Tiger Woods Lives In My Neighborhood

So I get to the house at 8a to see the newly finished floors and I want to air out the place. I open all windows and doors and start to the garden. I am cleaning, sweeping, pulling weeds etc and make my way to the backyard. Out of nowhere, the orange and brown neighborhood cat comes darting out of my house!

Hello, Tiger Woods. That's your new name. Why? Because you're a sneaky mo fo, creepin around with other pussycats and your owner thought you were missing. But alas, you were just in someone else's house.

Creeper.

Pretty Floors Sneak Peek

Boy snuck into the house even though we weren't supposed to and snapped some sneek peek shots of the hizzy. He came home smelling like poison from the stain but whatevs.

WOOD FLOOR

How sad is it that I'm on the phone with my boyfriend/mom while they email pics of wood stains? I mean really.

Branching Out in the Neighborhood

I was waiting for my best friend to come see the house and while we were waiting I decided to video my impression of what she would do while walking in. I'm strolling, looking around etc and then bam, my cousin caught the moment of the day. We heard a crack of what seemed like thunder, and captured on camera is me with a panicked look as the most enormous branch ever came crashing down onto our property. The branch aka mini tree missed the power lines, roof and most importantly, the part of the driveway where I almost parked my brand new car. The driveway is scratched but thankfully nobody was hurt. Not only is this the perfect way to make my boyfriend pick up a tool, but it was a great ice breaker to meet our neighbors (who are so sweet btw). "Welcome to the neighborhood, you look like you need a beer." Awesome. I have enough fireplace wood on my lawn for the next two winters.

Busy Busy Bees

It's been a whirlwind of a week in Homeowner land! We've been scrubbing, sanding, scrubbing, painting, scrubbing and swifting. The house is really starting to come together and starting to look like home! The painter is coming in today to hit the trim and ceilings while I continue to obsess over paint colors. Thankfully, my cousin is an interior decorator and she's been fanning through classic colors for me. Our couch and dining room table are coming next weekend so until then, I'm in serious concentration mode.

My family has been overwhelmingly generous helping me fill my home with amazing awesomeness.

HOME SWEET HOME

Hooray!!!!! It finally happened! Yesterday was the day... woot woot. Late Sunday afternoon we received word that the buyers had gotten their mortgage approved and they were ready to go. Monday 5/3 we drove to the house and did a walk through, to find some things that "magically appeared" but weren't worth the arguing. We drove an hour to the lawyers office and signed about 100 papers and went back to the house for dinner. My grandpa was a builder, and every time he sold a house, even if grandma had a pot roast in the oven, he brought home a pizza pie and they all chowed down. So we did that in his honor, with a bottle of champagne OF COURSE :). We are ecstatic. After all that we went through it's finally ours to call home and definitely was worth the wait.

Today I spent most of the afternoon cleaning 4 windows. Each took about an hour and they are nowhere near done. These people lived like slobs. There's grim, rust, dirt, spider webs, dust you name it. My aunt and cousin came over Atleast r with mom and we all got some elbow grease in there. the house doesn't smell like cigarettes anymore!

I did my first supermarket run today!!

EVEN THE BOYFRIEND IS FED UP! - a real live email.

Fellas and lady

I just received a call from the elusive seller. He tried to be my friend but somehow I resisted. I did gain my composure (maybe that’s my super power…Composure man!). He called me to ask for "one courtesy". To which I responded, "you go AWOL on the day of the closing and ask me for a courtesy. Are you aware because I have been a nice guy to you, I am sleeping on a couch". He didn’t seem moved by this and also didn’t apologize. As you are aware, he wanted to close Monday and then move out Tuesday. We know we cannot trust these lunatics and I believe we all agree this is not a good situation to be in. The reason he can't move out Monday is because they stopped packing up their stuff when they got denied and there is too much to do. He played the old card. Luckily I am made of stone (marble actually). I told him in no uncertain terms that I will not go against my lawyer and that is that. He laughed and said "you don't have to always listen to your lawyer". I chuckled... in my head.

