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

[Deb]

I can't tell you how happy I am to read this!! Going to kidnap Mr. Murphy and not let him go until you're in the house!

[Lily left the valley]

I can't tell you how happy I am to read this!! Going to kidnap Mr. Murphy and not let him go until you're in the house!

I can't help but imagine the following in your basement...


^ Mr. Murphy

[Lily left the valley]

Yesterday I had my first "Are we..? Yes. We are really buying a house!" moment. Sheer panic followed for a half a moment, then an odd calm that hasn't left me yet. I'm still up way past when I wanted to sleep, but the underlying anxiety is gone. Now it's as if I can climb Mount Everest! I could purify water with only corn cobs and a bucket! I can reglaze any window put before me like I was born to... No, no, I know I can't do all these things. But I sure FEEL like I could if I had to right now.

Both spouse and I are feeling a lot less stress already. We know it ain't over til it's over, but that blood debt! Woo. So many emotional outbursts between the two of us. Now that it is going away, we're both ready to never speak of it again once it's officially cleared as satisfied.

He signed the revised P&S yesterday, I chatted with folks about insurance and a bunch of other stuff.

I am doing a horrible job of shutting my brain down when he's not at work, because I've all these pent up questions and reminders I want to unload the minute he walks through the door. Trying to get better about that, time will tell.

I'll say this again once we finally have everything signed and keys in hand, but I do want to say it now:

to everyone who has come along for our wendy path towards first time home ownership. Having this forum, and folks' wisdom and insight kept me much saner than I surely would have been without you all.

[Lily left the valley]

Today we met with the agent we most likely will be going with for home owner's insurance. That went smoothly. Then I realized about five minutes ago I was supposed to contact mortgage guy when we got home about details she needs to know regarding the escrow and such for the mortgage. Tomorrow everything with the blood debt should be cleared up. Then the lawyer type folk can officially pick a day. We'd asked for the 10th, but we'll see what they say.

After that--oh, did I mention spouse actually had a day OFF today? So nice.

The rest of this post is just rambly decor related stuff. Nothing about the home buying process at all unless you want to count deciding what will go where of your current furnishings into your new old home.

So after, we grabbed lunch downtown then headed over to the second hand shop I talk about all the time here in Gardner. I was looking for the roller shades I mentioned over in the cup board pricing thread. The good/bad: the colors were as I recalled, and there was another neat (though much more modern) color combo as well, but I was disappointed to find out they were plastic straws, not painted bamboo. She had some regular bamboo rollers as well, so we'll see what happens. Some of the light green/orange ones had been cut from a wider version, so I'm not even sure what will definitely fit in which kitchen windows or not. I told her that after we did the walk through, I'd know for certain of the window widths and decide then.

What we did stumble upon, though, was an awesome office chair. Spouse's old Staples special had finally given up the ghost a few weeks ago, and I had given him my old Staples chair since it gave me an excuse to pick up a chair at this same shop.

Yet I soon realized I missed having wheels, and although it wasn't comfortable for being at the computer for hours on end, it would make a great office guest chair. I also realized that if I really wanted wheels, I'd have to shorten the legs or raise my desk--it simply wasn't the right chair for the purpose.

This little number I found, though, is wonderful and adjustable in many, many ways as designed. I'm not yet sure what its age is yet, but it's everything I wanted, plus some I didn't realize until I sat in it. I got it for a song (and from the credit I had anyhoo) since one caster was half missing. It has Sheperd casters like this except not the 4 screw plate variant: They are still in business, obviously, so I might have a full wheel in no time. I'll take pics of the chair tomorrow. I'll be recovering it as soon as I can after closing to match what we'll be doing in the office deco wise. The fabric on it now is a bit dirty, so I'll give it a "for now" clean up tomorrow.

Speaking of rooms...I still have the MCM furniture from my maternal grandparents, and we decided the office will be MCM because I am totally not getting rid of any of those pieces. Especially since they were made here in Gardner! Since we watch movies on the computers anyhoo, we'll just set the one side up in the spirit of a mini living area.

The only bummer is I have a wonderful modern art rug my one uncle gave me years ago that he bought when he still worked at...Gimbels? I think it was. They had an art rug show many years ago when he worked there and that's when he bought it. (He has a fantastic Victorian home for years now. Very traditional in look and decor, so it really didn't "fit" anywhere when he gave it to me.) It was one of three that were a triptych. Well, the trouble is it's not small despite being intended as one of three. Putting it down in that room would be a stretch even if my rough measurements are correct. The radiator would likely need overlap, and I'm not doing that to that rug! I've also become increasingly sensitive to wear and tear on it over the years. (kitties especially!) So, I thought of one time where we had (as I think was originally intended) hung it behind the couch we had at one point. There's only one wall that would work with, but it would subject it to southerly sun. So we talked about it, and we're actually going to hang it in the long hallway between our bedroom and the half bath instead. There's much less chance of direct sun damage, and visually, it'll be fantastic there. (Bright red and aqua--I'll post pics sometime.).

