Bob spent yesterday ripping up the carpet in the master bedroom in preparation for the wide plank pine from the living room to be re-laid there. Nasty work - lots of staple and nail pulling. Then he finished taking up the last part of the front stair carpet to reveal the oak flooring.
He thought he was done and had asked me to clean up and vacuum in the master bedroom - he makes the mess and I clean it up seems to be a theme that's developing - so I was vacuuming when I noticed that the top step/edge of the subfloor on the rear stair into the master bedroom was oak. So I called Bob over (at this point he did not wish ever to see another carpet that needed to be pulled up) and said "Look at this. Why would there be oak here unless the stair was also oak?" At that point he started wailing "No, no, why me?" in true Nancy Kerrigan fashion and timidly peeled up the carpet in one of the corner treads to reveal an absolutely mint red oak stair tread.
It looks like it was never even exposed to the light - looks freshly laid. So now we have 2 stairs to refinish. Along with 1 living room, 3 bedrooms and one upstairs hallway. Plus re-lay the pine in the master bedroom and if any is left over then lay that in the dining room.
We didn't expect to find an oak floor under the living room pine floor and we definitely didn't expect to find oak treads on the rear stair as we specifically asked about where there was hardwood floor. So that was a nice bonus. I called the floor guy to warn him but also say that we did a bunch of his prep work taking up the plank and carpet. He is starting on the floors tomorrow - it's very exciting - can't wait 'til they are done. Good job Bob!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Day 2
The door hung - yes! we CAN use power tools (and cut straight - well done Bob) and the room with door replaced and floor taken up (chair was left on the rear porch and has become the only seating in the house!)
Day 1
The floor beneath the floor. Wide planks were nailed down with decorative raised-head nails which posed a problem for finishing.
February 27th 2006
So we are homeowners! The closing went fine and with sleeping bags and cats loaded in the car we went over to the house and crashed there Fri and Sat night. Lots of work to do especially as the floor guy is coming Wednesday to refinish etc.
Shani, John, Henry and Hannah stopped by to become our first official guests. H & H ran around the house all the time - they love the two stairways as they can do laps.
Cats do not like the big empty rooms with no where to hide and at 4:30 am Saturday morning were jumping around on the bed and eventually both of them buried down my sleeping bag for the rest of the night.
Saturday morning was a quick drive to the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru' - all of 1/2 mile away - and then on with the projects...
I have already pulled 160 nails out of the walls. One of the sellers liked to paint (and apparently hang) lots of pictures but had not (apparently) heard of a picture hook so there were all kinds of sizes and types of nails all banged into the plaster walls through a little "X" of scotch tape. So make that 160 nails pulled and about 100 little scotch tape "X"s removed. Many holes spackled.
February 22nd, 2006
Eefah! Well the low moment that our broker warned us about has arrived. When we had the inspection done in late January they didn't turn the water on (the house had been winterized and they didn't want to turn it on and then have it freeze and they didn't think to trun it back off again) saying they would turn it on just prior to closing.
We sensed two things: i) a rat; and ii) some penny pinching as we're paying them a few hundred thousand dollars and they're balking at $100 to get the plumber back out to turn off the water and drain the system.
Anyhoo - the sisters executing the sale for their parents were back up this past week to clear the house of all the furniture and had the water turned back on. We had the water inspection on Monday 2/20. The highlight of which was the mystery 5" diameter open pipe that disappeared into the garage floor. Two smaller daimeter pipes rested on the lip and drained water from the master bath shower and 2nd bath bath tub. but to where did they drain that was the question. Clearly not into the sewer as they should have. Now, I;m no plumbing expert but this set-up was decidedly dodgey and most likely a through back to when the house was on a septic.
The inspection report came back saying that these pipes drained to a footing drain (i.e. near the foundation of the house - gee is that why they have a sump pump?) and that they needed to be hooked up to the main sewer. This was communicated to our broker, the seller's broker was in agreement that it needed to be done. By Thursday he was out at the house with the seller's daughter and a plumber who also said it needed to be done. So the seller said "we'll book the plumber for Friday" (when we were meant to be doing the final walk-thru') "but we won't pay for it". So that opened up a whole exchange between the brokers and us and us and the lawyers with the seller's alwyer saying that he couldn't belive the whole deal was going to fall thru' over $450!
