Under Pressure

Sorry for the pathetic lack of blogs lately. It seems that now things have started to move forward in the house department, my desire to discuss them has waned. Maybe its because it is all (well, almost all) I think about these days. And I'm tired of it already, and it is just the beginning! I mean literally tired of it. It is emotionally draining for me.

Let me explain...no, not enough time for that. Let me summarize. The prince is in the castle and is to wed the princess in little less than half an hour. The castle is guarded by... Oh sorry, that is a movie and not my life.

On Friday, I called a mortgage lender to discuss steps for financing. I gave a few pertinent details - name, SSN, 2 previous addresses, how long I have been at my last 2 jobs, the amount of money in my savings, 401k, etc. In less than half an hour, the lady had called back and told me my credit was excellent, and I was pre-approved for a loan. She emailed me a Good Faith Estimate, with an estimated payment that was just what I had figured it would be! I guess researching before hand was smart. So with that information, my agent and I were on our way to looking at houses in my now approved price range, which we did on Saturday, me and my saintly sister.

I met the agent at 1:30, and we proceeded to house #1. It was a small, garden lot, zero property house. Which means next to nothing yard. The neighborhood was immaculate since the HOA fees paid for front yard maintainence. It was built in 1990, and owned by an old lady - who was there when we walked thru her house. It was well kept, but pretty tiny. It was small, and at the higher end of my price range. So it just didnt' seem like the best value. But still an option.

House #2 was built in '82. Very affordable, but not well kept. It would have required a lot of work both inside and out. I liked the front of the house and had a nice yard. But it was out of the question.

House #3 was the same age, but in much better condition. It had a unique floorplan. Great neighborhood with lots of big, established trees. But it was fairly expensive.

House #4 wasn't really a house for sale - but it was a new construction home that has already been sold. We looked at it to see the type of house this builder builds. I liked it. It didnt' really stand out, but it seemed a good size for me, and pretty high quality. The negative was a small lot, and apartments around most of the cul-de-sac. There is one interior lot available that wouldn't back into the apartments. We called it a day, and I got home around 6pm. So exhausting, and that was just 1 day!

Since I showed some interest, the builder has hounded (well, not hounded, but definitely been persistent) my agent to talk to me. It seems they want to pour all the foundations for the remaining lots this week. He said he needs to know soon if I want it. So that is where I am now. He is giving me some prices for some of the upgrades to see if this house would be too expensive for me.

It feels too soon! I didn't want to be rushed in this decision. But I am leaning towards building. Even though I dont' want the hassles of building, and it will be several months before it would be ready. I'm sure this Old Testament amount of rain would not help the process. We'll see. I will see how I feel about it in a few days. But wouldn't it be dreamy to live somewhere where no one else has lived before? And I found out that a friend at work lives .5 miles away, so we could carpool. It would be about 25-30 minutes from work, so more than doubling my gas bill. Maybe I need to draw up a pro/con list. But I think I'm going to do it! So scary. Maybe tomorrow I will change my mind.

?

I'm 29 years old, and I still manage to get deoderant on my shirt. Perhaps a house is too much for me.

I'm hoping to go with my agent to look at some houses on Saturday. She hasn't replied yet, so not sure if she works on the weekend.

Step 2 accomplished...my savings is now out of my CDs, and is in a more liquid state in my savings account. So I can write the biggest check of my life.

Alphabet Soup

Let's see, what has happened since my last posting?

I met with an agent a few weeks ago - I'm hesitant to call her "my" agent just yet. But I think she will be. We talked for about an hour...just general things of what I want, where I want it, when I want it, and how much I want to pay for it. It was all about me, me, me! Which is hard for someone who can't make up their mind.

She was nice, an older lady 20+ years of experience. She had the initials ABR,SRES by her name. The first means Accredited Buyer's Representative - which sounds like a good thing. The second is Seniors Real Estate Specialist. That's right. I picked an agent that old people go to! I think I really am an old person stuck inside a young person's firm, fit body :)

Since I do not want to/can't really buy until mid-summer, she said that I do not have to sign with her until probably mid to late May, when she will get busy sending me listings. Until then, I am to surf on the net and drive around neighborhoods to get a feel for what I like, and what is out there. She also gave me the names of 2 mortgage people. I have yet to call them.

