Looking for the Right House---Appraisal is In!

Friday afternoon, the appraisal came in via FedEx. It was exciting as I riped open the package and quickly scanning it to try to find the amount the property was appraised at.

 

So the verdict is in, it appraised at $5k lower than our agreed upon price! Whew! I was so glad and so relieved!

 

Looking back through it closely, I saw where the land was worth $300 an acre and that each bay of the garage was worth $2,500. That was good to know as we were thinking of adding on even more bays or to have an outbuilding for the 'toys' we know we will need to have.

 

I called our bank and talked with our representative who is handling this transaction and she said she needed a few other documents from me so I emailed them to her and then she mentioned the water test. I let her know it was to be done more than likely this coming week. I spoke to the realtor and let him know what was going on and my bank called and talked to him too.

 

So after this water test comes in and hopefully it is all ok, if so, then it will be a complete go!

 

This weekend I've been packing up the movies and will be working on my room and bathroom and then next week, I'll be packing up the haunt in the garage, allowing two full days to do that. It is going to be a huge task as there is so much in there. But I believe we can get it all done in two days, no problem.

 

It's exciting to be packing things and getting ready for this move. I finally did tell my uncle I may have mentioned and that was hard to do as I know he wanted us to settle here in DE. But I feel as though I need to be near my daughter for one, and two, I just want my own land. I want the woods and wild and to do things with it, grow things and take care of the forest and the stream and just enjoy more time out in the country. I know there may come a time that I can't take care of the land and ourselves and if that time comes, then we'll probably sell it as are the current owners and move to a retirement community or such. But until then, I really want to enjoy my time up there in the wilderness. Just so looking forward to it!

 

My uncle's gf repeated again about being sure we are living close to a hospital as we are not getting any younger. Ok, I have such an issue with this. I wanted to say, why not cut out the middle man and just live next to a cemetery and roll me over the lawn? Save time and money! DOH!

I know they are just concerned and that is nice and all, but I am not going to live my life worrying over a hospital being near me. Right now, I have no medical issues really and yes, that will most likely change as I get older, but it's not right now. And yes, if I am an hour from a hospital and something bad happens, I might not make it and I might die. So be it, I do then. I will have lived my life and enjoyed it fully then on my terms. Perhaps they are trying to be practical, but I just can't live like that, I can't plan my life around the what-ifs or when's or eventually's. I don't want to give up living out there in such a beautiful place simply cause someone thinks I need to live near a hospital? No. I appreciate the caring and concerns, but I need to follow and do what feels right for me. It is probably not forever, and that's ok. :)

 

But like the Goonies say, "This is our time...." and..."Goonies never say die!" :)

 

So off we go, in about 5 weeks! It is going to go superfast!

 

Next up, is the water test!

Looking for the Right House---Hurry Up and Wait!

A motto in the military is the infamous, "hurry up and wait". It goes along the same thought process as if you see a line, go stand in it, chances are you need to do so.

 

So we hurried up and got all the documents back in to the bank for final review.

Now the bank will contact the title company, that's a company that goes off in search of the title to the property. It pulls up the history of who owned it before you and before the sellers did and makes sure it is clear.

 

What does that mean? Check out the link here that explains about the title search:

 

http://www.stewart.com/washington-dc/whats-in-a-title-search

 

The bank will also be in contact with the appraiser, our contact said, if they don't hear from them this week, they will next week. I know from the realtor that the appraiser is to do the appraisal this weekend.

 

So its all happening!

 

This is what is left to do along with the water quality test after the UV system is installed. This should also be conducted this weekend I believe from what the realtor said.

 

It's exciting and daunting all at once! It's a big move and I have had so many ideas run through my head as to what I want to do with the property, the house and land and garage and even the road!

 

Hopefully then, next week, we will find out if this is really a go or not. I am pretty sure it will all be fine, no problems.

 

So as the list is starting to form in my head, I'll be writing it all down as to what we want to have done and in the order/priority it needs to be done and then start to save money or allocate funds for each project. As I do them, I'll show them here for the most part and give a few reviews and all that fun stuff.

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Looking for the Right House--More Info

We heard back from the bank and they are wanting a few documents yet from us. One was the phone number of the nearest relative as we did not give them that, only the address. Oh well, I did not want to give out the phone number but I guess they need to have it.

 

Another item was to initiate Home Owner's Insurance. I have renters insurance right now and it is about to expire, funny enough, so it will be really good timing to cancel that and start the home owner's.