Unfortunately it was communicated during this exchange that the seller's we're threatening to put the house back on the market. Irrespective of hte fact that we had a signed contract with a cluase that we had added saying we could sue the life out of them if the seller's backed out but apparently this didn't phase them. We think what really happened was that they came to clear the house, saw a house on the market at the end of the street (which needless to say was 2x the plot size, 400 sq. ft smaller and in move-in condition), saw that it was on the market for $75,000 more than they sold the house to us for and tried to figure out a way to get the house back thinking now that it was empty of furniture they could repaint and get more money. Plus now we are in the selling season and not the mid-winter.
Too bad - should've thought about that 8 months ago when it first went on the market. They put the house on the market with 20 year old paint on the walls, a dirty, dusty cobwebby house (at least after 7 mths it was), packed with furniture and needing a new kitchen and they ex[ect to get top dollar. Not gonna happen and the 11th hour is not the time to be second-guessing that.
Our attorney advised us to delay the closing (set for Friday at 2:30pm) but I pushed him to be less knee-jerk and more looking for a remedy to ensure that the closing did not have to be moved.Fortunately for us - the brokers worked out a remedy and the plumbing was done and we closed as planned.
We sensed two things: i) a rat; and ii) some penny pinching as we're paying them a few hundred thousand dollars and they're balking at $100 to get the plumber back out to turn off the water and drain the system.
Anyhoo - the sisters executing the sale for their parents were back up this past week to clear the house of all the furniture and had the water turned back on. We had the water inspection on Monday 2/20. The highlight of which was the mystery 5" diameter open pipe that disappeared into the garage floor. Two smaller daimeter pipes rested on the lip and drained water from the master bath shower and 2nd bath bath tub. but to where did they drain that was the question. Clearly not into the sewer as they should have. Now, I;m no plumbing expert but this set-up was decidedly dodgey and most likely a through back to when the house was on a septic.
The inspection report came back saying that these pipes drained to a footing drain (i.e. near the foundation of the house - gee is that why they have a sump pump?) and that they needed to be hooked up to the main sewer. This was communicated to our broker, the seller's broker was in agreement that it needed to be done. By Thursday he was out at the house with the seller's daughter and a plumber who also said it needed to be done. So the seller said "we'll book the plumber for Friday" (when we were meant to be doing the final walk-thru') "but we won't pay for it". So that opened up a whole exchange between the brokers and us and us and the lawyers with the seller's alwyer saying that he couldn't belive the whole deal was going to fall thru' over $450!
Unfortunately it was communicated during this exchange that the seller's we're threatening to put the house back on the market. Irrespective of hte fact that we had a signed contract with a cluase that we had added saying we could sue the life out of them if the seller's backed out but apparently this didn't phase them. We think what really happened was that they came to clear the house, saw a house on the market at the end of the street (which needless to say was 2x the plot size, 400 sq. ft smaller and in move-in condition), saw that it was on the market for $75,000 more than they sold the house to us for and tried to figure out a way to get the house back thinking now that it was empty of furniture they could repaint and get more money. Plus now we are in the selling season and not the mid-winter.
Too bad - should've thought about that 8 months ago when it first went on the market. They put the house on the market with 20 year old paint on the walls, a dirty, dusty cobwebby house (at least after 7 mths it was), packed with furniture and needing a new kitchen and they ex[ect to get top dollar. Not gonna happen and the 11th hour is not the time to be second-guessing that.
Our attorney advised us to delay the closing (set for Friday at 2:30pm) but I pushed him to be less knee-jerk and more looking for a remedy to ensure that the closing did not have to be moved.Fortunately for us - the brokers worked out a remedy and the plumbing was done and we closed as planned.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
February 13,2006
So things are still ticking along smoothly. Closing is only 11 days away and I am still waiting for the "low point" that our real estate broker warned us to be prepared for.
Finalized the home insurance today. My insurance broker quoted I think 4 companies and came back with Traveller's being the best. I currently pay $249/year for renter's insurance (and bob pays his renter's) so $914 for the house insurance sounds like a deal to me plus Traveller's quoted my car insurance at almost $300/year less. So Traveller's it is and Patty is faxing binders to the attorney's office and the mortgage broker's office.
Talked to Garner (Ginny's business partner) about getting into the house one more time before the sellers come up this weekend to move all their furniture as I'd like our hardwood floor guy to evaluate the floor refinishing before the closing so that maybe we can have him come in the week after the closing and do the floors and not lose time as we want to move in before the end of March.
