News (sorta)

Well, it doesn't look like we'll be closing on Thursday, but there is no real surprise there.

Quick Questions

Is it really Sunday already? Where did the weekend go?

This house buying stuff just needs to be over with already. . .
We were so relaxed yesterday until my realtor called - and she did nothing but stress us out - over what? we're not really sure. Sometimes I question her intelligence, some of the things that come out of her mouth lack common sense.

This deal better go through or I'm. . . well I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but it will be done in anger and out of sadness!

Sneak Peek

Seeing that everything is looking good on the home front I've decided to share a sneak peek of my soon-to-be-mine little house. . . Now, when I say little, I mean little, as in tiny, itty-bitty. We're calling it a mid-century cottage. . .

Now, without further ado, here's the floorplan:

(that little bit hanging off the side in the carport)

Update

Well, apparently the seller wants to make the repairs - which is awesome, but where does that put us in our timeline? We are suppose to close a week from today, you know in 168 hours, give or take a few. . . I know we could have gotten the work done by then (we being my family and their many and assorted friends and contacts), but now it is in the hands of some bank in Cali that doesn't even really know where the house is. It looks like they are going to use the companies we got the estimates from (ie: my family and their many and assorted friends and contacts) but when they will contact them to do the work is another story. I am locked into my interest rate until the 17th, so that gives us 2 more weeks to play with, but that further delays the moving in. So again, we wait. . .

:(

Waiting (again)

Well, I'm suppose to close a week from tomorrow and we are still waiting to hear from the seller if we can make the repairs needed or if this whole thing is a bust. Monday everything was looking good, the seller (a bank in Cali) was wanted to take a look at what needed to be done, and then yesterday nothing. A week does not give us a lot of time to get things done, and the termite tinting alone takes 2 to 3 days. We NEED an anwser one way or the other ASAP.

I know I've said it a million times, but I am not good at waiting. The stress is making me break out, and I do not look good with pimples.

the "Pope Room"

enough said, on with the pictures:

the Good, the Bad, and the Gross and Smelly

the Good (and surreal):
Last night was my cousin Jill's babyshower.

Little Mia Anntonia (can you tell that we're Italian?) is due in August, but because Mia's older brother Chase (not sure how he lucked out of the overly ethnic name) will only be a year old this week my cousin felt funny about having a baby shower. But you can not deny a grandmother an opportunity to spoil her yet-to-be-born granddaughter - so a small more intimate shower/dinner/pass-the-wine gathering was in order. My aunt reserved the "Pope Room" at Buca di Beppo, and boy let me tell you, that room is getting it's own post later on.

So there was Jill (who can't drink), myself (who doesn't drink), and my aunt and 10 of her close friends (who have never met a bottle of wine they didn't enjoy) in a room dedicated to the Pope, oh, our poor sexually harassed waiter, Ross - I think he may be scarred for life. The term "cougar" comes to mind.

For your viewing pleasure:
Baby Chase at 3 days old

the Bad:
My new-to-me kitchen cabinets that I was all excited about are no more :(

the reason:

the Gross and Smelly:
My cabinets were being stored at my grammie's house. Grammie passed away about two and a half years ago, and my mom and my aunt have been slowly going through all her things and cleaning her house out.

There is one rule about my grammie's house, turn off the water to the house when you aren't there. The house was a kit house built in the early 40's, and the plumbing wasn't done right to begin with. . . Last Wednesday someone (my dad) forgot to turn off the water when he left. . .

At some point a pipe in the bathroom burst - and well, it was gross and smelly by the time we found it. . .

Almost everything was ruined, but by the grace of god my grammie's danish modern china cabinet found the only dry spot, and survived.

Housework

After I finally got the good news on Friday I was ready to start repairs on my soon-to-be-mine house. In all actuality, we a suppose to wait and get permission from the seller before we start any work, but, well - have I told you I'm not so good with the waiting thing?