 

The third item was to get a letter from our employer to saying we can work remotely from home and it is not going to effect income or position. This is weird when you travel for your work so it really doesn't matter where you live. I have to call and check on this one with the bank to be sure we are on the same page.

 

4th request was some sort of documentation for a large deposit I had made into the savings. I had to laugh because if they are looking into my account, they could go back and look at the checking and see where it came from!? DOH! I wanted to say, oh it's the money I printed up in my basement last night! Hahaha! Man, sometimes I think they are really too picky and silly. Just look!

 

But yea, if that is all they are wanting, that is easy enough to get for them.

 

Just waiting on the water test now for radon first and then after the UV system is installed, will get the water quality test done.

 

While on the phone with them, I am also going to nudge them about the appraiser as my realtor has not heard anything from them on that one. That is the last thing really that all of this hinges on as I am sure the water will be fine.

 

Keeping fingers crossed!

Looking for the Right House---The Inspection

The inspection was conducted yesterday. This is a completely optional thing for the buyer to do, hire an inspector to go to the prospective house they are buying or wanting to buy and have an inspection done. This is recommended to do by the realtor for at least the water to be tested as a standard.

They can also recommend that you have a general overall house inspection done.

 

Why?

 

Well this lets you know what you are getting into. Yes, the seller is obligated by most laws to reveal all the issues or problems or whatnot, but often, the seller may not even be aware of issues or they feel it is perfectly fine and yet, it is not up to code or standards or whatever.

 

As this particular house was built in the late '70s that we are looking to buy, it definitely needed to be looked at. The typical house inspection, general, is $350.00. When you start to add on other things like water, radon, a garage, etc, it does add up very quickly.

 

The problem with this that I see, is that the buyer puts out this money for the inspection to be done and if this uncovers major items that need immediate attention, the buyers may opt out from buying the home altogether, especially if it is too expensive. They don't get that money they spent on the inspection back, however they would get their earnest money they put down.

 

Typically, the contract the sellers and buyers sign, has a date on it and it's 14 business days for the inspection to be done and the buyers to make a determination if there are any big concerns or if they wish to renegotiate the price or have the seller fix it, or walk away from the deal.

 

The inspection is NOT the appraisal. So the inspection is only viewed by yourself--the buyer and the realtor and of course the inspector themselves. Your lender doesn't see it, the sellers do not see it, no one else does but you as you are the one who paid for it. IF the seller were to have it, and the buyer (you) walked away from the deal, the seller then would have to disclose that information, by law, to the next potential buyers.

 

So this inspection we had set up was conducted yesterday morning at lunch time. 3 people went in along with the realtor and they went over both the house and garage in great detail, taking a lot of pictures! This team was excellent! They even had thermal imaging cameras and shared details of what they found, pictures of it and they also gave us a lot of information on how to repair certain items or links to more information or videos that were very educational. It was well worth the money spent.

 

The inspectors will email you the report and in the body of the email, these inspectors highlighted the items that they felt were of a higher priority. There was a full report linked for a pdf file as well as a summary of the report as well. Very professional, very well done. I was highly impressed.

 

Right out of the gate, they tell you to try to not be overwhelmed. Wow, that's an understatement. They found a lot of items that definitely needs addressing and tending to. A lot of tlc. There wasn't anything that was a huge deal, there were some items that we knew about, many we did not, and some things we have plans to take care of anyway. At first, seeing this huge long list and pictures and recommendations and all that, we wanted to back out. It was just sounding like a money pit and too expensive to have to fix up everything. Thoughts of the UTV or all the fun toys we wanted to get, went right out the window as other priorities came to mind instead.

 

So after talking about it for a while, I slept on it and in the morning, it felt better. I looked around at other properties I had saved and did comparisons in not only price, but taxes as well and the look of the land and location. I have to say, I just couldn't see any place better really, even with all the issues!

 

I wrote an email to the inspectors and the realtor with a few questions and comments and thank yous for the inspection report. The inspector called me back and we chatted for a while as she talked over my concerns and gave me a few ideas on how to handle a few items. That made me feel better and as we calmed, I began to see that a lot of things were small nitnoid items really. There are a few big things but nothing that major. Then I spoke to the realtor who also gave me his opinion. Now granted of course his opinion is that he will want us to buy the place and pay what we had negotiated for as he is getting commission on it, but his thoughts and solutions to some of the items made sense and did not feel nor sound like it was blowing smoke.

