Visions of Springs Future

Today at 4pm, we had a landscape designer from the local nursery come over and look at our yard - she was great! The nursery has a great deal where you pay $60 for her to come consult for an hour, and you not only get the consultation, but you get a $60 voucher for supplies from the nursery, so it's basically free! 

Diana (the landscaper) got so excited with our big blank slate of a yard she was practically dancing around - she used hand motions and sound effects to describe different plants, like grasses that grow in mounds and lean to the side or oat grasses that have the little dangling seeds... What was great is I could tell she was seeing our garden finished, and it was beautiful. It will likely take years to get there, but having a vision is the first step. And she gave us some first steps - start some fruit trees, and where to plant them, start some vines on our sideyard fence (on wires or trellises) to hide a little more of the neighbors' houses and create a nice private space, and start planning our hardscape - she went farther than we had imagined with a patio area, and also had neat ideas for where to put raised beds... like herb garden along our patio wall, so if we are barbecuing, we'll be able to reach over the wall and grab a handful of rosemary for our steaks, or cilantro, etc. Doesn't that sound great?

Visions of a backyard oasis are dancing in my head!

Great Day for a Mow!

I mowed my first lawn today!!!!

I don't believe I've ever mowed a lawn before in my life, believe it or not. I haven't lived in a house with a lawn since I was a kid, and then it was my dad's job (I helped in other ways). So this is exciting! My first lawn!! awww :)

It wasn't so bad - but it got cold today! Spring is such a tease. This weekend it was balmy and nice, we barbecued, hung out on our patio, and left the sliding door open until 9 at night! Today, brrrrr! Ice in the morning, snow all the way down the mountains again, a brisk wind, making the 45 degrees out feel much colder with wind chill. I kept zipped up and wore wool gloves and a fleece headband.

As far as spring flowers, we seem to be in a pause between daffodils and the rest - our trees are still all bare, though some fruit trees were flowering earlier, and the only color is from dandelions, several of which, sadly, have now been decapitated by the mower :( I've always liked cheery little dandelions and don't understand why people hate them. I like them better than lawns, to be honest.

Beryl (our wonderful 84 year old neighbor who BAKED US AN ORANGE MERINGUE PIE - omg it was good) had her gardener mow both our lawns, which run together like one big lawn, last week, and this week, I borrowed her electric mower and mowed both lawns. The "ridge" between the two has been bothering her since her more recent neighbors haven't wanted to share mowing duty like that. :) I want to keep her very happy that we are her neighbors and keep those pies (and cookies and peanut brittle) coming! hee hee!

Our First Houseguests, Free Building Materials, and Demolition

Our friends Anita and Greg and their two teenage boys, Derek and Jacob, and their two large dogs, Rocky and the black dog they rescued and hope we will adopt when we are ready who doesn't yet have a name since we keep changing it and calling her different things all the time (Etta, Monster, Kirby, Zippy, etc). We had a great time and it was also an awesome way to "test" our new home – to find out how we use the house with guests and what works and what doesn't.

What works:

• It's great having a main bath for guests, and guest rooms, and the RV!


• The living room is a nice space and going to work fine, however we arrange it.


• The kitchen is sort of functional – the peninsula counter was good for setting up buffet style meals.


• The patio was nice for hanging out on and playing with the dogs in the yard.

What doesn't work (or could work better):

• We should really get furniture – like beds, for example, for guests!


• The main bath doesn't have a shower, so they had to use our tiny beat up shower in the master. Of course, these things are already in renovation plans.


• It would be nice to have the RV hooked up so guests could stay there and actually use the sink, shower and toilet as needed.


• More furniture in the living room will help – places to sit, and also a table and chairs for eating!


• I definitely don't like the wall, even though it's only a partial wall, between the living room and kitchen. I made French Toast for Easter Brunch and everyone was in the living room eating and talking and I was in the kitchen alone, "slaving away" (ha).  Being able to see and hear the action in the living room would be much better.


• Having an actual yard, or at least landscaping of some sort, in the back would make it much nicer! And also, nice comfy seating on the patio.

