When we started shopping for a house, both Jeanine Frost and Grace Draven warned me that the applying for a loan was going to be a nightmare. As self-employed, we face far greater scrutiny. When we bought the house we currently live in, it was easy. Not sure why, but they asked for certain documents, we sent the documents, being across the country, and thirty days later we had a house. The only snag was the fact that our income had dropped and the bank asked for explanatory letter. The letter was easy – Borders had tanked and most fiction writers had taken a financial hit. But that was some years ago, so I mentally braced myself.
With this house, we applied for a VA loan. Gordon has never used any of his military benefits, so we figured why not? VA loan comes with a couple of extra hoops, the biggest one of these being termite inspection and treatment. Basically, if there is any possibility of termite conducive conditions, VA will make the seller treat the house.
Also, because this house is only an hour away and is non-conventional, meaning not a typical suburban Texas house, everything is complicated. We had inspector look at the house. We also brought in a structural engineer. Both of these gentlemen passed the house with flying colors, much to the surprise of our agent, who, I believe, expected serious problems. But, just to be sure, we brought it a plumber and electrician. They uncovered about $3,000 worth of minor problems. Things like grounding wires missing, which we will fix immediately before we move into the house and light fixtures that are too low over the bathtub.
Me: Maybe we could keep this chandelier…
Gordon: Or we could replace it with a toaster, so when it falls into the tub, we’d get electrocuted for sure.
So the chandelier is coming down.
The seller is working with us on the repairs have been rather lovely about trimming back vegetation etc to satisfy VA loan requirements, but the volume of everything that needs to be checked, signed, and agreed upon is overwhelming, and we are not quite to the actual money part yet. I mean we’ve done a very thorough pre-approval with an underwriter, because we expected issues, but I have to tell you, if the financial part will be as time-consuming and nerve-wracking as the preliminaries, I might self-destruct before it’s over. It’s made worse because I really love the house and every time we go down there, I don’t want to leave. Gordon and I are planning out the floor, the wall colors, etc, but the house isn’t ours yet.
Yesterday, Grace Draven called me.
She: Hi. We’re in front of your house and there is a massive deer laying in your front yard.
Me: Oh, yeah, they run through the neighborhood like dogs over there.
She: This is so cool!
If the sale goes through, we will be only half-an-hour from their house in Wimberley, so it works out.
Moving will be a nightmare. We have also been sick for three weeks now, which is sapping my energy to nothing. I actually went to the doctor, who thinks it’s allergies. Gordon is also sick. Right now I feel like we’ve climbed half-way up a mountain and ran out of breath, supplies, and water. I just want to get the house and be done.
Hoping that it all comes together and those dream house keys are laid in your hand very soon! Hang in there!
{{{hugs}}}. Hope y’all feel better soon!
My hat off to you. It’s not easy. Especially when you feel like poo on top of everything else. When we bought our house, we didn’t realise our loan could be contingent on whether our roads were paved or dirt *sigh* and other stupid crap that is the norm for FL. I told T if we ever move again, he had better love the house because the only way we are leaving is in a hearse.
On a side note. Chandelier over the bathtub? Fancy Schmancy!
Someone else mentioned all the pre-approval stuff for a VA loan, but they were the seller, not the buyer. I think he mentioned that they had to repaint the front porch or door, which they were also planning on, and the bit about the vegetation sounds familiar. On the one hand, you’re kind of grateful that they have all these things to check, but on the other, it’s gotta be stressful, especially if you haven’t gotten to the financial part yet.
Warm thoughts that you’ll get the loan and are able to move in shortly.
What do your girls think of the house?
They really like it, especially the cool little apartment part above the second garage.
Last move, I got half the house size, but my husband got ten acres, barn, pole barn, three car garage, and a pond plus garden shed and deck. I also am leaving only with toes cocked up or with sturdy people to pack, unpack, and organize.
Your papa will love the apartment!
What is a pole barn?
A prefabbed barn using pressure treated poles stuck in the ground, usually with no footings or poured floor. Steel roofed, steel siding. Lots of people use them for equipment. Ours is a pass-through for the rental cows to get from pasture to another, plus storage for friends’ pontoons.
Wow second garage. I am impressed. I (oops 2 spaces) love the adventure of moving.
Except when I am sick. I have been sick for a month. Strep and now bronchitis. Hope you are getting better. Evidently hurricane Harvey left a few side effects.
Except he’s filling them with things; the man never met a can filled with nails and screws he didn’t love. I stopped counting the five-gallon buckets. Then there’s the metal grain bin he bought at auction, moved to the property, and turned into a sugar shack.
House buying was one of the worst things I’ve ever done. One inspection actually had me running away from one house. I hated every second of it. I still need to get the tiles cleaned and a bug person to come spray for ants. Bleh.
VA may be a lot of hoops to jump through, but they’ll have your back. We have used VA loans whenever we have bought a house. Back in the last recession VA stopped our bank from foreclosing on our house. We had gotten in a bad spot (we were also self employed) VA made sure the bank worked with us. We came out on top and didn’t lose our house.
I hope you both feel better soon and send very positive thoughts for a smooth loan process. We used the hubs VA loan twice. It was a ton of paperwork but when the bottom fell out of the job market in California (early 90’s) having a VA loan helped us with selling our house at a loss. Long story but glad to have had that loan.
I’m really happy you have found a house you love so much. But it’s really good to have all the requirements in the end. When we were building we had the NIGHTMARE inspections guy but we got a better house out of it.
Allergies are bad here. I hope everyone feels better! Moving is stressful but it passes.
I just bought a house, and my BFF is trying and we’re convinced that whoever invented this process is the literal devil. I personally think all finalized purchases of homes should come with certificates for massages.