On Friday, she sent me my first listings. So Saturday I drove around the area for almost 2 hours trying to find the houses. Don't tell Al Gore on me. I actually surprised myself by liking most the house that is in a HOA and that is a zero-lot property. That means that I would have to pay to live there (beyond the mortgage of course), and would have to live with someone else's rules. AND I would have a yard the size of a postage stamp. But what do I need a yard for? And there is a community pool. So now I think I will not exclude HOA and zero-lots from my short list. Which doesn't help when you can't narrow stuff down.

Milestone

Woohoo! I've had over 1000 hits on my blog - how exciting. I'm sure at least half of them are my own, but I will not let that fact diminish my accomplishment.

I'd like to thank Blogspot for creating this wonderful place for us to gather. I'd like to thank 4andcounting for inspiring me to start a blog. But most especially, I'd like to thank you, the reading public, for making this all worthwhile with your comments. Without your feedback, I wouldn't know that anyone was evening reading this, and I would have stopped a long time ago. You know who you are - Just Stuff and Embracing the Moment and no no don't play the music, I'm not done yet! Thank you, everyone!

Three Things

Well, it is really more than three. 4andcounting tagged me to do the 3 things meme. And I need another excuse to postpone the inevitable.

Three Things That Scare Me:
1. Fire
2. Speaking in public
3. Not knowing my future

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. Will Ferrell
2. Steve Carroll
3. The guys from Whose Line Is It Anyway - except Drew Carey

Three Things I Love:
1. sports
2. babies
3. napping

Three Things I Hate:
1. vinegar
2. when people yell
3. being late

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. men
2. why I do some things I do
3. why my cat keeps pooping on the carpet...has stopped recently...hopefully for good

Three Things On My Desk:
1. Dwight (from The Office) bobblehead
2. Dallas Cowboys cup
3. 3 types of body lotion. Not sure why 3.

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
1. thinking about work
2. looking at the mess on my desk
3. thinking about someone

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. travel Europe
2. be a better person
3. buy a house!

Three Things I Can Do:

1. run fast, though not as fast as I could
2. make some people laugh
3. play tennis decently

Three Things I Can’t Do:
1. sing in key
2. spell very well
3. rubix cube

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. the silence, whenever it comes in your life
2. your inner self, even if you don't want to hear
3. Compliments (I agree)

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. loud music
2. other people's conversations
3. the voices in your head...am I on the only one?

Three Things I’d Like To Learn:
1. how to invest my money better
2. how to be a cook who doesn't need a recipe
3. myself better

Three Favorite Foods:
1. pizza
2. bacon
3. chicken fried steak

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Today's Special
2. Pinwheel
3. Fraggle Rock

Three Things I Regret:
1. letting a friendship fade
2. not being more social in high school
3. buying clothes that I know are the wrong size just cuz they are on sale and might fit eventually

Three People I'm Tagging (no pressure, just if it seems like fun to do):
1. Just Stuff
2. Running a marathon even though she hasn't updated her blog in forever
3. Embracing the moment

Sure Sign Of Spring

I have an appointment to meet with a potential agent tomorrow!

29 going on 92

I hope my first full day of being 29 is not an indication of the rest of my life...as i was in bed by 9:30pm on a Saturday night! I guess I should preface that by saying I didn't go to bed until after 3 am on the previous evening (or same morning), and I didn't get much sleep. And it's also true that I had invitations from people (2 explicit, 1 implicit) to hang out last night that I chose to say no to. That makes it a little better, right?

And I did sleep until after 9am, almost 12 hours of sleep. I heard that old people can't sleep late in the morning. So I guess I am old enough to go to bed early, but not too old where I can't be a lazy bum. Whatever - still lame.

On to more important matters. I will call a real estate agent this week. It will happen.

That's all for now. I need to go take my osteoporosis medicine and investigate hip-replacement surgery.