On Saturday, we went for a nice long walk – there are so many great places to walk nearby – I should really walk more. That's why I need a dog. Just 1/2 block away is open land with great views of the Sierra and White mountains, and a path along a canal. We saw ducks and fish and frogs and thoroughly tired the dogs out!

On Sunday, we drove up to a local canyon and checked out some old mines, and collected some free building materials! Nice flat "fieldstone" type rocks for walkways or walls – I am so excited to go back and get more! I laid them out in the front yard like a walkway, and they look great! We would need to set them in sand or something so that they are more even on top, and bigger ones would be better for patio or walkway, but there are LOTS of rocks up there. Very cool.

When our guests left and we walked back into the house, we knew we would miss all the action and it would be TOO quiet. So we started our first demolition project – ha. We successfully pulled out two of the three cabinets on the back patio! It wasn’t that hard, either. The third cabinet has some plumbing that was installed through it after it was built, so we need a Sawzall to get it out, but that shouldn't be hard. We will be giving away the cabinets - they are good quality and we already have lots of takers, so they should be gone soon.

We already like it better on the patio – it feels more open, more light gets into the living room, and when we get the third one out and the plywood off the ends of the patio, the guest room will also be a lot brighter. Apparently, the house used to be green! We like the green better than the ultra boring beige it is painted, so maybe we’ll paint the back of the house green just for fun.

As an added bonus, when we pulled out one of the cabinets, we found hidden treasure! (just like an Easter Egg hunt!) There was ART on the wall behind one of the cabinets! I am pretty sure it is from the 70’s or even late 60’s – it looks like tin can art – they took cans and cut them up, curled the ends, painted and stuck them together – and the colors are totally 70’s: avocado green, and that orange-red color of the washing machine my sister used to have back then... :)

Here are more photos: Cabinet demolition!

First Month

Our first month in our new house has flown by... mainly because we haven't been here all that much. Last weekend was our first weekend here, and we enjoyed working on projects and unpacking more and cleaning and organizing.

My mother passed away the week we moved into the house, and so that has taken up much of our energy this month, as we have spent time down south to help plan her funeral and take care of business. It's been quite the roller coaster - I wrote about my mother elsewhere, though, and probably won't write much here. She was a wonderful woman and I am proud to be her daughter. She also lived a long and full life, and eased out gracefully, so while the final goodbye is always sharper than expected, it isn't as painful.

I still feel like I'm in recovery, though.

Spring has started to show up here - some daffodils showing their yellow heads, and some other invisible denizens of spring are killing my allergies! The emotional roller coaster, all the changes, the work, and the cherry on top (almost literally, with how much I have to blow my nose - ha) of the allergies are all taking their toll and I would rather be eating bon bons in bed watching some sappy movie than fixing up the house sometimes.

Our lawn is not looking too great - are we supposed to water it or something? ha. I put a sprinkler out the other day and forgot it so we have a well soaked yellowing lawn now. The pride of the neighborhood, I'm sure!

So much to do - we'll get it figured out eventually.

I realized recently, though, that this is the first time in adulthood where I've lived in a house with a yard, and also a garage, and also one that has mail delivery - every day the mail fairies come right to our house and deliver mail and take it away if we want to mail something! Imagine!! And don't get me started on the trash fairies!

What a world!

Home Ownership Changes Everything

Escrow finally closed and we got the keys on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 - and now we are home owners!!

It's been over a week, and I haven't had time to write any blog updates, but oh, there are so many things to write about. And so far, all good.

I'll just say this for now - all my doubts from before escrow closed have dissipated like morning fog on a warm, sunny day. We love our new home! It really feels like home, already, too. Oh sure, there are lots of projects, but they seem less daunting than fun, at least at the moment. :)

Discoveries

Neighborhood! We have been so amazed at the neighborhood - everyone we meet is so nice, and they all say "it's a great neighborhood" - we feel like we've moved to Pleasantville (in a good way). More on the specific neighbors later...