Good luck with the move/house buying! I’ve been apartment hunting in NYC for MONTHS just for a place to rent and that’s stressful enough. I remember the first time I had to go through the application process through the management company and was like why the heck do I need a guarantor that makes 80x times the rent??
Also if you figure out how get rid of the deer in a non-invasive way or discourage them from visiting your property, let me know. The white tailed deer which are my father’s sworn and mortal enemy pretty much own my parents’ neighborhood in NY state (only about 45 minutes from Manhattan) and they eat everything much to my father’s chagrin who can’t grow anything in his yard which is why he resorted to fostering cactus a few years ago. They also carry ticks and Lyme’s disease is very prevalent in our area (in fact our dog tested positive for Lyme’s disease a few years before he died).
I like deer. I don;t mind them in the front yard. The back is completely fenced in.
Yeah, fence may not be a deterrent, depending on height. I had a deer in my back yard (a big buck, too) and it’s fenced all around, but I think they got in near the bottom of the property down by the creek that I never go down to. I also have (or have on occasion) a fox family, but they dig or burrow their way onto the property. Got some cute videos of the fox kits playing in my back yard.
Do you have deer near your property now, or will this be the first time your dog (dogs?) have encountered them? My brother has 5+ acres and his dog has a lot of opportunity to chase deer. And groundhogs. Those suckers can move fast when motivated.
People who are keeping deer in have 10 or 12 foot fences. (Game ranches, etc.) Is your fence that tall? if not, you may still get some deer in the back yard. A deer fence around your garden as suggested may be enough.
The dogs may help, too. License to chase the deer may be their favorite thing, but tends to be noisy…
Consider buying the house a slog, rather than a dash. You don’t have to do everything all at once.
That said, I hope you are snug in your new house soon. It sounds beautiful.
Deer will not jump a fence when they can’t see the landing spot – so if you have a 6 to 8 ft fence that is solid, they won’t jump it. However, a chain link or lovely open weave fence, they will jump 10 ft or so. Letting the dogs have the run of the yard will help.
Good luck with the house move. Think of moving as a chance to purge all those items that you never use and are just collecting dust. My stepfather used to say you should move every 5 years or so or at least pack all your belongings into a truck and drive around the block, just so you throw out the stuff you never use. Enjoy the purge. Kids are good receptors for those items.
A good way to discourage deer is a cinnamon scented spray on the vegetation. You can buy premade or there are recipes online. It works wonders on stopping deer eating the plants around here.
In ithaca deer are vermin like squirrels or mice. We had a completely fenced in back yard, the fence was as tall as my waist, and the deer still jump it like no tomorrow so they ate all our tomatoes. Good luck if you want to grow anything edible in your back yard.
That’s our situation. I’m in fairly urban Cleveland Heights, right next to a business district, not far from the University… and on lazy Autumn afternoons, deer will have dominance politics out on the street. (Which, okay, is mostly pretty much fun to watch, and it hasn’t gotten awful.) We have a number of local coyotes, and they’ve taken down a few fawns… which can only be a step towards getting the local ecosystem on track.
They’re pretty adorable, and it’s cute when I have a bunch napping in the trees behind my garage, but if we don’t have an increase in local predators, a robust hunting program really is in order. (And I say this as a semi-vegetarian living in the local zendo. But I’m also a biologist, and if you don’t manage your ecosystem, no one ends up happy.) Or they could get the deer birth control working, but every time I hear about that it doesn’t sound fully together.
If you’re happy to be practical rather than pretty, then the deer fencing that farmers use works a treat. Perhaps a small enclosure for a vege patch and screen it with some trellising or something?
As far as I am aware only thing American deer won’t eat is thorny barberry bushes. Perhaps those of you who live in our Southwest can speak to cacti and tumbleweed, but pretty much everything else is deer salad when they are hungry. A fence around the vegetable patch just means they’ll eat the landscape plants first.
I’ve read that bars of soap, coyote urine, and wolf urine will intimidate them for a bit, but the best, according to all I’ve read, is adult human male urine freshly applied daily.
I have see advertisements for motion activated sprinklers that spray water hard if something enters their zone. They hook to your yard hose. I don’t know a specific place to get them but you should be able to find them online.
Amelie, have you looked for an apartment in the Bronx? Try Parkchester South and North Condos. Close to #6 subway now, and they are working on running MetroNorth through here to Penn Station by 2020.
Hubs and I have used our VA loan twice. The interest rates are so much lower than the conventional loans we might have gotten that it made all of the front end issues irrelevant. Also got our educations with VA loans. And, someone told me recently that a Vet can use the loans for their children’s college education. I live in CA so don’t know if that’s true everywhere. As to allergies: Went for my third visit to the doctors in a month and was told that this has been a terrible year for upper respiratory illness. Mine ended up being bronchitis – on an inhaler and Mucinex Sinus. Doing much better.
Hey Ilona, just a few comments I hope might be helpful. I used to work for an uber large lending house. If you bought your current house before 2007 the reason it would have been simpler is because they used to approve literally anyone for home loans (hence the 2007 housing collapse). I once was purchasing a loan and I said to my manager this loan can’t be right, this person’s take home pay per month is a significantly less then the mortgage itself, what about food and clothing and necessities? Buy the loan they said. 🙁
My other hopefully helpful comments are regarding the possibility of allergies. My daughter was suffering significantly from allergies. Her homeopathic doctor suggested two things 5,000 iu per day of vitamin D3 and two daily tablets of D-Hist. She is now in great shape. Hope this helps. Hope you feel better soon. Take care. Ileana
Ha ha, when I bought my house in 2002 I told the agent that in two months I would be quitting my job and going back to school and thus would be unemployed for four years (plus paying > $40,000 for tuition). He didn’t care. At the time I thought it was crazy.
