Our new home-to-be

Written by jamie on November 24th, 2009

Drew and I are well on our way to being homeowners. We are scheduled to close next Friday, and the day can’t come fast enough. Although I am NOT looking forward to signing my life away and having a numb hand for a day and a  half, I AM looking forward to walking into that house knowing it’s ours.

new house

Doesn't our car look great in the driveway!?

So a bit of an update for those who may not know the story. Our realtor had a great house in a great neighborhood that the owner was willing to sell for real cheap.  We went to look at it one night, and quite honestly, didn’t like it. We talked about it and had just about decided no. We didn’t totally rule it out though, and over the next couple days we let it marinate. The more we talked about it, the better we felt about it. Although it wasn’t our dream house, it’s a great house, and a good step up from where we are.  And a good investment. So, long story short, we decided to go for it. We laughed at the fact that we didn’t like it at first (especially me.) Drew commented, “Kind of like with our relationship. I had to grow on you!” Par for the course for us, I suppose.

So here we are, waiting. Drew has been a dear and has taken care of ALL the details. He’s already had the inspection, appraisal, and septic tank taken care of. He’s got the WDO inspection on it’s way. He’s pulled together countless bank statements and made all sorts of phone calls to our realtor and mortgage lender. All I’ve had to do is sign on the dotted line. Not that he’s leaving me in the dark. He explains anything and everything I ask. I’m learning a lot through this whole process, but I love that he’s handling most of it. I love my husband.

One funny thing is that we’ve been out to the house several times since deciding to buy it. The owner is fine with that, and the realtor has told us we can bring anyone by to see it. It’s not technically ours yet, but it kind of already feels like it is. I’m desperate to start painting and ripping out carpet, but we can’t do it until next weekend. In the meantime I simply wander through my home-to-be and dream about what picture will go where or what color to paint that wall.

Stay tuned for some after pictures.

 

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Disappointment

Written by jamie on October 23rd, 2009

I always thought house hunting would be fun and exciting. And it has been, at times, but honestly, the foremost feeling has been stress. We’re feeling a tad pressured by this first time home buyers tax credit. Of course, we don’t have to buy a house now and get free money, but come on! It’s $8000 in free money! We don’t really want to pass that up, especially since we are thinking about buying a house soon anyway.

So we’ve been looking over the past few months, and recently we got our finances in order (after paying off some debt) and got approved for a loan. We got together with a realtor friend, who’s been busting her butt for us, trying to find us a home. We looked at about 10 houses and town-homes over two days. It seemed like there was at least one thing about each place that wasn’t quite right. Sloping driveway, puddle in the garage, too small, not enough bedrooms, and what is that smell? I’ve tried hard to envision myself in each place, and with some, it just ain’t happening.

One place we went into was a foreclosure. It was in pretty sad shape, with boards in the windows and one room with bare concrete, where the homeowners had apparently tried to redo the floor and had run out of steam. The kitchen was missing the fridge and the stove, and the master bath was missing the toilet. Don’t know why they felt the need to grab several major appliances and run, but okay. Other than all that, it fit all our criteria. Three bedrooms, two baths, a nice big family room. Drew was immediately intrigued; I struggled a bit more trying to realistically see myself in this place. Our realtor looked around and said, “This place needs lots of TLC.” (I’ve loved her honesty. After walking into the first place we looked at, she declared, “Well, I’m not getting the warm fuzzies, how ’bout you guys?”) We checked out a couple more places that day, and then called it a day.

Drew and I went out to eat that night, and discussed our options. As he sipped his beer and we munched on our entrees, we came back to the foreclosure. Because it was in sad shape, it was cheap. Drew began to talk about how we could take that place and fix it up. We could borrow money to do renovations and we could make it really cool. And we could make it whatever we wanted. The more we talked, the more excited I got. After dinner, we walked around Home Depot and looked at flooring and countertops and even jetted tubs. We were brimming with ideas and ready to make an offer!