The real problem here is the mortgage extension. You know he will fight tooth and nail to not have to pay for another $885 dollar extension (I am also not certain if he knows when the extension is over, May 4th for those also wondering). I (we) do not want to be left holding the bag for that and I do not think I (we) should be.

So keep that in mind. If you can possibly setup the closing for Tuesday night, which you had mentioned, if all parties would agree, that would be hero stuff. If it takes us splitting one night of storing their crap on a truck for $350 like they said, I would do it. I just want this over with and I want them far far away. I will also personally escort them down the parkway if need be. That’s it.

Melting Brain

It's two days after the original closing date. The seller's lawyers didn't trust that they received approval for mortgage so they requested it in writing... what is this first grade and the student is hiding his snack in his pants? This is the most frustrating thing I've dealt with in a long time.

These people are certifiable! I may have done a drive by last night (don't tell boyfriend) and saw that they haven't even started packing. Maybe they knew I was up to something because they left a card table on the curb....

Otherwise, everything is still in place. But our lawyer called and said they finally faxed it in and we should be closing with in the matter of days. Our mortgage rates go up if we don't close within 5 days and of course... I'm scheduled for jury duty.

Story of my life.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

6:30

It's 6:30 the night before closing. Haven't heard boo from the sellers. This is ridiculous.

DISTURBED

SO. this is for real. We get a call that the sellers failed on their mortgage for the other home they are buying. This means, they have nowhere to move. Which means, they most likely can't close tomorrow. Which then means, we have to sue them for damages. I'm not really sure how I feel right now. A mix of anger, disappointment, angst, everything. I want to move in with my boyfriend, but I do not want to be in court for the next 6 months fighting with sellers (one of which happens to be certifiably nuts). It's irresponsible to tell your buyers the week of closing that you couldn't get a mortgage. Please. It's not something you found out today.

We have everything lined up and this really screws everything up.

Now it's just a waiting game between Attorneys, Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, and crazy mother fckning sellers.

Very frustrating.

COUNTDOWN

We are 6 days away from closing. 6. That is the most terrifying thing in the world to me. Between phone calls with the accountant, mortgage, insurance, sellers, attorney, boyfriend I'm trying to do as much as I can without my brain exploding......all while doing a full time job. I can't believe it. Open houses, bidding, fake shopping, real shopping... etc. The past year (almost) has been a lot of emotion all in one little ball and now it's about to explode.

The hardest part for me is leaving home. As excited as I am to move into a new chapter of my life, it's really hard for me as my family is extremely close and I love the home I grew up in. It'll be difficult not seeing my puppy everynight, hearing my brother jam out in the basement or having my mom approve outfits every morning.

I'm excited though.... really excited. Been looking forward to moving in with my boyfriend for a few years now. I'm looking forward to paying things on my own, feeling more independant and being able to grow with him.

and.... exhale.

EXTENSION?

ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS?! The owners just called and said their new construction won't be done in time. They want to push the closing date by 3 weeks- which REALLY messes us up because we have our appraisal running out, need our taxes done in time to get the 8k government credit and it's making me mental. I want to move in already! These people have been a P.I.T.A. the whole time. Dealing with them is more painful than the time I got a clasp stuck on my top lip and it bled for three days. It's more painful than the time I broke my arm on the bunny hill at Shawnee Mountain. It's more painful than when I face planted on Lake Hopatcong while trying to knee board. It's time. We've been patient. Mama's about to throw some FISTS! Snooki style!

FURNITURE!

This weekend we dug through Crate and Barrell, Pottery Barn, Pier1, and my new love, West Elm. I came across this adorable parson's desk that was screaming my name. It looks like patent leather and could be perfectly accessorized with a hot pink bucket chair or snuggled up next to my grandma's lime green couch from the 70's. We also found our couch and coffee table for the living room!!! Although we won't see any of it for 6-8 weeks, I atleast have the swatches so I can frolick among paint chips. Next up: dining room.

