Hey . . .

When we FINALLY get our new house built . . .

And we FINALLY get to put our current house up on the market . . .

I'm hoping ~this~ will be one of the selling points . . . . .

Nothing To Report

That's why there hasn't been a blog entry for the past couple of months - - there is literally nothing to report at the moment.

We are just hanging in there, keeping in touch with our realtor, looking at lots - - we do have a couple of "possibilities", but so far nothing firmed up.

As soon as anything at all happens, I will post it here.

Sorry for the 'down time' . . .

Interesting Information

We had to have the furnace worked on today - - it was misfiring quite a bit, and we thought the igniter was going our again (it has happened a couple of times before). But fortunately it wasn't. Some of the jets were misfiring because they needed cleaning. So the Air King guy came out and gave the whole unti a good once-over, and it's working like a charm - - just in time for it to get up in the 70's today and we don't need it! But that's okay - - at least we know it's all in good shape.

While the HVAC guy was there, Dear Hubby talked with him about different types of systems for new home construction. We had been seriously looking at a geo-thermal system, which cost quite a bit more upfront, but was supposed to be so efficient and cost-effective that it would pay for itself in 3-5 years.

WELL - - seems like that is not quite the case . . .

The first thing the guy asked Steve was what kind of back-up system he planned on installing.

Back-up system??? What for?

THEN the guy told him that he, and anyone else he had talked with over the past few years, had to have a back-up system installed, because the geo-thermal system by itself could not keep up with the heating needs of a house. In fact, even though we have had a fairly mild winter with fairly mild temps, he had to constantly run his back-up system,. If he didn't, his house temperature would drop to the mid-50's!

Hmmmmm - - doesn't sound good to me.

AND - - in our area, there are only approximately 18 homes that have geo-thermal systems. NOW - - if they were so good, why don't more people consider them? Good food for thought.

So they discussed other HVAC systems, and the pros and cons of each.

Thanks to this guy, we have a LOT more information to store away for building time.

Thanks, Paul! And Thanks, Air King, for taking care of us one more time! :-)

STILL On the Market . . .

Remember the house we looked at about a month ago? The one decorated like Steak 'n' Shake? That they wanted $179,000 for?

And then 2 weeks later there was another Open House, and the price had dropped all the way (heh!) down to $169,000?

Well, there was ANOTHER Open House today at that house, and the price has dropped again - - to $164,000.

Heh.

We'll STILL pass . . .

Lot Update

We met with our realtor for supper tonight, and had a great time! She is such a good, nice person, we have known her for many years, and we all have a great time together.

We gave her a reduced-down copy of our house plans, and asked her to please go back and talk to the folks who owned the Summit Street property, so that they would know who is interested in the lot, what we are intending to build, and give them some information about what kind of people we are (yes, we ARE good people - - a little bit loony sometimes, but harmless!)

I can understand how they might feel - - they do not know us, or anything about us, and I would abe just as uneasy as they are about selling to someone sight unseen and maybe get stuck with the worst neighbors in the world.

We also talked with her about another addition right on the south edge of town. There are 26 acres available, and they are wanting to split it and sell lots. It's not too far from the property we looked at last weekend, and it's nice property. Some wooded areas to it, lots of deer to see, and it not only fairly private and quiet, but it's close enough to town to get to everything we need to easily.

SO - - things are looking up a little - - even though we will not be building now until NEXT Spring, at least we are still on the way . . . .

Keep ya posted . . .

Pathetic!

Dear Hubby saw an open house in the paper in a neighborhood not far from where he grew up. It advertised a large ranch house, 2 big garages, and approximately 5 acres of land, part of it wooded. It was located right on the edge of town.

SO - - we decided to go have a look-see.

What a disappointment . . .

When we first pulled up, it looked pretty nice - - lots of trees, wooded area across the back of the lot, and big house and garages.

Then we really started looking things over.

PA - THE - TIC.

The house was laid out okay, I guess - - but the trim and woodwork in the rooms did not match. I mean did not match even in the same room! The hardwood floors were in pretty sad shape and in need of a great deal of TLC.

In the "Master Suite" (yeah right) - - you could tell the previous tenants had a waterbed, because the subflooring was in the middle of the room, and the hardwood flooring had been laid up to the bed pedestal.

