The House Hunters Thread

[trillionaire]

Lots of house dust to everyone!

Hope everyone his having a fantastic weekend!

 

[geckodani]

Date: 11/14/2009 10:41:30 AM
Author: Lynnie
Gecko & NEL... GOOD LUCK today!!!!! Gecko, fingers crossed that you love a non-short sale house!!!

I really really hope this is ''the'' weekend for you!

I hope to have some before/after pics by Sunday night for you guys.

We painted the MBR a greenish blue (Mystic Sea, it''s called). I have to shop for a yellow and white bedspread and yellow curtains. I''m kinda liking this: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/matine-toile-duvet-cover-sham-marigold/?pkey=cpatterned-duvet-covers-shams
I''ve always wanted a beachy-feeling bedroom. After living in a neutral apartment for so long, we''re craving color! Oh, and we ripped that awful carpet out of the BR, and the floors underneath look amazing! Tim''s gonna get some kinda of wood cleaner to shine them up.
We decided on a celery green (celery stick) for downstairs, with an accent wall that''s a dark greenish brown (mushroom field, I think). Shopping for paint colors can make you hungry

All the trim''s painted, everything''s taped and ready for color (yay!).

Gecko - that sure is a lot of houses!! I hope I''ll see some exciting news here later!

Lynnie - it sounds like your place is going to be fabulous! I love the yellow - it''s a happy color.

No go on the houses. Only one was worth paying money for, and it''s in a bad spot. SIGH

NEL - How''d it go for you?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Ugh, I''m sorry to hear that, Gecko. I was keeping my fingers crossed for you today.

We''re about to head out to meet with our realtor. We scratched one off the list because we knew it wouldn''t work, so we''re only looking at three. D drove by all of them yesterday because he was in the area and said he didn''t like any of them from the outside. I guess we''ll see, but I''m not expecting too much.

I''ll report back tonight. Gecko, when we finally get through all of this I''ll have to fly to MI to buy you a celebratory drink. I''m sure at this point you''re exhausted.

 

[anchor31]

gecko - Sorry to hear nothing worked out for you.

NEL - I''m looking forward to hear from you!

We visited 6 houses today. The first 4 were disappointments, but we realled liked the last two. One of them may be the one. It''s a bit smaller than the one we liked from last week, but still has everything we need, it''s right on our budget, cheaper on taxes and closer to commodities. I''ll look at comps this week and we''ll make a decision for an offer. No more visiting for now, my head is spinning...

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Okay, so we didn''t fall in love with any homes today, but the experience was...interesting.

So the first house we went to was the one that I thought I''d be most interested in. The listing read that the home needed some TLC, and it''s already at the top of our budget, so I didn''t think it would be feasible. Still, I wanted to see it. When I got there the homeowner was talking with our realtor outside and he warned us that his daughter was mentally handicapped and did not want to move, so she might be upset. Of course I felt bad, but I did not expect what we walked into. When we came into the house, the daughter greeted us in her bra and underwear and started swearing at us. I tried to just ignore her, but our realtor looked like a deer caught in headlights. Eventually she settled down, but needless to say, I didn''t get any pictures of that house (which is unfortunate because there aren''t any pictures from the listing agent, either).

The house does need some TLC. Mainly the floors, the kitchen and the bathrooms, but there are some details in the house that I really love. The home was built in 1905 and has all of the original french doors inside (with original glass) and I really fell in love with them. Also ,there are some original stained glass windows in the home that are stunning. The home is very large with the kitchen and main living area in the middle, then two huge rooms on either side of the french doors (one is a music room and the other is a large sitting room). I think that if we redid the kitchen, pulled up carpets and refinished the wood floors (or put in new wood floors) and opened the whole area up it could be absolutely beautiful. Also, I loved the lot--it was very large and sits on a lake with an easement to the ocean across the street. The ocean views from the house are actually better than I expected. Anyway, D thinks the house would be too much work, but would be willing to consider it if they came down signicantly in price (it''s currently overpriced). I think we could really turn it into something beautiful with some updates and it would give us a lot of room to grow into. We''ll see--I''m going to keep an eye on it. It''s been on the market for less than a week, but I think it will start coming down in price pretty quickly since it''s wintertime.

The other two homes were duds. One was way too small and the other needed so much work that we''d have to take it down to the studs.

