What I think

There are a few things we didn't know about this house. The workshop roof leaks. We had the roof of the house inspected but not the workshop. There are (hopefully.were) ants in the kitchen. The garbage people sort garbage differently and it is gross and I don\t like it. There are locks that are backwards. Switches that go to no where. So far nothing horrible but it is going to take some time to get everything taken care of.

We have been in the house 2 weeks, about, now. There are still way too many un opened boxes, Lots of stuff is lost somewhere in a box. The drive is not too bad. Because it doesn't make sense to drive home after I drop Chelsie off just to turn around and come back I end up staying all day. There is not much to do. Seems odd to just sit in a parking lot for hours on end.

It has been 5 weeks since we closed on the house, 4 weeks since we took possession of the house. We have rented 4 different trucks and taken 5 loads to the house. And tonight we will be in the new house, almost. We still have stuff here that needs to be taken there, stuff that needs to be pitched and stuff that needs to be donated. And a lot of cleaning. Hopefully, that will all be done this week. Then we will begin sorting thru all the stuff we moved and getting everything it its' place. I am pretty sure I do not want to move again.

We have been able to get in to the new house for the last 3 weeks. We have rented a truck each week and moved stuff over and emptied the storage unit. And yet, we have not moved in. I am just hoping to get in before the first payment is due. There is still a bunch of stuff here, hopefully, one more truck load. The problem is most of the stuff I need is there.

We got the keys today! The house looks different empty. I have no idea how things are going to fit. We plan to paint Friday then move everything into the storage area over the weekend. Not sure how everything is going to work out. Bill said one of the neighbors drove by and waved. The house is on a dead end and there are maybe 5 other houses on the street. The seller left a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a nice card. So sweet.

Yesterday we signed on the house. Probably took 6 or 7 weeks from the time our offer was accepted to close. On Monday we were supposed to go to the house for a final walk thru but there was some kind of accident on the freeway so it took us an hour and a half to get one exit down the freeway. The agent went and did the walk thru and says everything is done. He couldn't go to the signing yesterday so I have not talked to him. Now the seller has one week to move. I am hoping we will be able to move all in one weekend then clean and finish at this place the next. That means people have to really get motivated to get as much done as we can in the next week. Homeschooling: Hank has refused to cooperate. I told him he would have to go to public school once we moved if he didn't show me he was serious about doing school at home. He did do quite a bit of stuff and is almost caught up so we will continue to home school and hope for the best. And Chelsie got a call for an interv...

The appraisal came back the day before the house should have closed. We had extended closing until the 13th. Then we were told we could sign on thursday, yesterday, bot on Wed we found out the lender didn't have a good phone number for Bills work. Last night there were emails between the lender and the mortgage broker that we could sing today and close on Monday. These were emails that I was just cc'd on nothing telling me we could sign and when. We were supposed to do a final walk thru today but the seller is trying to move so wants to do it Monday. She has 7 days after closing to turn the house over. And, of course, someone is complaining about interest rates going down and how this is all inconveniencing him because things are not organized. This from the person who has not done anything for this move.

Today the appraisal came back. A little higher than we paid so that's good. Now, I think, the repairs just need to be made and we can close.

The official approval of our home loan is in and of course they want more paper work. But the appraisal is still not done so they have to put closing off 2 weeks. Hopefully, the seller is ok with that. And because this week has already not been great; the neighbors daughter came over yelling and swearing about the dogs barking. Not a good first impression or the best way to get people to do what you want. She is standing on the porch yelling and the dogs are barking and that is what she uses  to prove her point that the dogs bark at a stranger screaming in their space. Can not get out of here fast enough.

We watched the eclipse. Hank would not look even with the glasses on because he didn't want to go blind. Tried to get pictures but they really didn't turn out. Have heard nothing about the house for almost 2 weeks. And then we were just waiting for the appraiser. I am not surprised, really, the mortgage people and agent seem to communicate. I think by now the agent would have called if he hadn't heard anything since repairs need to be made after appraisal and before closing. And if the appraisal didn't get done they would have to change the closing date. I will probably email tom. Lots of places were opening later because of the eclipse. And then Spooky died. She seemed ok this am but sadly she left us. I still need to tell Callie but she is working and would be way too upset so I will wait til I pick her up tonight.

