Still nothing.

Still no word from anyone today. Still no permit. Flurge. 

I'm frustrated. This waiting is getting old. 

However, in other news, Chris did get a haircut yesterday. I do love when he is freshly shorn. 

I also bought our first house things today - bathroom soap on sale at Bath and Body Works. Not fancy, but something...

Keep your hopes up!!

Occupancy Permit Update...sort of.

We heard today that the city fire department and building inspector have indeed visited the property in question. The fire department was happy with everything, which is good. The building inspector is the one we really care about, though - he's the guy with the occupancy permit!

Well, the guy from the bank made it seem like the inspection was Friday, and then the inspector went away for the weekend including today (possibly on my father's fishing trip?), so we are still waiting (impatiently, on my part) for details. The only good news is that it is official - if the house does not get an occupancy permit, the bank has to pay to bring it up to code, and we can still back out of the deal. Other than that, we don't know anything until we hear from the inspector, who seems to be taking his precious time. Which is his job, duh. I'm not really mad, just anxious...

In the meantime, I've been looking at paint colors online. Sherwin Williams has this cool thing on their website where you can try their paint colors on different rooms. My favorite so far is a dining room painted "pickle" - just for Jess. :)  

Will update as soon as I hear about this permit!!!!

End of Week One

We got a LOT of work done this week, all towards our acquisition of the house. The only dealbreaker left is that stupid occupancy permit! Still no word from the bank as to whether or not they have even tried to get one. They have until next Friday, 7/3, to do it, and if they do not do it by then we can walk away with all of our money returned. However, everyone involved wants to get us into this house, and I'm thinking it will get done this week if not already. Here's to hoping...

In the meantime, we sit and wait and plan. It's at the point now where we lay awake at night and talk about tearing down walls and ripping up floors, anxious to see what this old house has to teach us. I spent some time chatting with our good friend Colleen, who also bought a fixer-upper about two years ago. It was great to hear from her that even though things pop up and surprise you, and nothing ever costs what they say it will, in the end you love your home and the things you have done to make it yours. Hopefully this time next month will find us in the middle of a roofing job, possibly with Chris' dormer being put into the upstairs bathroom so that he doesn't hit his head in the shower. Or, we could be right back to square one, hitting the pavement and continuing to look for the home meant for us. This experience so far has taught us so much, and we are ready for the challenge if it is ready for us!

It wasn't much of a vacation week - tomorrow it's back to work for both of us, me at a summer program and Chris back to his job. Thankfully we did get some time to relax outdoors over the weekend. We stuck to our very tight budget for the Phantom Gourmet BBQ festival yesterday, and had a great time eating food with friends. Hopefully the next BBQ will be at our house!

Been a Long Week...

But we've come a long way! We now have:

- NO RADON!

- All of our mortgage docs ready to be faxed out

- A homeowner's insurance policy (with an 8% discount for being a UNH grad!!)

- Basically everything we need to close!

We still need:

- An occupancy permit. 

Tomorrow, we're going to fax all of our mortgage docs to the mortgage guy ASAP. Then, we are celebrating our hard work this week with a couple of days of real vacation - a day at Matt's pool and the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party!! Hopefully things with the town go well and we'll be in our house a month from today. 

Thanks again for your good wishes, everyone. Keep your fingers crossed for that permit!!

Grand Debaucle Photos

Here are some pictures from our Day of Mortgage Malarkey yesterday. We basically destroyed every room in our apartment with paperwork, spread it all out, sorted it, and re-spread it this morning on the kitchen table. 

And, just as a reminder of WHY we're doing all this crazy stuff, a picture of Chris with his napkin drawing of house plans from last night at the 99 with friends. We DO have a plan! And a mortgage, and a home insurance policy! Now just pray we don't have radon...

Mortgage Malarkey - Day 1

Yesterday was supposed to be a relaxing day, with a bit of mortgage research between some shopping, cleaning, going out with friends, etc. It turned into an all-day ordeal that took us over six hours and we're still not done. We did get a great deal through Chris' company (I'll note here that I called the Teacher's Union mortgage rep three times yesterday and he didn't call me back until 6pm, after we had another deal) but it took a lot of haggling over the phone on Chris' part to make sure we could make everything happen by July 24th. Then, we found out all the stuff that we have to fax to the mortgage company - W2's, pay stubs, retirement statements, etc - and found out that all of Chris' stuff is saved on his desktop at work. Okay, so let's try an offsite log-on. Chris figures out how to log on from home, and his computer shuts down. Like, dramatic noise and everything. Hence why Chris is headed to work today, while on vacation, in order to print out some stupid pay stubs. Argh!

