Sunday, February 22, 2009

Home at last?

Last year, there was a new housing development that The Man and I checked out. It's actually an area that has houses on one side, condominiums on the other side. It's in one of the nicer areas of the city and a still developing community. We couldn't afford the condo last year - what a wake up call that we needed to save! This year, we're actually looking at the houses to see if we can afford one.
It's not our dream home. But I don't mind. Actually, I've had my eye on the condo we couldn't afford last year. I'm okay with not having a yard because I am not blessed with the green thumb like my my father. But The Man, my parents and our realtor are leaning more towards houses. I'm all about what's more affordable, though. *Side note: I should mention that when we were looking at homes out of our price range, it wasn't just our realtor, it was also The Man looking beyond our means! I like our realtor and I know that both of them thought there was no harm. But as someone who can easily get emotionally attached to inanimate objects, I had to put my foot down ;)*
We've been looking at so many houses, townhouses and condominimiums. Sweet jeezus, I'm tired. There are many beautiful homes. We even saw one that was on 2 acres and practically in the woods! And supposedly in our price range. But it was a short sale and the owners received bids more than what they were asking.
Everyone says it's a buyers' market. The thing is, even in the Bay Area, you need to have a certain amount of money to even look at short sale homes. Unless you're willing to look at fixer uppers. Fixer uppers aren't bad, they can actually be pretty great. But although we (OK, HE) have the skill, we just don't have the energy. And it's still a bidding war. Sure, the homes are a lot more reasonable than they were five years ago but it's still pretty high for (kind of) first time buyers.
Back to the house we have our eye on. As I mentioned, it's not our dream home. But it's new and in an area we like in Hayward. It's close by the hospital, very close to a well-to-do neighborhood (so safe and clean), near the San Mateo bridge and close enough to the major freeway. Surprisingly, it was The Man who convinced me we should look in Hayward. I wanted to look in cities like Fremont or Castro Valley. He pointed out, though, that we should be close to my parents so that if they need anything, we're nearby. Also, when we eventually have kids, my parents can be close by to help us. These were all very good points. Plus our money went a bit farther in Hayward than in my preferred cities. We just didn't like what we saw even though they are better cities. I still know, however, that Hayward does not have a good school district and we agreed to either move when we have school-aged children or look into private schools.)
We'll see. We still need to have another meeting to discuss contracts and The Man and I need to know exactly how much we will spending a month to make sure we can afford it. I think I feel comfortable writing about it because I've learned not to fall in love with houses. If we get it (and we've been approved, we just need to make sure we can afford it!) I'll be happy. It's a fantastic starter home and very nice for my little family. If we don't, well, I am a little over-dosed on looking at homes but I guess we would just keep on keepin' on!

Monday, February 16, 2009

I feel like I'm seeing all varieties of homes from "Three Little Pigs"

We saw seven homes w/ our realtor today.
Some people should be slapped for the price they're asking, considering the location and the condition. And we seriously have to STOP seeing homes out of our price range. I don't care if it's only 20k ... it's still 20k!!!! If I don't have it in my back pocket, it's too much to ask on top of our price range.
Oh, what a trying process. I mean, truly, trying to find a home tries my patience. And let me just add that EVERY decent house seems to be a short sale. I HATE A SHORT SALE! It makes no kind of sense. The seller is trying to prevent foreclosure so the seller has a short sale and offers the home for a price lower than what he/she had paid for said house. Of course, because the home is now being offered at a great deal, there are buyers (enter poor young couple like yours truly and The Man.) But ohhh nooo! Just because we are willing to pay the price, doesn't mean that the seller's lender is willing to take the price that the seller offered. So there goes that.
Seems ass backwards to me. Why doesn't the bank just tell the Seller what is the lowest price they're willing to take and then let the Seller try to sell it? I know, the market fluctuates, depends on the person handling the short sale, yadda yadda yadda. Truthfully, it's a bunch of Piko/Pili crap. It stinks, it's messy and it puts me in a bad mood!
But I can finally understand what I couldn't understand before. You homeowners have told me how you ended up with your 4th, 5th, or 6th choice and I couldn't understand how you could get past your first choice. Now I get it. You just have to harden your heart and not fall in love with property. Because that kind of love gets you nothing but heart ache. The house sure has heck doesn't love you back. And the sellers, their realtor and their lender could give two hoots if you love the house. So why go through that kind of pain? We've gotten to point where we have decided that if the place is the kind of home we see ourselves growing old in - fantastic. But if we can only see ourselves there for five years and then selling it for a profit to buy what will hopefully be our forever home - that is just dandy, too.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

I love this little blog group so much!