So it looks like right now we''re just keeping an eye on things. Sorry for the novel tonight, I keep weighing our options.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 11/15/2009 1:47:38 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Ugh, I'm sorry to hear that, Gecko. I was keeping my fingers crossed for you today.

We're about to head out to meet with our realtor. We scratched one off the list because we knew it wouldn't work, so we're only looking at three. D drove by all of them yesterday because he was in the area and said he didn't like any of them from the outside. I guess we'll see, but I'm not expecting too much.

I'll report back tonight. Gecko, when we finally get through all of this I'll have to fly to MI to buy you a celebratory drink. I'm sure at this point you're exhausted.

Aw.

You're sweet NEL! I may have had a hard cider... or eight Sat night, LOL. It's getting frustrating. I think the main problem for me right now is that we found the perfect house, in the perfect spot. And now I'm not willing to settle at ALL since I know they really do exist!!!

That's too bizarre with the chick in her bra and underwear! We had some weird things on our trip as well. I really hate looking at houses when the people are home!!! It's crazy!

First house had the mom in there with her baby and we had to crawl over baby gates to get to everything.

Second house homeowner was home, as was their ginormous dog. I'm a dog person, but it takes me a minute (bit by a dog a few years ago - big dogs wig me out now). This dog proved to be a big puddle of love, but it still kinda put me off to have 150lbs of lab/pit mix coming at me when we walked in the door.

She proceeded to follow us around and try to sleep on our feet, so it ended up being pretty funny.

Apparantly our realtor doesn't like little dogs, because one of the houses had the owners on their way out when we got there, and their little collie was baring her teeth and barking like mad at us. Our realtor asked if she was going to put the dog away and the homeowner said, "Noooo. Fine, I'll just stay." And proceeded to make snide comments about how it says in the listing they had a dog and didn't we know that etc etc etc...

 

[trillionaire]

Well, today was a beautiful sunny day, and I was feeling better after the disappointment of last week. Saw a house today that we might be making an offer on!

I know, already? Sheesh!

It's a large home, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, with a fully finished basement with 2 or 3 more rooms and a full kitchen! It's on a half acre of land, great location, great yard, 2 car garage, large kitchen with an open floor plan that opens to the great room... but needs a lot of cosmetic work... new flooring, paint, appliances, new deck, etc.

It's an unreal price for over 3,000 sq feet. Honestly, I think we'd be nuts NOT to make an offer on it... it's really a steal, also instant equity, and it's NOT a short sale OR foreclosure! We could actually close in 30 days, and save money by not having to move to a new apartment next month, and not have to break our lease when we find a house!

Now, the good thing about this house is the selling agent is good friends with my realtor (they used to work together at RE/Max), so she's being very upfront about everything and we are in a great position to put in a offer that will be accepted, even if there are other offers. (none so far) So, FI has to meet us at the house this evening to see if he likes the property or not, but if he says go, we'll do our offer tonight! Eeek! They LITERALLY need an offer by tomorrow to stop foreclosure, so the timing might just work perfectly for everyone.

AND, the best part is, I'm not emotionally invested in the house! If we don't get it, I'll live. I know it's a great deal, and we shouldn't pass it up, but I really want something that requires a little less work. And it's a LOT of house for two people! We don't plan on kids, so I have no idea what we would to do with all that space! So, we'll see what happens. Of course I will keep everyone posted

*crosses fingers and holds breath*

 

[geckodani]

Oh Trillionaire! Major dust and crossed fingers for you! It sounds fantastic!!!

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 11/16/2009 4:20:21 PM
Author: geckodani
Oh Trillionaire! Major dust and crossed fingers for you! It sounds fantastic!!!

Thanks Gecko! We put in an offer, so we''ll see how it goes. There are at least two other offers, so it''s a gamble, as usual. Not being emotional about it, it is what it is. The hard thing is that I go out and see the houses, and FI only sees the good ones. This one was a little more than we wanted to pay, but the price is CRAZY low for the space, and I''ve seen a LOT of houses... this one, in our price range, is a real deal. And I like deals!

However, just because it''s a good deal doens''t mean that it''s good for our bottom line. The other great plus is that we can probably rent out the basement, since it''s a walk out with a full kitchen, and 3 rooms with closets but no windows that can be bedrooms or offices, as well as storage space, and an area for a couch and TV (yes, all of that... 1,400 sq ft!) The basement, thankfully, is in better shape than the rest of the house, so we wouldn''t have to do any work on it to rent it, maybe just some paint (the basement was a recent addition) So, it''s really an ideal situation... a huge house with less out of pocket costs if we get renters.


