I can finally say something!!
Dec. 15th, 2009 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_lupusI've been trying not to just EXPLODE for about the last three weeks. Now, all danger of jinxes and things going horribly, horribly wrong has passed, we're waiting on one last little minor detail, and then...
WE HAVE A HOUSE.
Two years of searching, looking at the barrel-scrapings of the housing market, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kurlon found this place on a random search. Further out and in a different price range than we'd been looking, but figured, what the heck, couldn't hurt to look, right?
We visited on a Sunday afternoon, stopping by on the way to weekly socialness, just to take a look. I was leery about the commute... Once we saw this place, the commute didn't matter. I knew, I think we both knew, that we had found Our New Home.
We wandered around outside, marveling at the wonderfulness of the big backyard (2 or 2.5 acres! that has no grass! No mowing! It's perfect!), staring at the sheep in the woods (from a farm about a half mile away), and trying all the doors (locked, of course). Finally wandered back to the front door, peered in the windows, and I was getting ready to turn away and head back to the car, when J tried the front door... I had kinda given up, all the others were locked... but this one wasn't. EEP! In we went, me being my usual paranoid self (oh god oh god are we gonna get arrested for trespassing??), quickly forgotten when we saw the inside.
Beautiful. Full of crap, but not in a sorry state, unlike most others we'd seen. Clean, painted walls. Nice tile in the kitchen. Oak Hardwood floors in the entryway and dining area, and a grand view of it all from the top of the stairs. Three good sized rooms and a big bathroom downstairs, a little nook, small half-bath, and a guest room (?) upstairs. FanTAStic. Basement is not only dry, but big, with one finished room (and tons of stuff, left from the previous occupants. There will be many, many trips to the dump and goodwill etc...). There is a little sunporch on top of the 3rd garage... that needs some work... we will make it better.
It has garage space for both of our cars, and all the motorcycles. It has TONS of room inside, but it doesn't feel oversized. There are gardens, and things that need to go away from them, so I will have plenty of opportunity to dig in the dirt. Serious rehab is needed. I can do that. Plenty of space and sunlight, I think, for my indoor plants, too. I will miss the 6" wide windowsills in the apartment, but I think we'll manage.
We did have an official walkthrough with N, our realtor, a few days after we checked it out ourselves. Very excited. Close enough now to purchase that we fired the furnace and de-winterized things for inspections. Heat/water/electricity all work just fine, and the home inspection this afternoon didn't turn up anything that we weren't expecting, so now we're really, really, for real, locked in and buying this house. For real. EEE!
Our initial offer was rejected by the seller (somewhat unsurprising), but was recommended that we talk to the bank, that we might be able to negotiate something. We did. Splendidly. Ridiculously low interest rate, zero down payment, and we are GOLDEN. We did ask the bank to please lock the door after we realized we now had a serious interest in the place, and didn't want just anybody wandering through anymore... they did. It's a foreclosure, only thing left now is to clear the last lien on the title, and sign the paperwork, and then... we get to start cleaning... And we'll probably be moving in the middle of February... But it's alllll good. :) Then, we can find some kitties. purrpurrpurr...
More details forthcoming, when we get closer to actually moving... I am so happy right now to be able to get this in print! I didn't want to say too much and have it all come crashing down around our ears... that's happened far too often... But not anymore. It's allll gooood... now we just have to pack up the apartment. eep.
Oh... and best part? It's just 10 minutes from Max andanna_mickel. :)
WE HAVE A HOUSE.
Two years of searching, looking at the barrel-scrapings of the housing market, and
kurlon found this place on a random search. Further out and in a different price range than we'd been looking, but figured, what the heck, couldn't hurt to look, right?We visited on a Sunday afternoon, stopping by on the way to weekly socialness, just to take a look. I was leery about the commute... Once we saw this place, the commute didn't matter. I knew, I think we both knew, that we had found Our New Home.
We wandered around outside, marveling at the wonderfulness of the big backyard (2 or 2.5 acres! that has no grass! No mowing! It's perfect!), staring at the sheep in the woods (from a farm about a half mile away), and trying all the doors (locked, of course). Finally wandered back to the front door, peered in the windows, and I was getting ready to turn away and head back to the car, when J tried the front door... I had kinda given up, all the others were locked... but this one wasn't. EEP! In we went, me being my usual paranoid self (oh god oh god are we gonna get arrested for trespassing??), quickly forgotten when we saw the inside.
Beautiful. Full of crap, but not in a sorry state, unlike most others we'd seen. Clean, painted walls. Nice tile in the kitchen. Oak Hardwood floors in the entryway and dining area, and a grand view of it all from the top of the stairs. Three good sized rooms and a big bathroom downstairs, a little nook, small half-bath, and a guest room (?) upstairs. FanTAStic. Basement is not only dry, but big, with one finished room (and tons of stuff, left from the previous occupants. There will be many, many trips to the dump and goodwill etc...). There is a little sunporch on top of the 3rd garage... that needs some work... we will make it better.
