Category Archives: House

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 4 – A Closer Examination

On Sunday, January 10, I looked at the House with the Cute Backyard with Jason. I had seen the house with my Mom, Carla and Jay. Plus Teresa had seen it earlier. I wanted Jason’s far more practical perspective.

Jesse also dropped by to look for a lead pipe. A simple lead pipe once cost that man 10,000 large. It has become a personal crusade of his to prevent any of his friends from going through such an ordeal again.

Jason felt that the house was solidly built and didn’t see any major problems.

It was now my time to think about whether or not I wanted to buy this house and what my purchase price goal would be.

I spent Sunday night thinking on whether or not I wanted to buy this house.

Shannon had asked me about the house and so I sent her the following email to both inform her and as a way for me to work out the pros and cons of this house.

SUBJECT: RE: Post-Holiday

This Nostradamus end of the world thing is lamer than anticipated.

Some pictures of this potential house.


The Great House Hunt

Pluses for the kitchen.
1. Tons of cupboard space.
2. Fridge is usable.
3. Kitchen vent.
4. Space for a small table for a place to eat in the kitchen.
5. No dishwasher, but space for a dishwasher.
6. I actually kind of like the antiquing on the cabinet doors, but the handles would have to be replaced.
7. In side of cupboards painted a sweet red color. Would consider painting rest of kitchen that sweet red color.

Minuses for the kitchen.

1. The stove is usable, but I would most likely want to replace it right away.
2. Not a ton of counter space, but probably more than enough for somebody like me.
3. The saloon doors would have to go. This would break Jay’s heart.


The Great House Hunt

Dining Room Pluses

  1. Chandelier is pretty. Only pretty ceiling light fixture in the house.
  2. It is just nice to have a dining area since I would like to be able to entertain.
  3. The Hoosier would most likely go in the dining room. It has always been used as storage. In the future it would most likely be used for serving and storage.
  4. Nice open floor plan
  5. Wall separates entry way from the dining room.

Dining Room Minuses

  1. Stupid saloon doors.
  2. Would need to install a digital thermometer. But that is a cheap and easy fix.
  3. If I would decide to further distinguish the living room from the dining room by leaving one room with carpet and exposing the wood floor in the other room, the carpet seam is in a weird place.


The Great House Hunt

Living Room Pluses

  1. 2 decent sized walls, so a few possible layouts.
  2. Big.
  3. Great window.
  4. Plenty of electrical outlets, but they need to be updated.

Living Room Negatives

  1. Don’t really have any except general electrical updating.


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Other half of kitchen


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Master Bedroom Pluses

  1. Big.
  2. Two window thing is cool.
  3. Two closets.

Master Bedroom Minuses

  1. Curtains are so ugly they will have to be doused with Holy Water and then burned.
  2. Perhaps the ugliest ceiling light fixture ever.
  3. Master bedroom is in the front of the house, so closest to the street.


The Great House Hunt
Bathroom Pluses

  1. Decent sized tub.
  2. Cool original tile.
  3. Closet behind the tub.
  4. Medicine cabinet.

Bathroom Minuses

  1. Kind of small.
  2. No shower, but there is a closet behind the tub, so it would be an easy add.
  3. Kind of wish the toilet was green to match the tile.


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Bedroom Two Pluses

  1. One decent sized closet.
  2. The fact that there are 3 bedrooms.
  3. Beautiful woodwork under ugly carpet.
  4. Newish, Pella windows.

Bedroom Two Minuses

  1. What, only one closet?
  2. Ugly carpet, but who likes carpet? Especially when you have wood floors!


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Bedroom Three/Office Pluses

  1. Three bedrooms means: 1 master bedroom, 1 guest bedroom and an office!!
  2. This would make a sweet office.
  3. Two closets.
  4. Sweet built in shelves.
  5. Good sized office.

Bedroom Three/Office Minuses

  1. By far the ugliest carpet in the house, but sweet wood floor underneath, so the carpet could go.
  2. Weird ceiling light fixture.


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Basement Bathroom Pluses

  1. There is a bathroom in the basement.
  2. Includes shower, toilet and vanity.
  3. Good sized and walled in.

Basement Bathroom Minuses

  1. Shower is a bit on the short side.


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Basement Workspace Pluses

  1. There is a basement workspace.
  2. Could probably be turned into a dark room fairly easily.


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Screened in Patio

  1. There is a screened in patio.
  2. It has lighting.
  3. There are two doors.
  4. It lead to an open air brick patio made with Boone Bricks.


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The Cute Backyard

  1. This is a good sized yard.
  2. “Fenced” in by a hedge.
  3. Lots of landscaping
  4. 2 small trees. Potentially those pretty trees that flower in the spring.

Negatives

  1. The white picket fence doesn’t really serve any purpose.
  2. Lots of landscaping could be lots of work to break up.
  3. Not really sure what they were growing back there. I think both grapes and raspberries.

