Getting my Sh*t Back in One Sock
Holy crapola, what a week this has been.
OK, you all know from FB that I jumped the gun and went running around the streets of Larchmont with a megaphone shouting about my new house. And called everyone and almost started ordering blinds.
And you all know that I went ahead and took those pretty pictures of our current home...yes those in that last post and that I listed the house on Craigslist and had new renters within mere hours of posting? Yeah, because I like being on the ball, right? Always prepared, always a step ahead.
THEN. Then, I found out that putting earnest money down on a house does not = we are buying that house FOR SURE.
Oops. Big, big oops. Here, I had gone ahead and rented the house out from under us without being absolutely sure that we had a new house to move into.
There's being one step ahead and there's being stupid. I was stupid.
On Monday, I met with my realtor and the contractor at the house and we went through the rooms to talk about what they're going to do. I didn't exactly get the warm and fuzzies from the contractor, which is surprising, because I usually can work the contractor-types pretty easily. I have a decade of experience of sweet-talking contractors. Maybe I'm rusty.
While we were there, a lovely blonde realtor in her immaculate, cream colored coat roared up in her Land Rover and came 3' into the front door, looked left, looked right, sniffed and said "Oh, I don't think my clients realized the STATE this place is in!".
That's when I realized that...oops, earnest money doesn't mean the house is mine. It was still being shown, even as I walked through it with the contractor. I felt a mild panic set in. Oh, and there was the big deal with the "fourth bedroom"...don't even get me started. To make a long story short, the contractor was going to have to build a walll, closet and door across one of the bedrooms to make access to the third floor private (for code). For five minutes, I panicked, thinking that Will wouldn't fit into what was left of that bedroom. Then, we found out from the assessor that we didn't HAVE to build the wall, we just can't call it a bedroom. It has to be a "plus" room. Sheesh. I don't care if we have to walk through Will's room to get to the stairs, but for a moment, it seemed like they were going to HAVE to build that wall.
And recall--I had rented our current house out from under us.
Anyway, realtor and I came back to current house and sat down to make a list of the extras that I want, like a totally finished kitchen (not just one half of it done and the other half for "eat in"--the dining room is 2' away, I don't think so) and a few other things. We made the first offer.
And that came back. And I counteroffered. There may have been a few different back and forths--it's all kind of a panicky blur.
Thursday, they declared that they had accepted my terms and my price and I signed a REAL CONTRACT. And locked in my mortgage rate, etc. DONE. I ran around again with the megaphone.
And then, an hour later, got a message from my realtor about how the price wasn't working out...
Which led to two panicked hours of me searching the internet for information about real estate contract law. My realtor, conveniently for her, had gone into a meeting and would be out of touch for a couple of hours. I had a signed contract, they couldn't possibly change it could they? Of course, every single thought passed through my mind and I found myself searching other homes for sale and rentals, just in case.
You know, because we would be homeless come May 1st.
Finally, realtor emerges from meeting and calls me back to explain that of course I have a signed contract that isn't going to change and that whatever price problems the seller had, the seller would eat.
Well, good Lord woman, you could have mentioned that we were safe within our contract and it was the seller's problem. It would have saved me from two frantic hours of eating brownies and doing internet searches.
Sigh. Anyway. We are settled. For sure for sure. I'm getting my megaphone out one last time...
WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!
Next week, I will be picking out countertop, cabinet and floor tile colors and wall color for the kitchen. I am SO excited. Eeeek!!
Hans should be home soon. Can you imagine my poor husband, floating around out there while his wife buys a gutted wreck of a house and calls him with breathless updates, both good and bad, every other day?! All of this happened in the span of a week...yikes. It has been a very stressful week, for sure.
Something tells me that we'll have plenty more stress on the horizon, but at the end of it all, we'll have a home that is truly ours for the first time since San Diego.
Now it's time to go get my stuff back in one sock. I am scattered all over...
OK, you all know from FB that I jumped the gun and went running around the streets of Larchmont with a megaphone shouting about my new house. And called everyone and almost started ordering blinds.
And you all know that I went ahead and took those pretty pictures of our current home...yes those in that last post and that I listed the house on Craigslist and had new renters within mere hours of posting? Yeah, because I like being on the ball, right? Always prepared, always a step ahead.
THEN. Then, I found out that putting earnest money down on a house does not = we are buying that house FOR SURE.
Oops. Big, big oops. Here, I had gone ahead and rented the house out from under us without being absolutely sure that we had a new house to move into.
There's being one step ahead and there's being stupid. I was stupid.
On Monday, I met with my realtor and the contractor at the house and we went through the rooms to talk about what they're going to do. I didn't exactly get the warm and fuzzies from the contractor, which is surprising, because I usually can work the contractor-types pretty easily. I have a decade of experience of sweet-talking contractors. Maybe I'm rusty.
While we were there, a lovely blonde realtor in her immaculate, cream colored coat roared up in her Land Rover and came 3' into the front door, looked left, looked right, sniffed and said "Oh, I don't think my clients realized the STATE this place is in!".
That's when I realized that...oops, earnest money doesn't mean the house is mine. It was still being shown, even as I walked through it with the contractor. I felt a mild panic set in. Oh, and there was the big deal with the "fourth bedroom"...don't even get me started. To make a long story short, the contractor was going to have to build a walll, closet and door across one of the bedrooms to make access to the third floor private (for code). For five minutes, I panicked, thinking that Will wouldn't fit into what was left of that bedroom. Then, we found out from the assessor that we didn't HAVE to build the wall, we just can't call it a bedroom. It has to be a "plus" room. Sheesh. I don't care if we have to walk through Will's room to get to the stairs, but for a moment, it seemed like they were going to HAVE to build that wall.
And recall--I had rented our current house out from under us.
Anyway, realtor and I came back to current house and sat down to make a list of the extras that I want, like a totally finished kitchen (not just one half of it done and the other half for "eat in"--the dining room is 2' away, I don't think so) and a few other things. We made the first offer.
And that came back. And I counteroffered. There may have been a few different back and forths--it's all kind of a panicky blur.
Thursday, they declared that they had accepted my terms and my price and I signed a REAL CONTRACT. And locked in my mortgage rate, etc. DONE. I ran around again with the megaphone.
And then, an hour later, got a message from my realtor about how the price wasn't working out...
Which led to two panicked hours of me searching the internet for information about real estate contract law. My realtor, conveniently for her, had gone into a meeting and would be out of touch for a couple of hours. I had a signed contract, they couldn't possibly change it could they? Of course, every single thought passed through my mind and I found myself searching other homes for sale and rentals, just in case.
You know, because we would be homeless come May 1st.
Finally, realtor emerges from meeting and calls me back to explain that of course I have a signed contract that isn't going to change and that whatever price problems the seller had, the seller would eat.
Well, good Lord woman, you could have mentioned that we were safe within our contract and it was the seller's problem. It would have saved me from two frantic hours of eating brownies and doing internet searches.
Sigh. Anyway. We are settled. For sure for sure. I'm getting my megaphone out one last time...
WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!
Next week, I will be picking out countertop, cabinet and floor tile colors and wall color for the kitchen. I am SO excited. Eeeek!!
Hans should be home soon. Can you imagine my poor husband, floating around out there while his wife buys a gutted wreck of a house and calls him with breathless updates, both good and bad, every other day?! All of this happened in the span of a week...yikes. It has been a very stressful week, for sure.
Something tells me that we'll have plenty more stress on the horizon, but at the end of it all, we'll have a home that is truly ours for the first time since San Diego.
Now it's time to go get my stuff back in one sock. I am scattered all over...
