It’s been said, “A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.” Corollary: “There are two great days of owning a boat: The day you buy it and the day you sell it.”
In my experience, the same is true of houses. A house is a hole in the ground you throw money into. But you own the hole, so it’s okay.
Well, okay, after paying the bank 3x the purchase price over the term of a loan named after death, you own the hole.
Two months into our new house, amid the Drought of 1988 (redux).
What’s gone wrong:
Still yet, the house is utterly solid, and build to a “they don’t build them like this anymore” level that has Whitney and myself thrilled. The hardwood in the foyer, stairs, and Den is holding up great, and the garage has plenty of possibilities.
So, we moved.
We sold our old house on the east side of Georgetown, KY and moved to a house on the west side. I’m currently so tired and overwrought I can’t even remember if one capitalizes ’east’ in a sentence. I think you do, but capital letters just hurt my eyes right now.
We couldn’t have done it without lots of help from folks at church, especially folks from our small group. We got T’s Chevy Colorado truck (2.8L 4-cylinder, AT for those scoring at home) for almost a week, and schlepped stuff to T’s garage, B&D’s basement, our storage building, my office at work, and a Mobile Attic. Most of the stuff (at least the things not in the mobile attic, actually got moved *twice*.
Someone broke into my house today, right after Whitney left with Maria to pick-up Joey from school. Our ADT security system detected the intrusion and they called the police immediately. ADT called me and I told Whitney to go home and check-it-out. She said everything was still there, but the three drawers in our kitchen bar table were open wide.
Bizarre things–it was broad daylight, and if they’ve been casing our house they know PEOPLE PICK UP THEIR KIDS BY THAT BUS STOP every day.
The final type is known simply as the demand clause, and this means that the lender can demand repayment of the loan in full at any time for any reason. This clause gives the lender the same powers as the acceleration and due on sale clauses, but also allows the lender to raise interest rates even if you aren’t selling your property.
Yikes…
Returning from our jaunt around Georgetown last night around 8, Joey and I entered a house that couldn’t be more tranquil: A load of laundry swished in the washer, the dishwasher was humming, and the pleasant smell of the new Airwick was in the air.
Joey went up to shower, and I sat down to veg-out.
A few minutes later, feeling peaked, I went to the fridge for a cheese stick. As I closed the door, processed cheese in hand I felt something hit my foot. Then I looked up to see A STREAM OF WATER GUSHING FROM THE LIGHT FIXTURE.
After a rather disgusting first a moment ago, I want to reflect upon the “firsts” I’ve had in my new house.
First time mowing my own lawn. I don’t despise it (yet), but we’ll see how the newness wears off
First time weed-whacking my own place. I still don’t like this, but I did get a pretty neat trimmer:
First prayer said around my dinner table. This was an AWESOME moment.
I just paid my last rent check.
In 4 weeks, I’m in my house :-D
Well, the current owner of 107 Secretariat street didn’t like my requests to fix a couple things and give us an allowance for the roof he allowed to cook off his house. My realtor told me I was being somewhat unreasonable, and maybe I was. It was a nice little house in a good area, but it scared us.
A full repaint, a new roof, and repairs from general neglect would be our constant companions.
For every magnificent up, there’s usually a sickening down…
Just got back from my home inspection, done by a very thorough, straightforward man named Philip Preston. He found some “issues” with the house.
First is the grade. The house is on a completely flat plot, and there’s not grade away from the house, so water will naturally tend to pool around it. Thankfully, he said the crawlspace was very dry, despite being poorly vented. (It has fewer vents than current code requires, but it’s per code for 7 years ago).
I need to find a new apartment, or a house, or something. Paying my rent every month is KILLING ME.
Sat down tonight (yeah, Friday night, all by my lonesome »sigh«) and took a serious look at my finances, considering the extra expenses of gasoline and autocross every other (or every!) weekend. The short end of it, it’s not great. I really need to pare-down some spending or get some more income, which is patently absurd, because I feel I’m OVERPAID.