And it was.
Our seller almost backed out because the VA hoops went on and on. It was one of the most stressful periods of our lives…and we’ve moved all over with the military.
Hope you enjoy better health and a lovely new home soon.
The buying process sucks but in my mind trying to find a house is worse. We looked for 5 years before we found ours. It was so bad that all the realtors knew us. The most stressful time in my life. Then there was financing which is a whole nother story. It is worth fighting for so hang in there, it will come to pass. I hope you get to feeling better soon. It is miserable being sick for weeks. Take care of yourselves.
Yeah I looked at 200+ houses in 2 years. My husband looked at 8 that made the cut. When we finally offered for our current house my realtor said he thought I just had some weird hobby.
Enjoy the new house. Hope you all get well. Love all the stories!
I’m sorry you guys are felling yucky! There is totally a reason that they equate buying a house & moving with being just as stressful as dealing with a death in the family! I’ve worked the admin side of real estate and mortgages and even in today’s day & age the amount of trees that get sacrificed to complete the process is astronomical!! (Just a heads up, if Gordon has any disability rating from his time in service, then the VA funding fee gets waived, but you have to tell your loan officer.). Good luck and Congratulations on the new house….it’ll totally be worth it in the end!!
You think YOU HATE moving? We’re renting, moved 4yrs ago, and the house is still packed in boxes! Never know when we’re going to get a better place.
P.S. Attics? NEVER AGAIN! Nothing will ever go in my attic again. Hells NO! If it’s attic worthy, it’s trash/donation worthy…
We are a former military family. We once moved nine times within 6 years. I can pack a house and be out in three days. Now, I plan to take significantly longer this time, because we will be getting rid of junk and that requires sorting. 🙂
You sound like my mom. She said the same thing to me. My dad was also in the military, but when he got out he was restless. They moved almost every year to two years. When she and I moved to Oklahoma, a really good friend of our family told us to get rid of everything we can live without since in a few years it will all come back. Our friend was right. 🙂
This past tour we did 3 moves in three years. It was from base to base in the same area but each was done on a weekend and the last one I was 7 months pregnant. We move again sometime next year and I already have the big kids downsizing. This time it will be from overseas to the U.S. I am not looking forward to it.
Sorting is Purgatory with memories. It can take forever.
LOL, I don’t normally unpack either. For the first time I actually bought a house here 2 years ago, I unpacked most of my stuff, but I still have several dish barrels full of stuff that I rarely use. Now after 2 years in my own place, I am off to SD for a house hunting trip next week for a ugh, rental.
I sympathize AND empathize with you… We are going thru the SAME thing right now. The underwriter is asking for things I have not seen in over 10 years. They also want letters of explanation for things that should need NO explanation. We are two weeks from closing with approval from the lender but the underwriter may still tank us. I send everything and they want more more more for which there IS no more.. I bang my head against the wall in frustration daily, sometimes more than once. We have been looking for 3 years and I remember walking into this house and just going…HOME I also have been decorating from afar, paint is a must. I am needing it done with too before I snap…. And to top it all off my husband was in Texas and Florida the entire month of September turning people’s lights back on. So I get it… So breathe, sip some tea and relax a bit…. wishing you a speedy resolution with a happy ending!!
Oh, yeah. Last move my husband started out with coordinating Michigan State Police response to Hurricane Katrina. He had fourteen hour days; I had an air mattress, a cooler, and paint brushes. Three weeks the furniture before got there, but the house was no longer violet, mauve, and purple.
That’s where we are “Underwriter Hell”
We’ve missed one closing date. Have preliminary approval but can’t get that lady step down.
Omg! We have 2 more rooms to paint in our new house and I had a crises of greys before picking the color. Went with crushed ice from sherwun Williams and I LOVE the color!
Going with grays also!
Congratulations on finding the right house, so sorry you’re feeling sick! Just a thought, but have the new house checked for mold.
There is some security in a VA loan . M moms house was paid off when my dad died. They also make house payment in cases of long illness not pleasant to think on it was helpful to us .
Best wishes on getting the purchase done and moving in. I’m so sorry that you all are sick during this stressful time.
I feel your pain and am sympathetic. As a Harvey flood victim we are mucking through the flood insurance process. I know we are one of the fortunate ones since we actually did have insurance even though it won’t cover everything. However, it is very exhausting and some days I just feel like curling into a ball and waking up when it’s all over. If only I could. Adulting sucks sometimes. I really hope that there is a happy ending soon on your horizon. It’s hard to be stuck in limbo. It’s stressful in a way that you can’t imagine when things are rolling along normally.
I wish I had some uplifting thing to say to encourage you but I know from experience it would be paltry. Some days you just have to gut through and hope for better the next.
My husband and I purchased a house in Colorado Rocky Mountains as a foreclosure that also had a reverse mortgage on it and former owner died without heir or will so I feel your pain! Think state bureaucrats involved…. Let me also let you know that we were purchasing new house for cash and it still took two months for every hoop to be managed and was a very stressful process…. then the fun started when we had to clean other home in North Carolina miles driveway to driveway. We *LOVE* our new Colorado Home and plan to never move again! It is a Sportsman’s Paradise with hunting elk, mule deer, turkeys, etc in our 40 acres of beautywith world class fishing also very near.
1998 miles driveway to driveway…. now a year later we are happily settling in and happy the house purchase and the move is finally over! Hang in there! It will be worth it if you love the new place!
Good Luck with the buying process. Have you thought about allergy shots? They have really helped my son.