So come Saturday afternoon my dad and I headed over and got started. Because we don't yet have permission to be there working on things we did the bare minimum. Dad replaced a light switch, and a few sockets, and took down a ceiling fan that was just hanging by a few wires. $0 spent so far (dad had a bunch of rocker switches and sockets left over from a project at home). I spent most of the afternoon scrubbing the bathroom - the tub went from greenish black to almost white, woohoo. Then the two of us cleaned out the attic - lord there was a lot of crap up there for such a tiny space; 2 tvs, an empty computer town, 100 feet of yellow cable, a broken stained glass pub light, Star Trek computer games, an old christmas tree stand, the old attic hatch, some random wood moldings, and a bunch of glass christmas ornaments - everything but the ornaments went bye-bye. It was a very long afternoon, and good god was it hot, but it felt good.

Oh, and only one minor injury - I took a chunk out of my knuckle - just enough to sting like hell, not enough to warrant any sympathy.

there were tears

Tear of joy that is!!

Thank you everyone for your good wishes - they worked! I got a commitment from the bank!! I have to have some repairs made before closing, but nothing big.

I can finally breathe.

:(

this is what's wrong with the south Florida mortgage market

Banks Suck

All is not well in real estate land. At the moment I'm in limbo and very frustrated. I have done everything that has been asked of me and more. But I'm not the problem - I'm a lender's dream: steady job, almost perfect credit, a large down payment, and plenty of extra cash to spare (as far as the bank knows).

The problem is the market!! Apparently even though the bank does not feel that I am a lending risk, that lending for a fixer-upper is a risk. . . now does that make any sense? No! If you don't feel that I'm a risk why would it matter if I got a fixer-upper or not? Especially since they have known since October 19th of 2007 that I was looking to buy a fixer-upper! And this house is livable without any major repairs!!

I don't know what is going to happen now, the bank is suppose to give me an answer today - actually give my dad an answer today - I don't want to know anything at work, I'm already fighting the urge to cry at my desk, I don't need a push.

I know the housing market is in the dumps. Just a month ago Ariana at Becoming Home was commenting on the sucking market, but at least they already have their home, I just want my chance.

I am not a risk, that's what you said Mr. Bankerman, so give me my house!!

Okay, venting over.

Granite on the Cheap

So Saturday night I'm sitting home watching HGTV (cause that's what you do on Saturday nights) when Design to Sell came on. I generally only half watch Design to Sell, Clive gets on my nerves, but on this Saturday, Greg P. (also from WorkOut) was the carpenter, so I paid a bit more attention than I normally would. And boy am I glad I did.

Lisa LaPorta whipped that house into shape, and the kitchen make over - gorgeous! It didn't even look like the same kitchen; refinished cabinets, granite counter tops, the works!

take a look for yourself:

Before

After

Look at that! The kitchen, and two other areas were done for under $2000! The best part, brand new granite counter tops for under $500!!! Lisa said that she bought them pre-cut from a national supplier* and that anyone could get them for that price. So with very little research I found out that the supplier was Foothill Marble and Granite. I was trying to get a bit more information about them, but their website so does not like me.

If anyone has better luck with their site, has heard of them before or has used them, please share!


*I don't know if I heard her correctly

Holdbacks

Okay, so there is this thing that banks can do to you when you are buying a fixer-upper, as I am, called a hold back.

Basically, the bank can hold back part of your loan if your house is in disrepair equal to that of what they believe the repairs will cost.

Now, hold backs aren't a new thing, they're not unusual - they're just stupid!!! It's like they're saying "hey, we need you to pay more money to us up-front for repairs, and then we're not going to give you all the money you need to buy the house, and then once you've bought the house and you've made the repairs - than we will give you the money we've held back" - It's just plain dumb. You have to be able to afford the repairs twice.

