Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
What a year
What a year!! JJ finished gr.3 with flying colours and is going into gr. 4 in September. And it will be a new school.. that's right we sold the house! Can you believe it... well sometimes I can't.
We had it listed again since Feb with real estate but no bites, quite a few showing, but the waterfront scared people off. There is no way to convince people we had no flooding problems unless they came during flood season.. and they just didn't. We decided to take it off MLS and sell it ourselves, that way we could lower the price to counter the fact we didn't have to pay a commission. We took it off on a Thursday, put up signs at the end of the road and in front of the house. Saturday we went to town and when we arrived home there were two vehicles in the door yard. A couple of guys wanted to see the house, so we showed them through. They loved the house, and said they wanted to buy it.. we had hear that before, last year when we tried to sell ourselves, but the couple couldn't get financing..so we didn't' put much stock in these two guys. Sunday they came back again to go through it more closely, Monday they called with an offer and came out later that night to sign a purchase of sale agreement. We were so happy!! But they needed financing... the waiting game was on.
Of course now we had to find a house to buy. I emailed a list of houses to view to our old agent, she called back to say that of the 22 houses I had on the list there was only 4 left to look at. We viewed them that week and narrowed it down to two houses, one on the north side, one on the south. I wanted the south side where we would be close to everything and the neighbourhoods were better. N wanted the north side because he thought the taxes etc, would be cheaper and he liked the north side. I just couldn't see him battling the bridge traffic and having to leave so early just to get to work, when the house on the south side would only take 5 minutes for him to get to work. It would be 2 minutes to the hospital for me, and the elementary school was only 10 houses away.
To top it all off, before all this house stuff happened, we had planned a trip to NS to visit N's mom that weekend so we had to make a decision and fast. We made an offer on Friday, left for NS and finished the back and forth offers while we were there. We got the house on the south side with enough money left over from the sale of our house to be able to do the necessary reno's that the new house needed. And they are extensive. We got the house 40 thousand below the average house in the area, and are redoing the windows, complete bathroom redo..top to bottom, kitchen cupboards and counter tops, flooring and lots of painting. We are also putting in a patio door in the dining room where the window is now, and a deck off of it.
The wait for financing for the guys buying our home was nail biting to say the least. It came down to the hour before the offer was to expire and they got a call from their mortgage broker saying the financing went through! We got the home inspection done for the house we were buying and it was really good, structure and bones of the house was fine. We were moving!!
The move went well, we hired a company to move us. I had done all the packing except for the baby barn stuff and to tell the truth I was worn out and my joints were killing me. I had everything packed in two weeks, too soon but I didn't' know how long it would take me to do all alone. We lived surrounded by boxes with only dishes and pots and pans, towels etc left out to pack on the day of the move. Six hours later on the day of the move and we were in our new house, once again surrounded by boxes. Of course I had the kitchen and bath room stuff all unpacked within an hour or so.. the two major rooms. We hired a contractor to come in and demo out the bath room a couple weeks after we moved in. The walls around the shower showed no wood rot at all which was surprising since it had broken tiles and a window in the middle of the shower area. Why do builders put windows there???? Any ways, with the bathroom down to the studs, the window area was insulated and borded up and a new three piece tub surround was installed . New flooring, wainscotting on the walls, sink and flush installed and voila a brand new bathroom. I had to paint everything, cause the contractor "doesn't do painting"... and I hate painting.. but after a couple of coats on everything, it was done and looked very nice!
The next room was the living room. It had an end wall that was panneling... I know so 80's eh.. but six coats later and it is done and brightened up the whole room. A week later and the contractor was back to do the windows..all of them. They look so nice! Last weekend we took advantage of the warm day and painted the outside of the house. A nice fresh coat of white and "tomato red" on the basement and end gables of the house. Talk about making a big difference. We are settled in, but there are a lot of boxes I can't unpack because we are missing the "nic nack" space for things. At the old house we had like 12 feet of book cases that was used for pictures and stuff. We have decided that we will have to install bookcases on that end wall next to the fireplace so we can have space for all our pictures and little nic nack stuff.
N is suppose to start the kitchen demo next weekend, that will be a messy pain in the butt, even though it will look spectactular when its done. Then it will be more painting for me, the walls in the kitchen a neutral light colour and one wall by the table for accent, a creamy light brown to go with the new counter tops. I will be happy when its all done. Down the road we will be finishing a couple rooms in the basement, like a bedroom for JJ since he wants one down there for when he is older and goes to college,, and a family room. All in time I guess.