Views! We didn't really notice that there were any views from this house when we looked at it before, but there ARE! From the master bedroom, we can see the Sierra over the houses across the street - it is so wonderful to wake up and sit up in bed and see Humphrey's and Basin Peaks glowing in the sunrise light - Mount Tom is also there, but a little hidden by our tree. And I love my "sewing room" (I put it in quotes because I don't know how to sew - yet) - it may become my office and work room - it has views of the White Mountains and is sunny and bright - the brightest room in the house.

Security. There is something safe and wonderful about owning a home - the saying "safe as houses" didn't come out of nowhere, I guess. We are comfortable with our mortgage and feel like it's a decent investment (at least in the long term, since who knows when the housing market is going to stop its downward slide?). But it's our HOME, and we are not paying off someone else's mortgage in rent payments, but are building equity in something solid and real. I guess that's why they call it "real estate" isn't it?

Belonging. I feel a sense of belonging that I haven't felt yet in Bishop - it wasn't there at all in the RV Park, that's for sure. Now I feel like part of the community, and part of the neighborhood, and like we've started to sink roots. It is a wonderful feeling that is hard to express without sounding sappy, but there it is.

Who knew that buying a house would bring us that joy?

Still in Escrow

We won't close until next week now. That's okay, though - it's not like we are homeless or staying in a motel or something. We have been living in our RV for 2 years and a few more days won't kill us (I'm pretty sure). We are all paid up here at the RV Park through the end of the month, and our storage is paid through March 11th, so we have plenty of time to close next Tuesday (or Monday if they push it - but the funds have to be here before 10am for that to happen). Everything is there and in place, ready to go, though, and the realtors are paying interest on the short sale loans until we close, so you can bet they are putting pressure on the lenders to get it funded asap!

I guess we are lucky, though - ours is the ONLY short sale in Bishop that has gone through at all - there are several offers in on others (and there are quite a few houses out there that are listed as short sales) and none of the banks have moved on them. I think it's a combination of our realtors and our situation. Our realtors were also the seller's agents for this house, and they worked their butts off, calling the banks every day to bug them about it, and working with them on the terms, being go-between between the first and second mortgage holders until they had a deal. The house was also offered at a reasonable price and our offer was full price. It was appraised at $5,000 above our offer, which is good for us, but also appealing to banks that it wasn't far off the mark.

Even though it's not our dream house, I'm glad we went with this house, for the most part - we can easily afford the payments, and have a little left over for fixing it up. I like the neighborhood more the more I find out about it, and I love how close it is to great walking and biking trails. I should take up fishing, since I could bike out to a great fishing spot pretty easily!

I do have doubts and misgivings, though, because we did settle. I think settling was the smart move, in our situation and with the economy, but I think about the other place for the same price with the view and open land behind it and get a little wistful. Then I remember how it smelled and what a wreck it was, and the mice and filth, and how we'd need to do so much just to move in, and how it was a foreclosure and by buying it, we'd be "helping" to evict the previous owners, and how, based on how neglected and run-down it felt, there were probably a lot more unpleasant surprises (and expenses) waiting to be uncovered.

Still...

It helps to think of this as our "starter home" which of course, it is. We'll learn all about remodeling and home ownership, and when the time is right, maybe we'll find something closer to our dream and sell or rent this one out. We jokingly refer to it as the start of our Bishop "real estate empire"! The idea of having income property is pretty appealing, for sure!

And, then again, maybe we'll end up loving it, and making into our perfect dream home, and never moving.

You know what? Either way, we win! We live "happily ever after," and isn't that the dream, after all?