And now here I am, waiting to see if my bank is going to do a hold back. They were supose to let me know yesterday. Don't they know I am not good at this waiting thing?

disclaimer

Okay, I tried to be all cute with the post titles; the Big This, the Little That, the Small Something or Other. But alas, it will be no more. I was sitting here yesterday trying to write a post on the tile samples I have been collecting, and I couldn't get past the post title. From now on I am just going to title the post for what it is, not that anyone cared other than myself.

And the titles weren't all that cute to begin with.

the Small Warning

Do not, I repeat, do not poke a metal skewer into your finger. It will hurt and there will be blood.

the Big New Kitchen

Well, at least new to me.

My parent's good friends are doing a full kitchen remodel and I'm reaping the benefits. They only redid their kitchen about 4 years ago, and they still had cabinet fronts that they didn't use in their boxes. So I'm getting new cabinet doors for my cabinets that need them, and new to me base cabinets for the few with water damage - oh a pantry cabinet too, with the pull out shelves!!

I'm also getting their glass top range, which is a bit on the older side, but much newer than the range that is currently in my soon-to-be-mine house.

So not only am I saving lots of money, but I'm recycling! Woohoo!!

the Little Costs

"Money (That's What I Want)" by Flying Lizards has been running through my head the last few days. I sorta of knew what to expect when I started this whole buying a house thing. I knew that there would have to be lots of money upfront, but in my head I was lumping all the costs together - one big out bound sum. In reality it is lots of little checks going out to make up that sum.

It's the same amount of money either way. I guess it just seems more personal having to write out tons of checks out to every Tom, Dick, and Harry with their hands out.

Don't even get me started on the repair estimates. By the time I'm done with impact windows and an a/c I won't be able to afford to buy furniture, even at Ikea.

But it will all be worth it, because in the end I will OWN my own house!

the Big Thanks (with many more to come)

I just have to thank God for my parents. I could not be buying this house without them. They have been doing all my running around and phone calling for me through this whole thing.

I work long days in an office where I really can't get away or spend my time on personal business - so my mom and dad have stepped up and done what I couldn't do.

Thank you family!! I promise to move out as soon as possible :)

the Small Seat

I am in love with this chair from zgallerie. To bad I have no idea where I would put it - and I have no money for anything that isn't 100% practical at the moment.

the Small Heart Attack

I just got my "good" faith estimate from my back - and well, I think I may have had a small heart attack. . .

the Small Disclaimer

I have been asked for pictures of my soon-to-be-mine house and I do plan on posting plenty of them. . . after the closing.

With a foreclosure of this nature you never know what is going to happen, and I am afraid to jinx it. . . so no pictures posted until it is really mine.

the Big Door Store

My mother, aunt, and I had an all day shopping bonanza yesterday. I'm pinching my pennies so I spent all of 50 cents, but we had a lot of fun.

My aunt needs new front doors, so we headed to this spooky door factory down in Ft. Lauderdale. My aunt wanted a door with impact glass, so her options were limited, she had a total of 7 glass inserts to choose from and it didn't take her long to make up her mind. So while she and the salesman went to the office to write up the order, my mom and I wandered around the spooky showroom/warehouse.

It will be quite some time before I can afford new doors for my house, but I did get some ideas.

.....................................................................................

Besides the door store, we hit the Wilton Manors monthly flea market at the GLCC. My aunt bought my a milk glass urn for $2 (early house warming gift), I bought myself a milk glass shaving mug for $.50 . . . and my mom, well she bought this:

yeah, I know. . .

Blogged via text - I am out thirfting with my mom and aunt & my realitor just called to tell me that I have an execut

the Big Test

Okay, so today was inspection day, and while I was not able to attend myself nor have I seen the inspector's report, I have been given the all clear!!

Today's inspections almost didn't happen, the seller hadn't turned the water on!! But some mysterious masked bandit/hero came in and picked the lock on the water meter and used a very big wrench to turn the water on. . . Thank you masked water meter bandit, I owe you.

Now, there were some leaks in the flat roof over the carport, which we expected, and there are a few other minor booboos, but I passed the 4-point inspection!!

