hand,
Sign away.

Its a house,
not your life,
don't be scared,
Go! I say.

With my click pen I will BUY! a house
With my click pen I will buy an investment and a roof to

to protect, protect my head, from the rain, and other things.
Equity, building up, ownership, the joy it brings.

With my click pen I will BUY! a home
Its not an igloo or a mansion that's all Britney Spears
Its just a house in Tampa near and

I'm the one to buy it up
elbow grease and cover up
Rehab it back to awesome state
Then I'll just need pla-ates.

Thats the plan
Own the house
Fix it up
Living fine

Its hard work
Especially this
But I'm almost done
Finish Line

With my click pen I will SIGN!

The FHA has certain requirements shall we say? when you are buying a government owned home. Thats means there can not be any uncovered ground (concrete), strange electrical (live wires in the garage and front of the house and some oddness on the porch), unlivable carpet (installing laminate in the house), there must be a light outside any outside door (adding one outside the garage).

The guy who owned the house before me did a lot of his own work, but some of it is very patchwork so it all needs to be cleaned up and permit-ized and made kosher with the FHA. He did some awesome tiling in the kitchen and bathrooms though! My sister (who may be graciously helping with the flooring later) bought me a faucet (I'll pay you back!) for my new awesome sink. I am also thinking of making some renovation to the master bedroom later on (more closet space, and get rid of that sitting area).

I can't wait to have my awesome dance floor in the house and see all my appliances in the right place!

Credit Card work out

I went to Best Buy today. Twice. Well, you already know I don't do anything half way. Or the easy way apparently. I bought a set of microwave, dishwasher, stove and fridge. Then had to go return the dishwasher (on paper) and get the right dishwasher that gave me the 20% discount I was looking for. And then explain to the clerk a few times how much money I should be getting back and why. It got mostly straighten out and I got most of my money I should've back ( I fought tooth and nail for it (Don't mess with me!)) Now, I need to fax my I-bought-a-stove receipt to Reynold so he knows the stove should be there by the time the appraiser gets to the house. The stove is being delivered Friday and the rest next Thursday. That's another 3 trips out to the house (one for installation also). That also means I will be waiting at the house for the deliver and installation people each time ((Hopefully not missing to much work) Sorry Boss!)

Also, I still need to get a termite inspection (I accidentally flaked on the termite guy last time). Got my quotes for flood today and will probably buy Home owners hazard insurance tomorrow. Hopefully after that I can set it on cruise control for a little bit. A home buyer's work is never done.

Slow progress

Expecting to hear
Two days but waited a week
Banks respond slowly

Paperwork glory
Whole financial history
They want my life story

Crawford, Reynold and I
In the office two hours
Signing paperwork

Inspection to do
Unforeseen broken items
Need to visit house

Electrical guy / Plumbing and flooring / Drywall and AC
Out to give an estimate
Need to visit house

Solo Contractor
Home Depot sent out for all
Need to visit house

Septic inspection
Drain field fails needs replacement
Written on wrong forms

Paperwork needed- Tax history, bank statements, copies of checks, signed disclosures, paychecks, copy of an escrow check, even sometimes when I thought something was done I had to do it again. Repairs needing done- AC unit needs to be replaced, drywall in garage, flooring in garage, minor plumbing issues, new electrical panel, garage lighting, fan in the living room, installing a new vanity in the master bath.

It doesnt matter much who it is. If you need a response tomorrow and they tell you they will get you a response tomorrow you will probably not get a response for a week. This was the case with Home Depot, Lowes, and the Septic Company. I was all over Home Depot and Lowes every day, but maybe times my contact would be out or they would need to call me back or they dont have the information yet. For real, there was one uy I called who was on lunch so frequently when I called, didnt matter what time of day. 5pm? Lunch. Noon? Lunch. 2pm? Lunch.

From the time I started the process with them to the time I got completed quotes it was probably 5 weeks. 5 weeks of calling every other day, constantly out to the house (25 minute drive), trying to get the whole thing completed. I met 7 contractors to get 2 complete estimates. My septic inspection was on the wrong forms, my estimate was 5 days later than I was told. My tax paperwork was rejected from the IRS. Executed contract just barely hit the tax cutoff date (it took the bank about 2 weeks to sign and send it back).

Auhuhuhuhuh

My yell as I sit in my car leaving Lowes. Its more exasperated than anything else. I spend an hour and half at Lowes today and an hour at Best Buy yesterday looking at appliances. I spent also a couple hours online looking. The Best Buy website is dreadfully slow by the way, plus its nice to have the physical product in front of you to look at. I was checking out some stainless steel- its quite nice. But it has a quite hefty price tag. 2600 after taxes and installation. and they didnt have the set I wanted in store.

So I went to Lowes to see what I could see and maybe price match. BB has a 20% off if you buy all 4. (2600 was only 15% off and after taxes and 300 for installation). Lowes- I looked at every white model they had and had my sister check reviews. I need the stove in like tomorrow so that is most important but if I buy the bundle it will be less expensive. So that means quick decision making. I looked at white appliances at Lowes so I thought it would be less expensive. To my suprise, the 4 items, the guy quotes me 2600! Thats without a price match though. But how can I price match when they dont have the same items at all! I will go back to Best Buy and look at some white appliances tomorrow eve, since they are already closed and I needed to come home for rest and food. BB said they can deliver next day though, so thats good news.

Reynold (my mortgage guy) order the appriasal today. That means the stoves gotta get in the house in the next 2 days. I also got my survey back. All thats left is home insurance and the stove. I can see my house from here!

I looked Far and Wide

I looked at houses with two floors,
I looked at houses with blue floors.
I saw houses too small
and houses I liked none at all.
I looked far and wide
and tried and tried.
I saw houses with trees
and backyards fully free
(or no backyard to speak of)
which was as fine as the above.
I put in offers a few-
accepted but location fears grew
rejected rejected
under contract so I was deflected.
No, not this one
septic is no fun.
Looking at it anyway
everything else fell into place.
She is the one,
so put in an offer that day of Mon.

Journey through my experience

So this blog is going to be so that you all can accompany me on my journey though the most difficult first time home-buying. I am starting a little late, though I wish I had been blogging it from the beginning- the idea was just given to me by my realtor- Crawford.

Somewhere along the way, January of '10 I think it was- I got an inkling of the idea for me to buy a house. It started with some personal finance books- Capitalist Pig, think and grow rich, etc then moving into books about real estate- Creating Wealth, First Home Buyers and many books on mortgages and a good portion of what you need to know before you commit to buy the house.

I looked to get pre-approved, called 2 places, and started looking for houses. The first round was newspaper and driving around the area I thought I might want to live. At the beginning, you have no idea what you really are going to end up with or what you value the most- as time goes on, the more houses you see, you realize what you like and don't like, need and don't need, want if possible and don't want if possible and things you can live with if everything else is perfect.

I looked at some short sales. What does that mean? Well at the time, it meant you are not closing for 6 months and the house is probably in disrepair. Driving around is probably the worst way to find houses that are on sale. Houses, frequently, are going to already be under contract or the realtor will be hard to reach, you will do a ton of cold calling. I started looking into zillow.com (thanks to friends Trey and Lisa) I spent hours between zillow and google maps (suggested by another friend)- this is fun when youre addicted to looking for houses, but again not most productive.

I finally spoke with a friend of mine who is a realtor and asked him to realtize for me, Crawford. And thus the process began, late January.