Work has begun

What have I gotten myself into?!?: Monday, Dec 29, 2008

I asked myself that question several times today as I vacuumed, scrubbed, and cleaned the DISGUSTING, bug-poop infested kitchen cabinets. I have never been so purely disgusted in my entire life; cleaning them was the worst thing I can think of... YUCK!!

Now that most of the bug remains are gone, I've feeling better about the situation, but not completely pleased. Tomorrow I will be filling the holes with wood putty (from where I took the cabinet doors off), sanding them down, and painting a primer and top coat on all surfaces. I will not put ANYTHING into or on them until it's done.

Dave worked hard on the bathroom and got the demo complete! I painted the guest bedroom the beautiful color, "Satin Lace" (aka baby pink so light it is almost white). My dad got here today and helped clean the garage for tomorrow's prep work.

Tomorrow:
Dave: put handi-backer into the bathroom (sort of like drywall but used to keep moisture out), replace piping and install shower valve, begin tiling
Dad: build wall of shelves in garage, teach me how to fill holes, sand, and paint cabinets, TSP (super-duper cleaning chemical) living room
Jennifer: be everyones' assistant and most importantly kitchen!

man, oh, man

man, oh, man: Sunday, Dec 28, 2008
Although we haven't "closed," we've started the destruction and construction on the house. Dave has installed two exterior doors and two exterior windows. Today Dave worked on the guest bedroom (which will become our bedroom for the next few months). He filled the holes, sanded, and primed the walls with Kils. I'm sure before the day is over, he'll have the rooms completely primed and first coat of paint on the wall tomorrow morning.

While Dave was working on the bedroom, I took all of the cabinet doors off in the kitchen and began ripping up the ugly wood floor in the bathroom. The kitchen already looks better but man, the floor was hard! I accomplished about 1/8th of the bathroom in an hour and a half!



Time to watch the Chargers play--hopefully--well.

"Moving Day" NOT

Moving Day: Sunday, Dec 21, 2008
Today is moving day and there is no moving taking place... it's 10 am when we thought we'd be starting to load boxes and furniture into the flat bed trailer and truck...but instead, I'm sitting in a house FULL of packed boxes feeling overwhelmed.

We might close tomorrow, Tuesday, or Wednesday... but I'm not holding my breath. The only thing I'm hoping is that we close before the new year so we can get the $7,500 tax credit this year because that money will come in very handy.

One happy thing is that my dad made me a cross for my new house. This is a replica of the one that my parents have hung on their house for as long as I can remember and one thing I really wanted for our first house! It cheered me up on Friday when I found out that we didn't close and couldn't move!

Packing

Packing: Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008

I knew I had a lot of crap, but I had no idea that I had THIS much crap! I started packing durning Thanksgiving break and got a bunch of the rarely used items into boxes. This weekend I packed up the majority of the kitchen... tonight I packed most of the bathrooms (minus Dave's stuff, I have no idea what is what).

I have been massively organizing and purging (throwing away and making boxes of garage sale items) throughout the process. It is kind of liberating to just "throw it away" and it REALLY makes me want to keep life simple and purge constantly. Because I just moved down stairs when we got married, I did not purge then and we've added even more in the past two years.

I have been labeling every box in two ways. Each box has a color-coded label with the room (typed) along with an itemized list of what is inside the box written in marker. I don't particularly want to unpack the boxes to find one thing so hopefully my labeling system will come in handy.

I decided to take the morning off tomorrow in order to get the rest of the house finished. My principal approved a "personal business day" at the last minute because he could tell I was pretty stessed this afternoon).

Tomorrow's Goal:

• Finish packing kitchen
• Go through my three closets worth of clothes and seperate them into 1) too big (garage sale), 2) summer (boxes), 3) winter (wardobe boxes)
• Finish packing office supplies
• Motivate Dave to work on his stuff!!

We've Signed

We've signed: Saturday, Dec 13, 2008
Today we signed the escrow and loan paperwork with the notary! We're one step closer...Monday the loan should fund (cross your fingers) and hopefully record on Tuesday. Keys on Wednesday?!?

