The House Hunters Thread

[Amandine]

Well, we made an offer on the house today! Its so nerve wracking, and I keep second guessing. Not because I don''t like the house, but its just so much money! I just hope it all works out. We are excited, though. Our only real concern still is the mortgage. DH is self employed (well, he owns a business with his partner) and there are some tax forms that take time that are concerning us for the time line involved. So, PS dust needed!

 

[meresal]

Lots of dust Amandine!!

 

[jcrow]

Amandine - dust heading your way!

meresal - have you started packing yet? i did a couple of boxes this morning. funny, we still have lots of things still in boxes from our last move, so that''s good. i can''t believe we''re both moving and having our babies at the same time! what are the odds?

--

the sellers agreed with an earlier closing date [march 30 instead of april 12] so i''m SO excited about that! here''s hoping the banks cooperate now. hub''s mom offered to help paint our secondary bedrooms so we may take her up on that. and we also need to decide if we''re going to replace the carpet in the living room with wood floors. we need to go price it out. luckily it''s not a huge area and there''s a clear stopping point where the tile in the breakfast room is.

 

[meresal]

Jcrow- Congrats on the closing date!! That's awesome!!

Re: Packing... funny you should ask. I am trying to go room by room. Right now, I am more focused on cleaning, than I am on packing. Just this morning I wiped down all of the base boards (they collect soooooo much dust!!) and completely cleaned the Microwave and stove top. We are possibly going to have to pay alot to get out of our lease, so I'm trying to cut down of any unforseen expenses they may try to ask for.

I cleaned out my half of the bathroom last week, so now I'm just waiting on C to do his half. Then this week we are talking the kitchen. We have so much crap in our cabinets, and we both agreed that we are throwing out ALOT before we move.

We didn't unpack much of the wedding gift stuff, so all of that is still in its boxes and about 3/4ths is already in storage.

I am big proponent of throwing things away before moving as opposed to packing them. LOL! I would rather buy something that is full once we move, then pack & move something that is half full.

FYI- I'm looking into that paint color for you. I am currently trying to find my "House Folder" that has all of that info.

 

[jcrow]

i agree, we're tossing what we can instead of packing stuff we don't need/want. i just got done packing a few more boxes. lots of fragile stuff that i wrap more around than hubby does...our china hutch is now empty

but i have to stop now because my legs hurt. grrr. i did the guest bathroom this morning. and baby stuff we had in the kitchen. i'm trying to start by packing things we won't need/use before the move. luckily, we had just cleaned out our guest bedroom to turn it into a nursery so at least we have some place to put the packed boxes so that we're not tripping over them before the move!

also, since we don't have far to move [as opposed to last time where we moved to a new state!], we'll be leaving things in drawers. we'll take out the full drawers, move the furniture into the truck, then replace the full drawers and make sure they won't open during the move. that means all dressers, the sideboard, the buffet, the secretary, etc. won't have to be packed then unpacked. brilliant i think!

you know, i was just thinking, thanks to pregnancy, i can pack practically all of my clothes ahead of time too! just not my maternity clothes. same goes with heels. no more heels for me for the rest of the pregnancy.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Congrats everyone! Such exciting news as of late! and lots of DUST to Amandine!

We still haven''t heard if we got the house or not, but apparently the agent expected to hear from them last thurs, but hasn''t. He says that the bank is going through a merger and these things are taking an increasingly long time....

Go figure. We did go see 8 more houses on Sat - wasn''t that thrilled with any of them though.

 

[meresal]

Jcrow- Your ideas are genious!! I hadn''t even thought about packing all of my non-preggo clothing!!

We are doing the drawer thing as well. It''s amazing the amount of awesome "move tips" you pick up when you hop around a bit.

Rhb- I''m so sorryyou are still waiting on this stuff. I work for one, and I will be the first to tell you that Banks suck.

Our update: We have a tentative close date for 3/30!! Hopefully house will be 100% complete by then, or else it will have to be pushed back. We shall see...

 

[jcrow]

meresal - awesome! if you have any other moving tips i''m all ears! we''re planning on renting a uhaul and doing it all ourselves this time. well i say we but i mean hub + his family. and yay for a 3/30 closing. that''s our tentative date too! we''re closing date twins. now to cross our fingers and toes nothing holds us up so we can close on that date!!!

 

[jcrow]

meresal - oh, and you''re renting right? when is your lease up?

 

[meresal]

Date: 3/8/2010 10:55:31 AM
Author: jcrow
meresal - oh, and you''re renting right? when is your lease up?