You guys have made me laugh with your comments regarding the last post. THANK YOU. I'm seriously okay. It really was a good thing that it was kind of drawn out (two weeks is a long time for Miss Impatient over here!)
We looked at ELEVEN houses today. Just to see our options. And to narrow down which homes we actually wanted to view the interior with our realtor. Truthfully, none were as spectacular as the first house. But you know what? They were less expensive which is something we can certainly be thankful for and happy with!
But let me tell you the gifts Piko and Pili gave us today ...
I scheduled their vet visits today because I figured not a lot of people would be going because it's the weekend and it's Valentine's Day. The Man and I took them for their annual check ups and shots. Afterwards, we decided to look at the homes we found on the internet. We chose 11 to drive past and check out from the car ... just to see.
Well, I know it's not safe but the pups usually ride with us in the front. But they started behaving badly after the third house, whimpering and wiggling and wanting to stick their heads out the window so we put them in the back seat.
On our way to the fifth, The Man glanced back and yelled, "Oh no, Piko!"
She pooped on his baseball hat in the backseat.
He knew it was our fault for not picking up on her whimpering so we couldn't really get mad at her. The Man found the nearest park and I took them for a bathroom break walk while he cleaned the mess. His seats are cloth. The pups and I walked around for five minutes and when we got back to the car, he pretty much cleaned up everything ... it didn't even smell anymore. Great! He said that although it was soft, it was still hard enough to pick up easily. It might be TMI but, I think, an important piece of information nevertheless.
Although we're a bit grossed out, we decided to keep on keepin' on. We were on our way to the next house when I glanced back and BAM! Pili's little body was hunched over and she was in mid-poop in the exact spot where Piko just pooped! I yelled, "Pili's pooping now!" and The Man, shocked that this could happen again, slammed on the brakes. Because it would be our luck, Pili's poop is totally wet and basically a puddle. To make matters worse, because oh yes, they can get worse, she was slipping and sliding on her own poo when he slammed the brakes and tried to get her balance back by stepping all over the backseat.
The Man immediately pulled over and it was now MY turn to clean up the mess. I almost gagged because it was a lot messier and stinkier than Piko's. (The Man got Piko's nastiness in one pick up. I had to use many, many, many napkins and babywipes to pick up her sh*t puddle.) In the meantime, The Man attempted to clean Pili's paws because they were all soiled. They sure taught us a lesson. We went straight home, washed Pili and continued looking out homes without them.
I swear, it was bowel movements galore today. Happy Valentine's Day to us :)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The scoop. Finally.