Hang in there, once you feel better you’ll be much better able to cope. No doubt about it, house selling/buying and moving is an event right up there with death and divorce for stress levels. The good part is that once the buying/selling/moving is done, it’s over with. A done thing. You’ve had practice. All you have to do is play the game and outlast the bastards. You know you can do that.
I add my best wishes for your victorious move to the dream house. Feeling crappy is bad though. I too have allergy and stress problems. I’m using essential oils and herbal teas to help with this so I’m passing on what is working for me. I use a three to one ratio of Rosemary and Lavender essential oil in a diffuser. It’s about 12 drops Rosemary to 4 drops Lavender. Rosemary helps me breathe and is soothing. Lavender is just super calming. I also drink holy basil and chamomile tea. Also drinking peppermint tea after eating also helps. The reasons why these work are all over the Internet. I hope your life improves very soon.
My dears- let me state the obvious; you are juggling stress in three dimensions.
What can ‘we’ do that would make you feel supported from afar?
Ideally ‘we’ could send you $ via text to a PayPal account you set up to fund an assistant for you. Does that work for you?
Yes, ‘we’ are so nice to think of you and you don’t expect ‘us’ to do something like that, but really it’s not about you. It’s about ‘our’ naked greed and getting the next snippet.
Let ‘us’ know your thoughts-J9
That is a nice thought, but no, thank you. We’re fine for now. 🙂 You could post comments on the blog and that’s plenty of support for us. Really, that’s all we need.
I can’t remember if I mentioned this before when you were talking about buying a house, so apologies if I said this before. If I didn’t, then this is a head’s up…
There is a scam going around where bad guys send an email appearing to be from your settlement firm giving you instructions on where to wire money for the closing. They fake the legitimate firm’s letterhead and everything, but the wiring info is to their accounts. If you get an email like that, contact the firm by phone to confirm the account info is actually theirs. There is more info on a security bloggers site: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/04/blind-trust-in-email-could-cost-you-your-home/
OMG!!!!! Scumpeople do this? To other people?
Sorry to hear you are feeling bad. It comes with living in Central Texas. Mold is high and tree pollen is starting it’s annual deluge of the area. I’ve come to realize my favorite time of year here is the worst for my own allergies and I never want to go outside and enjoy the great weather, since I’ll feel even worse for it.
Congrats on the house! I hope it all goes well for you. I have friends that live in that area, it’s beautiful!
Oh man. I totally feel your pain! We were under contract on 10 acres and were planning on building a house and were so excited. All my farm girl dreams were in the works. Then it fell through because the bank was requiring a private road maintenance agreement but we couldn’t get our neighbors to agree. I was devastated. Then by chance we drove by an open house just 9 mins from where my parents live. I was a wreck until we closed. Had a few hiccups because it was a pre-bankruptcy but everything worked out. I used to drive by it every day just so I could see it. We have been renovating for 2 months and I am SO ready to move in. We are so close, should move in next weekend and be all settled in time for our 5 year anniversary!! Can’t wait to snuggle up in our new house. Plus, icing on the cake we are going to adopt a dog once we are in 🙂 it’s been a year long journey for us but the end is finally in sight. And while we only have 2 acres it’s still enough for some chickens, a few goats and a miniature donkey!! So excited for you and your family.
The first time I bought a house one of my best friends lent me her copy of Dave Barry’s “Homes and Other Black Holes” and I have been forever grateful. I did not, in fact, take his advice and pile all of my possessions on my front lawn and set them on fire because it will be easier than moving in the long run… but many times, when exactly some situation he described came up, it meant I met it with rueful laughter rather than shocked dismay.
I remember in particular his description of the ritual of closing, and how during this ritual, by convention how anyone can approach you can demand money and how you just have to sign a check… this was an incredible help during my own closing when, as a wide eyed twenty-three year old,* an extra three thousand dollars was randomly demanded. I was able to go to “Oh, oh – this is real!” and then give them the what for, and this isn’t what they told me three days ago, and after a few minutes of back and forth, they backed down. (The only really annoying bit concerned a lien for $0.00 against my partner for unpaid parking fines… Except, well, obviously, they had been paid. That took an annoyingly long time to settle – probably in part because I refused to believe it could really be a problem.)
* Hey, it was the nineties, and I was in software.
Fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and made into a tea can sometimes help with allergies. Hope you both feel better soon.
O_O
I first read that as fresh finger, peeled and sliced… Ginger makes much more sense, especially if you’re not Hannibal Lector.
Sage, brewed as tea can help with congestion. My sister finds that a serving of protein first thing in the morning helps her allergies. And since she suffers 8 out of 12 months, it seems to be working.
Congratulations. You have done the smart thing and had your “new” home inspected thoroughly before closing your loan. Hopefully you are saving yourself the small to big surprises that crop up after you close. Good luck.
Good luck with the house and get better soon!
I think it really says so much about how great of a writer you are that even your house nightmares are amusing to read.
Get well soon!
If you have not already done so, I would open an account with USAA.com. Only veterans and currently serving military can apply, but the children of USAA members can also apply for themselves. They have excellent benefits–everything from various loans with low rates to insurance, car buying service, use of ATMs with most or all of the fees paid, and planning services. They are also only online banking with free checking, online deposits, and they can be used pretty much anywhere in the world that has secure access to the internet. They do not do any commercial or business banking, only personal banking for military families, but their services are excellent.
Good luck with the stressful house stuff!
Also wow, I am surrounded by amazing authors, didn’t know Grace Draven was in Wimberley 😛
I understand what both of you are going through with not feeling well. The mold and ragweed counts are horrible in Fort Worth. Along with the horrible allergies, I had to have a flu shot as a requirement for my work (even though I’m not in patient care everyone where I work at is required to have a flu shot unless a person files paperwork for an exemption). I’m taking over the counter Allegra since it’s stronger than the dye-free Benedryl. I usually take during the year. I can’t take any decongestant since it shoots my blood pressure up to very dangerous levels (the joys of genetics—-my dad was the same way).
