Hullo from the "there be dragons here" area of MA

[Lily left the valley]

Quick update, since not much has happened this weekend:
We signed the P&S on Saturday, and we're now waiting to get their end of signatures on it so we can forward it to our mortgage guy.

The one odd bit that may slow things down is the mother who had inherited the property from her mother passed away a while ago, and the daughter never redid the deed to have just her name on it. So she is in the process of fixing that. I had misunderstood how the progression went, and thought the two name deed was adding a sister, not that the mom added her one daughter onto the deed.

We were supposed to meet face to face with our mortgage guy to go over the paperwork, then spouse got tagged to come in on his day off since FedEx declared Thanksgiving as an off day, so the parcel subs don't have to work afterall. I still have to talk to our mortgage guy about that, hopefully I'll catch him after lunch.

I'm not sure if we'll have to do our application all via mail and e-mail now so we can still get our commitment on time in December. I don't know how long these things take.

We still have no word about whether the items in the garage are staying or not.

Today I have to go over my ToDo lists, and make sure I'm not missing anything. Later I'll be repacking some of the boxes that were falling apart with the new ones we picked up from Craig's List.

[Lily left the valley]

This post is more of a "Hoo Boys" write up, not so much about progress, unfortunately, though there is a bit of that.

We finally got the packet from our mortgage guy today. I was already tired from a busy day, and after seeing a few things I knew I'd have to go back over to make sure I understand them right and fix a few minor errors, then I realized that their idea of estimated closing costs only includes a few lines items, and little else I could easily find as to the explaining where their numbers are coming from. Spouse told me after his last conversation with him that we'd have a full line by line to look at . So I have no idea if I missed something major, I'm reading it wrong, or once again I'm finding a math error on someone else's paperwork. (I guess all those years working as an editor is paying off? )

I knew I was brain drained and dead tired, so I set it aside, and told spouse when he got home from work to give me another day before I'd be ready to talk it over with him. As tired as I could see he was, he seemed glad for the day's delay.

We're unusually tired because our older neighbors downstairs (whom we really like) have started falling asleep to both the TV (her) and the radio (him) for over a week now. Without getting into details for brevity's sake, we finally broke down three nights ago at 3:30am and dragged our futon into the office, where we couldn't hear the noise and blissfully fell asleep. Since then, we've been sleeping very well, though not quite caught up.

So knowing we're both sleep deprived, I'm trying not to have a panic attack. We have a reserve, but that is for costs like no attic insulation or if his car breaks down out of the blue. I feel weird with the idea that I'm now thinking we might have to touch that at all, even if just a little. It makes me feel like my preparation was poor.

I think part of why this bothers me so much is I remember when one of my cousins bought his home. He really had no idea what buying a home entails. If his sister hadn't been there when he closed, he would not have been able to close, as he did not understand closing costs and he simply did not have the money for them. She literally wrote a few checks right then and there so that he could get the home. Knowing that, I tried very hard to make sure I had a solid idea of what we'd be expected to pay for, as well as having a bit of cushion in my figures. We are doing this on a tight budget, and I'm probably right in thinking I read something wrong, and we'll be just fine. I mean how many times has our mortgage guy mentioned how nice it is to work with someone who is borrowing well within their means? I know the extra inspection on the home we did walk away from didn't help matters, but still...

I do feel bad because spouse brought up the repacking of boxes tonight. I snapped at him, describing the long list of all the things I need to take care of tomorrow now that we have the paperwork finally and I really need to sit down and read it thoroughly so we didn't miss something major in closing costs, and gosh golly I sure would like to have time to repack some boxes, but I don't even know how I'm going to get done what absolutely needs to be done plus making sure I cook dinner as he's been too tired to do such when he finally gets home of late, so we've been eating out way too much (mostly fast food, but it dings a thrifty budget noticeably). I did apologize after, but I don't like snapping at him, since I know he's stressed as well so I don't want to add to it.

I know part of why he's working so much is so we don't have financial hiccups with the home. I also know he's trying to take advantage of how the PO is much more liberal with overtime now that Xmas season for them is in full swing and there are so many POs up here (including his own) that are short handed. I also know that it means sometimes he has to triple or more his usually short commute in order to get those hours at POs very far from us.

This is the "get it done" time, although not yet the home stretch. If everything goes as planned, we have just shy of a month to get our commitment from the bank on time, and we're at the exact six week mark until closing now that it's after midnight. Of course, we're doing all this right around the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's time when I already know we won't be able to do certain things on certain days because banks will be closed, forget who else might be.

I am beyond grateful right now that we walked away from Pleasant. I am so relieved that despite the lack of appliances, we managed to find such a wonderful move in ready home that hit so many "yes" boxes. I am realizing what a blessing it is that we got the home at the price point and interest rate we did, which means we will be able to have even more funds to work with/save once we move. I am thankful that my spouse is doing his level best, even if that means he has no time for the chores he usually does around the house which means they fall to me.