Ya, about that... our lease ends at the end of June. To break our lease is just plain stupid, but it is our own fault and at least we have the $8000 tax credit coming in, so it''s not a *total* waste of money to pay for it. Here are our possible scenarios:

Break our lease and are able to get someone to move in at beginning of April (very unlikely):
$1259+$750= Apprx $1900

Break our lease and have someone move in May 1:
$1259+$1415+$840= Apprx $3514

Break our lease and have someone move in June 1:
$1259+$1415+$1415+$840= $4929

Break our lease and have no one move in before actual end of lease:
$1259+$1415+$1415+$1415+$840= $6344

Or we just pay out our lease and keep an empty apartment thru June:
$1322+$1322+$1322= $3966

I''ll try and think of some more moving ideas. Actually, my favorite is for moving clothes that are on hangers.
Take a drawstring trash bag and turn it upside down. Make a hole in the middle of the bottom part (opposite of the end with the draw strings)... and put about 20 hung items thru the hole. Then, tie the drawstrings at the bottom beneath the bottom of the clothes. It is a waste of trash bags, but it keeps all of the hangers from getting tangled and from getting wet in case it is raining on the day you are moving. It also keeps things that fall off their hanger from falling on the ground, they just stay in the bottom of the bag.

 

[Amandine]

Woo-hoo, we got it! We are under contract. More details later, just a quick post from work.

 

[jcrow]

meresal - ours is up in may i think. so we''ll probably have an empty apartment after we move into the house. but that''s ok. we''ll have a space in case we have visitors when the baby is born

yeh, although we didn''t use garbage bags, in our last move we left everything on hangers too. put them in huge boxes though. we have plastic hangers so they don''t get all jumbled up like wire ones do.

--

just got an email from our lender. she said that the title work has been ordered and so has the appraisal. once that comes in they''ll move to underwriting.

 

[audball]

Date: 3/8/2010 11:54:59 AM
Author: Amandine
Woo-hoo, we got it! We are under contract. More details later, just a quick post from work.

Woo-hoo!! Congrats!

 

[meresal]

If you haven''t locked in your rate... call your lender. Today ours dropped from 5.25 to 5.00!! It has been 5.25 for over 6 months...

 

[jcrow]

Date: 3/10/2010 12:33:30 PM
Author: meresal
If you haven''t locked in your rate... call your lender. Today ours dropped from 5.25 to 5.00!! It has been 5.25 for over 6 months...

yeh, the day before we locked ours in it was 5.0. the next day it was 4.875! we locked that sucker in :]

in other house news, we got the appraisal in yesterday. that part is a go.

next up title and underwriting.
oh please oh please oh please let us close early!!

we''re also scurrying around trying to pick out paint colors. the previous owners had two small boys so their rooms were golden yellow and the other blue. since we''re having a girl, we''re repainting both of the guest bedrooms. i''m also contemplating painting my office a soft sea foam. picking paint colors is so hard!

 

[meresal]

Date: 3/10/2010 12:51:52 PM
Author: jcrow

Date: 3/10/2010 12:33:30 PM
Author: meresal
If you haven't locked in your rate... call your lender. Today ours dropped from 5.25 to 5.00!! It has been 5.25 for over 6 months...

yeh, the day before we locked ours in it was 5.0. the next day it was 4.875! we locked that sucker in :]

in other house news, we got the appraisal in yesterday. that part is a go.

next up title and underwriting.
oh please oh please oh please let us close early!!

we're also scurrying around trying to pick out paint colors. the previous owners had two small boys so their rooms were golden yellow and the other blue. since we're having a girl, we're repainting both of the guest bedrooms. i'm also contemplating painting my office a soft sea foam. picking paint colors is so hard!

Awesome on the 4.875%! He didn't tell us that it was lower before, but it looks like it is on the way back up, so I'm glad he called when he did. Were you all watching the rate yourself? If so, where?

DH sat me down last night and told me that he really thinks that our first priority needed to be getting everything ready for the baby (nursery, etc.), once we move in. lol. So cute. I smiled and nodded in agreement.

We need to start looking at paint colors as well.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Wow, 4.875!

No news here.... still haven''t heard anything about the house. We were promised Thurs, then told no later than Monday. Apparently the only other info that was relayed was that any one of the offers (there are 3) could pull out without penalty if we are tired of waiting.... no kidding.... right. Urg.