Hopefully today will be the FINAL day of mortgage malarkey...hopefully....

Grand pictures of yesterday's mess to follow. 

Reginald

Spooky...

About two days ago, I was talking to my mom about the house. Her first question, of course, was whether or not we had sensed any supernatural beings within the old walls yet. I assured her that we were, as of this point, ghost-free. The comment below was posted anonomously, but it gives us a) reassurance that we are indeed living with a spectre and b) the knowledge that he comes in peace AND had wireless installed in the house already. Awesome! Whomever wrote this (I still think it was Mom) obviously put time and effort into it and deserves to have it posted. Enjoy...

Hello, I suppose I should introduce myself as I didn't get the chance during your previous visits. My name is Reginald Bertram Fellowbottom III. I am the ghost that haunts this house.

Well, actually, its not the house as much as the plot of land that the structure is built upon (and once quarter of your neighbor's abode). You see, back some time in the 1670's, the exact date has escaped me after these few centuries, I and my kin were engaged in a bit a of a tussle with the local indigenous people regarding the best use of this land. They believed it was best suited for the growing of community vegetables, some of which were promised to us to keep us alive through the long and grueling New England winters. I thought it would make for the perfect place to erect my future estate's ballroom. And in all fairness, we had the ones with the muskets.

It was during my last encounter with the natives that, as the Bard had put, I was shuffled off this mortal coil. After we had "cleared" out this minor infestation, I was accosted by the medicine man, or shaman, or witch doctor, or whatever the bloody hell these savages called this man. Apparently, we had "removed" his family and he was come seeking revenge. While my men were able to deal with him swiftly, he managed to utter quite a curse before he passed on. Our guide was able to sum up the hex as such, "For the blood you spilled here, you should be rewarded with dancing here for eternity." 

I see now that the idea of dancing was a purely poetic stab at my ballroom.

Eternity appears to be rather accurate.

Shortly thereafter I succumb to a virulent paralysis that devoured first the function of my legs, then progressed over the course of a full year up my torso before ultimately stopping my heart. 

Since that time I have been milling futilely on this plot. As a man who has delved into the heart of Africa, seen and tasted the wonders of the Orient, and sailed across the ocean, my existence here is proving disasterously boring. Even my only pleasure for these many years, alarming and frightening the still living, provides me no entertainment. I see no further reason why I should continue this practice. Therefore, I have decided that you will be the first living specimens that I will co-habitat with peacefully. Please do not be alarmed. I fancy the kitchen, as I enjoy pretending to eat. It may not be uncommon for you to see food you've prepared float before dropping suddenly to the floor. Take comfort knowing this phenomenon is just an old ghost trying to taste once more some warm buttery bread, or perhaps a berry jam. 

Alas, I must conclude this missive. The chipmunks out back appear to be engaged in a sort of domestic spat, something that will surely grant me a few hours reprieve from the crushing boredom. I look forward to boarding with you and will surely write again.

Yours in eternity, forever,

R.B. Fellowbottom, III

Things That Could Still Go Wrong / Bad Karma

Okay. First things first, I'm worried that I may have cursed this deal by creating the blog before we even signed a Purchase and Sale agreement. I'm not usually this superstitious, but we took steps with this home to make sure that it was as secret as possible. In previous deals, we were shouting our offers from the rooftops and basically having family parties in the house while filling out paperwork. That led to not only dismay at losing the deal, but hours of lengthy explanations why we lost it over and over again. This time, no shenanigans, and here we are with the P&S signed. However, here is a short list of how this deal could still go wrong:

1) No occupancy permit (see yesterday)

2) Radon gas in the house (we'll find out Thursday)

3) Issues getting a mortgage (not a problem so far, but Chris has yet to remove himself from the couch to check things out.)

Here is a list of the things that have gone right so far:

1) Our original offer was too low, but we countered and the bank accepted it. 

2) Our offer was accepted two days before we were both off from work our one week's vacation together all year. 

3) All of our vacation plans fell apart, leaving us open for inspections, paperwork, etc this week while the P&S gets taken care of. 

4) Our closing date (7/24 if all goes well) is the week after we go to NJ for Lori's party and the week before I wrap up my summer job, leaving me all August to get us moved in and started with renovations. 

5) My Dad has claimed that our buying this house is a good reason for him to buy a wet saw, which Chris has been hankering after. I guess you cut tile with it? So maybe we'll get some new tile? I dunno. 

All that said...I will not be posting pictures of the house until we have keys in hand. Sorry. I hate to be superstitious, but things have just barely worked out so far and I don't want to jinx it! I promise that the day we close will find this blog splashed with photos...

I'll post later if we hear anything. At this point, we're waiting on an Occupancy Permit from the city by 7/3. Anything could happen between now and then...