We also helped Tawni and Rob move into their new house all day. It was quite busy. We helped load from 8-11 am, took Sammy home with us to sign escrow papers (11-1 pm), went back to their apartment, loaded the truck and took the final loads to their house (3-6), and ended the day with dinner at Chili's (many thanks to Tawni and Rob).

It was unique to sign papers with four months old; he stared and smiled at the notary the entire time while he sat on Dave's lap.

Home Update

Home Update: Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
Okay--here is the update...

Last Monday, the gas company came to the house and deemed the water heater unsafe to turn on and in need of major repairs. We requested the bank/owner to fix it.
Last Thursday, someone broke into the house and stole a kitchen cabinet and several lighting fixtures.

Friday, between 25 calls between all parties involved, our real estate agent requested a credit off the purchase price based on the damages.

Monday afternoon, heard from bank that they will credit us $1,000 off the purchase price because of the damanges. All new loan documents must be created because of this...

Tuesday morning, found out that the bank/owner agreed to replace the water heater and repair all unsafe piping (WOO HOO--$1200 savings for us that bank/owner had to pay)

Tuesday afternoon, water heater replaced and piping repaired

Tuesday afternoon, our lender told me that they are "good" and should be "going to docs" on Wednesday morning

Wednesday morning, no return call from lender... called her over and over again... no return call again... finally made contact at 10:45 am--she needed two pages signed by me and Dave IMMEDIATELY. Told that lender underwriter will be finalizing the docs by 1 pm--told that I'd be called immediately.

Wednesday afternoon-evening, no return call and she won't answer her work or cell phone
Can I just say IRRITATING!

Anyway here is what STILL has to happen to close...

• Lender finishes loans... "goes to docs"
• Escrow receives "docs" and prepares pages to sign
• Escrow gives docs to notary
• Notary calls us and makes an appointment to sign
• This process can take between 2-24 hours.
• After we sign, notary sends docs to our lender and to seller (bank)
• Our lender "funds" the loan by wiring money to escrow
• When "funds" are recieved by escrow, they create a "record" of the sale when the deed is changed to our names
• Take the "record" to the County of Riverside and the CoR "records" the sale
• After the sale "records" we get out keys
• This process can take between 12-72 hours.

Home Inspection

Home Inspection: Sunday, Nov 23, 2008
Yesterday morning was our home inspection--the inspector was very nice and I was able to ask my "silly" questions without him getting irritated. He e-mailed us a 72 page report with all the little problem (including a picture of each of them).

Good News:

• There was no major issues in the foundation, structure, or "bones" of the house.
• The walls are stable and appear to have no water damage.
• The windows (which are newer) are installed correctly.
• The HVAC unit (air and heat) are newer and installed correctly (even though they didn't appear to be permitted).
• The roof is 2-3 years old and was properly installed (no permit).

Okay News:

• The only plumbing issue is where the old, original plumbing is connected to the new (1977) plumbing of the addition and for the drain of the master shower (which is coming out anyway). The linking part is $10 and Dave has the skills. The shower will be replaced and the entire drain system updated when that is done.
• The inside of the fire place has a crack in the morter between the bricks. This could be very superficial, but isn't major. We will have a chimney sweep come and clean and inspect the fireplace before we use it. Dave wants to install a pellet stove eventually. If we don't want to use the fireplace we have no issue.
• The air conditioning unit is dirty and could need a very through cleaning to remove the dirt in the entire system. We'll change the filter, clean the air intake and vents and if we need to get a HVAC specialists out to look at it.

Not Good (aka EXPENSIVE) News:

• Unexpected: The pool may need MAJOR work and be structurally unsound because it has been sitting empty for two years. I have called four different pool companies to have them come out this week for a full inspection.
• Expected: The electric system in the house needs to be updated and replaced. This week we will be getting estimates from a few companies in order to get an accurate estimate if this is worth it.

Another house, another bid

Another house, another bid, a house?: Wednesday, Nov 5, 2008

We put a bid in on this house. It is a repo, owned by the bank. We should hear about this house relatively quickly (within three days). We do know that there were two other offers put in this morning, so it could be likely that we will not get it. Dave and I offered more than asking price so we'll wait and see :)