I hope your house buying goes smoothly on the financial side. Before you know it, you’ll be in your new house. I had a good laugh with Gordon’s response about taking out the chandelier over the bathtub. We really don’t want you guys to be electrocuted.
Get well soon!
My doctor recommended (plain) Zyrtec – no decongestants, of course. I take 2 blood pressure meds and a platelet blocker and all of my doctors are fine with it. You can get the generic at Sam’s or possibly Costco at a (tiny) fraction of the name brand cost. BUT check with your doctor first.
I also take cough syrup when the congestion gets really bad. Try to get the plain expectorant if you can and definitely no decongestant. The fewer different medications you take, the better, and always read the active ingredients.
I agree. One year I was at my brother’s house in Indiana, and my mold allergy was bad. My brother, who’s a family doctor, gave me Clarinex. Bad decision on my part. Got a massive migraine. He felt so bad. I took Benedryl and slept to get rid of the migraine. I stick to the allergy medicines that work with my body.
My step dad and mom used his VA loan and the inspections were the longest part. Once they were happy things went a bit faster. We plan to use hubby’s once he gets out in maybe the next 5 to 8 years. Lots of family keep telling us to buy now, but I dont need that headache on top of everything else the military like to toss at us.
Sorry to hear about your allergies. My daughters eczema and allergies become a nightmare everytime seasons change. I have been suffering since the summer also. My dentist cancelled a crown replacement because I couldnt breathe when tilted back. I havent been able to smell anything for months. I am starting to think my meds are a joke.
Feel better and good luck with house!!
One of my biggest pet peeves for houses is outside lights. If something goes bump in the night I want I want to be able to identify the problem wether it be a raccoon or a creeper. Or if I let the horde out at night in the yard I want to be able to find them or spot a problem before it becomes an issue. If you are having wiring done already that would be a great time to add more lights if the current ones aren’t accurate.
And outside outlets. My house is 48 years old and they only did a couple of outside lights (front and back entrances) and no outside outlets, so no Halloween or Christmas lights unless I want to run an extension cord under the garage door. This was my first house purchase, and looking for those little details didn’t occur to me. (Or apparently to my realtor; we were focused on stuff inside.)
Glad you have found a house that you both love. Many years ago, an allergy Dr talked about what happens after you have lived in central Tx for awhile, we all become allergic to pollen, dust, ragweed. Some more some less. If you don’t have any, household air cleaners. In moving you tend to stir up dome dust. Change the air filter in the house. My brother who was allergic to cat dander got much better when we got a good air cleamer. This was when they lived in Georgetown. So hope you both feel better.
House inspections reveal all kinds of stuff but on the whole better safe than sorry. When I sold my house they asked me if we had done any wiring work ourselves. He was an electrician, fortunately anything done in the house was done by real electricians and the only fixes were minor stuff outside. Judging by the paint job in this condo I was very happy the inspection came back ok.
My older son is planning for a garage apartment in the new garage he is building. The daughters have already put dibs on it:)
We’re going through the same process at the moment and making plans about wall colours, cat palaces and garden plants. However jumpimg through hoops over and over with solicitors and sellers agents, paperwork and proofs, identity and earnings, oh and even that we live where we say we live, despite selling the damn place ourselves.
So we cam certainly sympathise with the frustrations, hopes for the fun of making it your own. Good luck with sorting through all the paperwork and making a new home
The molds in Austin/San Antonio have been kicking my buut too. Plus the ragweed!
Good luck!!! Hope you feel better soon.
Please please don’t shoot the messenger but you may want to make sure it’s not something in or by the new house that you are allergic too :-l
Sounds exhausting. Just keep remembering it shall pass ^-^U. Um, would it be possible to get a photo of the deer once it is all better?
Speaking from recent experience…the allergies might not be normal allergies. Especially if you’ve never had this sort of an allergic reaction. Our previous house had to have the roof replaced due to water damage in the walls and in our master bathroom ceiling. Once the roof was removed and replaced we all, including my 8 month old son, started having sneezing, coughing, fatigue symptoms that gradually got worse and lasted off an on for 3 months. His pediatrician said it was likely a combination of allergies: pollen, dog, dust and mold and couldn’t say exactly what was causing it. But I was having the same exact symptoms and I am not allergic to anything. We would go for walks in our neighborhood and as soon as we would walk into the house, we would start sneezing and coughing. I couldn’t sing to my son and I sounded like a 2 pack a day smoker. It was affecting our sleep and we were all miserable. We paid to have air and carpet tests done to see what was in the house. It confirmed what we thought. Toxic mold.
The best part? It was a rental and the company wouldn’t do anything or even admit that it could be mold. According to the contract, the company had to declare the property uninhabitable. We broke lease a few months before it ended to protect my son’s health. They lied and said they sent a certified letter detailing what we owed. The tracking number was fake and was never scanned at USPS.
This is a huge problem in our military housing on okinawa. They claim its not toxic but we fight a huge mold issue that the base says is just basic mold. But so many of us have the same symptoms and no relief. I actually have to clean my A/C unit with bleach every two weeks to prevent mold growth.
Yikes! Sounds like black mold in the house. Black mold can be very toxic.
Congratulations on your new home and best of luck going through the purchase process. I’ve moved a lot and expected we would live in our current home about 4 years if the previous patterns prevailed. Seventeen years later we are still here! I have been working on cleaning out rooms but it will still be a major chore when we move. Not looking forward to it.
