Hello 107

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Yep, it's a'gonna be 107 degrees today. Yippee.

Ok, so we signed the loan app papers yesterday (yes, on 4th of July - my friend of 8 years is our loan lady). And we get to sign and fill out a ton of disclosure papers today. Pest inspection on our house maybe tomorrow or, at the latest, the first of next week. This whole thing is going to be speedy since the buyers of our house wanted the 30 days escrow (we didn't argue as moving sooner rather than later is ideal - though moving in over 100 degree heat is less than).

The buyers are a really nice couple buying it for their daughter who was accepted into nursing school at ARC. They have two daughters and wanted to have a home for each of them "just in case." They loved our house and even wanted all of our potted plants in the courtyard. I rejected that part of the offer since almost all of them are from grandma. They are getting the window treatments and info about where we bought our furniture since they liked that too. :o) They really wanted the 30 day escrow so their daughter could move in before the semester started.

Now a little about our new house!

It was built in 1971 and is being sold by the original owner. It's 1780sf, 3 bed/2 bath on .28 acre. The seller kept meticulous maintenance on the house so it's as if the house was built only a few years ago. There is little-to-no settling, no visible dry rot on the structure, all the caulking inside and out is solid. Also, the aesthetics of the house are still 1971 (as I'm sure you gathered from the photos). Nothing has ever been remodeled. HOWEVER, the owner kept the inside decor in the same condition as the structure. It's like everything is new, including the green shag carpet. A brief word about the carpet... I thought I would hate it when I saw it on the photos; but when we walked through the house the first time, I actually liked it! It's a dark green, not offensive at all, and in immaculate shape. Now I won't be keeping all of it, but I think I'll keep it in the living room. Our black couches will look good with it!

Anyway, as far as "fixers" go, this is not one. Fixers require repairs to walls, roofing, etc. Nothing in this house technically needs to be repaired. Just updated. Big difference. This is great because the only thing we're going to do right after we close is have the ceilings scraped and painted - just because the process is so messy and it's easier to do it before all of our stuff is in. Otherwise, we are going to move in and live in the house as-is for a while until we figure out how we want to remodel the kitchen, and what to do with the bathrooms, etc. I might paint a few walls to add color, though that's it.

The garage is the most amazing part of this house. From the front, it looks like an over sized two-car garage (and over sized it is, there is a ton of space on either side). However, the space on the right is a tandem, leaving room for the motorcycles and tools! Here's a crude drawing to give you an idea:


















It's over 800 square feet of garage wonderland!

Yesterday afternoon we drove by our new house on the way to a bbq. We stood outside and looked at the house, at the yard, at the street. I stood in front of the side yard next to the garage and couldn't believe how huge it was. I could take out the bushes and drive a monster RV in. Not that I would, but I could! And the roses by the door are so pretty. There's not much to do outside either - I might change the color of the trim eventually and I'll probably paint the door right away, just to make it mine.

I don't think there is a house more perfect for us than this one. And the universe thought so too. Both the owner and his agent wanted us to get the house and were very happy to see our offer reappear. See, meant to be!

I'll post more pictures soon. We're back this weekend to take some measurements and I'll bring the camera.