Yes, that's right - - there was a HUGE SQUARE OF SUBFLOORING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM.

Can we say PATHETIC????

One thing we really did like, though, was the large sunporch on the back. It overlooked the back lot and the wooded area. The realtor told us that back in the trees was a natural salt spring, and the deer just flocked to it, and there were always deer around. Now that would be really cool - - sitting out on the sunporch, curled up in a big ol' comfy chair with a cup of hot tea and a kittycat or two, watching the deer walk through the treeline. *sigh*

We started to go out the side door, and was told it didn't work properly and needed to stay locked shut.

Ooooo - kayyyyyyy - -

SO we found another door to go out of, and decided to check out the yard and garages.

What a MESS!

The yard had all kinds of debris and broken yard sculpture laying around. It was really JUNKY.

Inside the first garage was no better - - they had all kinds of "stuff" crammed in there to the point that you could hardly walk around.

AND - - another "surprise" - - the realtor had mentioned to us to be careful walking around the garage, because there was about a one foot difference in the floor height between the 2 bays.

Excuse me??? WHY was there a one foot step down (or up, depending on which direction you were walking) between the bays?

Dear Hubby said it was probably to accommodate a taller vehicle.

WHAT????

Instead of putting YOURSELF and ANYONE ELSE in danger of falling and possibly breaking something when you or they land on a concrete floor (which is not known for its softness, by the way), why not (bright idea here) PUT IN A TALLER DOOR?????

DUH??!?!?!?!?!????!!!!!

Oh well - -

We went to the other garage, and it was locked up tight. No way of looking in that one. The realtor mentioned they had a lot of "junk" stored in it. (Like the first garage DIDN'T????)

So we walked around the yard some more, and the more we did, the more depressing it got. SO junky!!

NOW - - here's the GOOD part - -

The asking price for all this - - are you ready???

All this and more could be OURS - - ALL OURS - - for the low, low price of $189,000.

Yeah, you read that right.

NOW - - JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME . . .

If I were going to be asking that much "green" for MY house and MY property . . . you can be DAMN sure I would clean it up, and have the JUNK stored somewhere else (OFF SITE!), and have the FLOORING IN THE BEDROOM COMPLETED, and have the woodwork and trim in each room MATCH, and CLEAN UP THE DAMN YARD!

What are people thinking?????

It was a beautiful lot, and a GREAT location, but the house, garages, and grounds would have taken at least an additional $100,000 to bring it all up to specs!

Heh.

Think we'll pass.

Small Update

Had a chance to talk with our realtor today. She has still not been able to find out anything on those lots we have been wondering about. Apparently when they are held in a bank trust, it's really difficult to find out exactly who to contact. But she may be on to something, and hopefully will have something to tell us later this week.

Also, Dear Hubby is going to stop by the County Recorder of Deeds office and see if he can track down any info by address or tract number . . .

Wish us luck - - keep ya posted.

Still On the Market . . .

Dear Hubby Steve saw in the paper this morning that there was another Open House at the one we looked at a couple of weeks ago.

Also, the price has dropped from $174,000 to $169,000.

Heh.

Think we'll pass . . .

Sometimes You Just Can't Go Back . . .

We found THAT out yesterday - -

Dear Hubby Steve saw a house for sale in the Sunday paper that we had looked at about 11 years ago, before we bought our present home. I totally fell in love with the house! It was located right at the edge of town, so it had city water (a definite plus!), was on a 1.2 acre lot, was all brick exterior, and had been build by a house builder for himself. As I walked through the house, I was instantly charmed by it! Not only by the quality of work, but the people selling it had a definite sense of color sceme. The walls, woodwork, everything - - just seemed to exude a "warmth" that was very comforting. We walked downstairs to the "Rec Room" area, and it was the same warm feeling - - wood accents, wood-burning fireplace - - it just seemed to radiate a feeling of "home" and "comfort" to us.

HOWEVER - - the couple selling it was really - - um - - "strange", I guess would be a good word for them. It became very obvious real soon that the husband did NOT want to sell and move. The WIFE, however - - was determined that they most definitely WERE moving, and that he could just shup his mouth and accept it!