We had it listed again since Feb with real estate but no bites, quite a few showing, but the waterfront scared people off. There is no way to convince people we had no flooding problems unless they came during flood season.. and they just didn't. We decided to take it off MLS and sell it ourselves, that way we could lower the price to counter the fact we didn't have to pay a commission. We took it off on a Thursday, put up signs at the end of the road and in front of the house. Saturday we went to town and when we arrived home there were two vehicles in the door yard. A couple of guys wanted to see the house, so we showed them through. They loved the house, and said they wanted to buy it.. we had hear that before, last year when we tried to sell ourselves, but the couple couldn't get financing..so we didn't' put much stock in these two guys. Sunday they came back again to go through it more closely, Monday they called with an offer and came out later that night to sign a purchase of sale agreement. We were so happy!! But they needed financing... the waiting game was on.
Of course now we had to find a house to buy. I emailed a list of houses to view to our old agent, she called back to say that of the 22 houses I had on the list there was only 4 left to look at. We viewed them that week and narrowed it down to two houses, one on the north side, one on the south. I wanted the south side where we would be close to everything and the neighbourhoods were better. N wanted the north side because he thought the taxes etc, would be cheaper and he liked the north side. I just couldn't see him battling the bridge traffic and having to leave so early just to get to work, when the house on the south side would only take 5 minutes for him to get to work. It would be 2 minutes to the hospital for me, and the elementary school was only 10 houses away.
To top it all off, before all this house stuff happened, we had planned a trip to NS to visit N's mom that weekend so we had to make a decision and fast. We made an offer on Friday, left for NS and finished the back and forth offers while we were there. We got the house on the south side with enough money left over from the sale of our house to be able to do the necessary reno's that the new house needed. And they are extensive. We got the house 40 thousand below the average house in the area, and are redoing the windows, complete bathroom redo..top to bottom, kitchen cupboards and counter tops, flooring and lots of painting. We are also putting in a patio door in the dining room where the window is now, and a deck off of it.
The wait for financing for the guys buying our home was nail biting to say the least. It came down to the hour before the offer was to expire and they got a call from their mortgage broker saying the financing went through! We got the home inspection done for the house we were buying and it was really good, structure and bones of the house was fine. We were moving!!
The move went well, we hired a company to move us. I had done all the packing except for the baby barn stuff and to tell the truth I was worn out and my joints were killing me. I had everything packed in two weeks, too soon but I didn't' know how long it would take me to do all alone. We lived surrounded by boxes with only dishes and pots and pans, towels etc left out to pack on the day of the move. Six hours later on the day of the move and we were in our new house, once again surrounded by boxes. Of course I had the kitchen and bath room stuff all unpacked within an hour or so.. the two major rooms. We hired a contractor to come in and demo out the bath room a couple weeks after we moved in. The walls around the shower showed no wood rot at all which was surprising since it had broken tiles and a window in the middle of the shower area. Why do builders put windows there???? Any ways, with the bathroom down to the studs, the window area was insulated and borded up and a new three piece tub surround was installed . New flooring, wainscotting on the walls, sink and flush installed and voila a brand new bathroom. I had to paint everything, cause the contractor "doesn't do painting"... and I hate painting.. but after a couple of coats on everything, it was done and looked very nice!
The next room was the living room. It had an end wall that was panneling... I know so 80's eh.. but six coats later and it is done and brightened up the whole room. A week later and the contractor was back to do the windows..all of them. They look so nice! Last weekend we took advantage of the warm day and painted the outside of the house. A nice fresh coat of white and "tomato red" on the basement and end gables of the house. Talk about making a big difference. We are settled in, but there are a lot of boxes I can't unpack because we are missing the "nic nack" space for things. At the old house we had like 12 feet of book cases that was used for pictures and stuff. We have decided that we will have to install bookcases on that end wall next to the fireplace so we can have space for all our pictures and little nic nack stuff.
N is suppose to start the kitchen demo next weekend, that will be a messy pain in the butt, even though it will look spectactular when its done. Then it will be more painting for me, the walls in the kitchen a neutral light colour and one wall by the table for accent, a creamy light brown to go with the new counter tops. I will be happy when its all done. Down the road we will be finishing a couple rooms in the basement, like a bedroom for JJ since he wants one down there for when he is older and goes to college,, and a family room. All in time I guess.
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