Our realtor phoned our bank the next day, inquiring about a “fixer upper” loan. The loan we’d been approved for wouldn’t do it. Our hearts sank. Drew posted a frustrated status on facebook, wondering how we were supposed to stay in our budget if we couldn’t buy cheap. His cousin commented, saying that her husband did mortgage loans and could probably help. Drew gave him a call, and sure enough, he could do it. Over the next week, we did more paperwork and had more credit checks and we were a go. So once again we became excited. We spent all week talking about all the cool stuff we were going to do. Stars on the ceiling in the master (using fiber optics and some nerd stuff that Drew was going to use; I was just thinking sticky star stickers), an outdoor theme in the living room, and a relaxing “chapel” feel in the spare bedroom. We had it all planned out! It was going to be so awesome and I was going to have my jetted tub and we were going to have parties and people were going to be so impressed with how we took this foreclosed piece of crap and turned into an amazing home. I even told Drew I was excited about being able to take this house that had been neglected and abused and show it a little love.

So with a few final phone calls and details out of the way, we were ready on Thursday to make an offer. We were going to go after work to meet our realtor and work on the papers.  I was so excited I could barely stand it. Concentrating at work was close to impossible. Then, in the afternoon, I got the unthinkable text from Drew.

“Bad news… someone submitted an offer before us.”

My heart sank. I tried to remain optimistic. I had just watched a show on HGTV the other night about first time homebuyers. I had seen two episodes, and in both episodes, the buyers found out that the home of their dreams had another offer on it. But in the end, they both got their house. It was just for dramatic effect… right? We were just having a little dramatic effect in our home buying process.

I waited an agonizing thirty minutes, and then had to go call Bingo. My heart really wasn’t into the calling (not that it ever really is, but especially not then) and I kept sending up silent prayers that the other offer wouldn’t go through. Maybe they wouldn’t have their pre-approval letter, maybe something would fall through. I felt bad praying for someone else’s misfortune, but come on. This was MY house we were talking about! Mentally, I had already moved in.

I finished Bingo and raced to pick up my phone and saw the words that made me want to sit down and have a good cry.

“Bank accepted the other guy’s offer.”

To say, “That sucks,” is a major understatement. I was crushed. We feel like we’re starting all over. I feel like we’ve exhausted every house option in our price range. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re going to buy a house now or not. Time is so running out for the tax credit. I’m starting to feel hopeless.

My parents bought a house a few years back. They found the house they wanted, made an offer, and everything looked good. Then all of a sudden the guy backed out. My mom was so frustrated and didn’t want to go through the whole house hunt process again. But they did, and that same day they found another house that was even better than the first, and cheaper. Mom was sure to remind me of that story this week.

But I wonder… what if that doesn’t happen? People are telling us, “A better house is out there!” We’re even telling ourselves that. But what if it isn’t? What if God has something else in mind? What if He keeps us where we are a little longer? That’s definitely not what I want, but we don’t always get what we want.

I’ve been reading Purpose Driven Life recently, and just finished up the section about trials and how they’re supposed to test us and refine us and all that churchy cliche stuff. But I know it’s true. I know God sends tests our way to refine us into what He wants us to be. Doesn’t make this process any easier, but at least I have a little comfort knowing that He’s in control and that in the end, it will all work out.

So yes, people will continue to tell us, “A better house is on the way!” but it’s hard to believe that right now. I know it will all be okay, but right now it’s not okay. This whole thing really sucks, and I want my home.

 

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Long overdue post

Written by jamie on October 4th, 2009

So Drew and I realize we are lazy bums, taking so long to get around to posting a new blog. Life has seemed to get away from us over the past month and a half. Our two jobs apiece seems to occupy most of our time, and with the time that’s left over, we kind of like to see each other. So, we apologize, but also realize you’ll get over it.