I had long ago decided that although I'd be true to the house's time overall, I wasn't shooting for museum perfect either. I'm approaching the overall decor as "honoring the past, while allowing time to pass" mindset. Except the office on the first floor (a bedroom, really), the first floor will be have the nearest feel to when the home was built. Upstairs will be whatever we decide, though we're thinking the guest bedroom will be closest in period.

We're both sort of in a head space now where it feels ok to relax a little. So tonight we've pretty much goofed off.

Tomorrow, though, it'll be back to repacking and organizing. I also need to start packing up kitchen stuff we won't need any time soon. I'll want my hands busy so I'm not watching the clock and wondering when is a good time to call the court to make sure they payment's been processed so I can call mortgage guy and let him know. I'm also still hunting down a hand me down vacuum we got from my MIL. I honestly haven't the slightest idea where he squirreled it away, and when I asked--I got the blank face.

I'll also be taking a closer look at my new old office chair. The wood bits need some love, and it appears that some space filler details on the wheel base need to be replaced as they appear to have fallen off at some point. I'll take pics, I promise. It is sooo comfy. Perfect for curling up my legs under my blanket when I'm watching kdramas.

Speaking of chairs...aside from the piano, we don't currently have any parlor furniture. (We decided to call the living the parlor since our piano is a late 19thC 77 key parlor piano.) The same lady of that 2nd hand shop has a house warming gift already waiting for us to move--a mission chair she's had and not used for many years. So at least the piano won't be lonely straight away in that room. She's such a sweetie.

[phil]

well that's certainly happy news for a Friday ! We are all excited for you Lily ! It's been such a roller coaster and after the whirlwind to come of paperwork and moving, you are going to be opening those closed up dust covered boxes and discovering all the nicks and crannies and I'm really looking forward to hearing about you settling in. It will ease your mind and give you both the personal satisfaction of getting your hands into it and seeing the results of your work, and hopefully no longer be encircled with paperwork , worry and phone calls. Whatever you choose take on first will be very therapeutic and satisfying.

here we have at least one store that just specializes in selling wheels and casters. I saw their warehouse and it was neat to see so many in one place. I wonder if you might have a similar local business, if you need parts maybe they would have them?
for what it's worth here is a link but you likely have a place that's closer.
http://www.casterworldbc.com/products/S ... ducts.html

[Lily left the valley]

{snip} It's been such a roller coaster and after the whirlwind to come of paperwork and moving, you are going to be opening those closed up dust covered boxes and discovering all the nicks and crannies and I'm really looking forward to hearing about you settling in. It will ease your mind and give you both the personal satisfaction of getting your hands into it and seeing the results of your work, and hopefully no longer be encircled with paperwork , worry and phone calls. Whatever you choose take on first will be very therapeutic and satisfying.

Well, it ain't over 'til it's over.

Court has had our check since Thursday. We called today at lunch time, to be told it was indeed received but was still marked as "active", so we were transferred to the person we needed to speak to, and--no shocker to me at all--despite being told she was at her desk, the call went straight to voicemail. Mortgage guy was informed, and he said he'd call their credit bureau to see if they could maybe light a fire under someone's seat that way. (Not his exact words, mind you, I'm just repeating the jist of what spouse said.) He also did talk to our insurance lady today, so now we're just waiting for the paperwork to sign so we can get that started.

We decided to bundle since we've not been happy with our car insurance, and as expected, much better coverage for so much less cost to us (even before the bundle discount). She was actually a bit shocked when we brought a copy of our current policy at how much we were being charged. Especially since some of the individualized charges are ones that they usually roll into others, not charge extra separately for as our current does. Good thing they won't be our current much longer! We tried to get this all done before we got the auto charge from our current for the month, but it looks like we're going to have a cross over with that, and then who knows how long the soon to be former will rebate us the difference.

So very good news there, and once we get the paperwork to sign we can also pay (hopefully) the last big chunk of pre closing costs.

One bit of sad news, though. We stopped by the house to count how many deadbolts there were because we couldn't recall if the basement door had one or not on the outer door at ground level. This brought us near the garage, with fresh tracks in the recently snowed upon driveway. We also noticed a garbage can had been moved since our last drive by the other day. Then we noticed that not only was the side door left unlocked, the hasp lock on the front had been removed, and so had roughly 90% of the contents inside the garage. Only two radiator covers, two mini sized plastic gas cans, a chair I didn't recall that must have been buried before and the chair I had eyeballed that's still upside down in the rafters plus some scrap supplies and one rather large console unit remain. It was faced against one wall, so when I lifted the cover to see what it was, I saw through an open back portion a tube, so radio or TV, I'm not sure. Oh, and a cheap plastic basketball game of some sort that looked broken crumpled up by one side.

