So this weekend we spent Friday and Saturday looking at houses again. It was a little disappointing and sure, we had a couple prospects but none of them were move in ready. Paint, refinishing a tub, and reflooring basements... This was what I had resigned myself to if we wanted to buy in The Rockville area after looking at so many houses. There were a lot of houses with elements that we liked, but precious few that could match up to the standard that the Olympic Street house had set for us.
But last night after we got home and were bandying around repair costs and plans, we got a call. Our agent Fran sounded excited and then spilled... The cash offer on Olympic Street has fallen through. So we get to sign another contract and freak out again as we rush to lock in the lowest rate we can find for that loan.
WOOOOOOOOO!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The Search Continues
Well even taking into account the past two years incomes, we still have too much money (still the stupidest thing ever, in my opinion). And we're continuing to look at houses in the area. We went up to look this afternoon at about seven of them and they ranged from the hideously overpriced, tiny things in terrible locations to the pretty dang good! Well, one of them was anyways.
We'll be putting in a bid for the house on Olympic Street on Monday, squeezing it in on top of two FHA backed buyers who want to move in asap so hopefully our more stable conventional loan with 20% down and willingness to work with the seller's timeline will work in our favor. The seller is apparently still clearing up some title issues before he's clear to sell and is looking at more of a 30-45 day wait before closing. Which we'd be more than happy with. We could go 60 even and be happy. But Seth really loves this house. It's a split level with four bedrooms in a very quiet and family friendly neighborhood a mile and a half from the metro. The neighbor next door had a 5ish year old kid playing outside when we were there.
The back yard also looks out on a stretch of the Matthew Henson State Park. Never heard of it? Me neither. But it makes the house feel more private and could be nice if we clear out some of the fallen branches and brush back there. It's not a very well maintained park apparently. At least on our end of it. A little googlefu revealed, however, that there is a running/walking trail back there through it so perhaps a little trailblazing from the backyard could link up with it. That'd be nice. Or there's an official entrance around the block somewhere I'm sure. It meets up with the Rock Creek trail system a couple miles away as well so if Seth gets a bike to go to the metro on every morning then we could go biking on it all through the area!
So the other thing I did this week in preparation of going house hunting was do a wee bit of shopping. I picked up a new minicamcorder, the handheld sort. It's the Kodak Playtouch.
I'd gone into Best Buy having intended to buy this model's predecessor since their website said they had it in stock and they had a display model on the shelf. However, as it turned out they'd gotten rid of their stock since this one had just been released and hadn't bothered taking the display off their shelf. So! Using my incredible bargaining powers I got the new model for the old one's price. (Saving $30) I gleefully made off with my shiny new toy, brought it home, busted out the user manual, plugged it in... and nothing happened. Wouldn't turn on. Went back to best buy, got it exchanged for one that did work. (I made them check it before I left the store with it.) And then talked them into giving me a discount on an 8GB SD chip for it. Turned out it was on sale for less than the discount they were going to give me, but lesson learned. Express mild displeasure at Best Buy and the manager will likely knock the price down for you. The service was pretty great and the return process was easier, but I still spent more time at Best Buy in one day than I like to.
So here are the videos and a few pictures I took with it. In 1080p even! On that itty bitty camera! It's pretty incredible. I am not an expert camera person and probably should have turned on the digital stabilization feature (oops >.>) while taping too... so please forgive my shaky video and seizure inducing testing of the zoom button in the backyard tour the second time we went through the house. Note to self, don't try to use the zoom while filming. This is what happened when I was watching it afterwards: Youtube: "Thudthudthudthud"
Seth: "Marianne, what IS that?"
Me: "The zoom?"
Seth: *facepalm*
First Walk Through Part I
First Walk Through Part II
Second Walk Through Inside
Second Walk Through Outside
And here's one area we found after I'd finished filming: In the wash room there's a half door and behind it... the Narnia of Storage. Seriously. That picture doesn't even do the size of that crawl space justice. It's ginormous, as big as half of the house with shelves build all along the right wall that you can see the corner of in the upper right hand corner. It'd be a pain to get at, but for things like, say, the fake Christmas Tree we own that may not get used again once I have my own house to get a real tree for, and things that only need to be pulled out once a year or so? Still, I'll probably make Seth put stuff in there and get stuff out. Dust and spiders you know.