Other Positives

  1. Garage.
  2. Flagpole, where I could fly a Cyclone flag on game days and the US flag on special days or where I could make political statements that would make me unpopular in the neighborhood.
  3. Built by Thorngren, the most widely respected builder in Boone during the 1950s.
  4. Loaded with potential.
  5. Furnace is only 15 years old.
  6. Lamp post in the front yard.
  7. Located in a phenomenal neighborhood. Pretty much a straight shot out of town to get to work.
  8. Only one owner. Ever.

Negatives

  1. Fuse box. That would have to be replaced.
  2. Garage is narrow. Driveway is long. Lots of potential shoveling. No service door on the garage.
  3. It doesn’t have maintenance free siding. The outside will have to be painted every now and again.
  4. Because of the hedge, I’m not sure what do about a fence.


The Great House Hunt
I do like this window. A lot.

I actually looked at 5 other houses. There is another one that I kind of liked. It had a much bigger kitchen. It had 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but it doesn’t have much of a yard. But one of the bathrooms had a sweet pink tub and sink.

I have no doubt that you are sufficiently bored now.

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 3 – Re-Pre-Approval

I got pre-approved for a home loan in March or April of 2008. I went through the process with the bank that houses my checking account, Bank of the Bear.

I would like to say that the process was enjoyable, but as most of my interactions with that bank, it was not. After filling out the paperwork with a loan officer, I didn’t hear back from them for over a month.

When I got pre-approved, I immediately did nothing. In fact, pre-approval lasts for four months. I did nothing for so long that my pre-approval expired before I even looked at the first house.

I’ve been looking at houses since October, but I have not gotten my financing remotely in order. In fact, I hadn’t even thought about get re-pre-approved.

Since Bank of the Bear has never been particularly good to me, I decided to go to a mortgage broker by the name of Tracy Van Sickle. I didn’t know Tracy, but Lori raved about her on multiple occasions.

I decided I better start this process because I was seriously considering making an offer on the house with the cute backyard, but it is awful hard to do that when you don’t know if anybody is going to give you the money to make such a purchase.

Tuesday, January 6, after I completed my shift at the Computer Mine, I called Tracy to start the process. I assumed from my previous experience with Bank of the Bear that the process would last 3-4 weeks.

A long story short: What took over a month for Bank of the Bear to do, Tracy Van Sickle was able to do in under 30 minutes. I was re-pre-approved.

I was now able to make an offer on the house with the cute backyard, if I became so inclined.

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 2: Initial Look

Saturday was the day of the big Ottumwa Blitz. I made plans to see the houses on Saturday morning before Jay and I headed to Ottumwa.

I had drove past the house on Union a couple of times and determined that the backyard might be a little bit too cutesy.

I snapped this picture with my camera phone and sent it to Shannon, Sara and Jen with the caption: “The too cute backyard.”


The Great House Hunt

Sara sent me back a message indicating a desire to have tea parties there.

After some time at the house on Union, we went over to the house on Aldrich. It had a few things I really liked.


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A Pink Bath Tub

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Yellow Kitchen Counters

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Poured Concrete Foundation

However, it had some things that were problematic. There were only two bedrooms, but three bathrooms. There was no dining room. The yard was dreadfully small and I would like to get a dog at some point in the future. By dog, I mean a real dog that is going to require some space to roam around.


The Great House Hunt
Dreadfully small.

We looked at several other houses, but what I was beginning to call the house on Union Street AKA The House with the Cute Backyard was clearly the leader. It was only the second house that I had seen that I could really see myself living in.

The Ballad of House Buying: Part 1 The Surrogates

So I think I can be a little freer with the experience of house buying that I have been enduring.

I guess the most important news is that I am officially going through the process of buying a house now. I would like to at least go through the process of how I came to where I am today to update people that may have very unintentionally fallen out of the loop. I have gotten very busy with the process, work and Jaycee functions. Plus, there was Symposium and helping Derrick and Jen move. You could say that my plate has been more than full. It has been overflowing with crawdads, honey.

To start at the beginning of finding this house you have to go back to December 30 or 31. I can’t remember which.

I joined my Mom, Teresa and Ernie for lunch. When I got back to the office my phone rang and it was my Aunt/Realtor Lori. One of the great parts about this process is that now I can recommend Lori as a Realtor to anybody and include the phrase, “And not just because she is my Aunt.”

Lori was going to look at a new listing that had just went on the market. It was on Garst, which is to say that it is in a good neighborhood. She told me that the house was a foreclosure and I know from the time that Carla spent as a Realtor that meant two things. You could buy the house cheap and that is was probably trashed.

I work for a living, which is to say that I haven’t figured out a way for the Computer Mine to pay me for not being here yet, so I had to decline checking out this house on Garst. I did mention that there was a house on Union and a house on Aldrich that I was interested in seeing. We set up an appointment to see those houses on Saturday.