Your new home sounds fabulous!
I’m just so glad you found a house that y’all really love; that’s more than half the battle. Good luck in getting all those tiny bureaucratic boxes all checked off. I’m sure you’ll do fine. Can we all come to the house warming?
P. S. Live near Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Deer coming to sit under apple trees is not unheard of. Don’t like November/December/January though. That’s when the guns come out, and you think you’re in a war zone. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a tad.
How will your vicious canines (picturing Beast) tolerate the wildlife? I live out in the country a bit, and while my pups are behind their fence, they are vicious predators, barking for all they’re worth. But…take them on a leash out to where the big critters are, and somehow, everything bigger than they are become completely invisible.
With regard to the stress of house buying and moving…spend all the energy you can afford visualizing your family living happily in the new house. It makes all the difference. Little moments…like the space between words. Picture relaxing and taking in the scenery, hearing the wind in the leaves, whatever details make it more real for you. I swear, you will make it real.
After all, you build worlds. Build yours!
I bought my house 15 years ago, pre-housing-bubble-meltdown. I had 20% to put down and at the time I had a job. But I was up front with the agent that I would be quitting my job and going to vet school (4 years). He waved that minor detail away and asked why I was putting so much down. I’m pretty sure he would have approved me for three or four times what I required.
Even though I have diligently paid my mortgage all these years, I’m pretty sure agents like that are what brought the economy to to a halt a few years later. Still — I like my house and my neighborhood. And now I love my garden statue of bigfoot holding four garden gnomes. (However, I’m not so sure my neighbors love that statue…)
I have to say, your statue sounds like something I would love!! ?
Here it is: http://nebulopathy.blogspot.com/2017/10/best-garden-accessory-ever.html
(Cat not included.)
My friend would love that if he had a house with a yard. Cute torty kitty too! 🙂
It’s still sitting in my office because I can’t bring myself to put it outside. Maybe next week!
Thank you!! I DO love it!!! ❤️?
They do this in the NYC rental market too. The last time I went apartment hunting was about 13 yrs ago (pre-marriage). Me: I want to spend no more than $1,600/mth. Broker: (Does calculation) But you can afford more. Me: Don’t care. I don’t want to spend all my pay on an apartment. I want to save money. Broker takes me out one day shows me two apartments $2,000 or more. Me: If you show me one more apartment over my budget I will file a complaint with your firm and find someone else.
Moral of the story: Brokers, agents and bankers will always encourage you to spend to your maximum. Don’t do it. They only care about their commission. They’re not the ones that need to make the ongoing payments. The more expensive house / apartment will always be nicer – that’s why it’s more money. Know your budget and stick to it.
Oh yes, the real estate agent & budget problem is a whole other thing. Are there any out there that will actually show you only things in your price range?
Hadn’t wanted to ask — remember our experience over 20 years ago — not as horrid as you but still stressful. Fingers crossed that all proceeds smoothly from here!!!
Flu season coming, if not here already. It is never too early to get your flu shots done too.
For everything else, one thing at a time with a healthy dose of patience …… hope everything works out the way you plan.
Deer in the yard = deer are a menace. They eat your garden and pose a serious driving hazard. Sure, they’re cute… right up until you have half a dozen leap out of the woods in front of your car… every 2 miles… all the way home in the dark…
I used to work for an attorney who did a lot of real estate and I hated doing VA loans (they have a LOT of special stuff not required by local banks here) and non-local banks, but not as much as properties involving a different federal organization. Said agency’s representative once spent six months getting increasingly irate with me because I hadn’t finished the title work for them to sell a house that they would notake legally own until the next March.
Are you going to move the chandelier to a different part of the house, was it the novelty of having a chandelier over the bathtub that made you want it?
Hope you guys are feeling better soon and that the whole house buying/moving process goes smoothly!
Hope you are both feeling better. Small consolation, but it is flu season. Best of luck with the house!
And to think I always thought it was Ilona who wrote the snarky, sarcastic Kate bits… LOVED the toaster bit!
Sorry to hear you have been ill. Perfect timing too – right as you are going through all the stress of trying to close on a house!! Hope you both feel better asap, and that everything with the Chateau works out. (A chandelier over a tub!!!!!! Sounds so cool – though admittedly not the best idea.)
Sending positive thoughts and prayers your way!
You will get through this. That is all. It will be shitty when you’re buried in paperwork and stress, but you will get through it.
From a more practical standpoint, here’s some completely unsolicited advice from someone with more allergies than you can shake a hanky at (I’m not kidding – the moment we realised I was also allergic to metal will forever stand out hysterically in my memory):
– ginger tea (just do it)
– steam facials if you have a blocked nose or generally feel gross (boil a kettle of water, pour it into a bowl, wait a few seconds so you don’t accidentally steam your face off, and then hang your face over the bowl and breathe in the steam for five to ten minutes. I like to add a ginger tea bag – I’m sure you can see a theme there. It’s an old home remedy, but scientifically, the steam tends to encourage the capillaries in your face, including all those delicate ones around your respiratory system, to widen and increase blood flow, which helps you heal as the lymph nodes get involved.)
I hope things look up for you both soon. Take care, think of the deer.
I just had to jump in on the steam facials. I have terrible allergies and have used the steam facial with good results on several occasions. Another twist on it is to drop a mentholated cough drop in the bowl and poor hot water over it. When I have been really bad and couldn’t stand the pressure of bending my face over the bowl, I have simply closed the door of the smallest bathroom in the house, sat on the toilet and let the steam from the shower being turned full on as hot as it could get fill the room. Sure way to open up the sinuses! Unfortunately they tend to close up again fairly rapidly after leaving the lovely steam – but at least there had been a glorious period of freely breathing!!