I’m sure I won’t get you up to date on everything going on in our lives as of late, but I can at least give you a glimpse into one little piece. And it will be the piece that’s been consuming most of our thoughts and energy. We recently began doing Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey with some close friends.  We’re only a few lessons in, but are already motivated to get debt paid off and build up wealth. Today’s lesson was about the “debt snowball” and we’re getting stoked about how soon we can get those villainous credit cards paid off. I’ve been really inspired by the videos that are part of the class. Rather than boring you to death with talk of IRA’s and home equity loans, he gets you pumped up about budgeting, and makes you realize how simple the idea of not spending more than you make is. What a novel idea…

Luckily, Drew and I don’t have that much debt. In talking tonight, we realized that we will be paid off by next year if we stick with our plan, and next year’s not that far away. Pretty exciting.

To top all this off, we’re trying to buy a house to take advantage of the tax credit and cheap prices. I’m feeling a bit conflicted about this, as I want a house REALLY bad. As much as I’m thankful for the roof over my head and the mismatched painted walls around us, I want a place that I can really settle into and make into a home. The place we’re in now feels so temporary. After living out of a suitcase for three years, I’m kind of tired of temporary.

But at the same time, I wonder if buying a house is a wise idea at the time. Should we wait until debt is paid down and we have saved up some more money for a down payment? I understand that owning a home is an investment and that the rent we’re paying now might as well go toward something that will eventually be ours. But there’s that part of me… that good student part of me that says if we’re going to go through Financial Peace University, we should do all the things that the teacher says. Y’know, so we can pass that test at the end.  We’re supposed to pay off debt, and save up money for the things we want. Isn’t buying a house putting us into more debt? I’m afraid that Dave Ramsey is going to come find me if I don’t do this all the right way! Those of you that have taken Financial Peace or seen Dave Ramsey’s TV show on Fox Business know exactly what I’m talking about. He doesn’t mess around.

Luckily, I have a husband that I can talk to, and on the way home from watching the latest Financial Peace video, we talked about it. We weighed the pros and cons of buying a house. I shared my fears and confusions about this whole process. He explained some hard to understand financial words, like adjustable rate mortgage, and I almost kind of understood. We’re still talking through it, and he even suggested that maybe we should try to call Dave on his radio or TV show. That’d be kinda cool.

We’re still not very far along in the whole house buying thing. We’ve been trying a  few different places to get financing, and though we’ve had some offers, none that are going to work in our budget. One place told us they’d fund us 80%. My initial reaction was, “Great! That’s most of the money!” But then I realized how much that remaining 20% was.  So, we continue to search. We have some more options, and we’ll continue to pray and try to be as smart as we can with our money.

I can trust that God knows what’s best in this whole process.

 

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Gramp’s legacy

Written by jamie on August 9th, 2009

My mother’s mother passed away when I was just a baby. Although I “met” her, I never knew her. My one memory regarding her was her jewelry box that my mother brought home. When my grandfather passed away, my mother and her siblings set to the unhappy task of divvying up the parent’s stuff. We got a dining room table, a hutch, and some other odds and ends. I think the dining room table went to my sister after she married, and I believe it’s gone to Goodwill now, after years of use made the chairs a bit too wobbly. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the stuff that we collected, but I do remember the jewelry box. I used to spend hours going through it, trying on the pearl necklaces and clip on earrings. There was nothing of value, just costume jewelry, but I enjoyed opening it up and revealing it’s treasures. My mom would tell me about when her mother would wear each piece, and I would peer at my reflection in the tiny mirror, gazing at the baubles hanging from my earlobes.

This was my memory of my grandmother. I made my mom promise that I would get the jewelry box when I moved out. Sadly, that never happened, as an unfortunate break into our house years ago resulted in the loss of the jewelry box, as well as some other items. I guess the thieves thought they would get some money from it. All they stole was memories. I still miss that box.