We just need to get through this, and then be happy with what we have.

[Lily left the valley]

I forgot how industrious I can be when I'm procrastinating from doing something pressing. Yet I got a lot done today! I still have to finish going over the mortgage packet though...

The good news today came in an answer to my e-mail about the application confusion. Our mortgage guy said the lower price I was seeing was the fee for our loan type (least of my concerns, but good to know). He also said that they don't do a line by line on closing costs at this stage, and instead do a highest possible overall estimate. What a relief! I was seriously worried I had missed something major last night.

The ground meat we bought from the same folks who sold us our new old stove finally thawed out today--I had forgotten that meat stored in a deep freezer is a lot colder. Hours later after I fried it all up before breaking it down into meal sized bits for less work later, the apartment still smells wonderful.

I realized as I was cooking that I haven't yet checked to see if our big turkey sized pan will fit in the new old stove. It might just fit, but with no room for air to circulate around it. I might check that tomorrow, if only because I can probably sell the pan off before the move if it doesn't fit. We don't really cook for a big crowd anymore, we'll be doing just a smaller breast again this year for the two of us. I almost bought a half breast, which I didn't recall seeing for sale before, but price per pound wise it just didn't make sense. (Does it really costs that much more to chop it in half? )

We're debating if we'll make popovers or cornbread this year, since with just two of us both is too much and we don't like to freeze baked goods.

When we ran an errand earlier spouse just looked so tired. After thinking a bit about holly day things, I told him we'd just do the little fake tree on the three season porch this year. Next year, we could go big for the bungalow since it will be our first in the new house.

[Lily left the valley]

So I'm procrastinating, putting up listing images in a new sub album here.

Then I realize what's been bugging me. I mislabeled one of the listing photos. I didn't realize this when I was adding all the photos, and now I have to delete and repost over half the album. I tried so hard to put them in the best possible walk around order too.

BUT...one major score today was finding an entire catalog for the short lived company that apparently not only did our built ins, but ALL of the interior woodwork as well. Silly, but it makes me so darn excited!

They even had a built in fold down breakfast nook they made, and exterior wood offerings like garden and lawn furniture. I can go really crazy over the years and make all sorts of things just like what could have been there.

Angel Novelty Co. Catalog

[Mick_VT]

So I'm procrastinating, putting up listing images in a new sub album here.

Then I realize what's been bugging me. I mislabeled one of the listing photos. I didn't realize this when I was adding all the photos, and now I have to delete and repost over half the album. I tried so hard to put them in the best possible walk around order too.

If you want an image moved from one album to another, let me know, I can (or any other mod can do that)

[Lily left the valley]

So I'm procrastinating, putting up listing images in a new sub album here.

Then I realize what's been bugging me. I mislabeled one of the listing photos. I didn't realize this when I was adding all the photos, and now I have to delete and repost over half the album. I tried so hard to put them in the best possible walk around order too.

If you want an image moved from one album to another, let me know, I can (or any other mod can do that)

Oh, it was the order number that was the issue, as I was trying to simulate a walk through best I could to give a sense of flow. I'm fixing it right now. Thankies, though!

[Lily left the valley]

General thoughts in between laundry and document searching...
I'm realizing I don't have time to finish reading "The Preservationist's Progress" book right now (can't renew it again, and it's due tomorrow), but at least I can get it again later after the move. I'm finding lots of good things to think about as to what decisions to make and why as we try to restore the home. There are lots of considerations about keeping things "accurate", yet making it still functional in as modern a sense as we'd need, or as advanced in tech as we'd desire. I'm also thinking more about how I don't want the home to look like a straight out of a catalog ad. The stove was the beginning of that. It's from earlier in look (reproduction of an 1885 woodstove), but built mid-century, after the home itself was. So I'll be thinking a lot down the road about the notion of "not a museum" that I read a lot of folks (even here) write about.

We're still working on the mortgage paperwork. Spouse's eyes started glazing over when we went over it yesterday, so we had to take a break. We still need to take the class required, which is a good thing as I know we'll learn at least something and it's a small price to pay in funds and time for the low rate. I did a rough of how much money we'll save in the long run and all I can say is that for we of the still hurting from the economy crash group... We really are fortunate and I must not forget that when things get a bit stressful later, because it could have been much worse. I'm still relieved to have found out that the numbers that concerned me were high leaning estimates, and not actual.

We still have a lot to take care of between sending the completed packet in, and closing. I've been managing now that we're not spending time looking at new listings and viewings, to have more time for the repack/label boxes drudge and the usual things I suspect folks start to do when getting ready to move into their first home. I am really glad we'll have the month of January to move even if we don't need all that time. I can't imagine how folks do this as a long distance move. Renting first, then buying is easier in my mind, although we really didn't plan to buy something only four blocks away. That just sort of happened.