Right now it has been 7 weeks I have been sick, and have progressed to making odd sounds as I breath. I kept swiping my hand in the air near my ears, and hubby finally asked what new and interesting ritual was this? I thought a fly or something had taken it to be its personal mission to buzz me, but apparently the sound I was hearing was my exhaling!! Sigh!!! Sometimes my exhale sounds like a squeaky door, and sometimes the noise is simply indescribable (for me at least, you as such a talented wordsmith would probably have no trouble). I sympathize completely with the physical drain you are currently experiencing and wish you both the speediest possible recovery! We your adoring fans solute you and send our love and positive energy in support.
Holy crap, Marianne! It sounds like you need to get a steroid inhaler, stat! We had a horrible, allergy aggravating summer here with smoke from forest fires as well as the retardant used when they air dump. It never occurred to me that I had a problem until one of my asthma patients told me I was wheezing and needed an inhaler. Of course, I demurred saying I hadn’t needed one of those for years. Thankfully, she’s a pushy bitch( she’s such a good friend!) and wouldn’t take no for an answer, made me take a hit of her inhaler and low and behold- the light shone, the head ache I didn’t even know I had went away and I could breath-QUIETLY. Like we are supposed to…don’t be stubborn like me. Go to the Doctor. If you don’t have coverage for prescriptions, ask for a sample. There’s about 60 hits in a sample, which might be enough to get you over this hump until your natural immune system can kick back in. Right now, it’s overwhelmed. FYI, I’m allergic to dust. If this is also your problem, don’t take the disc medication, ask for the puffer.
Thank you Terry. Think I might break down and finally go see the doctor. Wheezing hasn’t improved, instead is louder. Cough worse too. Don’t like running to the doctor first thing for everything, but I think you are right and it is time for an inhaler. ?
I’m allergic to metal too! It developed when I was 21 (it seemed it was my parents’ 21st present of a gold watch that triggered it), I can’t wear any jewellery (and I do miss wearing my wedding and engagement rings), not even the hypoallergenic stuff, can’t hold cutlery for more than a couple of minutes without having to put the cutlery down for awhile, which means my food is always cold by the time I finish, I can’t eat food high in metals such as zinc or iron and other inconveniences. Oh, and I also have gustatory rhinitis, which means that when I eat food I have a sneezing fit. Going out to dinner is such fun. I asked a doctor about the sneezing; he looked at me in a startled fashion and unguardedly said “You’re weird” Honest, but not totally professional 🙂
At one point I seemed to be the only person I knew that was allergic to metal, now I have come across so many, it makes me wonder what is happening in the environment to make it more common?
Hello fellow allergist! Okay, you win with gustatory rhinitis, that sounds terrible. On the cutlery thing, consider purchasing a set of bamboo cutlery like this: http://www.shopnaturally.com.au/to-go-ware-reusable-bamboo-utensil-set-agave-blue.html
I’m sure you can find a cheaper set, and it might revolutionize your mealtimes, though I admit things can get dicey with the bamboo knife. (Ha, see what I did there? Dicey?)
Ha ha!
Wasn’t there a character in Eileen Wilk’s Lupus series who is allergic to metal? Or maybe I’m getting mixed up with Miles Vorkosigan from Lois McMaster Bujould – he had a lot of allergies.
Re the allergy thing (I don’t suffer myself), but my little sister became allergic to everything and it was because her immune system was compromised by Lyme. This is the first fall she hasn’t suffered horribly from Ragweed (she used to pray for a hard frost).
Hugs. I’ve been dealing with a different type of weemingly neverending administration of late but I promise, if you get the house, it’ll be worth jumping though all the hoops in the end. It sounds just lovely and deer in the neighbourhood make it sound even better.
Hope you both feel better soon.
Ilona and Gordon stared at the paperwork request stack a foot taller than his head. Aiming a flying kick dead center would have greatly improved her mood. If she had the strength to lift her head, much less turn the papers into a whirling tsunami. Somebody must be responsible for loosing a vicious curse their direction and as soon as her head stopped throbbing like a locomotive engine, Ilona was going to electrocute them in her new bathtub
Holding (or should I say “sending”?) all good thoughts for you guys!
Dont forget to check radon levels! Just bought a house and lucky we spent the extra $100 for the radon inspection as it was very high and they had to put a radon mitigation system in.
Could be worse, you could be the seller. Always on pins and needles waiting to hear what each new expert had found wrong and needed to be fixed. Wondering if the buyer was actually going to get their financing after you had jumped through all the hoops. Wondering what the VA would come up with next to nix the deal.
You may be able to tell we recently sold our home. Just prior to going into the closing my wife said, “I can’t believe there are people just as excited to get into our home as we are to get out.” We are currently renting and delighted to have a maintenance free life.
We haved moved 3 times in the last 2 years, only first one our choice. Moving is a pain. Our favorite saying is, “Have one of those….in a box somewhere….” because we are too tired to unpack for the third time.
You’ll get thru this. Hope you get to feeling better and the red tape gremlins get what they need before meltdown.
I hope you both feel better soon. The stress will be a distant memory once you are in your Chateau. What’s the saying? Nothing worth having comes easy.
I hope you both are feeling better soon.
I’m also self-employed and had difficulty getting a loan for a house even though I had a track record of paying our previous loan on time and also had a good credit rating. After jousting with several mortgage companies, we decided to only look at homes priced such that we could play cash and move in. While our current home is smaller than our previous home, it has been good only having to pay for utilities, Internet, telephone and, of course, property taxes.