Given the placement of the gas cans and the one chair, we think they ran out of room in whatever vehicle they were using, since they're right by the door as if they were next to go. The console would only fit into a van or truck, so we assumed their vehicle might not have been large enough to take it. I don't know if they'll come back for the rest and/or they'll take the other chair in the rafters since it is utterly devoid of stuffing or upholstery. We honestly don't know if the family took it, or someone else helped themselves, really. I'm still a bit suspicious of the one neighbor (not the really sweet older lady, the one who was supposed to be a former renter who later claimed to be one of the daughters.) I almost called our realtor to see what he could find out, but I know he's fighting a bad cold, and we were never outright told "yes" they'd be leaving stuff as is, so it doesn't seem worth bothering him over it. *sighs* Losing the trunks alone from the garage is a huge bummer.

This is why I wanted a firm yes or no on if they'd leave what was in the garage. Did they really have to wait until the last minute so we'd get our hopes up? Now I'm going to be double sure to check for every last bit inside the home because if a single thing is missing during the last walk through, hard words will be spoken about them being returned before we will close. Inside the house was clearly spelled out as all contents were to remain because I was concerned they'd take the fixtures and hardware, so not a thing better be missing.

But back to a more positive note...we also stopped by the local lumber + hardware store that's within easy peasy walking distance. Every time we'd tried to stop by before it was always closed because I kept forgetting when they were open. (Not on Sundays!) It's a great shop. All the stuff there is high quality, and I saw both the snow shovel we'd get as well as the ice breaker. We're holding out on any last minute purchases now because 1) we'd just have to move it anyhoo, and 2) just in case any last minute smaller finance stuff comes up we don't want to come up short.

The lady who was working when we were there was very helpful. It's totally the local shop you want to have access to nearby. They proudly display several hand crafted items that tout that they've been in business since '42. It's another perk of having that house, being close to there. Easy wagon trips if the weather co-operates.

Hopefully the court thing will get settled on Monday, and we will indeed close on Friday. Our realtor had sent us a note last night with the sign back from the seller so our revised offer is official for certain. He also noted that it seemed that things were falling into place and Friday (the 10th) was looking at the likely date to close. So it may still be that spouse gets the house for his birthday afterall.

We did manage to get some repacking done today. It's amazing how much floor space I'm seeing where there was just a stack of boxes a week ago. Oh, also bought some duct tape since we still haven't found even one roll to use to tape the junk cardboard together to protect the dining room floor from snow/wet/grit during the move in. The plan right now if the closing goes smoothly on Friday is I'll go over on Saturday and set that all down before we start doing a few trips per day until we have do the big stuff. It takes at least a three day (non weekend) notice to get the internet on, and the electric in our name. I'll also take a look at the oil tank in case it's low too. Spouse is working solid from the 16th to the 21st for certain as someone is taking a vacation, so those nights we'll be lucky to do two runs with the PT after he gets home and we'll move the heavier stuff like comics and books if we haven't gotten to them yet.

Did I mention he still wants to try rolling the piano there on the moving dollies? Yes, it's only a few blocks away, but the last hill to where the house is, that's no small feat even if all the snow and ice somehow melts away, 77 key parlor piano or not.

[Lily left the valley]

Bleh. I'm sure there's some fuzzy math and logic involved, but out of the blue we received mail from a person we had never even heard of before concerning the mortgage. All the line items I had asked about countless times and was told not to worry about were listed as being needed to be done--even ones we had already taken care of already. What makes this uber wrong is that the list has dated updates of status on some items, and since the cover letter was listed as Feb. 2nd, why weren't all the things that should be marked as complete BE marked complete. They also changed the requirements for some items. Before, we were told a letter of explanation was fine, now they have to be affidavits. Etc, et al, ad naseum.

What makes this laughable? When it was written, despite the obvious in-house postmark for the regular first class mail--not even one tick expediated--it states that everything has to be turned in ten days prior to closing, with a reminder that our rate lock expires on Feb 14th. Since we received it on the 4th (a Saturday, which means there is no way they actually dropped it off at a PO on the day it's postmarked since it came from less than an hour away), don't you think the person sending it would look at the dates, and think, "I should both call and e-mail these folks, because there's no time to spare,"? Apparently they thought a regular first class would miraculously travel backwards in time so that we'd have more than adequate time to respond properly.

I am not looking forward to the phone call to mortgage guy in the morning.