So, in conclusion, THANK YOU FOR THE DUST! We needs dust!

I guess we''ll know tomorrow morning if we got the house or not... Foreclosure is at 12pm!

Then, it''s on to the home inspection!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Trillionaire, I have my fingers crossed for you!!

I''m confused, though. For some reason I thought a property was always a short sale before it went into foreclosure?

Keep us updated!!! It sounds like you''ll find out one way another by today, which is nice!

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 11/17/2009 8:58:27 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Trillionaire, I have my fingers crossed for you!!

I'm confused, though. For some reason I thought a property was always a short sale before it went into foreclosure?

Keep us updated!!! It sounds like you'll find out one way another by today, which is nice!

Thanks NEL! I haven't heard anything yet, so I'm taking that as a 'No,' but I don't have the official say. Mentally preparing for it to not work out again.

I think in this case, the homeowner had a foreclosure date, got a realtor literally 5 days before their foreclosure date, and need a contract, any contract, to stop foreclosure. If the bid was high enough, it could be a straight sale with 30 day closing, depending on how much outstanding debt the owner had. If the number was less than he owed, it could be submitted as a short sale, but they had not done the short sale paperwork yet, hoping for a straight sale. The REALLY crazy thing, was that the agent listed the price at a number that would sell the property quickly, but not necessarily recoup all of the necessary money, which I found very confusing, then was hoping for a bid that was 35-50K more than the list price, in order to do a straight sale.

She could easily have listed at $25K higher and still moved the property quickly. I swear, real estate is for the birds!


Still hoping that maybe the dust and crossed fingers will work... I'll know at some point today!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Wow! They are really cutting it down to the wire, huh? I wonder if the listing agent priced it lower in order to try to get multiple bids and start some sort of bidding war that would drive the price up so the homeowner was in the black? Maybe he listing agent thought it was the only way to get some bids on the house before it went into foreclosure (and he/she lost out on any commission)...who knows! If all of the bids are less than what the homeowner owes, then the bank would have to approve them since the bank is taking the hit, right? Sorry for my confusion, I am just keeping my fingers crossed for you over here! Who knows...if you don''t hear anything today, it may not mean much. Even if the home does go into foreclosure, you could still bid on it.

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/17/2009 8:58:27 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Trillionaire, I have my fingers crossed for you!!

I''m confused, though. For some reason I thought a property was always a short sale before it went into foreclosure?

Keep us updated!!! It sounds like you''ll find out one way another by today, which is nice!

Ditto, ALL of it! Trill, I hope you hear good news soon!

The house sounds divine!

 

[anchor31]

Good luck Trill!

Still waiting on the comps for last weekend''s house we liked...

Any way we can find this information ourselves?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I''ve read that you can call Town Hall (or the Town clerk?) or something if you''re looking for public information about a house--I think sometimes the homeowners'' loan info is public. I''ve always gotten that type of info from my realtor, though. Are you looking for exactly how much they paid for their house vs. how much they currently owe?

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 11/17/2009 5:24:20 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I''ve read that you can call Town Hall (or the Town clerk?) or something if you''re looking for public information about a house--I think sometimes the homeowners'' loan info is public. I''ve always gotten that type of info from my realtor, though. Are you looking for exactly how much they paid for their house vs. how much they currently owe?

I haven''t heard anything today.

I might try to call Town Hall tomorrow. My realtor found an outstandinf lien, but not how much was owed on the mortgage. I did hear that allegedly, she (seller''s agent) was working crazy hard to stop the foreclosure, and she was sucessful, but it''s hearsay. I have no idea what to think. Saw another great house today, but priced higher than we can afford, so maybe we''ll keep an eye on it.

 

[neatfreak]

NEL A house is only a short sale if the owners are desperately trying to stop the foreclosure. It's the homeowners who plead with the bank for a SS-which the bank can choose to allow or not depending on whether they think they'll make more with a SS or by letting it go into foreclosure. The foreclosure is when the bank takes over. Before that it is all o the homeowner whether they want to just let it happen or whether they want to try to save their credit and miracle of all miracles get a SS completed.