Yeah…I agree there is the house issue and then there is the money and loans. They are both headaches of epic proportions. We didnt go VA because we arent qualified but we used USDA and holy crap on a cracker they make you jump through many hoops. Have lots of documents. They require stiffer inspections because they dont want it to be a fixer upper. They want to be sure we’re getting a good house. Which isnt a bad thing when you hear that part. Its going through the hassle of documents from years ago you have to find or if we didnt have it get copies somehow. When we got the final approval with everything it was a sigh of relief that at least that part was over and the hard part was moving lol. Oh I hate moving! I told my husband this is our first home and our last. We are DYING in this house! 🙂
Just a suggestion: you may want to tell the doctor you have been in a tropical region. It wouldn’t kill him to run some blood work to rule out bacteria, mold, etc.
And a second opinion wouldn’t hurt.
Praying for yours and Gordon’s healing, and for the house financing to go smoothly
Hello, Ilona and Gordon. I’m sorry you are having so many hoops to deal with re: the house. My mantra for this life time is ‘this too, shall pass’. It will. Just think of how quickly a year goes by and remember- that in two years, you will know exactly how you got to live in your house, what it took to get there and that you will never be side-swiped by the same problem again as you will see it before it gets to you.
Regarding your health, I recommend nasal lavage. I use a spritzer bottle of saline cause a netti pot makes me feel like I’m going to drown. In the saline( 500 ml of distilled water, 1 tsp of Arm and Hammer baking soda and 2Tbls of sea salt or pickling salt) I add a drop of tea tree oil to the ounce of saline in the spritzer. Tea tree kills bacteria/virus’ if it is a flu problem, and the saline opens up the nasal cavities so they allow all the schmootz ( I’m sure that’s a technical term 😉 to drain out. Hope you feel well soon.
Hope all goes well. We bought our house a little over a year ago using my VA benefits and everything went very smooth. From starting our search through closing and getting the keys took us just under 4 weeks.
Just a thought – if your feeling sick coincides with finding your new home, you might want to have it checked for mold. I live in Florida so we tend to have mold problems, but any house can grow it behind bathroom tiles, walls, or flooring. Home sellers here have been known to occasionally paint or tile over a mold problem rather than remedying it. You can have no odor but still be breathing in the spores – I got incredibly sick from black mold under the flooring in my last house and the first sign was allergy-like symptoms.
Hoping it’s just allergies and your financing will start running smoothly. A house with live deer lawn ornaments? sounds awesome!
“Or replace it with a toaster.”….Bwahaha. Thank You, hugs and love from a grateful belly laugh.
Help please… I’m googling Grace Draven since I saw her name here a few times ?.
I’m not sure which book should I start with…. could someone help?. Thanks!
Hang in there. VA loans take more time (for no good reason) but they do provide you with additional protections. So hang in there. We did one 1-1/2 years ago. Not to mention after the housing bubble burst all lenders are being sticklers. Gordon earned his VA loan by serving. It will happen, you will feel better, and next year, you will see all the deer lying on your yard when you look out your window, and then realize they are eating all the vegetation . . . And then you can write. BTW, I like Kate, so Kate 10 is good. Anything Hidden Legacy is amazing. I like all your all’s writing/series/books. So don’t get so you are not enjoying it anymore. And think about rewiring the chandelier if you love it. I have a friend here is Colorado who can do it, you should be able to find someone, you’d hurt your head if you bumped into a toaster…
When we bought our house in 2010 is was an utter nightmare. It gave me an appreciation for the folks who go crazy and hunt down their banker or lawyer with shotguns.
To be fair, a large portion of the problem had nothing to do with either, but dealing with them was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t pretty.
To top it off, since it was our first time buying a house, we took the home inspectors word for things instead of bringing in our own plumber and electrician to check things. Next time I buy a house I’ll be bringing in my own plumber and electrician to check things. That is a lesson learned the hard way. And I don’t appreciate it. And if I had a clue as to where the sellers went I’d be seriously considering suing for the things they didn’t disclose. Like the recalled water pipe that the house is riddled with (its recalled because it randomly decides to burst for no reason, and yes, it’s inside the walls where you only discover its burst when the water comes leaking out). And the fact that they didn’t even TRY to meet code when they wired the garage and security lighting. Never mind the deck that they built that collapsed under us.
Buying a house is a massive PIA!
I hope you are feeling better very soon!!! I will extend some bright and warm and healing prayers/thoughts your way!
I hear you. Hubby and I are self employed and it was hell trying to get our house. We managed to do it though with our sanity still intact (somewhat).
We have do have deer here, but more wild turkeys hanging out on the lawns.
I don’t miss the suburbs. At all.
I hear the same story from everyone who has bought a house. Guess what? We’re going to try and buy our first house next year. Am I nervous? Heck no! I’m TEREFIED!
But I do wish you both good luck with your house buying adventure!
Unless you’re paying straight up cash make sure that all funds you plan to use for the downpayment/closing costs are in traceable accounts NOW. Seriously. Got a cookie jar you’ve been saving dollar bills in? Get it into a bank account NOW. Got family who’re going to give you funds to help cover? Offer to open up a separate account just to hold those funds, NOW. Start keeping ALL paystubs (or printing them out and saving them). Going to pull money from your 401k? Start saving statements NOW. Half my headache was tracing down proof that the money we were using was really ours, especially since the bank kept failing to inform me that they wanted that info till the day before they HAD to have it in order to meet the closing date.
And I was serious above about getting a separate electrician and plumber to inspect the house. It’ll cost you more before the sale, and I’ll never ever buy a house again without doing it.
Flonase. Everyone I know is on Flonase. We buy it from Amazon in a subscribe-and-ship deal. I love nasal rinses too, but that is a temporary pleasure that takes too much time out of my insane schedule. One hit of Flonase in the morning and out the door.