It has garage space for both of our cars, and all the motorcycles. It has TONS of room inside, but it doesn't feel oversized. There are gardens, and things that need to go away from them, so I will have plenty of opportunity to dig in the dirt. Serious rehab is needed. I can do that. Plenty of space and sunlight, I think, for my indoor plants, too. I will miss the 6" wide windowsills in the apartment, but I think we'll manage.
We did have an official walkthrough with N, our realtor, a few days after we checked it out ourselves. Very excited. Close enough now to purchase that we fired the furnace and de-winterized things for inspections. Heat/water/electricity all work just fine, and the home inspection this afternoon didn't turn up anything that we weren't expecting, so now we're really, really, for real, locked in and buying this house. For real. EEE!
Our initial offer was rejected by the seller (somewhat unsurprising), but was recommended that we talk to the bank, that we might be able to negotiate something. We did. Splendidly. Ridiculously low interest rate, zero down payment, and we are GOLDEN. We did ask the bank to please lock the door after we realized we now had a serious interest in the place, and didn't want just anybody wandering through anymore... they did. It's a foreclosure, only thing left now is to clear the last lien on the title, and sign the paperwork, and then... we get to start cleaning... And we'll probably be moving in the middle of February... But it's alllll good. :) Then, we can find some kitties. purrpurrpurr...
More details forthcoming, when we get closer to actually moving... I am so happy right now to be able to get this in print! I didn't want to say too much and have it all come crashing down around our ears... that's happened far too often... But not anymore. It's allll gooood... now we just have to pack up the apartment. eep.
Oh... and best part? It's just 10 minutes from Max and
anna_mickel. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 12:36 pm (UTC)Any pix of the basement? Looks like you have an acre of space down there!
What town?
So Excited for yous guys! Buying a house has been one of the best things I've done, and now you've done it too!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 01:57 pm (UTC)It's in Waterboro, no pictures of the basement yet (it is a true disaster... stuff everywhere...), but it's got a nice high(ish) ceiling down there, and plenty of space to put our extra Stuff, once the other peoples' Stuff is out. ;) There will be many photos forthcoming, promise.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 03:33 pm (UTC)What's your work commute like? From my Google Maps views doesn't look too bad, especially if you can take the back roads!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:22 pm (UTC)Looks like lots of room for fencing practices. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:37 pm (UTC)My commute went from less than 5 to about 50 minutes... we'll have a nice funeral for it soon. The drive isn't bad, it's major roads (mostly rt 202) that are well plowed. Only issue is going through Gorham (20 minutes to go about a mile, sometimes? no thanks), but I think I'll be missing the real awful traffic times. And if it turns out I don't, there's another route that adds maybe 5 minutes that skips all the mess.
Also happy to have my motorcycle lisence, as that will really help save on gas next summer... :)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:50 pm (UTC)Of course that doesn't factor in my wife that cannot drive so that can add to things.
I wouldn't trade it for anything tho, as I LOVE my house, love that it's mine and I can do with it what I wish. Also I finally know my Neighbors! People don't bother with Renters because they're here-today-gone-tommroa. (Which is true for us, I had 3 Addresses for my first 5 years down here, and stayed about the same at my apartment in Portland...less time at the house I was watching in Gorham.)
When you buy a place the people who live near you aren't going anywhere, nor are you now, so they'll be far more friendly.
Yayyyy!!! So Excited!!
BTW what kind of bike are you gonna be riding? I'm picturing you in a a full kevlar sport suit and helmet, and that just amuses me!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 04:59 pm (UTC)We met one of the neighbors on Sunday when we were shoveling out the steps and a path to the back door in a snow/rainstorm. Seems like a nice guy. Wife, couple of kids, just down the road. There is a grand total of 4 houses on the road, and lots and lots of trees and open land. Is wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 05:38 pm (UTC)Also with this wet spring/summer and all the shit in the basement it should be fairly evident if stuff got soaked (Cardboard boxes resting on the floor don't lie!)
Very good! I was VERY pleased to see my Armory stay bone-dry this spring/summer....tho the sellers, plus our building inspectors both assured us that would indeed be the case.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 05:39 pm (UTC)Very cool about the neighbors. So happy for you.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 07:59 pm (UTC)*hugs* yay!!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-16 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 02:23 am (UTC)What's the point of having a badass bike if you don't dress the part?
Note this is coming from a guy who likes 360 degrees of American-made steel surrounding his ass when he's doing 72 down I-95
no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 10:34 am (UTC): ] You need to get a current copy of the badass manual, don't you?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:50 pm (UTC)