Things they don't tell you to do during escrow

As first-time home-buyers, we waited to be told what to do each step of the way, but now that it looks like escrow is not going to close on time, here are some things they didn't tell us that may have made the process go smoother:

• Loan Documents: I had expected them to come through the realtors, since everything else was coming through them, but the mortgage broker mailed them to us and didn't think to ask if we'd received them until after they were due. I was able to get everything back to him the same day, or the next day, after I picked up the package, but we have a UPS Store mail box and don't check it every day, so it had sat there for about a week before he asked about it. I wish he had asked sooner!
• Home Owner's Insurance: I called around, got the best estimate on the phone, then gave the agents name and number to our realtors and/or escrow. I wish I had contacted the insurer directly after that and told him to get started on the policy, but I assumed the escrow people were taking care of that, since I repeatedly asked during the process what else I should be doing and no one said that I should be the one contacting the insurer. I still think that is the way it works normally - that the escrow people contact them, but it happened late and now the insurance may be holding up the process further because there were 2 claims on the house previously that needed to be researched.
• Mortgage Rates: To Lock or Float? We chose to float our interest rate because it seemed like they were going down, but then they went up instead. We ended up losing $1000 on a gamble, basically, because we got the same rate we could have locked in the first day, but we had to pay another 1/2 point to get it. Also, our broker called daily with the rates, but he called at the end of the day. The Lending Tree broker said she would call when they got a notice that the rates were going up or down mid-day as well as at the end of the day. I sort of wish we'd gone with her at this point. One good thing about our loan, though, is that we are able to set up our own account for saving for taxes and insurance instead of having the lender create an impound account. We'll make a little interest on it and be in charge of our own money that way.
• Keys to the Castle: The realtors can't let you have the keys if you want to go over to the house and take measurements or photos or get an estimate - they'll only give the keys to a licensed contractor for those sorts of things, or they'll go out with you. Not a big deal, but there was a mix up with the keys when one contractor sent an assistant to get the keys and they wouldn't let him have them. So, call first to let them know!

I guess we'll use the delay in closing to get a few more (competing) estimates for work:

• Popcorn ceiling removal
• bathroom remodels
• kitchen remodel
• new doors
• new windows

Then we'll make a PLAN. Ideally, the plan will have us get the most for our money, and prioritize which renovations happen first, which can wait, and help us plan the budget to save for the later ones.

Okay, off to make some more phone calls!

Sliding into home base!

We spent two hours at the Title Company today, signing, and then RE-signing loan documents! After we were almost completely done (the first hour), we found they had listed the sales price incorrectly on one of the documents. But they were able to quickly email corrected documents over almost right away and we quickly re-signed them all.

Also, no one had contacted the insurance guy - I gave his contact info to escrow at the beginning, and was told that's all I needed to do, but when they sent him a request for the insurance amount today, that was the first he'd heard! So the poor guy was working late tonight - sent out a rep to get photos, called me back and was working late to get all the needed info to escrow by tomorrow morning.

The great thing about living in a small town is that we ~can~ do that - the local insurance agent called me and said she could run over and take the photos this afternoon. People can usually make time to accommodate your needs here. And they do it with a smile, too.

We may close tomorrow after all, or at least Friday, which wouldn't be so bad.

Also, it turns out that included in that large cashier's check was the first year's worth of insurance, the first half-year's worth of property taxes, and payment/interest until April 1st, so that's not as bad as it seemed.

Things are looking up!

Trying not to think about it

I just went to the bank and had a huge cashier's check made out to our local title company. Of course, most of it is for the down payment on the house, but the rest, along with the deposit we made earlier, adds up to almost $10,000 in closing costs!!!

Is that normal? I knew it would be high, because it's always higher than people expect, but this was, well, higher than we expected. We are paying $3,000 in points, which we really didn't want to pay, but it will make our monthly payments much better and more likely able to be covered by renters, should the need arise. And we did get some extra inspections, but I don't think they were really all that much - maybe up to $1,000 of the total? So what's the extra $6,000? Lender, Mortgage Broker, Title Company, Escrow Service... I'm really hoping that it also includes our first month's mortgage, tax and insurance payment, then it won't seem quite so bad.

We meet later today to sign all the loan documents and go over all the bills, so I'll know for sure where the money went then.

