The House

So, that is Ethan's dream house with the 4 car garage. The one that needs all new flooring up the stairs and the entire second floor (minus bathrooms). The house that needs to be entirely repainted on the inside, at least the second floor before we move in. The house that is gonna be work work work. We got the call Friday evening that they accepted our offer, but countered for a 5 day inspection period and wanted to close escrow on Nov. 14. Everything is electronic and we told our agent to "click" yes and we were ready, though we were pretty sure we wouldn't close on the 14th because title and escrow are never on time. Ethan didn't think we would have a problem funding the loan in that time, and we were assured we could get the inspections done in 5 days.

My mom drove by the house on Saturday and called to let me know "there are people in your house!" Because the final contract had not been drawn up, the house was still listed as active. Ethan asked the agent to take us to the house on Sunday during the day because we saw the house at night. The house still had electricity, but some of the rooms were missing fixtures so we couldn't see everything. I already had plans for an in home spa party in Sacramento so I couldn't go.

Ethan took a bunch of pictures and when I asked him if it was good or bad he said he would tell me later. Never a good answer. Turns out there is some water damage in the master bathroom. He thinks its a confined area but with that stuff you never know. They also noticed a lot of random wiring and exposed wiring, along with tons of missing fixtures so we're probably going to need an electrician to come in and help with that. There is a water line that is cut, and they can't figure out if its the main or not. They usually turn the water off in foreclosure properties, but not cut the pipe. So...everything depends on the inspection. We put less money down this time because we new we were going to have to pay for new flooring and a stove, plus random stuff so hopefully the inspection doesn't find stuff that is very expensive.

This also will change our move in date. Even if we close on time, its going to take a few weeks to do the flooring, painting, and whatever else they find. Ethan was hoping we could be out of here Nov. 30 and not have to pay rent for another month. I on the other hand think we should pay our December rent and take this nice and easy. We don't really have the capacity to move in a weekend like we used to do. I can't pack anything heavy or move anything heavy, Ethan hates to pack...issues. He mentioned getting movers and I said that was the only way we could do it quick, but that still would only give me 2 weeks to paint (not me paint), clean and get new floors upstairs. I'm a mom and we're pretty magical, but I'm not sure I'm that kind of a miracle worker.

Today we are turning in our "addendum" that is a standard foreclosure form that basically says they will pay for nothing and they will charge us $250 for every day we don't close on time, which will officially open escrow, change the listing to pending, and get people to stop looking at our house. We had to add another addendum because Ethan is a licensed agent, though he is not affiliated with a broker and hasn't worked in real estate in the last 2 yrs, but we had to disclose that.

I am trying to be optimistic about it all. During Judy's home buying process she said she had to put good thoughts out there, so I'm gonna do that. It is a great house, has great bones, and we will not outgrow it. I have to believe its the house for us, where else do you get a 4 car garage in town? I have my family around to help with all the other stuff so I just gotta let everything else go and have a good attitude.