We now own a new house - new address in password protected post later - password is old houseno street (without Ct) for those who already have my address - and if you don’t and want it, shot me an e-mail.

It was interesting, and until we actually walked out of closing with the documents, we weren’t sure it was going to go through. See, we didn’t get the homeowner’s documents until about 11am that morning - and we technically should have 3 days to consider them and reject the contract at that point. Luckily, I had found them online and was able to read through them and make sure we agreed to them - the only thing I needed from the sellers was the financial documents and the letter that says there are no violations of the HOA rules on that particular house.

We met our Realtor at the house at 2pm to make sure that all of the things that were supposed to be done were - and mot of them weren’t - and there were still contractors at the house to boot. To start with, the built-in microwave was inoperable - and because it’s built in, it must be working. Then, we had asked that they repair a firewall gap in the garage (fire safety issue), it wasn’t done. They were also supposed to fix a few leaks, but it’s obvious that they painted them, but we have no documentation that they were fixed. There were a few other minor things that we didn’t really care that much about, we had just added to the “we’d like you to fix list” as things to remove during negotiation. However, the sellers agreed to make all the repairs by a licensed contractor (in writing), and provide receipts for all of that work. We never saw an invoice, and no receipts, so we went to closing asking another 1% subsidy (~$5400) to make sure everything was done - and some of the stuff on the list was very expensive - like electrical work. The sellers didn’t particularly like that, yet they hadn’t actually fixed anything they said they would fix, so we could have walked away then and there.

Unfortunately, our lender would only let us have subsidies up to the closing costs, and that meant only another $3000. We took that, and now we’re stuck fixing everything they said they would fix before closing. I don’t think the sellers had much to do with that as they’re in MA, and their Realtor had everything to do with it (she was a ditz of the highest degree).

We have the house though, and Thursday evening, we changed all of the locks - then I broke the heat pump by installing a new thermostat It’s wired correctly, and I verified that with the thermostat company, but the furnace just makes a humming noise. The A/C people are coming on Monday to fix it - which is good -we’ll be spending Monday night there.

My mom’s been down to help move, and we’re almost all packed. We won’t be doing much tomorrow though - Brian’s grandmother passed away and we’re going up to Baltimore for services tomorrow. We’ve got a few minor things to do before the movers arrive at 8:30am on Monday morning.

The Internet is barely existing at the old house (an old wi-fi router is directly connected to the cable modem), and we won’t have Internet until Wednesday at the new place. Next up is finding a roofing/siding contractor to check on the leaks and see if they were actually fixed rather than just painted over - my favorite doesn’t serve the area .

Next post is likely going to be from the new place on Wednesday night!

We have verbal acceptance of our offer! Closing is Sept 11 - and then we’ll see about scheduling a party. When exactly we move in all depends on how long it takes Verizon to set up FIOS for us

Written acceptance is expected to come in tonight about 7-8, and then we’ll have a fully ratified contract and start with the inspections and everything else.

We’ve decided on a house (yes, really that quickly), and we’ve started talking with the Realtor about putting in an offer on it tomorrow. He’s running the comps and research this evening and tomorrow morning, and then we’ll make the formal offer.

Yay!

It’s been a very busy few weeks. Brian’s house is on the market and he’s living with me now. We’ve been carpooling to work which makes life easier - it’s about 50/50 on who gets to drive in traffic Getting used to living together is interesting. It’s taken a bit of adjusting to habits and things. And we get to do it all over again once we move into the new house with new habits and needs. We’re both doing Weight Watchers and getting healthy home-cooked meals every night.

School has picked up, so I’ve been sticking my nose in a book most nights, and writing all kinds of essays on the weekends. I have two major papers due soon, and a group project due right after Thanksgiving (what kind of prof does that??). Grades are doing well though. I’ve already had a few assignments, including one midterm, and I’m at an A in both classes. Trying to do homework with Brian in the house has been interesting - I don’t always feel like it, and feel like I should be hanging out with him instead.