 

[jcrow]

meresal - we didn't really look anywhere specifically. we were working with two lenders. we worked up the numbers and both were 5% but each had different fees/closing costs. the next day, we put in the offer and it was accepted. so, we called the lender that was cheaper in fees/closing costs to lock in the rate. that's when we found out it had gone down to 4.875

 

[Giada]

Date: 3/10/2010 12:51:52 PM
Author: jcrow

Date: 3/10/2010 12:33:30 PM
Author: meresal
If you haven''t locked in your rate... call your lender. Today ours dropped from 5.25 to 5.00!! It has been 5.25 for over 6 months...

yeh, the day before we locked ours in it was 5.0. the next day it was 4.875! we locked that sucker in :]

in other house news, we got the appraisal in yesterday. that part is a go.

next up title and underwriting.
oh please oh please oh please let us close early!!

we''re also scurrying around trying to pick out paint colors. the previous owners had two small boys so their rooms were golden yellow and the other blue. since we''re having a girl, we''re repainting both of the guest bedrooms. i''m also contemplating painting my office a soft sea foam. picking paint colors is so hard!

JCrow,

I just painted my daughter''s room a very pale pink called "TuTu". It is Martha Stewart by Valspar. It is the perfect color of ballet slipper pink.

We also painted the office a soft sage green color called "Svelte Sage" by Sherwin Williams.

Picking paint colors is so hard, I know, so I thought I''d pass along those two suggestions. We are very happy with them!

Did you end up moving to Austin afterall? I remember suggestion Austin when you guys were trying to choose between Austin and Dallas. I am extremely partial to Austin because I''ve lived here all my life.

 

[jcrow]

Date: 3/11/2010 12:16:13 PM
Author: Giada

Date: 3/10/2010 12:51:52 PM

Author: jcrow

Date: 3/10/2010 12:33:30 PM

Author: meresal

If you haven''t locked in your rate... call your lender. Today ours dropped from 5.25 to 5.00!! It has been 5.25 for over 6 months...

yeh, the day before we locked ours in it was 5.0. the next day it was 4.875! we locked that sucker in :]


in other house news, we got the appraisal in yesterday. that part is a go.

next up title and underwriting.

oh please oh please oh please let us close early!!


we''re also scurrying around trying to pick out paint colors. the previous owners had two small boys so their rooms were golden yellow and the other blue. since we''re having a girl, we''re repainting both of the guest bedrooms. i''m also contemplating painting my office a soft sea foam. picking paint colors is so hard!

JCrow,


I just painted my daughter''s room a very pale pink called ''TuTu''. It is Martha Stewart by Valspar. It is the perfect color of ballet slipper pink.


We also painted the office a soft sage green color called ''Svelte Sage'' by Sherwin Williams.


Picking paint colors is so hard, I know, so I thought I''d pass along those two suggestions. We are very happy with them!


Did you end up moving to Austin afterall? I remember suggestion Austin when you guys were trying to choose between Austin and Dallas. I am extremely partial to Austin because I''ve lived here all my life.

oh, very helpful! thank you. i''ll go and check those swatches out. right now we''re looking at wild aster by BM for the baby''s room and sea salt by SW for the office. sea salt seems to be a lighter version of restoration hardware''s silver sage. we''re also looking for a light taupe color for the other guest bedroom. or, we may do a light taupe for both of the bedrooms. i''m a big scardy cat when it comes to paint. in our house before we just had neutral colors. i''m scared the color we pick will go up and i''ll hate it. eeks.

the guest rooms are small so i don''t want to go too dark wtih the paint.

and yep, we''re in austin :]

 

[Lynnie]

jcrow - Congrats on the 4.875!! That's awesome!! I'm jealous! I locked in at 5.125 in October.
Don't forget before and after pics!

So DH and I were sitting in the basement the other night. The pic's back on page 7 or 8 (somewhere in there). Knotty pine walls, dark brown ugly old-school tile floors. We were debating on whether to tile or carpet, and got to talking about how the pine walls really date the place. But what a waste it would be to rip them down and drywall... that wood's expensive. It's not cheapie paneling or anything, but inch thick boards. Soooo... a lightbulb kinda went off. "Why can't we just use the boards on the floor?" I said. DH got this smile, and was like, "Why didn't I think of that?!?!".
Ha, so we're going green, and ripping down the knotty pine and using it for flooring. And we'll insulate and drywall the walls (we came to find it gets pretty cold down there in the winter). It's gonna be a huge project... each board has to be planed, and made so it can be tongue and groove flooring. We probably won't start til June, but we're excited!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Lynnie, what a great idea!!! You and your hubby have done so much to the house, you guys shoud be proud! It does sound like a big project, but I have no doubt you guys will do a great job and don''t forget to post pics when you''re done--I loved your before and after pics from a couple of months ago!

JCrow, great job with the 4.875%! I would LOVE anything 5 or under!

rhb, I''m still keeping my fingers crossed for you!