We'll be putting in a bid for the house on Olympic Street on Monday, squeezing it in on top of two FHA backed buyers who want to move in asap so hopefully our more stable conventional loan with 20% down and willingness to work with the seller's timeline will work in our favor. The seller is apparently still clearing up some title issues before he's clear to sell and is looking at more of a 30-45 day wait before closing. Which we'd be more than happy with. We could go 60 even and be happy. But Seth really loves this house. It's a split level with four bedrooms in a very quiet and family friendly neighborhood a mile and a half from the metro. The neighbor next door had a 5ish year old kid playing outside when we were there.
The back yard also looks out on a stretch of the Matthew Henson State Park. Never heard of it? Me neither. But it makes the house feel more private and could be nice if we clear out some of the fallen branches and brush back there. It's not a very well maintained park apparently. At least on our end of it. A little googlefu revealed, however, that there is a running/walking trail back there through it so perhaps a little trailblazing from the backyard could link up with it. That'd be nice. Or there's an official entrance around the block somewhere I'm sure. It meets up with the Rock Creek trail system a couple miles away as well so if Seth gets a bike to go to the metro on every morning then we could go biking on it all through the area!
So the other thing I did this week in preparation of going house hunting was do a wee bit of shopping. I picked up a new minicamcorder, the handheld sort. It's the Kodak Playtouch.
I'd gone into Best Buy having intended to buy this model's predecessor since their website said they had it in stock and they had a display model on the shelf. However, as it turned out they'd gotten rid of their stock since this one had just been released and hadn't bothered taking the display off their shelf. So! Using my incredible bargaining powers I got the new model for the old one's price. (Saving $30) I gleefully made off with my shiny new toy, brought it home, busted out the user manual, plugged it in... and nothing happened. Wouldn't turn on. Went back to best buy, got it exchanged for one that did work. (I made them check it before I left the store with it.) And then talked them into giving me a discount on an 8GB SD chip for it. Turned out it was on sale for less than the discount they were going to give me, but lesson learned. Express mild displeasure at Best Buy and the manager will likely knock the price down for you. The service was pretty great and the return process was easier, but I still spent more time at Best Buy in one day than I like to.
So here are the videos and a few pictures I took with it. In 1080p even! On that itty bitty camera! It's pretty incredible. I am not an expert camera person and probably should have turned on the digital stabilization feature (oops >.>) while taping too... so please forgive my shaky video and seizure inducing testing of the zoom button in the backyard tour the second time we went through the house. Note to self, don't try to use the zoom while filming. This is what happened when I was watching it afterwards: Youtube: "Thudthudthudthud"
Seth: "Marianne, what IS that?"
Me: "The zoom?"
Seth: *facepalm*
First Walk Through Part I
First Walk Through Part II
Second Walk Through Inside
Second Walk Through Outside
And here's one area we found after I'd finished filming: In the wash room there's a half door and behind it... the Narnia of Storage. Seriously. That picture doesn't even do the size of that crawl space justice. It's ginormous, as big as half of the house with shelves build all along the right wall that you can see the corner of in the upper right hand corner. It'd be a pain to get at, but for things like, say, the fake Christmas Tree we own that may not get used again once I have my own house to get a real tree for, and things that only need to be pulled out once a year or so? Still, I'll probably make Seth put stuff in there and get stuff out. Dust and spiders you know.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Aaaaand the jerk
So apparently the county is having second thoughts now. Probably because no one who qualifies for the house can afford it and they're (hopefully) getting desperate. If our average income for the past two years is below the arbitrary line they drew (which I'm pretty sure it is since Seth got a nice raise this year) then we may be able to get it!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The House
Well we didn't get it. Why? We... I kid you not... have too much money. Back to the drawing board.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Tuesday
Well our Realtor says we should find Tuesday whether they're accepting our offer or not. I really hope they do (obviously) and have already been thinking about things I want in it :) Our two bedroom apartment is rather a bit smaller than this house so it's going to look pretty empty for a while.