I had a bit of an eye opening discussion with a friend today. He's a silver spoon kid (older than me, but he's still a kid if you know what I mean.) His sister essentially bought his current home for him as far as looking, finding, offering, et al. He just moved in after sending her whatever funds from his inheritance she needed. He really had no idea how much work she did for him. Hopefully now that he does, he'll thank her again if he didn't before.

I also realized as I was looking at listings of other bungalows that in my head, I'm already seeing Baker in a much more high end craftsman style, and perhaps that's not the best thing for the home or our budget. I did find one marvelous stencil that helped me stop thinking about numerous rolls of border papers, even if I don't exactly duplicate the style.


I'm also learning a lot about what styles are considered actual period versus later revivals. It's tricky sometimes, and there are things I look at and have no idea where they fit in but I think they're neat anyhoo.


I am even more thrilled at the catalog find today. Because it was intended for dealers, many of the pages have a lot of details as to actual dimensions and diagrams showing how things were built. I've seen even more evidence of this (even all dimensional details about the windows, glass and wood!) as I was copying the catalog for my own down the road needs. I also finally saw the cover today (the link I followed initially started the viewing inside), and realized a better phrase to try to describe it from there: Standardized Interior Woodwork, even though in my brain, doors and windows fall on both sides, really they are about the interior function and aesthetic more so.

One thing I'm still trying to suss out in my brain is which room was really considered which on the first floor. Was the bath always there, and what I've been calling the kitchen is really the pantry, so thus what we've called the dining is the kitchen/eat in area, the living is the dining, and the library is the living?

Back to looking for some old tax stuff that got moved to who knows where during the last few months...

[Lily left the valley]

So when I went looking for a listing in Gardner for another thread here, I thought to check back on Pleasant to see what's up with it. Still for sale, same price.

I realized as I was looking at the status history that since they changed the status to back on the market so close to pending's start when we complained about the lack of permits, it looks like we quickly got our inspection during pending period and ran away.

That poor house. I hope someday someone will get it for not much above what those chuckleheads "paid" for it, and brings it back to its former glory.

[Wackyshack]

Very excited for you!!!

One thought on the closing costs. I only bought 2 houses in my life and at closing I had 2 different surprises I did not have the extra money set aside (and it drained our reserves). I entered my new house with $60 total in my bank account (in 1989).
1) no one said a thing about Title Insurance when I bought my first house. I paid the fee but it was very unexpected and in the end I was glad I did, someone didn't follow through with the title search and had we not had the insurance I would have been looking at a mess when I sold my first house in 2006.
2) When I went to pass papers on my present house, some jerk clerk didn't follow through with the paperwork as proof I was up to speed on my water bill. Due to this non proof I ended up tying up $700 of my money with them to have it returned 2 weeks later. I wasn't all that thrilled with the process as I was trying to get final numbers the day before for the closing costs, etc I was told that they didn't have then and wouldn't until we were closing the deal.

You just reminded me why I say this time when I leave this next house it will be them carrying out my cold dead body.. I am done with the moving BS.

[Lily left the valley]

Wacky, we are of the same mind as to forever home buying-feet first style move out.

Thanks for sharing the info about the costs. Since we've always rented, we'll be fine on #2, but I still haven't gotten around to #1. I also need to get back shopping for insurance. We finally got the booklet from the mortgage company yesterday about what we're supposed to be doing, and I'll be reading that today.

We always knew buying this soon was going to be super tight. We're still playing catch up from financial misfortunes we've had in the last handful of years. If he hadn't gotten the Post Office job, there's no way we'd have been in any shape to even think about buying.

We did have a bit of a "oh no" today. We hadn't sent our packet back to our mortgage guy, and he had called asking why. When I talked to him, I told him we were still missing some paperwork so we didn't send it in.

Here's where it goes "oh no". We moved right during tax season, and somehow, the taxes never got mailed, which we didn't realize until we went to fill out the mortgage packet. This was also right during the thanksgiving weekend, so not much we could do as to talking to someone who might help because we wanted to know if there was a way to expedite the process. We also will need to pay a late fee (minor), but we wanted to make sure it's exact so there would be no future hiccups from it.

When I told our mortgage guy this today, his first response was to ask when we were supposed to close (Jan. 3rd), then said we might not make it. When I asked him why, he said it was because the feds take anywhere from 3-6 weeks to get paperwork filed on their end if no extension was made which may interfere with everything because apparently he's not even supposed to order an appraisal knowing what he now knows.

So I'll be spending time today trying to get this mess straightened out.

Spouse just walked in the door, so we're going to be having a serious sit down now. I just found out it's a good thing Amazon had a truck catch on fire this week. (Held up parcels everywhere nearby as they figure out what's missing.)