MEASURING!!!

we went back and measured this weekend. the living room is so much smaller than i ever remembered, which sucks, because we have to order a couch.... could take up to 8 weeks for delivery. Not happy! The upstairs looks BEAUTIFUL though!! It's finished and looks so great. Getting really really pumped :)

Fill 'Er Up

This weekend we are going to sit on couches. Lots and lots and lots of couches. Any suggestions? We locked in our interest rate (yippe!) and did some redecorating in sketches.

Gonna be rad.

FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP

The attic is supposed to be done in the next two weeks but I want to see it NOW!!!!!!!!! The owners are having some trouble deciding when they can close so it's making my mind feel like mashed potats mmmmmmm mashed POTATSSSSSSSS

Standby!

Appraisal and Such

Our appraisal came back and we have completed that, our chimney inspection and received our official mortgage approval! It's all really happening. We went to Home Depot this weekend and checked out some appliances, lighting fixtures etc. It was pretty cool. The owners let us come over and pick out the paint for the upstairs. Unfortunately, the addition's ceiling is too low to put a bed up there (or you just never sit up in bed that's fine right?) so I guess the upstairs will become my office and we'll just have to find a way to make the 2nd bedroom a guest room. Definitely will be tough but we'll work it out! We are almost there!!

CONSTRUCTION PICTURESSSSS

Here is the attic in it's current state - super cute, right?

Home Inspection!

We had our home inspection on Sunday! It was a very educational 3 hours with our fabulous inspector Peter Russell (who I highly recommend for NJ!) He knew everything about a house from roof to windows, boiler to piping. What an incredible job, knowing the anatomy of a house. We started at the top and worked our way to the basement.

They have already started construction on the new upstairs and it looks fabulous! The owners put the walk-in closet in the back where the bathroom will eventually be and installed a huge skylight which brings so much light into the room. Right now, only electric is installed but we can get a sense of what it will look like.

The house is a lot creekier than we remember, which sucks because now I'll get caught sneaking for popcorn in the middle of the night!!

The kitchen... was interesting. Last time we were there, all of the appliances were white minus the dishwasher. The room looks horrible with which appliances, and looked stupid with a black dishwasher....... but I'll pick and chose my battles. Wait, but this timeeeeeeeeee, the dishwasher was WHITE! Why would they get a new one!!!???

The rest of the house was how we left it, charming and adorable, like a fat little meatball.

We have to schedule a chimney inspection b/c the flue hasn't been cleaned in 10 years! mama mia!

So, we are OUT of attorney review, inspection is complete, next is appraisal, then shopping :)

HOME SWEET HOME!

I've been MIA for a while mostly because I've been holding my breath. Two Saturdays ago in a town far far away (8 mins from home!) we walked into this little cottage in the town we love in a fabulous neighborhood. It had 2 bedrooms, a newly finished kitchen, fireplace (wood burning stove), finished basement, new garage (1.5) and a garden. It was picturesque and my mom came to see it. We really loved it and decided to low ball them. They rejected our bid and counter offered and decided they would finish the huge attic for an additional 5k. We were like um yea obvi! So we countered to their counter and said we'll do the upstairs as long as we have some say in it. We decided to meet up the next weekend with both families and go there to sketch the plans with the owners for the upstairs. When we got there the walls were already studded with frames. I was furious and bummed. Not only did they start working the day after we saw the house and didn't tell us, we were now forced to pay the extra money to finish the room, to their liking (if we said no and stop the work they would have literally left it with frames, nu no.) A week later of counter offering we are here, in ATTORNEY REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it's really happening. It's going to be the cutest house in the whole world (if all works out). Oh, did I mention that the owner is off her rocker? Legit. That's what makes me nervous. One day she's tea and crumpets and the next she's rebuilding a room. I'm afraid they will end up billing us in the end for everything they've put into the house so I'm not getting TOO excited. But if this house really comes together it will be worth the painstaking long months of hope and despair.... fingers crossed!!!