I knows it's silly to fall in love with an inanimate object. But that's kind of what happened when our realtor showed us this house. I don't want to go on and on like a school girl crush so here's some bullet points:
* 4 bedrooms
* 3 bathrooms
* hard wood floors
* wrap around balcony
* view of the bay
* build in 1963
* sleepy and nice little neighborhood in the hills
* needs a bit of work
* seller marked it as pre-foreclosure
* in our price range
The Man and I thought this was a perfect place for us. Fantastic for when we have a growing family, and, when it comes time to take care of my parents, there would be plenty of room. I adored it. It was in our price range! And while it would need a little bit of elbow grease, we would gladly do it because the house was just that awesome.
We put in a bid. And let me just say this ...
I HATE short sales.
We put in what I think was a good bid. Yes, the sellers priced the home a lot lower than what he/she had purchased. We couldn't afford this house if they weren't in pre-foreclosure. But we offered to put down a substantial initial deposit. We also offered $50k more than the final asking price (they lowered it an additional $25k a week after we attended the open house.) Well, after waiting nearly two weeks, we received a counter offer from the seller last night:
* Property sold "as is"
* Buyer shall pay for government requirements and retrofit
* Buyer shall pay $5,000 loss mitigation fee to "Foreclosure Prevention Services" or its assignees
* Seller has until April 10th to make final decision
* Sale price of short sale subject to lender's approval (we knew about this one)
* Sale is subject to tenants' right. Home will not be delivered vacant at close of escrow
* Seller is making multiple counter offers. Acceptance of this counter shall not be binding unless and until it's subsequently re-signed by seller.
We have big problems with just about all of these terms. We will have to pay a few hundred dollars to assess a home that we may not get. We won't know until April if we're owners or not. They can still market the house and accept another bid until April. If we get the house, we can't move in because we will have renters. We'll have to pay an additional 5k. And how much is it going to cost to retrofit the house?! The seller's counter offer blows.
I'm all about instant gratification. It's just who I am. But I believe it's a blessing that we had to wait nearly two weeks because I'm not as desperately in love with the house as I had been a couple of weeks ago. I mean, I was able to gain some perspective. This house is still my favorite and I absolutely would love to live in that house. And, in all honestly, everything else we've seen and continue to see in our price range pales in comparison. It's sad, really. But I also realize that it's JUST a house. And we'll live without it. And, as with everything else in my life, I believe that something better will come along ... a greater plan, perhaps. Of course, I have a hard time believing that something better aesthetically will come our way because, my goodness, this place had a wrap around balcony, a view, a tiny courtyard and hard wood floors! (*Sigh* I really did fall in love with this house.) But everything else in my life has worked out for the better whenever something doesn't end up coming my way. So I'm just going to keep hoping and praying that this isn't any different.
But I mean it when I write that I HATE SHORT SALES. Passionately.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

My allergies are FEROCIOUS!

This will be a quick post because I have to get ready to work out (mind you, I feel obligated because I think I killed every carb in sight with my mouth yesterday.)

I am so sad. The pile of used tissues are getting bigger and bigger each morning. I took the fake allergy medication. Then I took the good stuff - Claritin. Now I'm really going to have to Google Neti Pot (still don't know what the hell that is or what it even looks like.) But I think it won't matter. I wake up having to blow my nose in the middle of the night. The Man tosses in frustration. But I can't help it. I am seriously a snot factory :( It's affecting my sleep, his sleep and I really can't help it! Luckily, he snores like a chainsaw so he can't up and leave me for it ;)

Please, please, please let the weather change soon!

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Absolutely nothing new to report ...

so let's move on to other things, shall we?

My allergies are so bad that I feel like I'm a foghorn and a snot factory rolled up in one. Very sexy for The Man, let me tell you.

I'm leaving in a little over a week for my first meeting for the leadership conference. Ordinarily, to save money, we are asked to either choose a roommate or let them assign us one. As luck would have it, I don't have a roommate. But I'm also nervous because although I know a couple of people who are also attending, I am not really familiar with anyone.

Admittedly, I am distracted and preoccupied but I'm trying to not let my tedencies for being high strung get the better of me!

Facebook and I are good buddies again. It's nice not having to sensor myself. Maybe it's paranoid of me but I like knowing who all my "friends" are and knowing that they really wish the best for me and aren't judging my every move. It's nice :)

I have a problem with instant gratification and I don't know what to do because I've always been that way! Good thing I married someone who bring me balance.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Ever wanted something so much ...

you were even too scared to write or talk about it for fear that it might not happen? Or that you will be disappointed and you don't want to have to discuss your disappointment?
I'm not trying to be secretive. It's just that I don't want egg on my face. And I know you really can't have egg on your face if something doesn't pan out and it's not your fault. But still.
So, although I'm being vague, will you send us good luck or well wishes? You don't have to write it down, just think it. Or at the very least, cross your fingers for us!!! I promise I'll reveal after a decision has been made, whether it's good or bad.