Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The Deal Is Done
Well, we can all breathe a big sigh of relief: we closed on the house this afternoon. yay! I'm happy, but more relieved than anything because these past few days have been really hairy with the whole house deal. A major miscommunication on their side nearly blew the deal.
It was all over windows. There are 5 thermal pane windows with blown seals. Three of the four front-facing windows (one in each kid bedroom and one of the two in the living room), a side window (family room), and a section of the "garden window" in the kitchen. We had asked for those windows to be replaced. That's the way it was written in the addendum concerning repairs: replace the windows with blown seals. Replace, not fix, not repair. So when the bid for the windows came back at just $800, we suspected something was awry. When we finally got to see the bid, our fears were confirmed: they were only planning on replacing the panes - the actual glass - not the entire window. These are older windows we're talking about. All the front-facing ones are aluminum frames. We wanted to ditch those and replace them with vinyl. Something more efficient from an insulating point of view, not to mention nicer looking. That's what we requested, and that's what they agreed to. But when our realtor brought to their attention the error of their assumption, all hell broke loose. Or so we were told. I scrambled to get someone out to give a same-day bid on replacing the windows. Their bid came in at around $6000. I know! Half of that was for a new garden window, which are pricey little numbers. And the most expensive window to replace was the side one in the family room because it's a wood-frame, Anderson double-hung window. That sucker runs about $1000+ all by itself. Being reasonable people, we suggested a compromise. We'll agree to replace the panes only in the wood-frame window and the garden window (the most expensive ones) if they will agree to replace the front-facing windows. After apparently a lot of haggling, yelling, and negotiating, they agreed. They got another bid of their own, which was a bit lower, and went with that. It's all sort of moot anyway since we're talking about credits towards closing vs. actually replacing the windows. The realtors on both sides had to eat nearly $500 each on their commission to get the deal done, but an agreement was reached and we signed on the dotted line today. Whew! Now we just need to pick out the windows we like and figure out if we'll use the people who's bid was agreed to (in price), or find someone else. No rush - we'll get to it once we move in. But my stomach was in knots all weekend long waiting to hear if we were getting the house or not. Because as much as I would have hated to do it, we would have walked away if they hadn't agreed.
And so we turned over the big fat check we'd received a few months ago to the title company and signed our names a half million times, and we should have the keys in our hot little hands in two more days.
In the meantime, I've started packing and hate it already. Is packing ever fun?? I think not. Definitely not. I got all our fine china and crystal packed this morning and brought it up to Portland with me so it would be better protected than being moved along with everything else in the U-Haul truck. That's right, U-Haul [sigh]. Mr. Chick and I have several more trips up to Portland before the actual move and will be bringing stuff with us each time. Little by little we'll get it done. I'm planning on doing a little painting this coming weekend before the furniture comes. Just the family room and maybe one or both of the kids rooms. My sister will be helping me.
I drove by the house on the way to the closing and had an opportunity to briefly meet a neighbor. Turns out she is also a SAHM to two small kids, and her oldest is just 2 months younger than Nicholas. Of course, she's a girl so they won't be too interested in playing together in a few years (or less), but for now it's nice to have a potential playmate just 2 doors away. She was very friendly and helpful and I'm looking forward to getting to know her. Nice neighbors! Always a good sign.
So we're on track to finally be moving on to the next chapter in our lives. It's been a long road and the last 3 weeks/month have been particularly tough. Now we just need Mr. Chick to nail a job and we're home free. Hopefully he can use the unofficial offer he received on Monday for a firm in Central Oregon to get the more-desired Portland firm off their asses and hire him already. Because all this waiting? Is total bullshit.
Or we may be flipping the house we just bought and doing it all over again in Central Oregon. I hope not, because I just can't fathom moving a 2nd time in as many months. It might truly be the end of me.
It was all over windows. There are 5 thermal pane windows with blown seals. Three of the four front-facing windows (one in each kid bedroom and one of the two in the living room), a side window (family room), and a section of the "garden window" in the kitchen. We had asked for those windows to be replaced. That's the way it was written in the addendum concerning repairs: replace the windows with blown seals. Replace, not fix, not repair. So when the bid for the windows came back at just $800, we suspected something was awry. When we finally got to see the bid, our fears were confirmed: they were only planning on replacing the panes - the actual glass - not the entire window. These are older windows we're talking about. All the front-facing ones are aluminum frames. We wanted to ditch those and replace them with vinyl. Something more efficient from an insulating point of view, not to mention nicer looking. That's what we requested, and that's what they agreed to. But when our realtor brought to their attention the error of their assumption, all hell broke loose. Or so we were told. I scrambled to get someone out to give a same-day bid on replacing the windows. Their bid came in at around $6000. I know! Half of that was for a new garden window, which are pricey little numbers. And the most expensive window to replace was the side one in the family room because it's a wood-frame, Anderson double-hung window. That sucker runs about $1000+ all by itself. Being reasonable people, we suggested a compromise. We'll agree to replace the panes only in the wood-frame window and the garden window (the most expensive ones) if they will agree to replace the front-facing windows. After apparently a lot of haggling, yelling, and negotiating, they agreed. They got another bid of their own, which was a bit lower, and went with that. It's all sort of moot anyway since we're talking about credits towards closing vs. actually replacing the windows. The realtors on both sides had to eat nearly $500 each on their commission to get the deal done, but an agreement was reached and we signed on the dotted line today. Whew! Now we just need to pick out the windows we like and figure out if we'll use the people who's bid was agreed to (in price), or find someone else. No rush - we'll get to it once we move in. But my stomach was in knots all weekend long waiting to hear if we were getting the house or not. Because as much as I would have hated to do it, we would have walked away if they hadn't agreed.
And so we turned over the big fat check we'd received a few months ago to the title company and signed our names a half million times, and we should have the keys in our hot little hands in two more days.
In the meantime, I've started packing and hate it already. Is packing ever fun?? I think not. Definitely not. I got all our fine china and crystal packed this morning and brought it up to Portland with me so it would be better protected than being moved along with everything else in the U-Haul truck. That's right, U-Haul [sigh]. Mr. Chick and I have several more trips up to Portland before the actual move and will be bringing stuff with us each time. Little by little we'll get it done. I'm planning on doing a little painting this coming weekend before the furniture comes. Just the family room and maybe one or both of the kids rooms. My sister will be helping me.
I drove by the house on the way to the closing and had an opportunity to briefly meet a neighbor. Turns out she is also a SAHM to two small kids, and her oldest is just 2 months younger than Nicholas. Of course, she's a girl so they won't be too interested in playing together in a few years (or less), but for now it's nice to have a potential playmate just 2 doors away. She was very friendly and helpful and I'm looking forward to getting to know her. Nice neighbors! Always a good sign.
So we're on track to finally be moving on to the next chapter in our lives. It's been a long road and the last 3 weeks/month have been particularly tough. Now we just need Mr. Chick to nail a job and we're home free. Hopefully he can use the unofficial offer he received on Monday for a firm in Central Oregon to get the more-desired Portland firm off their asses and hire him already. Because all this waiting? Is total bullshit.
Or we may be flipping the house we just bought and doing it all over again in Central Oregon. I hope not, because I just can't fathom moving a 2nd time in as many months. It might truly be the end of me.
// posted by MP @ 10:03 PM 
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I am SOO glad that the house is finally a "go" after all the worry, stress and waiting. Get packin' girl!!!
Christine/MCM
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Christine/MCM
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