Only a very tiny, miniscule number of short sales ever actually get approved by the bank in the end though. The bank can say "sure, try a SS" at the beginning, but that doesn't mean the bank has any intention of approving a SS offer unless it's good. They can simply reject all of the offers if they want (this is all assuming the homeowner is upside down and the offers are less than the loan amount). So just beause a bank has "approved" a short sale doesn't mean that SS offers will ever even be given a second glance. Of course they could be-but often the banks just pass right over them.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Thank you, NF! I think I understand now--I always thought a short sale was simply when a person was upside down on the house and sells it before it goes into foreclosure.

So if a homeowner is upside down on his/her home and is trying to get it sold before it is foreclosed upon by the bank, what happens? Somebody has to take a hit, right?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2009 10:00:18 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
So if a homeowner is upside down on his/her home and is trying to get it sold before it is foreclosed upon by the bank, what happens? Somebody has to take a hit, right?

Yes. Either the homeowner pays off the bank in full for their loan (i.e., takes money out of savings or somewhere else) or the bank would have to agree on a short sale. A short sale occurs IF the bank agrees to take less money for the house than the loan is for, and in turn they essentially forgive the loan to the homeowners so they owe nothing.

The bank hardly ever agrees to a SS though-because most of the time (and ALWAYS if the homeowner has PMI or a government backed mortgage) they stand to get more money foreclosing on the house and selling it themselves. Plus if the homeowner had mortgage insurance the bank is essentially going to have that loss covered-so they refuse to allow a SS. But often the homeowners put the house up FOR a short sale and the bank doesn''t agree to it and forecloses anyway. Which is why SS''s are such a longshot deal. Just because it''s on the market as a SS doesn''t mean the bank will agree to accept anything less than what they are owed.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Again, thank you NF, I feel like all of my SS and foreclosure knowledge has come from you

It seems highly likely that those who are upside-down on their homes probably do have PMI since they probably put little down. Not that you couldn''t have put 20% or more down a few years ago and still be upside down. Still, I can see why most SS don''t go through since I''m betting the vast majority do have PMI and the banks have more to gain in foreclosure.

So Trill, it sounds like this is the situation you are in right now--the homeowner is still in the red and despite having mulitple offers on the house, it''s probably better for the bank to foreclose on the property.

------------------------------

Our RE agent heard from the listing agent of the house we put an offer on (which was quickly rejected) a couple of weeks ago. She just wanted to know if we had bought anything else. Our agent told he we were still looking, but that we were still intersted in that house if the price dropped. The listing agent said that she''d already dropped the price 15% and couldn''t go much lower and my agent said that she understood, but that the reduced price is still over the assessed price and nothing is selling for assessed anymore. I think it is encouraging that the listing agent reached out...maybe in another couple of weeks (if we haven''t found something else), they''ll seriously reconsider our offer.

We''re looking at 3 more houses in the town we love this weekend. Two are old farmhouses built in the early 1900''s with a lot of neat details and one is a contemporary house built in the 1980''s, haha. None are ocean front, but have ocean views, which is fine. I think the contemporary has the best views, which is unfortunate because I''m definitely more of an old farmhouse kind of girl. We''ll see!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/18/2009 9:36:34 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Again, thank you NF, I feel like all of my SS and foreclosure knowledge has come from you


It seems highly likely that those who are upside-down on their homes probably do have PMI since they probably put little down. Not that you couldn''t have put 20% or more down a few years ago and still be upside down. Still, I can see why most SS don''t go through since I''m betting the vast majority do have PMI and the banks have more to gain in foreclosure.

You''ve got it. If you have an agent who is experienced in short sales (and who is willing to deal with them-many are not) the VERY FIRST THING they will do with a SS listing you are interested in is go back to all the property details and find out about the loan the current owner has and whether they have PMI/a government backed loan. If the answer is yes you can pretty much say goodbye to the house. Not that you shouldn''t throw in an offer just for fun-but you should know that it probably won''t happen.

All my SS knowledge came from doing mega research on them earlier this summer when it looked like everything in our area (Bay Area) was a SS. That being said, we made offers on at least 15 SS''s and never heard back from even one of them. And we ended up finding a house that wasn''t a SS-go figure.