Then I remembered that somebody that has so many crawdads on their plate should use a surrogate. So I called Teresa and asked if she and Mom could swing by and check out the house on Garst to see if it was even worth viewing.

She agreed to do just such a thing.

About 45 minutes later I got a text message that said, “Garst house is disgusting.”

I called her back to find out what disgusting might mean. Did it mean saloon doors between the dining room and the kitchen? I can change ugly.

Disgusting ended up meaning covered in mold.

Well you can’t just take mold down and store it in the basement, so the house on Garst was eliminated from contention.

But Teresa told me that they had went over and checked out the house on Union that I wanted to see.

Earlier that week I had told my Mom about how I had high hopes about a house on Union, but last time I had gotten my hopes up real high for a house they were dashed by bulging basement walls.

She had mentioned the house to Lori and they had went over and checked out the house.

Teresa recommended that I check out this house on Union.

House Hunt – Potential Progress

One of the four houses I saw this weekend I actually liked. In fact, it is the first house that I’ve seen that I’m going to go look at again.


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Living Room

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Technically “Master Bedroom”, but potentially an office.

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Kitchen

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Vanity in addition to sink in bathroom.

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Dining Area

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2 Car Garage

The furnace was two years old and most of the windows were new. One of the negatives was a basement that was essentially a dirt basement.

I might have taken more pictures, but the battery on the camera was dying.

More House Hunt

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I looked at 4 more houses.

One house didn’t have a basement, which was kind of bad, but the fact that it didn’t have any yard eliminated it.

I did find a few interesting things in one house.


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Mirrors for closet doors? What a great idea!

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A tragic waste of a claw foot tub.

Although I didn’t like this house all that much, I think mirrored closet doors are going on my want list, right next to having a garage and having a yard.

Words, Words, Words

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet: Words, words, words.

Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?

Hamlet: Between who?

Polonius: I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

Hamlet: Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue say here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go back word.

Polonius: Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.

That has always been my favorite moment in Hamlet. It has stuck with me enough that frequently when people ask me what I’m reading I invariably answer: “words, words, words.”

I bring this up because I’ve taken on the task of reducing the amount of words, um books, in my collection. It is a task that is slightly herculean.


11-09-08
So it begins…

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Some would say that I don’t need any direction in male chauvinism, those people would be mistaken. (Although this book was downsized.)

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Books

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That is a lot of unnecessary writing manuals.

Most of the downsized books will find their way to book sales. However, I might try to find good homes for some of these books on my own. So keep tuned to this frequency, I might post some of those books here.

Before

One of my vacation projects was to attempt to bring as much of my stuff together as made sense and downsize as much stuff as I could.

I was able to accomplish some downsizing. I think my major accomplish was getting my old Hoosier Kitchen Cabinet out of storage. I knew it was slightly damaged when it went into storage, but it looks like it declined even further.


The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

The Hoosier

When I was explaining the existence of this “Hoosier” to Shannon she became excited. You could even say jealous. She even had a recommendation as to a person that would be able to fix it and return it to its former glory.

Shannon’s dad picked it up on Friday. I’ll be excited to see what it looks like when he gets done with it.

House Search

On Wednesday I looked at about 10 houses. I kind of liked 1 house, so I might have a bit of direction as to what kind of house I want.

Here are some pictures.


The Great House Hunt

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I think I want to build something like this at some point.

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This house had a fireplace and built in glass cases, but kitchen floor and all of the electrical would have needed to be replaced.

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The tub too. You can’t really tell from the picture, but this is the smallest tub I’ve ever seen.

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This was listed as a “full” basement.

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Beautiful wraparound porch destroyed by turning part of it into a 3 seasons room.

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Not even in the top ten of the scariest stairs I descended on this day.

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I might be too impressed by built in cabinets.

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This was the kitchen in the house I kind of liked. I actually was surprised how much I like the window over the sink.

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I’m not even going to comment.

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I kind of liked the kitchen in this house. But there was no electricity upstairs and all 3 bedrooms were upstairs. Actually the kitchen was the only thing to like about this house.

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No electricity upstairs, but a brand new 3 car garage???

It was definitely an educational experience.

There was a weird experience where we looked around the house while the current occupants were still there.

Maybe I’ve lived in a cave, but I was shocked by how many houses only had access to the basement from outside. I didn’t even realize that there were still houses like that.

On a small unrelated note, I did gain some insight into the “idiot” sign at the suffrage march.

The term idiot is in the Iowa Constitution.

Article II, Section 5:

No idiot, or insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, shall be entitled to the privilege of an elector.

I would write more, but I want it to be a surprise when you get in the voting booth on Tuesday. If you are voting in Iowa.

6:30

I had the pleasure of waking up this morning to water in the basement.








On the plus side, tonight is the first Ames on the Half Shell event of the year. I’d say if it isn’t raining, the place to be tonight is Ames on the Half Shell. Redzband is playing tonight. The event lasts from 5-8. Bandshell Park. Don’t know what else you need to know.