I'm glad that work is fairly slow right now as if I was editing all the time or just busy it would definitely be a bit manic.
I think everything is set. Mortgage company needs (or maybe already has) finalized contract so I think we (yikes, dare I say it) be set.
Have been chomping at the bit recently with pent up decorating desires but have to just keep them in check. I've been swotting up on door hanging and window filling-in/replacing know-how off the web to help with the first few projects and watching a little HGTV here and there.
:-)
Finalized the home insurance today. My insurance broker quoted I think 4 companies and came back with Traveller's being the best. I currently pay $249/year for renter's insurance (and bob pays his renter's) so $914 for the house insurance sounds like a deal to me plus Traveller's quoted my car insurance at almost $300/year less. So Traveller's it is and Patty is faxing binders to the attorney's office and the mortgage broker's office.
Talked to Garner (Ginny's business partner) about getting into the house one more time before the sellers come up this weekend to move all their furniture as I'd like our hardwood floor guy to evaluate the floor refinishing before the closing so that maybe we can have him come in the week after the closing and do the floors and not lose time as we want to move in before the end of March.
I'm glad that work is fairly slow right now as if I was editing all the time or just busy it would definitely be a bit manic.
I think everything is set. Mortgage company needs (or maybe already has) finalized contract so I think we (yikes, dare I say it) be set.
Have been chomping at the bit recently with pent up decorating desires but have to just keep them in check. I've been swotting up on door hanging and window filling-in/replacing know-how off the web to help with the first few projects and watching a little HGTV here and there.
:-)
Monday, February 06, 2006
February 6, 2006
So we are inching ever closer - mortgage is set - just need Bob to get home so we can sign the documents and send back. Home insurance is underway, appraisal came back OK and water will get turned on ealier than we had hoped so we can get that part of the inspection done. The owners are coming down on Feb 16 to move their stuff out and will have water turned on so it will have been used a few days before we have the water/plumbing inspection on 2/20. Psyched about that as their desire to turn the water on only on 2/290 when we are closign 2/25 was a little worrying. I just presumed it was a good indication that the pipes froze but Ginny said that the seller's agent is away now until 2/20 so that was why he chose then.
Looked up some quotes for cleaning the house once we close with Merry Miads etc - it would run about $300 - still can't decide if we should go that route. Bob and I will have some work the first w/e - changing the locks and putting in a new back door so is it worth paying someone to clean it - maybe I want to save that cashola.
Looked up some quotes for cleaning the house once we close with Merry Miads etc - it would run about $300 - still can't decide if we should go that route. Bob and I will have some work the first w/e - changing the locks and putting in a new back door so is it worth paying someone to clean it - maybe I want to save that cashola.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
February 1, 2006
OK ... ebay fund is at $318.01, not bad for a pile of stuff that was going to go to donation. Finalized the mortgage finally today - that was a mind blower - though i had a good rate but turned out to be interest only on the 2nd mortgage (doing 10-10-80) and then another quote was quoted on an in correct credit score so in the end we chose Coldwell Banker Mortgage - the guy there worked hard - not that the others didn't - but he was always very clear and up front with the numbers. So it is good to get that decided.Closing still planned for Feb 24 - only a little over 3 weeks away!
Bob is still in Detroit being driven slowly crazy by the ABC Superbowl crew so it's been tough to chat with him on some stuff but to his credit he has been patient (nost of the time!). Thought we might have to overnight documents to him to sign but he may be able to sign them inbetween getting back from Superbowl and flying out on his next gig 3 days later. Plus it looks like he is getting a job offer - which he couldn't take 'til after we close due to the mortgage thang.
So now I just have to call and get home insurance quotes and then maybe I can breathe a wee sigh of relief. Oh - went over the contract with a stand-in attorney yesterday - ours was out on a family emergency- the stand-in guy was such a friggin' windbag - basically had an hours-long conversatoin with himself, telling tales, implying that he would save the world from mean seller's agents. Thank goodness we are on Bob's company legal benefits coz if that guy was on billable time I think I might have had to been rude to him. Hopefully next time we will have our attorney Karen Nejame back! So I have to drop off some signed stuff and a check for 9% to bring the downpayment monies up to 10% to hand over when we get the contract dialled. Hopefully there won't be too much heave-ho on the contract and the water tests (they didn't turn the water on for the inspection) go OK. And soon we shall have a house! Phew!
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