Yesterday when spouse and I were discussing this, I admitted that after this debacle, I really am thinking the bank does not have our best interest in mind at all and it's the first time I sincerely felt that we'd been truly had. I have heard a fee can be paid to extend said rate lock, but it's never cheap, and of course we have already scraped the barrel to get this far and they are quite aware of that since all of our banking is through them. If we do not extend the lock, our rate will jump a full percentage point because rates are still going up and we barely got what we did then.

I am trying very hard not to be upset, or panic, and am assuming that they are just do things "officially" on paper even though we all know it's a load of horse hockey. (We had to backdate the changed P&S for instance.)

Even if they waive the lock extension fee (don't make me laugh), we are already past the point of them keeping the closing date they supposedly were targeting (10th), since the letter claims they cannot proceed until a 3/4 of a page list of items is sent to them. Most of which were, or apparently we were told the wrong variant and would have to resend after further expense to us for Notary and such.

We originally were supposed to close the first week of January. They have all this time to get their ducks in a row, and now at the zero hour, they conveniently try to dump this in our lap when they have nothing but more money to gain?

<--how I feel mentally, but I'm holding it in. Spouse, I know, is just tapped out at this latest twist.

[Lily left the valley]

Good grief has today been that time when you've been stuck in the part of the submarine joke where it's been utter dragging and almost outright wanting to climb the walls, and has suddenly become the time for sheer terror and swift long practiced responsive action. It appears that mortgage guy has come to the point for real when he basically steamrolled me through a lot of little bits and pieces.

Our realtor it turns out is a notary, so even if spouse can't get out early, we'll still be able to do the affidavits and have copies of what little we have left to send in the e-mails going out tonight and then we -should- be done with everything that was asked of us. From what he said, it seems mortgage guy is at the point where he is taking copies of everything and handing them over in person at this point so nothing else stays "missing".

I know there's a joke here somewhere about how the mortgage team overall is pulling a Superbowl Pats turnaround to win this one.

The one thing mortgage guy was absolutely clear on today was "Even if we close on the 15th, you will not lose the lock." And I think part of why he said that is because today I heard from our insurance lady that if we don't close on the 10th, it will be the 15th. So those two dates must be the "if not this then must be on that" dates. Right now my schedule says spouse is off that day, I better be sure it stays that way.

While I was caught up the "WE WILL SOLVE THIS NOW AND ALL WILL BE WELL" morning, I had to call our landlandy to let her know our mortgage guy would be calling her so he could get a verbal confirm that February rent was on time and cleared. We didn't know they'd want to see that because we thought we'd be done by now, so spouse had used the LOC check again, trying to use them since they had the soon to be old address--so there was no way anyone was going to wait the near week it would take for that same bank to pull up the file of the images of the check. What a loony system. They don't do that with regular checks...so it seems inane that they do with the LOC variants.

Sooooo....that was almost awkward when I started the conversation "Well, I didn't picture tell you this way, but we're closing on a house this month." She was actually really nice about it and congratulated us before letting me know she was taking this call on vacation (now I know why the rent check was cashed within hours of it being delivered.) I quickly told her the possible time line so I could let her be on vacation. She'll be using the same fella that helped us get the place, and he's our kind of folk so I think any showings he needs to do will work out just fine.

And I just realized the two times I've called her with what could be bad news in her mind depending were when she was on vacation, and the last time it was to tell her we had no heat on New Year's eve. No wonder she seemed so apprehensive when I opened with that.

The only "argh" today was we had shuffled money into the credit card to use it to pay the insurance, but because of how insurance for mortgages and closings work, they can't take a CC unless the lender does some forms for such because of possible charge backs. She and I immediately nixed that once she said the checks are held until the day after closing is complete so it's registered. So it's darn good spouse gets paid Friday. Otherwise we would have had to pull the funds back out at the cash advance rate which is horrific and why we never use it that way.

I did feel brave enough to try to call a locksmith and start to get some quotes and availability. Without planning it, the local one I called first had me feeling comfortable even though I didn't have all the answers to what was asked. (I realized when we were recovering from the shock of the emptied garage, I never noted the makers of the current deadbolts. Yeah, I'm just oh for nothin' lately.)

So I'm not saying this is ____ news and risk giving Mr. Murphy's evil superpowers a charge to help him escape Deb's basement. Nope, I'm just going to figure out which spot at Baker is going to be the equivalent for the weeping in relief moments if everything works out.

One other bit I'll share later not to jinx anything too.

And again, as before...

[eclecticcottage]

Hang in there!

It's amazing the stories on all sides that go into something as "simple" as buying something. All the people involved...sellers, buyers, sellers families, buyers families, agents, lawyers, bankers, insurance agents...

At least you had one less winter heat bill there before you move in and get a chance to do little projects to help tighten it up!

[eclecticcottage]

BTW, I read your new CT and it took a second to dawn on me it meant owners of new builds vs people that just bought a "new to them house" given all you're going through to get yours