1. I want to make curtains, probably roman shades for all the front windows.
2. I want an actual couch instead of just the chaise we have room for now.
3. I want a proper sewing machine cabinet like the one mom had for her machine that has a drop down stand for the machine so that you can sew flat with your work surface. These tend to be expensive though as ikea doesn't flat pack them for pennies. :( Something like this: costs about $600 though so that's a bit further out than decorating the rest of the house.
4. Enough bookcases that our library is not stacked up along walls anymore
5. Shelves with pull out baskets for all my fabric and sewing projects.
6. Big area rugs with funky patterns.
7. Patio furniture
In short, lots of stuff. We'll probably have to wait on most of it. Funny how buying a house means spending a lot of money, but hopefully once our savings have a bit more cushion then we can start buying one or two pieces a month. And hey, we'd be closer to the local ikea in Maryland! If we get the house.
1. I want to make curtains, probably roman shades for all the front windows.
2. I want an actual couch instead of just the chaise we have room for now.
3. I want a proper sewing machine cabinet like the one mom had for her machine that has a drop down stand for the machine so that you can sew flat with your work surface. These tend to be expensive though as ikea doesn't flat pack them for pennies. :( Something like this: costs about $600 though so that's a bit further out than decorating the rest of the house.
4. Enough bookcases that our library is not stacked up along walls anymore
5. Shelves with pull out baskets for all my fabric and sewing projects.
6. Big area rugs with funky patterns.
7. Patio furniture
In short, lots of stuff. We'll probably have to wait on most of it. Funny how buying a house means spending a lot of money, but hopefully once our savings have a bit more cushion then we can start buying one or two pieces a month. And hey, we'd be closer to the local ikea in Maryland! If we get the house.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Housing Hunt
See what happens? I post something of substance and hear crickets out there from you! Anyways, Seth and I put an offer on the house tonight! Cross your fingers, hold your breath, and pray that they'll accept it! Signing date would be January 21.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
A real post
Ok, so Seth and I have been looking at houses. And I've written this post three times now only to have various forms of blog apps eat it. Grr. Anyways. You don't get the whole long post again since I'm not rewriting the stupid thing again. Short of it is that yes, we are looking and here's the best prospect I found so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWdNkFD_xX4
Pros:
- 5 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms = 4 Bedrooms, 1 Sewing Room, 2 Bathrooms
- In our price range ($299,000)
- Newly renovated
- Low Crime neighborhood
- Near the school
- Shorter commute for Seth than where we live now
- MD has better traffic than VA
- Closer to friends
Cons:
- No driveway
- No basement
- If we put an offer in now they'd want to close in December, our housing contract ends in February
- It's in Maryland and Seth likes VA better but see above for my opinion on it...
---
I've also been planning my Costume Con projects since it's time to get on that again. I'm picking up the plunderhosen project again. I bought Janet Arnold's book which has already helped me figure out where I need to go with the pattern after getting stuck on the commercial pattern I'd bought last time I tried this project. This would be competed in the historical competition. I'm still mulling over an entry for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy competition but with steampunk so popular now I've had Victorian on the brain. and came up with this concept sketch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWdNkFD_xX4
Pros:
- 5 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms = 4 Bedrooms, 1 Sewing Room, 2 Bathrooms
- In our price range ($299,000)
- Newly renovated
- Low Crime neighborhood
- Near the school
- Shorter commute for Seth than where we live now
- MD has better traffic than VA
- Closer to friends
Cons:
- No driveway
- No basement
- If we put an offer in now they'd want to close in December, our housing contract ends in February
- It's in Maryland and Seth likes VA better but see above for my opinion on it...
---
I've also been planning my Costume Con projects since it's time to get on that again. I'm picking up the plunderhosen project again. I bought Janet Arnold's book which has already helped me figure out where I need to go with the pattern after getting stuck on the commercial pattern I'd bought last time I tried this project. This would be competed in the historical competition. I'm still mulling over an entry for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy competition but with steampunk so popular now I've had Victorian on the brain. and came up with this concept sketch...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)