I'll have more details (and possibly pictures later on)

the Long List: Extravaganza Special

house #8
2/1

with a plywood addition that was majorly rotten, not to mention on a very very very busy street - cute bathroom with originally 1950's tile
(p.h.)

house #9
2/1

huge backyard, but random decks here, there, and everywhere - tiny everything, I really don't think you could fit a full size bed in either bedroom

(p.h.)

house #10

2/1

I loved this house, big bedrooms, original 1950's kitchen cabinets with new black granite counter tops, and a closed in porch that would have made a huge craft room. . . it was at the high end of my budget and I waited too long, by the time I made an offer there were already multiple offers over the asking price :(
(p.h.)

condo #11

2/2 (kinda)

in one bathroom you had to put your feet in the shower in order to sit on the toilet
(m.l.)

condo #12

2/3

yes, you read that right, 2 bedrooms and 3 full bathes. . . the complex was disgusting (condoms in the grass). . . all over GROSS
(s.p.)

condo #13

2/1

same complex and lay out as #4 and #5, just didn't do anything for me
(s.g.)

condo #14
2/2almost bought this one, until well. . . I had to fire my agent. . . long story - but there was crying and margaritas
(v.g.)

condo #15
2/2
the living room overlooked a used car lot - enough said
(d.p.)

condo #16
2/2
split floor plan perfect for having a roommate. I really liked this one the biggest problem there was the very loud and very rude neighbors upstairs
(b.g.)

townhouse #17
2/2
this one doesn't really count, it was way way way out of my price range - I just wanted to see what it was like on the inside
(v.o.l.p.)

condo #18
2(ish)/1.5(ish)
okay, so what do you get when you take a one bedroom, one and half bath condo, and put a wall down the middle of the living room so that it now is about 100sqft and then take the sink out of the half bath so you can put in a washing machine?
yeah, I don't know either
(b.g.)

condo #19
2/2
same layout at #16, but with my best friends right next door - which surprisingly did not put it on the top of my list - that and the fact that one of the bathrooms needed to be gutted
(b.g.)

condo #20, #21, and #22
2/2
all the same layout, all different floors, but the maintenance fee was crazy, though I really did think about it for a few minutes ( you could see the ocean from #21)
(b.t.)

condo #23
2/2
one word - EWWWWWWWWWWWWW
(b.g.)

condo #24
2/2
same design and layout as #3, just in a different complex
(b.g.n.)

condo #25
2/2
same building as #14, good price - just didn't get the homey feeling from it
(v.g.)

house #26
4/1
I really wanted this house - darn foreign investors
(p.h.)

house #27
3/1
directly behind house #26, just didn't like it
(p.h.)

house #28
3/1
I really liked this house, but it was very close to a power substation (which makes me think of three eyed fish) and it was at the top of my price range
(c.m.)

house #29
3/1
Right next door to #28, basically went to see it because we were already there.
(c.m.)

the Big Stress

Okay, so I am not so good with stress. . . I haven't slept in about 3 days, my shoulders are so tight that they are touching my ears, and my stomach is in a constant state of upheaval. I really hope I won't be like this until closing.

I knew that this would be stressful, I just didn't realize how much.

My house is a foreclosure, so there are lots of hoops to jump through and insane deadlines. See in the foreclosure market it appears that the original contract isn't that important, it's the addendum that follows that really counts. So, while I just signed the addendum and gave my earnest deposit yesterday I have until this Friday to complete my inspections of the property or I forfeit my right to inspect. Thank God for my parents, while I'm stuck at work all day my mom is running paperwork for me, and my dad is meeting the inspector at the house tomorrow morning.

I should have the inspection report by tomorrow afternoon and I have until 5 p.m. Friday to file any complaint I may have.

I need to breath now. . .

Blogged via text- just left the lawyer's office. Everything is signed and check is written. Closing in exactly 1 month.