That, and the fact that they were asking $129,000 for it (remember, this was 11 years ago, and it was NOT worth that much at that time - - not around these parts, at least) - - made for a *very* uncomfortable situation we had found ourselves in - - and it didn't help any when Hubby told them that other houses in the area were going for $100,000 or less, and that we could not consider paying more than $100,000 for a house - - ANY house - - that our budget wouldn't allow it.

S) - - we politely excused ourselves and wended out way back home.

We talked to our realtor and told her what we had encoutered and our feeling about the house. We also told her that we felt it was not worth the asking price. She agreed, but said she felt they would be willing to deal. So we discussed it, and decided that our offer would be $89,900, which we felt was more than fair. Sure, the majority of the house was in great condition - - bricks were tight with no tuckpointing needed, indoors was ready to move in to, but we had to take into consideration that we would have to do some roof repair, and run heat to the enclosed front porch, and Dear Hubby wanted to have a big outbuilding for his car "stuff". Our realtor agreed that it was a fair price, and arranged to meet with the couple to discuss it.

So our realtor met with them and gave our offer.

She was met with dead silence.

AND a deafening GLARE from the wife.

Who proceeded to ream our realtor with no mercy.

And claimed that Dear Hubby had actually OFFERED them $100,000 for the house the day we looked at it, and was now not willing to keep that part of the "bargain" . . .

HUH?!?!?!?!?????

I could have sworn I was with him that day, in that same house, with that same couple.

What "BARGAIN"?!?!?!?!?????

I don't remember any "BARGAIN"!!!!!!!

Our realtor gave us a call when she left them. From her tone of voice, we could tell she was still reeling. She asked us why we had not warned her that we had discussed a price with the couple before she went over there.

WELL - - maybe it's because we had NOT discussed a price with them.

To us, mentioning that other houses similar to theirs were in that price range, which is the most we could even cosider for a house - - ANY house - - was not "discussing a price" with them, or in any way did it resemble a "bargain" - -

These people were NUTS!

Well, we didn't pursue THAT house anymore . . . . *sigh*

They had that house on the market almost another year! And what was the price they FINALLY sold it for?

$100,000.

Yup - - that's right - - $100,000.

NOT the $129,000 they (or I should say, the WIFE) was insistent upon getting.

By that time we had already bought our present home.

BUT - - here it was - - on the market again - -

WELL - - let's just see what it looks like now.

We walked in to the kitchen area, and it had all been redecorated. All white and stainless steel. Very cold . . .

We walked through the rest of the house. ALL the walls, the woodwork, EVERYTHING - - was painted white. Stark. Plain. White. EVERYTHING.

Very cold.

The enclosed front porch had been opened up to be a part of the rest of the house, and had heat and ceiling fans and was decorated really nicely! I knew it would be a good idea to do that - -

But it was also painted white. Totally. White.

All the carpet was off-white - -

There was not "warmth" in the house anywhere! *shudder*

SO we decided to head downstairs to the "Rec Room" area, which the realtor lady was prattling on about it being the "Showcase of the WHOLE HOUSE" - -

And it was painted WHITE. With 45 records nailed to the walls. And a black & white "Steak 'n' Shake" type of floor.

And white speckled countertop.

White kitchen.

White walls. White trim.

Cold.

I just wanted to get out of there.

We managed to laugh about it a little later - - once the SHOCK had worn off!

Oh, and now the asking for that house is $174,000 - - and considering I would have to pry 45 records OFF the walls - - and tear up the Steak 'n' Shake floor, and replace ALL the trim in the WHOLE ENTIRE HOUSE with wood trim, and repaint the WHOLE ENTIRE HOUSE - - that is, AFTER steaming off all the wallpaper cutouts they plastered up as "border" by the ceiling (in a "woodsy", moose and bear theme . . . *sheesh*) - -

We have decided to pass on it.

Sometimes you just can't go back - - *sigh*

A Hopeful Sign

Well, Dear Hubby spoke to his housebuilding acquaintance, Larry, last night. Larry is very excited about the prospect of building the house for us. He is going to get back with us by the weekend so we can start talking figures and numbers and seeing what it will take.

We are definitely looking at Plan B - - being our own General Contractor, and Plan C - - selling our house and the extra lot, and buying a lot in another location.

So we are considering this a hopeful sign - - and we sure needed one!

Keep ya posted . . . . .