All of that, and our mortgage interest rate still isn't all that great - with the fed rates being at historical lows - practically zero, you'd think mortgage rates would be lower. Ours is 4.875%. And we had to pay 1.5 points to get that. I wanted it to be under 5% though, and it is, so there's that. Closer to 4% would be even better.  Ah, well, we're just doing our part for the economy and to help with the mortgage crisis. We'll enjoy our first-time home buyer's stimulus check next year, but it won't even cover all the closing costs, sadly. It will, however, help pay for a bathroom remodel, so that's okay.

In Escrow

During escrow, the house gets "injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected, and selected" and possibly rejected!

It did not get rejected, as no pests were detected, it was not infected, nothing horrible was found when inspected, though it does feel slightly neglected, ultimately, it was selected.

"You can get anything you want..."

Okay, enough of Arlo! The house passed inspections with only a few surprises - two, really. The roof was not in as good a shape as it initially appeared, and the sewer line is old and made of paper.

Rob the Roofer (really) said that it would take "an act of god" for the roof to leak, as the roof that is on there now is the second roof and is over another roof. It's 15 years old, though, and has another 5 years before it starts to show its age and wear and tear. The biggest issue with the roof is that the previous roofer neglected to put the metal edging on the roof that keeps the eaves from rotting, and the plywood under the shingles is starting to get soft - just on the edge of the overhang. $875 to add the sheathing to keep it from further deterioration.

Mike the plumber did a video of our sewer line and it is the original "Orangeburg" paper type pipe that is starting to get squashed into an oval and get full of roots. If we snake it every four months it should be fine, but will need to be replaced eventually. Fortunately, the line doesn't go directly under the nice tree in the front yard, and the plumber said the tree should be okay when he replaces the sewer line for $1300.

Other than those two surprises, there is really nothing we didn't already know or suspect was wrong. We had an extremely thorough home inspection - so thorough, we want to use the notebook he gave us as a record of our improvements and fixes, adding to it as we fix up the house.

After all the inspections, we started getting estimates on fixes and upgrades - removing the "popcorn" ceilings, rearranging the kitchen, doors, windows, all sorts of things. We hope to make a pretty good plan so we don't spend all our money on small things and run out before we've accomplished anything major. We plan to prioritize and schedule renovations in a way that is efficient, logical and financially sensible. We'll see what actually happens!

I've done tons of drawings, which help me to visualize how it might look, and Devin has used Visio to create some floorplans, I've used some online software to plan the kitchen, and I've been spending all my time online looking at home-improvement products, websites, videos, and watching HGTV!!

Now, we have less than 1 week until we are home owners!

I mentioned in the previous post that it has been a roller coaster. When I see the house as we imagine it will be, I feel excited; when I see the house as it currently is, empty, a little dingy, mediocre and sad, I feel depressed and wonder if we are doing the right thing. Then I remember that even if we do nothing, when we move in, it will be home - we'll add our personality to it with our things, and it will allow us to get out of the friggin' trailer park! Then it's all OK.

The House

Our offer was accepted, and we are now in our last week of escrow! Escrow has been a whirlwind - and a roller coaster.

The house is not our "dream house," but we hope to make it at least a little more dreamy.

Here's a slideshow with captions from our Picasa Web Album of the house, plus some photos of ideas for renovations, and some inspiration from other houses:



As you can see, the house has a lot of potential, which is realtor-speak for "needs renovation."

We have some money saved for renovation, but already have about ten times more projects on our list as we have funds. A few things we really would like to do, not necessarily in this order:

• Upgrade kitchen
• Open up kitchen to living room - at least a little more
• Add window or French doors (or both) to living room
• New front door
• New windows (dual pane, low e, etc)
• Wood floors
• Paint
• Get rid of the acoustic ceilings (aka "popcorn" or "cottage cheese")
• Change some lighting fixtures (not too fond of the look of the track lighting, for example)
• Upgrade main bath: new tub, surround (tile, preferably) and add shower and arc shower curtain; new counter and two sinks, paint, flooring
• Upgrade master bath: convert stall shower to wide walk-in glass shower width of room, new vanity/sink/fixtures
• Landscaping
• Get rid of wall around patio
• Add front patio area
• Close off laundry area from garage - create pantry at other end
• Solar hot water
• Plumb propane to kitchen and laundry
• Install Solatubes (tubular skylights) in main bath, hall, and maybe other areas
• Add more insulation (there is only pink batting that is about 4" thick now - add a layer of blown-in)
• Consider adding forced air heating (the kerosene heater in the living room is the only heating for the house currently)
• Add barbecue area to patio with sink and counter/bar
• Add a clothesline in side yard (I love hanging clothes to dry!)
• Plant a garden
• Plant some fruit trees
• Get some chickens
• Get a dog :)

That's all... for now!