Did it!

Signed the P&S, contingent upon the Occupancy Permit. WOOT!! :) Almost there...

Tomorrow's crisis - mortgage malarkey...

Buying a home? Get a lawyer!

Honestly, I didn't really understand why Amanda K. at work was so adamant about getting your own lawyer for real estate transactions. The bank brings a lawyer at closing, so why get your own? 

Now we know. 

We hired Philip Eliopoulos at my stepmom's encouraging. If you ask Chris, we hired him because he's Greek. However, he's a real estate lawyer who does a lot of work with foreclosures and bank-owned properties. His expertise has been so important in this process! For example, here's what happened today...

So yes, we have no occupancy permit - aka we can't occupy the premises until XYZ work is done if we buy it. We offered to pay to get the necessary inspections from the city in order t

o get the permit, and then have the ability to back out of the deal if we didn't like the results. What our AWESOME LAWYER was able to do was to get the BANK to pay for and schedule the inspections for the permit to occupy. So, if the bank doesn't get the permit by July 3rd, we get our money back and the deal is off. BUT, if the city is happy enough with the state of the property to let us live there while we rehab it, and gives the bank the certificate to occupy, we are good to go! And if the city is not happy with it, and refuses the permit, we ge

t our money back and start from square one. Best case scenario so far today after a long day of stress!

Moral of the story is: Planning to sign the P&S tonight. Stay tuned for whether or not we're allowed to occupy it...

This is a great resolution to a whole day of horribleness! Hopefully we can fit in some REAL vacation this week.

Waiting...

To hear back from our lawyer. We made a few phone calls this morning and discovered that our property has several outstanding building permits that were never inspected. That means that as buyers, we would be held responsible for competing the work and bringing the house up to code. Which could cost us anywhere from $500 - $30,000, who knows. Until then, we can't even occupy the house. 

So, we're waiting to hear about whether or not they will accept a contingency that will get us out of the deal if we are unable to get an occupancy permit. High drama. More later...

Pictures attached of how we're feeling right now. 

Our Story

Hi, I'm Emily. And he's Chris. I'm a teacher, and he's in finance. And we've been together a long, long time. Just about two years ago, we started feeling like it was time to start settling down and start thinking about marraige, children, and all of that normal growing-up stuff. Well, I started thinking about that. Chris started thinking about how many houses were for sale in our fine state of Massachusetts and how we should capitalize on a buyer's market! We started looking for our first home in the spring of 2007, and we found...nothing. 

I shouldn't say nothing. We found lots and lots of junk. Homes with front doors ripped off and feces smeared on walls. Homes built on top of giant bolders. Homes that had bathrooms completely encrusted in mold. You name it, we saw it. 

Finally, in March of 2008, we found two houses that we loved. Both were foreclosures and therefore in our price range. They both needed work, but nothing we were afraid to tackle. And both of our offers were outbid within a matter of hours. 

Spirits crushed, we rented another apartment and devoted ourselves to other things for the better part of a year. I focused on my career, and Chris focused on studying for the CFA exam. Once the exam was over, we reluctantly started the home search process again, with a new realtor and a bit of an attitude. It just seemed like this was never going to work out for us. 

But now, in June of 2009, we seem to have found the house that was made for us. Follow our blog as we try to purchase, upgrade, and carve out our little piece of the rock. Remember - no risk, no reward, right??

The House!

Pictures to follow, but I can give you this for now...

Charming single family featuring nicely updated kitchen and bath, hardwood floors and solid building systems on a good sized lot. This bank-owned property is being sold in "as is" condition.

As you can see, she is the sweetest little house. She also needs a new roof, new heating system, and, if you ask Chris, a new upstairs bathroom. Our home inspection yesterday (Tiger Home Inspection was great! 9am on a Sunday?!) showed much of what we expected but nothing we felt we can't handle. I have a couple of phone calls to make this morning - Chris' dad is a bit worried that there may still be open building permits out on the property, and we would have to have that fixed before we could occupy. I'll post on the status of that later. 

You'll also notice that the listing is labeled "as-is." Pictures will show you just how "as-is" she really is. That also means that the bank doesn't negotiate anything - we have very few ways out of this deal if we sign a Purchase and Sales agreement today as we're scheduled to. They see it as they're giving us the house for a very good price, and we should do the rest. It also means they act with a complete lack of compassion, empathy or value for human life and/or our hard earned cash. 

My philosophy on this house is "one crisis at a time." Yesterday's was the home inspection. Check. Today's is the building permits. Tomorrow may be mortgages or heating systems or roofing guys, who knows. But you know the motto - no risk, no reward!