 

I know we have a lot of plans for this particular property and in the end, its the taxes that says it all. That is what will remain forever and they won't go down, they will only continue to go up. Plus, we do have friends and we can get help for what we need and nothing says we have to take it all on at once. We plan on being there for many years and as such, we can take our time and do things one project at a time. So we will have to make a list of what we want done and slowly work on that, item by item, prioritizing as to what is the most important to get done. At least now we have a full inspection report that details it all out and also where and if we have any issues or need help in figuring out what is meant or location, we can always call the inspectors to ask. That is very nice.

 

Now that we are calmed again and back on track, we have pretty much decided to proceed forward. I don't want to ask the elderly couple to do anything because some of the things that had been done were just quickly done and not installed professionally. Case in point was a woodstove in the garage that look like it was hillbillied with a beer barrel. Don't ask! But no it doesn't make moonshine! ;)

We would rather see to any repairs or modifications or changes ourselves. This is because I am not going to nickel and dime this couple like what had happened to us in Texas. Plus, if I hire someone to do work there, I will know it is getting done right and I will learn something as I usually watch what they do and pick up tidbits of information from them. And, this way, I get to know the tradesmen in case I need to call them back out and they are familiar with me. :)

 

Next up is the appraisal. Our realtor has not heard from anyone yet.
The bank did call today, they did get the disclosure packet all signed and our processor looked it over and it looked fine but now it is sent on to the inspector team there who look it over to be sure they have all the right documents and if not, they will notify us so we can send in whatever is needed.

 

That's where we stand today.

Home Gym Flooring

As I am getting ready to move, a house I picked out has a nice sized basement and I thought it would be a great place to pick out an area to put all the workout equipment and weights. Not the whole basement, but at least one portion of it I thought would be good to use for working out. Better than upstairs on the 2nd floor or the first even so that you can jump and do things without bothering anyone under you.
I plan to mount a tv to the wall and have a dvd and vhs player down there as well as a bookshelf for all the workout dvds I have. I could put hooks up to hang the stretch bands and then get a weight rack for the free weights and for the curl bar I intend to get. I also have an elliptical machine I could put in there and a flat bench.

But the flooring...that is always the tricky part. In the past, I have worked out on carpet and terrazzo and carpet covered terrazzo, cement and wood and lately, laminate covered cement I am sure is what it is under the laminate flooring. All of those are very bad for the feet and joints to be jumping on.
Granted, being a heavy topped girl, I don't do a lot of jumping anyway but still, you want a floor you don't slip and that you can do some jumping on.

I did buy a few of those foam tiles but they were so hard and despite being textured, they slid like crazy on the laminate floor. Laminate is slick enough already and really is cheap crap if you ask me. It's made to look like wood but it's worse as it is just like paper and scratches so easy. It's horrible.

Now the new house I was intending on putting in some porcelain tile that looks like hardwood. I used to want hardwood flooring completely but after going to the Log and Timber show in PA last year, I learned a lot not only about log cabins but hardwood floors. Hardwood floors take a lot of upkeep and despite seeing all those beautiful cabins with the cathedral ceilings with all that glorious bright warm sunlight streaming in and glowing on the floors, the sunlight? is the worst thing for those floors! Wood will fade with that sunlight. Case in point anything you put outside fades in the sunlight over time. So if you have this one shape of sunlight coming thru a window every day and shining on the same part of your wood floor, in time, you will have a faded out spot right there. UNLESS....you take measures to protect your floor and there is a lot of upkeep to the hardwood floors. They can also scratch and stain and it is very expensive to protect them correctly like they need to be.

So I looked into the porcelain flooring that looks like wood. It's tougher, cheaper (usually) and it is more fade resistant, stain resistant and you just need to put a sealant on it every few years. That's not that bad. There is also ceramic flooring that looks similar but ceramic does break a lot easier than porcelain if you dropped something on it. Porcelain is tougher. It will take more to make it break. They range about the same price.

Now although this sounds nice, I don't feel it is good flooring for a home gym. I wanted those special floors they use on the workout dvds or in the gym.

So after doing some research, I found what I wanted, it's called virgin rubber. It means that it has not been recycled and no nasty chemicals in it to make it smell bad. Be careful in choosing this type of flooring and read the specs carefully as there are some who just have virgin rubber on top but you don't want that. Yes, this is much more expensive to have it all 100% virgin rubber but I have a feeling you will be glad you did put forth the money for it.

