If it's possible, I think hubby and I are settling in to our even more busy and hectic lives. I seem to have gotten back into a groove with work, and may even get a chance to get ahead a bit, even with all the house stuff there is to do.
For the new house, we still have to shop for insurance, move all the money around for closing, and shop for carpet for the basement media room.
The mortgage process seems a little weirder this time. Our bank keeps bugging us for proof that we have moved our down payment money into our checking account. It seems weird to me. I don't remember doing that on our previous two loans. Maybe that's a new thing. I supplied so many documents, it's clear we have the money. Why do they need to know it's in the account? We have to get a certified check anyway. Who can say...
Alas, the seller of our house lives in Japan and is without electricity. She has been planning to do sign the documents and either courier or fax them back for the closing. I have no idea how this is going to work , or if we should even plan on closing on time, given everything that is happening in Japan.
It's eery. All three major real estate transactions in my life have in one way or another involved an incredibly large-scale natural disaster. the sale of our house in Nola and the purchase of my current house resulted from Hurricane Katrina, and now the purchase of this house involves the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. It's bizarre.
So yes, speaking of Japan. I can hardly look at the pictures. It's like I'm looking at pictures from the Gulf Coast again. The disaster is half the world away, but it brings out very intense, deep personal feelings for the people who are going through this now.
Anyway, napping out of it.
Hubby, who have never once hung a shelf or undertaken a single home improvement act in his adult life, has been gung ho about "Designing to Sell" our house. For my b-day he gave me 100 hours of home improvement as a gift. It could be dangerous. For the past three nights, he as been hammering away into the week hours of the night trying to repair a small section of our basement drop ceiling. It was damaged when the electricians ran the wiring for our geothermal HVAC a few years back. It's taking him an awfully long time to do a small section, but I'm secretly proud of him. I wish he were like this more often. More things would get crossed off the to-do list!!!
We are having a big day Saturday as well, basically giving our main bathroom a makeover with new paint, flooring and baseboards, and repainting the soffits outside, and generally sprucing up the paint on the front of the house. We repainted two years ago, just a few spots of trim are looking a little dingy. In this market, every little detail counts, so I am not letting anything go. The house has to look perfect. We can't afford not to sell!
On a money note, looks like the mortgage note on our new place is going to be about $1650 a month, all inclusive. We're going to start out owing about $212,000.
My plan is to be VERY conservative with the cash until we sell our current house, then use the majority of the money to pay down the mortgage balance. We might reserve some of it to put in a bigger patio and maybe a sunroom at the new place, features we love and use on our current house. But we'll see.
Even with a big paydown, we'd be looking at another 5 to 7 years of mortgage payments. Ugh. But, the payoff is a great house, right next to a great elementary school, and a HUGE backyard. Can't wait to put in a garden!!
settling into the extra work.
March 16th, 2011 at 03:22 am
March 16th, 2011 at 03:56 am 1300247798
The situation in Japan is... terrible, and heartbreaking. I have many Japanese friends and it is hard for me to see them hurt for their homeland & family like this.
I have a friend who visited Christchurch a week before the earthquake there, and also visited Japan 12 days ago. She seriously thinks she is bad luck for any country she visits at the moment!
Good luck with moving!
March 18th, 2011 at 09:46 pm 1300484763
I would love to read about your geothermal HVAC and how it worked out for you. Will you use it in your new home? Does it offer insurance of reliability and lead to savings over time, or not? Have you ever posted about it? Thanks...
Jerry