Ding ding ding ding... We have a winner....
-----Original Message----- From: Tony [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 2:20 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: Well - I'm now part of the Landed Gentry my freakin beef with this whole owning a house thing is this... nothing in life prepares you for the following: 1. getting married 2. being married 3. building a house 4. buying a house 5. upkeeping a house there are myriad things you *can* do, with your house, that ultimately you have to realize that its a process, and not an event... and with that you kinda have to take a step back, chill, choose your battles and go from there. anything else will result in frustration, expectations that will never be fulfilled, and general malaise. tw On 2/27/06, Ray Champagne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jim, are you living there right now? Or was this just a trip down to do > some pre-move in work? > > At any rate, welcome to home ownership. It's a blast and a PITA all at > the same time. I can see you're loving it already. :) > > Jim Davis wrote: > > We closed on our first house Friday morning. It was months of living hell > > getting there, but we're done. > > > > We borrowed the down-payment from my Savings and Investment retirement plan > > and they screwed up the transfer so badly, TWICE that we had to, at the last > > minute, borrow the money from my parents to close the deal (I got my actual > > money a day too late - and six weeks later than they originally said). > > > > We wanted to close on Tuesday to give us some time in the house (the kids > > were off from school last week) but the seller wanted Friday. So we decided > > on Friday on 1pm so that we could split the driving into two days and stay > > with my mother-in-law one night (we're in Boston, MA the house is in > > Scranton, PA). > > > > So then two days before the lawyer announced that he could only do Friday at > > 8:30 AM or 3:30pm. The seller had a shit-fit about the later time so we > > moved everything around and lost our money on the hotel reservations and had > > to drive through in one evening. > > > > But we did Okay on our end. The U-Haul cost much more than I thought it > > would but we got it loaded and unloaded without incident or disaster. > > > > I'd never seen the house in person (my wife did all the hunting). It had > > some unpleasant surprises. Nothing that has to be addressed immediately but > > still: > > > > +) The yard was much smaller than I thought and much more uneven... then > > again most homes in Scranton are on the valley wall - about 70% of them have > > uneven lots. > > > > +) The owner had run cable lines - VERY BADLY - EVERYWHERE. He had Cable > > TV, Satellite and two (what he called) "backup" roof antennas. He had two > > TV's in the living room, two in the family room, one in the kitchen, and one > > in each of the three bedrooms - and he lived alone! He drilled holes in the > > carpet and walls floors... it'll take me a week to pull out all of that > > wire. > > > > +) The garage floor is a lot rougher than I could have hoped. Not at all > > dangerous (it's smooth) just rough. > > > > +) The downstairs (finished basement) lights and drop ceiling are in > > poor-ish shape. Nothing that needs to be addressed at all soon but > > eventually. > > > > +) The carpets in two of the bedrooms were self installed at some point: cut > > badly and wrong. The edges are ragged and make any furniture you set > > against them uneven. > > > > +) I can see I'm already going to have a fight with my neighbors: my yard > > has no fence and abuts theirs and my yard is dug up like crazy and COVERED > > in dog-shit. We always planned on getting a fence put in sooner than later > > but still... > > > > However there were some very nice surprises as well: > > > > +) The crappy carpet in the bed rooms covered up some very nice original > > hardwood floors - so we pulled it up in those two and will probably do the > > same in the last one. Also as we pulled up the carpet in my daughter room > > we found a small cache of birthday and Christmas cards hidden under the pad > > - one of which had $250 in it. Nearly covered the money flushed down > > because of the missed hotel reservation. ;^) > > > > +) As bad as the carpet was in those two bedrooms the carpet in the living > > room/dining room/hallway was good. Pristine, well mounted and not a single > > stain (although he did, as mentioned, drill through in several places to run > > crappy cable lines). > > > > +) The bathroom was carpeted with an indoor/outdoor pad - it didn't look bad > > really but we didn't like it (ALL of the houses we looked at in the are had > > carpeted bathrooms - something I'd never seen before). We peeked under it > > and found that it covered some gorgeous original tile. We mopped it and > > looks like new. > > > > +) The owner had just recently put in all new windows and doors - very good > > windows and doors. The house has four outside doors (Backdoor, family room, > > utility room and front door). All of them have a heavy screen door with > > full length screen or double paned windows and strong locks and all eight > > doors use the same key (I currently have three keys just to get into my > > apartment). > > > > +) The house has central air but we didn't realize that the lower level has > > vents as well (there's a negative - the ducts actually travel through my > > daughter's closet, but that's a small price to pay). > > > > +) The kitchen has a garbage disposal that we didn't know about and some > > really nice built-ins (a slide-out cutting board, a rotating cupboard and > > several custom built cutlery guides). > > > > So all told I think we made out pretty well. > > > > Jim Davis > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:198190 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