Anyway, that sounds SUPER promising with the house! A similar thing happened to us where our agent went to view the house (that is now ours), we didn''t make an offer immediately (because we thought it was way way overpriced), and the agent called ours and begged us to make an offer a few days later of whatever we thought was fair.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/18/2009 9:36:34 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Again, thank you NF, I feel like all of my SS and foreclosure knowledge has come from you

It seems highly likely that those who are upside-down on their homes probably do have PMI since they probably put little down. Not that you couldn't have put 20% or more down a few years ago and still be upside down. Still, I can see why most SS don't go through since I'm betting the vast majority do have PMI and the banks have more to gain in foreclosure.

So Trill, it sounds like this is the situation you are in right now--the homeowner is still in the red and despite having mulitple offers on the house, it's probably better for the bank to foreclose on the property.

------------------------------

Our RE agent heard from the listing agent of the house we put an offer on (which was quickly rejected) a couple of weeks ago. She just wanted to know if we had bought anything else. Our agent told he we were still looking, but that we were still intersted in that house if the price dropped. The listing agent said that she'd already dropped the price 15% and couldn't go much lower and my agent said that she understood, but that the reduced price is still over the assessed price and nothing is selling for assessed anymore. I think it is encouraging that the listing agent reached out...maybe in another couple of weeks (if we haven't found something else), they'll seriously reconsider our offer.

We're looking at 3 more houses in the town we love this weekend. Two are old farmhouses built in the early 1900's with a lot of neat details and one is a contemporary house built in the 1980's, haha. None are ocean front, but have ocean views, which is fine. I think the contemporary has the best views, which is unfortunate because I'm definitely more of an old farmhouse kind of girl. We'll see!

NEL, it sounds like your RE agent is back on your side regarding the house price that you offered. That is great news.

I hope the ones this weekend are great! They sound wonderful. I'm a farmhouse girl too!
I would ideally love to own an house something like this in the future. All warm hardwood floors with a huge wrap around porch. You just can't find them in our area, so we would more than likely have to build again, and then you loose the old town feel.

My mom grew up around Williamsburg, VA and I LOVE the farmhouses around there. Gorgeous!

 

[meresal]

FYI- Just sent off another email to the builders agent. Still no word on when we will meet with the builder to go over the blueprints. We officaially gave over our final earnest payment 10/16, so it has been over a month since we have heard anything. We have over $10k in the house so far, and still just a plot of land with a "sold" sign on it.

I think we are just coming up on the "Tunnel of Frustration" re: building your own home...

 

[Lynnie]

NEL & Gecko... I'm sorry the past weekend was a dud for you. I hope the coming weekends bring a plentitude of dwellings! How awesome would it be to get a HOUSE for Christmas?? continued dussst!

NEL - I, too, love the charm of older homes. There's just something about them that makes me swoon! But you never know - a contemporary house could bowl you over, too! Interesting that the owners of the last house inquired about you. Maybe (*hopefully*) they'll reconsider.

Trill - Good luck on your offer! How exciting... sounds like an amazing house - your basement alone is only 100sqf bigger than my entire house! lol

NF - I never knew how SS's worked. Thanks for shedding SO much light on the subject!

We're definitely making some major headway. LR, DR, hallway, and MBR are all painted (finally!). Carpet's ripped up - we're only leaving the stairs and hallway carpeted for now. The floors are in really decent shape, but I would still like to refinish them this spring or summer. DH would be doing them, but winter isn't the best time. He'd like to put 2-3 coats of poly on them, with 2 days drying time in between. We'd like to be able to open all the windows to let out the fumes without freezing out butts off!
We need to get quarter-round for all the baseboards - it just looks so unfinished now, with that ugly gap between the baseboards and floors. I promise pics soon! Honestly, I have to dig out the cord for my camera, anyway. It's still packed somewhere!

ETA: Mer, we were posting at the same time. So now you're in the waiting stage? When do they break ground? (Sorry if you already posted that)

 

[meresal]

Lynnie- Congrats on getting so much done!! I can''t wait to see the floors!! (good idea on waiting to be able to open the windows... lol)

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Meresal! I have to admit that every day I check this thread hoping that you''ll have news about them breaking ground! I really wanted for them to break ground quickly after your final payment in October since winter is coming up and I really want for the house to be done so you''re not stressed about it while 8 months pregnant! It''s been over a month now, what''s the hold up? Now is a perfect time to do it because it''s not too wet (like it typically is in the spring) and they still have weeks before the ground starts to freeze. Grr, I could definitely understand your frustration.