The home inspection came back and there were some problems so we asked the seller to fix them. She did finally agree to that with minor changes. We went in to sign papers at the mortgage place. There must be a 3 inch stack of papers just on us and we had to bring in more. They do not seem to be very organized. He gave us all the wrong numbers then when we had signed most of the papers realized he was wrong and found that my numbers were right. They still had not ordered an appraisal. And as of 2 days ago it had still not been done. Now we are dealing with yet another person in that office. I would still recommend them. They do seem to know what they are talking about and are very nice. The office must be really casual. The senior person in the office wears shorts and t shirts to talk to clients. On a side not I was able to pick tomato and hot peppers from the container gardens. And on another side note Chelsie got a call back for an interview.

We have signed, on line not less. lots of forms.  And so far so good. The home inspection is Monday.  I have been packing boxes. But there really isnt any room to put the boxes. Checked into a pod but it's about $500 to have it for up to a month. Not sure it is worth it. Triple digit heat is not helping any one to get motivated to do anything.

3 months, lots of internet searching, driving by lots of houses, actually looking at only 4, and we have bought a house. We made an offer finally they countered originally I said no but in the end we accepted. Now we have signed lots of papers and talked to the mortgage company and had to make decisions on the spot. We are paying more than we want. The house is not in the area we want but it has a yard, storage and the right number of bedrooms. WE just have to wait for the inspection and the appraisal and then there will be lots of lists to cross things off,

Yes, we really did. And it was ok. An older home. Well kept. Nice yard and fence. Really small. But we made an offer. But there were 5 other offers so we did not pursue this one. But at least we started maybe the next one will be the one.

Got a real kick today to try and find a house. Going to look at things we wouldn't have considered before. It is time to get out of this place.

Yesterday we went to an open house. Very odd. I couldn't even step thru the door. It was very dark. Some one was sitting on the couch on her phone and there were dishes on the sink. Not very welcoming. We drove by another house which we didn't hate. I emailed this am we were interested in seeing the inside and then found out there was already a pending sale. It was not pending yesterday. Maybe I should have emailed yesterday but I don't know that it would have made a difference. I am not really sure what to do now.

There are no houses in the price or place we want. Maybe it is time to give up. It has only been a couple months but this is very discouraging.

Maybe we will not find a house. Even houses we don't want but would settle for are unavailable. This was not the summer to try and find a house. Last summer was. I found tons. But someone else was gonna get the paperwork done but didn't. Now he says 'I bitched about getting it done' and I said 'but you didn't do anything about it' But he works and is way more important than anyone else. Now he is too busy to meet with the agent and doesn't really want to drive and it's ok if we don't find a house. I really do not want to stay here. We can't really this house needs a lot of work.

Only one house to look at this week. It has a yard and a garage so Bill likes it. It is old needs some work and is in an area I don't like. But..there are very few houses out there. The realtor has only sent a few and none were even interesting enough to drive by. So, should we go look at this and if it isnt horrid inside go forward and see about making an offer? I am tired of settling. I want what I want but maybe that is not available. I just don't know what to do.

So who takes pictures of houses for sale? Should they not look close to the real house. Looked at one today that I liked in pictures. They made the house look like it had a large yard in the front and the back and no neighbors, at least not any close. In reality the yard is much smaller and there are houses on 3 sides. While I still liked the house it is on a hill and a busy street. It is within the budget but still more than we want to spend.

Now we have an agent. Hopefully,he can find something. At the least he should get a list of newer to the market houses. I found one house to look at. Not even sure we will go since it is only one.

3 Saturdays of houses and nothing. Someone found one he liked this week but I don't like the area. He has already looked at flood maps and figured out travel time. I think he just wants to be done looking. I have emailed the broker about the agent he mentioned or what we need to tell an agent if we choose one. No response.I might see if we can look at this house. I doubt we would need an agent just to look.

We looked at a few houses this weekend. Just drove by. None were great. I think this is going to be a very long process. I am pretty sure we do not want to be in a city. Way too much traffic and people. I hope we can find something rural but still near the freeway or highway.

we got the pre approval for a house loan! Now the hard part. We are not going to agree on a house. Someone has already changed his mind several times about where. And where he wants to be I don't. The kids are not happy either.

I finally contacted the mortgage company today. Bill did over the summer but never followed through. I don't know how this will turn. Hopefully, everything will work out the way I want but as a pessimist....