The Search

We moved to Bishop after spending most of 2007 traveling (see our other blog, The Adventures of Devin and Maggie).

Home Sweet thewallsareclosingin Home

We traveled from Mexico to Alaska by RV, and when Devin got a job here in the beautiful Eastern Sierra, it seemed like a perfect place to "land" after our journey - just as beautiful as many of our favorite places from the trip, yet still reasonably close to family and friends (well, if you consider 4-5 hours reasonable...) We've been living in our 31 foot motorhome full time since we moved here in November, and it's starting to get a little old. While we were traveling, it was great, but to live and work in one place is different. Stuff starts to accumulate - the dashboard has become a bookshelf, the table a desk, etc. There are just different needs when you are stationary and working than when you are traveling and fancy free.

Ever since we moved here, we've done weekly real estate scouting missions - but weren't looking seriously until recently. We watched as the market kept dropping, knew the minute any new home came on the market, figured out our preferred neighborhoods, watched what prices houses eventually sold at, and on and on. One house had been on the market almost since we moved here, and we would drive by it occasionally, calling it "our house" - but it was out of our price range. It backed onto open land and had a fantastic view of the Sierra - our dream home! But it was out of our price range. We watched as it stayed on the market, unsold, month after month, and watched as the price continued to drop. But it was still out of our price range. Finally, a co-worker of Devin's, who is also looking for a house, looked at it, and we realized it had dropped even further - still out of our price range, but maybe close enough to make an offer! So we called the realtor and broke our pattern of only looking at the outside of houses, and dove into real house hunting.

That house was amazing - great porch with hot tub and views, open ceilings in the kitchen/living/dining great room area, office off of the great room, and the owner is in construction and does tile work, and it had all tile floors, the kitchen was HUGE with gorgeous counters, a huge gourmet stove/oven, custom cabinets, and the bathrooms - walk-in showers that were beautifully tiled, granite countertops... and it had a "seasonal stream" in the back yard! It was really just an irrigation ditch, but I started designing a dry creekbed for it that would have water in it part of the year - how awesome! Okay, we were in love.

We realized that we needed to pick a realtor, and since I'd been emailing back and forth and using the updates of a different realtor in town, we went with them, and went back to look at the house again with our new realtor. We jumped right in and made an offer! The owner took the offer to the bank to see if they would do a short sale! Everything seemed to be going our way - we were going to get an amazing house!

Then, somehow, the owner got a loan from the bank or refinancing or something, and decided to take it off the market. We were heart-broken. We kept saying, "good for the owner" though, since he built the house himself, but it's not like he didn't want to sell it - it had been on the market for at least six months at that point, maybe longer. Our realtor thought maybe the house was never really for sale, after all - maybe the owner just wanted his bank to agree to refinance and used the short sale offer to make that happen. Oh well, either way, we didn't get the house.

We kept looking, though. Every house we looked at fell far short after that one. We looked in a similar price range to what we had offered, but we had offered at the very top end of what we felt we could, and it would have been worth it for that place. For these others, it didn't feel worth it. The next period was one of adjusting our ideas about what we could have in a house, and sort of "values clarification." We started to feel like we were being unreasonably picky. But it would be our home and so shouldn't we be picky? We started looking at houses that were much less expensive, and they started looking better. Then we started thinking of it as more of an investment than our dream home. We could have low mortgage payments, and afford to fix the place up and then maybe later, rent it out for more than our mortgage payment while we bought our dream home. Or traveled. Or moved.