I absolutely love the photo you posted, especially those airy panels blowing in the breeze. Both of the farmhouses we''re looking at this weekend look similar with wraparound porches and those big, nice shutters. They both have original wood floors, but one has all the original wood ceilings as well, which I really love. My family always had a farm that my great grandfather built it in the ''20''s and it had a huge wrap-around porch. I always loved how homey it felt.

Lynnie! I can''t believe how much you guys have gotten done with the house!!! I''m sure it already looks 100x better and is starting to feel like home! How perfect that you''re getting all the major stuff done before the holidays, I think that spending the holidays in your first home is going to make the next couple of months very special. I''m just very happy for you!

 

[anchor31]

Date: 11/17/2009 5:24:20 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I''ve read that you can call Town Hall (or the Town clerk?) or something if you''re looking for public information about a house--I think sometimes the homeowners'' loan info is public. I''ve always gotten that type of info from my realtor, though. Are you looking for exactly how much they paid for their house vs. how much they currently owe?

The house is in a neighbouring town than the first one we liked, so I''m curious to have price asked vs price sold comps for this one as well. I sent an email to our agent this morning, I hope she''ll get back to us with the info quickly. The asking price is on budget, but I''d still like to offer 5-6% below and I want to be able to back it up with numbers. Hopefully we''ll be able to make our offer by the end of the week.

Sending some more dust to everyone!!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Date: 11/18/2009 12:38:07 PM
Author: anchor31

Date: 11/17/2009 5:24:20 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I''ve read that you can call Town Hall (or the Town clerk?) or something if you''re looking for public information about a house--I think sometimes the homeowners'' loan info is public. I''ve always gotten that type of info from my realtor, though. Are you looking for exactly how much they paid for their house vs. how much they currently owe?

The house is in a neighbouring town than the first one we liked, so I''m curious to have price asked vs price sold comps for this one as well. I sent an email to our agent this morning, I hope she''ll get back to us with the info quickly. The asking price is on budget, but I''d still like to offer 5-6% below and I want to be able to back it up with numbers. Hopefully we''ll be able to make our offer by the end of the week.

Sending some more dust to everyone!!

I would say your agent is the best source for that. You can get the assessed price from redfin, trulia, zillow, etc., but not ask price. I started keeping a sheet with ask prices for homes I''m interested in (when they sell, I fill in the sold price), but it''s so much easier for me to just ask our realtor. She pulls them and emails them within minutes sometimes. I assume that realtors can easily put this from the MLS database--I think mine just goes in, sets the parameters she wants to use (address, street or town) and sends them over to me. Then I extract to data to my own excel spreadsheet and have a formula that calculates % under assessed and % under ask--it''s been very helpful in helping us determine fair market price.

 

[trillionaire]

So we finally tracked down the selling agent, and it turns out that they guy owed more on the house than previously thought, so she spent all day filing bankruptcy for him in order to stop the foreclosure. We get screwed because we had the strongest offer, but they didn''t have to accept any, and it would have made it a short sale anyway. So, she relisted today for 55K more than it was listed before!

(told you it was a steal!) and it''s still undervalued at that price. So we''re crunching the numbers again...

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/18/2009 11:21:28 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Meresal! I have to admit that every day I check this thread hoping that you''ll have news about them breaking ground! I really wanted for them to break ground quickly after your final payment in October since winter is coming up and I really want for the house to be done so you''re not stressed about it while 8 months pregnant! It''s been over a month now, what''s the hold up? Now is a perfect time to do it because it''s not too wet (like it typically is in the spring) and they still have weeks before the ground starts to freeze. Grr, I could definitely understand your frustration.

I absolutely love the photo you posted, especially those airy panels blowing in the breeze. Both of the farmhouses we''re looking at this weekend look similar with wraparound porches and those big, nice shutters. They both have original wood floors, but one has all the original wood ceilings as well, which I really love. My family always had a farm that my great grandfather built it in the ''20''s and it had a huge wrap-around porch. I always loved how homey it felt.

NEL- Got the call this afternoon! We are meeting with the builder first thing Monday morning to okay the blue prints! Hopefully this will get things rolling!
I hope you all like one of the houses you see this weekend... I would love to be seaching for a gorgeous farmhouse right now, but that kind of room isn''t what we need right now! We''ll see how this pregnancy pans out, maybe we can fill a 3500 sq ft house one day.

Trill- I''m so sorry. What a surprise. Is it still in your budget at $55k over?