I started the 8K running group at Fleet Feet near my house, and I’m amazed I can still run 3 miles with no problems. We’re training for the Jingle Bell Jog on December 16th in Rockville. I’m looking forward to it.

We’ve found several houses we like, but we can’t really put a bid on any of them until Brian’s is at least under contract, so we’re just playing a waiting game on the house. Mine is almost ready to go on the market, but we’ll probably wait until we’ve moved into the new house before putting it on the market because of both of us living there with the cats.

The worms have become outdoor residents because of a lovely fruit fly infestation in the house. We took the worm bin outside, where it should be fine until it gets close to freezing at night, and put apple cider vinegar traps in the house. They’re finally almost all gone - after setting out traps that became full overnight. There are still a few in the house, but we’ve been keeping anything they’d lay eggs on either sealed or in the fridge, they will hopefully die off by the end of the week.

This weekend, we went to the Solar Decathlon on Saturday. Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M and University of Maryland all had houses there this year. We were able to go into CMU’s and Maryland’s, but the A&M one was closed for judging. Maryland had this really cool Desiccant Waterfall that works as a dehumidifier. It wasn’t humid on Saturday, but I could see the usefulness of one. All of the houses also had an induction stove. I want one, and I think I talked Brian into an induction stove, some solar panels and instant-on hot water heaters to save money in the new house.

Sunday was a trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, with an early breakfast beforehand at Eggspectation in Silver Spring. Nice place, but I wasn’t impressed by the food. My apple juice had been carbonated at some point, and the cinnamon bun was hard and not sweet at all. The hamburger I had for lunch at the one in Chantilly was *much* better. We arrived for gate, although we didn’t see much. We saw the Rogues play and there was one young girl who was doing traditional Scottish dancing near the stage and they brought her up on stage. Both Brian and I thought she was much better than the dancer we had seen in Scotland! I bought a few CDs, some potpourri, and a glass decanter, and then Brian and I left because I had a terrible headache. I ended up sleeping in the car on the way home, and then taking a nap after a shower. Luckily, the headache was gone in time for me to enjoy dinner and some homework, before going back to sleep.

Yesterday, we met with our photographer for our engagement pictures. We met him at the Jefferson Memorial, and then walked around the grounds for a while taking pictures. It was really weird at first because we were just supposed to walk along and ignore the photographer. We stopped at a few places to “pose”, but most of the pictures were of us walking along the tidal basin. We also took a few pictures among the columns and on the steps at the memorial. We should be able to see them in 3-4 weeks and then order a few. We’ll also be getting the digital negatives, so we can post a few on the web page.

Several of you have been to my house recently where the backyard was basically a pile o’ leaves - it’s now nice, pretty and rather relaxing thanks to mom. Actually, my mom completely changed the way my house looks while she was here this week. We packed up a lot of things in boxes and put them in the basement to be ready to move, she was at the house to have a cleaning company come over, and she helped me plant nice plants in the back yard (and more grass). She spent most of the day while I was at work packing things and cleaning furniture and cabinets, then I joined her as soon as I got home from work, and we’d work until 11pm or so.

The Realtor left a list of things to do, and as of now, the only three things on the list are paint the outside (they’re coming on Saturday), clean up some old mold stains, and clean up the desk in my office. Mom didn’t touch anything in the office, leaving it to me. Once all this is done, it’ll be ready to put on the market. I painted both bathrooms this afternoon and evening. And I still need to caulk the shower in my master bathroom, but it’s painted and clean.

Brian has been working on his as well, and the plan is to put it on the market next week - either Wednesday or Thursday. On Tuesday, I’m going down to help him with some last minute things, then we’ll be coming up to my place to live together until his (or mine) sells and we buy the new one. His was in much better shape, he has a lot less clutter than I do, and his house is much newer than mine (like by 15 years), so he has less issues

I’m really not going to like living in a house that’s actively being shown, but I guess it’s a necessary evil in order to sell it and get the new one.