We Close Oct 15th!

Filled with mixed emotions: excited, happy, annoyed... There is just sooo much involved in buying a house! This is our second home, and I swear it wasn't this big of a pain in the butt on the first one... maybe it's just me, or it could be the lender... So we are scheduled to close on October the 15th - yeay! Our appraisal was due yesterday, so hopefully the lender has that now, because as of the day before it was due, they didn't...

We had a few bumps on the way to agreeing on the terms of this house... we offered the asking price, b/c they are asking $16,000 less than their original price, which is less than the value of the house itself... they bought it as a forclosure for like $86,000 (gotta love tax records) so they are still making a killing. All we asked them to do was have it cleaned & the cobwebs removed from the basement before we close. Then we had the inspection. All in all it went well- there wasn't anything major we needed them to fix, accept one pretty big deal: Termites.

The inspector we hired did thermal imaging and said there didn't appear to be any damage... and they were just in one corner of the living room/garage wall so it appeared to be a recent infestation- they hadn't been there long enough to do any irrepriable damage. So we ask the sellers to take care of the infestation & put the house under termite bond for a year... They got a quote for $1000, said they'd take care of it, however they wanted to take it out of the $3000 they originally agreed to pay at closing. Um, no... They were basically just trying to see how much we'd give... we told them it wasn't in our budget to cover their termite problem, and we need the original closing amount agreed upon, and they agreed to take care of all of it... which behooved them to do anyways...

There's so much going on and so much to be done. We've started packing officially last weekend (September 18, 2009). We are ordering new carpet before we move in, and it has to be ordered 10 days before we want it delivered in order for it to arrive on time. Home Depot is having a great deal on Stainmaster where they will install the whole house for $39. Can't beat it, and my mom & stepdad are footing the bill, because they are the awesomest parents ever. We have 4 rooms  to carpet: the living room & 3 bedrooms. The carpet in the house currently is as old as the house (10 years) and has been steam cleaned, however there are very large, dark pet stains that did not come up, and there is at least one in each carpeted room...

So, back to the lender... they want everything under the sun. It's an FHA loan (government loan, low down payment option) and why does the government have to be so nosey? Here's what I mean... we're getting a gift from my dad for part of the down payment. They need him to fill out a form, and they need a copy of the check & his bank statement... so dad says "why don't I just get you a cashier's check"-- that's like handing them cash, the bank will not issue a cashier's check unless the funds are in the account, and we're thinking they shouldn't need to see his bank statement... make sence to me. But apparently not to them... it's backwards; they need to see proof he has the funds, but the cashier's check is proof... So he's sending the check, form, and statement in the mail.

Another thing that yanks my chain is they have to see proof that we are selling our current home, even though this loan is noncontingent on the sale of our current home... however, yet again, being an FHA loan, they have to have proof of non owner occupancy... Whatever, so I send them our contract... so far so good.

I can't wait to move in, I'm so excited, but why does the process have to be frustrating? So we have a big to do list before we move in. Painting, carpet, new showerheads, door stops, etc... apparently the back deck is not attached to the house - it's a raised deck... so no parties until we get it attached. With the house being 10 years old, apparently it was built before they passed the building regulation that decks need to be attached...

Our realtor said she didn't want to read in the paper about the Ryle family & friends dieing just after they moved in by the deck falling over at the house warming party... HA HA. It just needs a few lag bolts underneath.

We will also be fencing in the yard. That is the #1 big thing on my list... do not want to walk Miss Bubbles on a leash every morning before work, or go outside and watch her while she does her business, and want a good, safe place for the kids to play. Bubbles is our 4 year old miniature daschund (our fur baby).

So moving... is not going to be easy. For one, we just bought all new kitchen appliances less than a year ago. And our washer and dryer were new when we bought our current home 2 1/2 years ago. The house comes with all the appliances, however they are also as old as the house. So I'm not about to leave my brand new appliances behind. So we're swapping them, so the guy buying our house will have some appliances. We swapping everything, including the dishwasher... We're hiring movers, but swapping a large refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, clothes washer, & dryer will not be a simple task for anyone.

We've already started packing... we told our buyer we'd be out by November 1st, so we're doing as much as we can before closing, b/c once we close we'll have to do all our fixing up we are planning on doing before moving day (Currently October 24th, but we'll see...) We've packed up the pictures, movies, books, some of the kids toys... I have two boxes for a yard sale so far, and some stuff on craigslist.

I had given some of my son's old baby clothes to my sister in law to give to her friend who was having a baby, but apparently she changed her mind on that. So I'm going to be adding them to my sale soon... 4-5 large bins full! We had saved all his stuff for baby #2, but since we had a girl the second time around... you get the picture.

So we've got paint, carpet, minor fixings, fence, yard sale, moving day... And then there's the point that I don't know what I'm going to do with over 2900 square foot of house. We didn't have enough furniture to even fill the place until my mom told me we could have two recliners they just replaced, and Adam's uncle said we could have the end tables & coffee table they had over in grandmother's basement.

So we're pretty much covered now... accept the kitchen. Eventually we'll get a new dining room set and put the small dining table we have now in the kitchen, but until then, it's going to be kind of naked in there. But at least the living room won't be empty! Two living spaces... plus the basement once we finish it. In about a year, we plan to completely finish the basement. It's already about 50% complete.  They've already ran the duct work, put in most of the studs for the walls, and have already put up some sheet rock- though it's not a very good job, and we're thinking paneling instead of sheetrock... So basically all we'll have to do is finish studding a few areas, add walls, and put in the flooring (sounds easy right?) ;-)

And it looks like a good, sturdy, dry basement. We just had a lot of rain and flooding here in Middle GA, so Adam drove by yesterday to check on the house, and said there was no sign of water getting in--good drainage. But this was the best time to check, b/c there were several areas of flooding in the area, and all the creeks, rivers, and lakes are very high right now... and there is a lake in the neighborhood.