I''m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I''m sort of feeling relieved that the last antique fell through. The reason is that there is a lot of inventory coming on the market right now I''m seeing some other homes that are in much better condition for less money. There is an antique that I was planning to see this weekend--built in 1775, 3 beds, 3.5 baths, 3,100 SF, sits on an acre and everything is updated. New kitchen, new baths, all the things that we were going to have to do in the last house. I have a feeing about this house, but something came up and we''re not going to be able to see it this weekend. I just hope there isn''t an offer next week before we can see it.

We saw the short sale last weekend and it was a beautiful house, but just didn''t have any character. We passed.

 

[janinegirly]

NEL: must be the spring inventory coming through--things will get exciting now!

 

[jcrow]

i know, i was shocked at the low rate. and when we first checked i was SO excited about 5%. and then when we went to lock it in, i couldn''t believe it had gone down in one day!

 

[split_shank]

I''m so glad I found this thread! We just locked in to 4.875% last night too! Tentative closing date is May 7th. I''m excited as this is our first home purchase, a little older but the soon to be previous owners have remodeled the kitchen and updated the other rooms a bit. I might/will change some of the paint colors however... any tips on bedrooms with tiny windows???

 

[janinegirly]

Date: 3/12/2010 2:30:02 PM
Author: split_shank
I'm so glad I found this thread! We just locked in to 4.875% last night too! Tentative closing date is May 7th. I'm excited as this is our first home purchase, a little older but the soon to be previous owners have remodeled the kitchen and updated the other rooms a bit. I might/will change some of the paint colors however... any tips on bedrooms with tiny windows???

Is that the going rate now? Zero points, 30yrs? Wow, nicely done.

 

[split_shank]

I think it was one point, if that, because it was more than 30 days until closing. There were so many numbers flying around that I honestly couldn''t keep it all straight! Our lender ''highly reccommended'' locking it in yet last night (it was about 4:55) because even a day can make a difference lately. He said he wouldn''t be surprised if something big changed within the end of the month. He said we will look back in 3 years and be astonished at the rate it is at right now. Oh, and yes it was 30 yrs fixed. I can''t believe it either!

 

[Steel]

Date: 3/12/2010 2:10:57 AM
Author: Lynnie
jcrow - Congrats on the 4.875!! That''s awesome!! I''m jealous! I locked in at 5.125 in October.
Don''t forget before and after pics!

So DH and I were sitting in the basement the other night. The pic''s back on page 7 or 8 (somewhere in there). Knotty pine walls, dark brown ugly old-school tile floors. We were debating on whether to tile or carpet, and got to talking about how the pine walls really date the place. But what a waste it would be to rip them down and drywall... that wood''s expensive. It''s not cheapie paneling or anything, but inch thick boards. Soooo... a lightbulb kinda went off. ''Why can''t we just use the boards on the floor?'' I said. DH got this smile, and was like, ''Why didn''t I think of that?!?!''.
Ha, so we''re going green, and ripping down the knotty pine and using it for flooring. And we''ll insulate and drywall the walls (we came to find it gets pretty cold down there in the winter). It''s gonna be a huge project... each board has to be planed, and made so it can be tongue and groove flooring. We probably won''t start til June, but we''re excited!

Great idea.

You could, if you wanted to, choose to counter batten your flooring and brad (or secret) nail the flooring directly to the battening. You would not need to T&G the flooring unless you like the butt up look. You will prob need to raise the flooring anyway because of insulation & ventilation so this could kill 2 birds by saving you the expense, transportation issues and time of T&G. But this would give your floor a more traditional ''hollow'' sound which some don''t love.

 

[Lynnie]

Steal - Yes, if we could cut out making them T&G, it would save a LOT of time & energy. They are already T&G on the walls, but the boards aren't totally flat - there's about an inch of decorative routing/grooving on the right sides of all the boards. So we'd have to shave off that inch from each board, and re-groove (or tongue?) them...
DH is pretty handy, but it's still in the idea phase. Once the weather breaks, we'll consult his step-dad (he's SUPER handy... total Tim Taylor type), and see what the best and least timeconsuming way to go about this would be. I wouldn't mind a hollow sound... the room's only about 300 sqft. And really, as long as it looks nice and works (stays flat, doesn't warp, etc), it really doesn't matter *how* it's done.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Glad everyone is doing well.

We were notified by the agent yesterday that the bank chose another offer and is moving forward with that one. We waited over 4 weeks for this news.

Very disappointed. Not sure where we''re going from here, but lots of dust to everyone looking or in the process of buying.