Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Officially home owners!!!! We closed today....it wasn't as bad/long as I was expecting. We've already taken a car full of cleaning supplies over and have started work. So far, we have taken off 1/2 of the cabinets in the kitchen and removed the 3 outlets that need to be replaced. Making progress! So exciting :)

And yes, Buddy carried me through the threshold of our first home - so sweet!!!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

New updates on paint choices:
Master bathroom = Whale Song (sounds pretty, doesn't it?) - it's a blue color
Guest bathroom = Lady of the Lake (again, pretty)
Guest bedroom = (unofficially) Crushed Coral (very beachy)
Other guest room/craft room - currently considering Buddy's preference to paint all 4 walls a different color.....not sure about that yet

Picking the paint colors has been so much fun......we are probably a little wilder than some, but we both really like the ones we have chosen so far!

We have determined that the first room to be painted (which I may have already mentioned) will be the master bedroom. Then, the kitchen cabinets - which we may have to start with since we need to clean them and have them dry before we can actually paint them.

Les has graciously agreed to let us borrow his ladder, so that's great news! Rachel and Kerry come on Friday to help us get started and so some painting. We are scheduled to close at 11 am on Wednesday, and then Buddy and I will start getting everything together. This weekend we purchased a carpet cleaner from Kohl's (great price!) and a chair that Buddy found at Goodwill to replace the ruined, falling apart blue Lazy Boy recliner that is so darn comfortable!

We still have lots of packing to. I'm hoping to pack some of the important paperwork stuff tonight and get that out of the way. This is all a bit jumbled and random, but if you know me at all, then you know that's how my mind functions.

Friday, September 25, 2009

We ordered the cute fork handles for the kitchen with a 10% off coupon from ebay! I guess you could say that's our first purchase for the new house. It was a great price too - $1.20 per handle. Can't believe we close on Wednesday!!!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Endless Paperwork!

Did you know that you have to give your ss# for a sewer bill? That seems a tad ridiculous to me....plus they bill 2 months behind. So, while are taking ownership on the 30th, we will receive a bill in October for the sewage used from about the middle of July to the middle of August - when we weren't owners. I understand that it will all come out in the wash....but I don't think it's a very efficient way to do things. So basically, I can use tons of sewage in the last 2 months I live here and not have to pay for it....since someone else will be getting that bill. How silly!

I was also asked to provide the copy of the check that cleared for our earnest money deposit. So, I got online, downloaded the copy of the check that had cleared, and faxed it to the mortgage broker. Then a week later, I receive a request from the lender to send an updated statement SHOWING the check had cleared. I have several problems with this. 1. If the check had not cleared, then why would it be posted to my account where I could print a copy of it. 2. They have the previous 2 months of statements from my accounts and the copy of the check that has cleared...which is more than enough information to show that there were sufficient funds in the accounts to clear the check. This is the same thing that happened with VCU when we were paying off the end of Buddy's school tuition. She wouldn't send the diploma until I sent her my bank statement. I sent a copy of the cleared check and the statement with everything EXCEPT the check blacked out (it's none of her business how much is in my account or other charges I've made as long as her check cleared). Needless to say, it was not enough information for her...so we had to wait until their bank said the check had cleared to get the diploma. Oh well - bureaucracy is everywhere!

On a positive note, we decided what type of flooring we want to put down - 100% natural floating bamboo flooring - the cherry color. We've also decided that we need to wait a while before we do this since it will be expensive, and everyone we've talked to at Lowe's has given us a different answer about whether the particular one we like is actually a floating floor or not. So, we will continue to research this, but in the meantime, we have decided to only clean and paint before we move. Then we'll have to decide exactly what we want to do with the kitchen and flooring and when we can afford to do this.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Sorry about not posting yesterday - I had a migraine, and Buddy got home late. I think we have decided to buy our hardware for the kitchen cabinets and drawers from Ebay. Buddy found the cutest fork handles, so that's the current plan. I'm not sure if we will use them for all cabinets or just the drawers, but we can't order them yet until we know how many we need anyway. I found some cute fish ones for the bathroom. (Such a minor decision, but it was fun to look at all the choices out there!)

I had to deal with some paperwork today, though. We had to decide on the insurance company and get a employment verification form filled out. The insurance has been a complete pain! First, we found out we had to get wind/hail from SC and flood from FEMA (which are purchased through insurance companies but should be the same price no matter what since they aren't really THROUGH the insurance companies). Then we had to decide on the amount of coverage and the deductible! Then we had to decide on the place to get our homeowner's through. I was very lucky not to have to deal with very much of this....Buddy did almost all of it!!! The biggest problem came with the flood insurance because we were told that it would be cheaper to assume the current policy and that it was currently being re-evalulated and would be even cheaper! (turns out not to be true!) The current policy was WAY expensive....so the re-evaluated policy was the same as a new policy. Needless to say, we went with a new flood policy through the same company as our homeowners so that we could get multi-line discounts. Long story short...we are using Nationwide since they were the cheapest for homeowner's (and we got multi-line discounts since we went through them to get our wind/hail and flood - which is not really through them). We still have to add on the jewelry rider (possibly a new policy with Nationwide), and for the time being, we are keeping our car insurance through Amica. It would have been nice to have it all through Amica, but they are not currently writing any coastal Carolina policies....but the car insurance was only a little more for EXCELLENT SERVICE!!!

Next decisions to make: paint colors for 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, window treatments, furniture to purchase (if there is any money left)....and what to do about the kitchen??

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Updates on the house for today:
kitchen colors have been chosen:
walls = sassy peach
cabinets = summer wish (yellow)

That's really all the decisions we made today. We spent a large part of today packing Buddy's clothes and getting rid of quite a few (yay!). I haven't been brave enough to really delve into my clothes - I'm not ready to get rid of that shirt that I haven't worn in 2 years but every time I try on, I love the way it looks on me....you know that ones that I mean. Maybe tomorrow.....

I did spend some time today looking at cabinet hardware....no decisions yet.

Friday, September 18, 2009

So color #1 has been picked: master bedroom=crocodile smile green (it's not as bad as it sounds....it's very calming.)

Colors #2 and #3 have been chosen....although I don't want to give you too much information at a time, so we'll wait until tomorrow (since I have so many readers that actually follow this).

It looks like all the house plans are coming along right on schedule....although sometimes it feels like things are going by super fast (and on other days...super slow). I guess that is to be expected. I am ashamed to say that one of the reasons I"m so ready to be done with this is to be done with our realtor. She has been a help for some things, but right now, we are on a completely different page. I want to know EVERYTHING that is going on (even those behind the scenes). I guess you could say I'm a micromanager...but hey....it's a lot of money! and it's OUR money (not hers), so I don't see anything wrong with wanting to know how things are proceeding and what the next steps are.

Tomorrow.....colors chosen for the kitchen walls and cabinets....stay tuned!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

We are set to close on the 30th of this month. I can't believe we are buying our first home! It is very exciting (and intimidating), but I think the 2.5 years of looking/waiting will finally pay off!

I'll try to keep this updated with the decisions we make and the work we are doing on it!