Although I never did get that jewelry box, I did get inherit a different memory from a different grandparent. My father’s parents passed away within a year of each other, and my family made the trek out to New Mexico for his service and to help with the task of cleaning up his house. After days of shredding papers, my sister and I glared at our parents and told them they’d better start cleaning up now, cause we didn’t want to do this with them. But we had a good time going through the house and deciding who would receive what pieces. Since I had no house, I didn’t really get much. My parents said I could pick out some things and they would keep it in their house for the time being. I did pick out one of the pictures that was left that nobody wanted. It looked kind of pathetic in it’s worn out frame, but I kind of liked it. It was a scenic picture of a beach. My uncle took it with him to reframe it. He does framing on the side, and when he returned it to us, everyone was impressed with it and made comments like, “We should have taken that one!” It hung in my room at my parent’s for a couple years, until they moved. I think it’s in their house now. Hmmm… maybe I should reclaim that.

Anyway, that’s not the object that I received that stuck out to me. While cleaning, we ran across some boxes filled with sheet music, CDs, and Gramp’s old clarinet. We stood around, scratching our heads, wondering what to do with it. I imagine all eyes shifted to me, as I’m the only musical one in the family. There’s been a joke in our family that my musical talent must have skipped a generation. So, because there was nothing better to do with it, the sheet music went to me. I also received some of the CDs, many of which were Big Band CDs and have since become some of my favorites.

I was intrigued with the sheet music. I believe that at the time, I was in the middle of my pursuit of a music degree at Florida State. I looked through all of it, mostly piano music, and wished I could play it. My grandfather had purchased a keyboard recently and had spent a lot of time playing on it. I think that’s how he spent most of his time once my grandmother’s Alzheimers grew worse and she moved to the nursing home. One of his favorite pieces was The Entertainer by Scott Joplin.

I remember going to visit my grandmother in the nursing home a couple years before she died. She walked into the room and I didn’t recognize her. I knew a little about the awful disease, but I was shocked that something could take away so much of the well dressed, refined, smiling, joyful Granny I used to know. It scared me. My most vivid memory from that day was when Gramps went to the piano and began to play. I think he played The Entertainer. Granny smiled and tapped along with the music. When Gramps slowed the tempo, her foot slowed too. She never missed a beat. I think this was my first experience with the power of music.

Years later, I’m done with my music degree, and settled into a place of my own with a husband by my side. The box of sheet music got shoved to the back of my closet and was moved back and forth until I settled into my current home. This past year, I started a job at a retirement community, in the activities department. One of the things I’m in “charge” of is music. I do a bell choir once a week and once a month I lead sing-a-longs. I’m trying to learn more of this generation’s music, and have been hunting for sheet music and guitar chords for much of it.

Recently I remembered that box. So today I pulled it out and rifled through it, dusting off songbooks. Although there’s still a lot of piano music that I can’t quite play, I discovered a lot of songs in that box. Songs that I should learn and eventually perform for my residents. There were lots of photocopied pieces, and many issues of Sheet Music Magazine. Who knew there was such a publication! I found all kinds of goodies that I can make use of in my new occupation. I sifted through classical pieces, show tunes, Christmas music, and all sorts of others.

I also discovered some handwritten scores. They were pieces that my grandfather had painstakingly transcribed by hand.

Lots of painstaking work

Lots of painstaking work

I don’t know why he felt the need to rewrite pieces that he probably already had printed copies of. Perhaps he was trying to preserve certain pieces while getting rid of certain issues of Sheet Music Magazine, to cut back on some clutter. Perhaps he wanted to internalize the music more, becoming more familiar with each note, as a five year old will print their letters over and over to learn them better.

One of his clarinet pieces

One of his clarinet pieces

I remember being in Spanish classes and having to write sentences over and over to try to internalize the words and the language. Perhaps my grandfather wanted to know this music on a deeper level. Maybe he was just bored. Whatever his reason, I found hand written copies of Bach’s Prelude in C Major,

Bach's prelude in C Major

Bach's prelude in C Major

Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter, and Send in the Clowns (this one had a big penciled X through the music. I had to smile at that, wondering why he felt the need to cross out all his work.)

So although I couldn’t keep my grandmother’s legacy of her jewelry box, I’m honored that I was able to keep the musical legacy of my grandfather. And tickled that I get to use a lot of it now! I’m sure I couldn’t have found half of these songs if I’d googled for months.

Thanks for the help, Gramps.

 

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