Now we are waiting to hear about a home that doesn't have a view, is in the middle of a fairly boring little tract (only 3 streets), and needs updating. I call the style, "mid-century boring." There is nothing about this house that we love, but nothing we hate, either. And it has potential. And it is $100,000 LESS than our offer on our dream home.

We are ready to be out of the RV, too.

This house is a short sale, and so (ironically) making an offer on it leads to a long process as the bank has to approve the short sale. A short sale is basically faster than a foreclosure, and originated by the seller instead of the bank. The seller in this case was up to date on their payments, but it was killing them and they wanted out. They bought the house in 2007 for $372,000. They are selling it for $249,900. They had tenants in there paying $1800/month, though, so hopefully they had help paying most of that mortgage. But they were likely very upside down on their mortgage. We hope to avoid that, but the market is still dropping like a rock. Last month, Bank of America's Cyberhomes website valued this house at $282,000, and this month its estimated value is $244,521. (Where do they get the $521?) So now our offer is no longer below market value. And we expect it to keep falling in value, but we hope not too much farther. We hope.

It's scary, though!

Since we made our offer on this place, another house came on the market on the same street as our dream house! We went and checked it out, but it is a mess. It is a foreclosure, that is "bank owned," but in this case, the bank is the previous owner that did seller-financing. It needs major renovation, and likely to need some major repairs (a tree fell on the roof, for example). We made an offer on it that was much lower than what the seller was asking, and they said they'd accept if we would take over the eviction part, and basically take ownership with no inspection (because it's such a mess with the current people living there, there is no way you could do a thorough inspection), and also if we financed through him at NINE PERCENT. Holy crap! We have good credit and decent income, we don't need loan shark rates! We will be able to get something at less than 5% when we get our mortgage, easily! So, no thank you.

Click the link to the album for some photos we took of the house - you can tell it has really been neglected and probably there are many more things underlying the appearance that need fixing... but the views!

Fixer Upper with views

We looked at it again, and I drew up a bunch of pictures of what we could do to it, and we decided to make another offer - more money, but the seller fixes the roof (or credits us) and is responsible for evicting the current residents and lets us get a real inspection and our own loan. Sale contingent on inspection and loan. He came back with a counter offer, no more money, but again with making it hard for us to get a real inspection, and remove the loan contingency after a set period... and a non-refundable $5,000 deposit. Ugh. We really like the view, and the potential of this place, but it's really a big mess and feels like such a risk, so not being able to get a proper inspection is a real deal-breaker. Sadly, we didn't respond to his counter-offer.

So now we are waiting to hear on the mid-century boring tract home. The first mortgage holder accepted our offer, but the second is now haggling with the first over how the money should be divided, and in the meanwhile, the estimated value has dropped $43,000. I want a house, but maybe we should wait. Maybe, after all the work our realtors have done working with the banks on this short sale, if we get our offer accepted, maybe we should back out.

Cold feet, nerves... and fear. With a potential depression looming, should we really be buying a house? And a house we don't love? Sure, we can plant a victory garden in the back yard and lay in firewood and such... but, will the housing market drop another $100,000 here? There aren't that many homes here in Bishop. It's a small, small town. And isolated. The nearest city of any size is 3 hours away. So it's not like those towns where they have entire neighborhoods of foreclosures sitting empty with spray painted lawns. There's not a glut of homes on the market at all. If enough businesses close and people have to move away, though, there could be.

All of these things and more go through our minds while we are waiting. We've been watching so much HGTV it's ridiculous, and reading This Old House articles online - we have lots of ideas for fixing it up! But we want to be careful not to over-improve, and to keep within a strict budget, and choose upgrades that will actually increase the value of the home.

We should find out this week if our offer was accepted, and then we have to decide once and for all if it's really what we want to do. Or if we tough it out in the RV a little longer and wait for prices to drop further, or something better to come along. Or make another (probably lower) offer on the dump with the view...

This buying a house stuff is hard work and nerve-wracking!