To test this out, I have sent for a single tile to see how I like it and to really see how big it is and then to take it to the new house and measure to see exactly how many I will need.

Here is an article that covers the different floor types for home gyms:

http://homerenovations.about.com/od/floors/tp/Best-Flooring-For-a-Home-Gym.htm

I found it very informative!

Will let you know how it goes when the tile gets here! :)

Looking for the Right House--Water Test

Most would think that if the people are living there, that the water is probably just fine.

Or if they are getting the water from a well or underground stream that it must be good.

This isn't always the case. Nor is water from a municipal source, town or city or otherwise, it does not mean it is safe to drink.

I remember when I lived in Conshohocken, PA, we used to joke our water came from the Schukyll river and that it was one of the most polluted rivers around!  I don't know for sure if that is the case on any of those counts, but I do remember going to Philly as a kid in 1976 and stopping at the Civic Center and going into the bathroom and went to wash my hands and the water was tinged yellow in the sink. It was not good.

We used to put our tap water into the glass jugs that our orange juice came in and kept two in the fridge at all times. We'd use the one then fill it and put it to the back to chill as we brought the one in the back forward.

When I went into the Air Force, the water on the base always had a funny taste to it so I just couldn't drink it. I stopped drinking their water many years ago and began to drink bottled water.

My dad used to say when I was a kid that he knew one day we would have to pay for water. He was right. The water on Earth has become so polluted, it is hard to find a fresh, pure water source.

 

Just with the EPA cracking down in PA and making people get sand mound septic systems, to prevent the waste getting into the water table, spoke volumes.

 

Somehow, out in the country, I just didn't think it would be as much of a problem, but it still is.

 

The current owners to the house we are looking at, were pro-active and went and got their water tested only to have it come back with bacteria in it! Oh no! They are going to be installing a Ultra Violet Purification system that will kill 99.9% of all bacteria. I looked it up online and found this interesting ad/article about it as I remember the realtor or someone telling me that all that would need to be done is pour some bleach down there. Umm no. Take a look here:

 

 http://www.waterproblems.net/bacteria.html

 

So our inspectors are to be there on Wed and they will return later to retest the water again. I do know the pipes will need to be flushed out for sure. This bothers me a great deal and makes me worry. I know we were not planning to drink the water but still you wash your clothes in that and shower/bathe..etc. Its important to have good quality water.

 

Reminds me, I need to call Sparkletts/Crystal Springs again as they never got back with me about delivery service there in Maine. Just emailed them again. They did have one person call to ask if anyone had contacted me and I said no and they were going to report it to their supervisor and then nothing? DOH! I do love Sparkletts/Crystal Springs water a great deal but their customer service has always been lacking. I have had mixed experience with the drivers. Right now I have a guy who comes once a month and he's very nice. The one before him was horrid and often didn't stop by when he ran out of water! DOH! So since that happened a few times, I had to make sure I got 8 containers of water at a time as I hate to run out of water. It's a pain to have them sitting around but I'd rather have them than to run out. Just have to get a good place to put them.

 

It will be interesting to find out what happens and what results we will get after the inspection on Wed.

 

Looking for the Right House---Processor

So the bank processor called yesterday, just as we were signing and going thru the all the documents and collecting the paystubs, tax info and bank statements that are required to send back. That was nice she did as she went over it all with us and I was able to say, yes, got that, got that, got that too. :)

Love it!

She said she would write me an email with a summary of all we went over on the phone and it would have her contact info too. We talked of our realtor and I gave her permission to give them whatever info they needed. She said she would give them a call too as a few questions she had I let her know they would know that information like for example the inspection we are having done. She had said the appraiser would want certain types of inspections done so I let her know we had already hired an inspector to do that and it was to be done on the 6th. So that was good we did do that. Save us time later.

On that note, with closing in June, we have plenty of time and although that is a good thing to not be rushed, we have to be careful about the locked in rate as that is only good for so long and then it would expire so we have to be mindful of that and something for you to be as well if you are buying a house.

After we signed all the documents and dated and gathered the extra forms and info needed, I scanned it all in. 60 pages! One thing was that a few pages were legal size and it didn't scan in well with the others but I didn't want to separate it and change my settings and the only parts cut off was the bar codes the bank had and well, I didn't worry about that part. I just wanted to keep a copy of the whole thing myself just in case. The documents were then put into the Fedex envelope the bank had provided and sent off via Fedex. The processor told us to be sure it went Fedex as they would never get it through regular mail. We have a lot of experience with Fedex so that wasn't a problem and we wrote the tracking numbers all down. So that was good. :)

The bank had sent on two Fedex envelopes and so one was for the packet and the other is was just in case I need to send more. I have a feeling that's for if you forgot to sign anything. I had to go over those 60 pages very close to find all the spots I had to sign and date. I went over them twice. Some pages were just instructions but they had explicit instructions to send back ALL the pages. So I did. Instructions and all.

I did talk to the realtor some more and he explained further about the appraisal. He told me the VA was wanting to loan us money for a house and place to live in, but they were not wanting to loan us money to make money. So when it comes to all that land we are looking at, if we had a lot of road frontage, then technically, we could have sectioned off some of the land and sold it, partitioned and then sold it and made some money off it. But as this property happens to be at the end of a road and our land is bordered by other people's property and there isn't a way we can section it off, he said it was more like pretty land. Land you only view and look at but not really land that would be worth a lot because you can't develop it for other people to live on. So he said it was probably going to come in as worth about $500 an acre which isn't much he said when in comparison to the house as the house has to be worth 80%.

So I get that, kinda. It's a bit crappy in a way as it would seem the VA is dictating what I could do with my land and what I could not. It's their money they are loaning us, but I am paying it back with MY money. Of course after I own it, they couldn't say a word, but still.

Nonetheless, I have no intentions of doing that anyway, I have plans for that land but it's not to have others live on it. Visit, yes, live no.

The realtor said that was why he wasn't really worried about the appraisal and that he feels it should all be fine. I am glad the land is situated the way that it is then so we won't have any issues there. One of those got lucky kind of things and also good to know about getting a VA loan when you are looking at buying a house with a lot of acres.

I did receive the email from the processor so I have all of her contact information and she is to call every few days and keep me updated as to the progress and with any updates. That is really nice so I can feel good about it all and not left in the dark. It will be good to have someone like that and so nice too, to help walk us back through this whole process again. The realtor has been so super helpful as well. I am very happy so far with how everything is working out.

Next up will be the inspection on the 6th. Keeping fingers crossed!

Looking for the Right House--Disclosure Packet

It was a little hairy this week as the realtor needed a statement from the bank saying that we were intending to go forward with the loan or were in the middle of processing it. Yet the bank contact said he could not give a statement outside the paperwork. He had sent the disclosure packet and had expected us to receive it last Friday or Saturday but it did not come until Tuesday.
Luckily, a letter of intent was included in the packet which we quickly signed, scanned and then emailed to our realtor so that we could fulfill that contract requirement as he had given us 5 days. He told me he normally gives 3 but felt he needed 5 for USAA.
I was thinking 10 would have been better! But it all worked out well.

Now the disclosure packet has all of the bank forms and loan documents that we will need to sign and send back via the fedex envelope they provided. These documents will go to the processor at the bank who will then work with us to continue on with the process.

We are sending those back today.

I will of course scan all the signed documents into my computer which I am keeping in a file and then the originals get sent off as per the instructions.

So that's one thing you should get for yourself if you don't have one yet, is a scanner. I can't begin to say how handy that has been to scan in documents and send things to people. So even if I did not need it for work, I would still have one. Plus, it is also nice to have a fax line although I am going to be doing away with that as I can always move the line to the phone and then fax out. The only thing there is remembering to move it back off the fax!

The bank has said all is moving forward fine as it should. They are going to call for the appraisal to be done now. My realtor told me it would take about 2-3 weeks for the appraisal to be done. It is mostly the time it takes to get an appraiser out there as the actual appraisal does not take long, like 30 minutes.

We also have the inspectors going out there with the realtors tagging along on the 6th.

These are the only two things that could stop this whole thing really. The big hitch to get past.
So I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Other than that, more packing this weekend and also sorting out storage to get it organized and pack up some of those items better. We also need to box up the VHS tapes, moving them out of these small cabinets and putting them on craigslist and giving them away. We want to make it as easy as possible for the move.

The haunt in the garage won't be packed up until after the appraisal comes back and all is ok. If it is a go, then we pack that monstrous thing. :) It will be nice to do that and will look so odd to be empty!

So that's it for now. All is quiet while the next steps are mostly in the hands of the realtor, bank, apprasier, and inspectors. :)