It's Just So Exciting

The home inspection is in. Check.
The mortgage is approved. Check.
The appraisal is ordered and scheduled for tomorrow.

Things are really clipping along, it's all so exciting!

It's Another Gorgeous Fall Day here in New England

I just love it here ...

(I just had to share)

That Tired Pug

It is one of those wonderfully gorgeous early Fall days. Mid-70s during the day, but the late afternoon brought this Autumn crispness that is completely unique to this time of year. I took that pug for a good, hour-long walk on the trail this evening, we really enjoyed having it completely to ourselves and I could also appreciate all the wildflowers and tall wild grass that you really only find in the country. As enjoyable as the walk was, I think it wore Lola out, she has already retired to the bedroom and is now snoozing away in the middle of my bed.

What a Relief!

Today has been so much quieter here in my new work space. I'm feeling optimistic that yesterday was a fluke. TG!

There's a New Bitch in Town

I moved to a new cube today on the other floor in this newly built and configured office space. I actually like the cube and the way the space is all laid out, however, I seem to have the misfortune to have been placed right in just about the highest traffic area, right in the middle, outside of the pantry and at the convergence of a number main thoroughfare aisles. As a result, today there were multiple loud impromptu meetings that seemed to happen with the attendees all pretty much standing right over my desk. It was horrible.

Meeting number one: more and more people kept joining in the fray, with multiple loud exclamations to colleagues across the floor. When about 20 minutes of dirty looks didn't seem to clue this group in to the fact that they were being incredibly loud and inconsiderate, I finally had to speak up and let them know that they were being too loud and that I couldn't concentrate on my work (I mean, my headphones didn't even block them out).

Meeting number two: was smaller but even more incredibly rude as the two participants literally leaned against my cube walls, facing each other and talking to each other across my cube while using my wall as a kind of bar on which to rest their coffee. I had to point out the obvious and say, "um, this is my WORK SPACE, do you mind???"

There were other examples of interruptions and loud inconsideration, but these are the two I chose to respond to.

I am hoping that today was just an exception since every one was just moving in and getting settled into the space. Possibly today was just some kind of fluke and the normal day-to-day won't be so bad, but I may have to try and move my space if this continues. I just can't stand noise!

Anyway, I'm sure I've made a wonderful impression now as the biggest bitch on the floor with my multiple hissy fits today. What a way to make a first impression in a new work space.

Sheesh.

Next Step Done

Today I had the inspection for the house I am buying. Not only was it great to get this next step done, but it also gave me a wonderful opportunity to comb through the house in infinite detail. I'm happy to say that after this process I like the place just as much as I did on the day I made my offer. Luckily, the house inspector didn't find anything majorly wrong with it either, so that's a relief.

On a related note, my mortgage broker got in touch with me last night to let me know that I now have the official mortgage loan approval, and for a rate even lower than I had been pre-approved for! So that is a very nice plus. It took only about a day or two to get the loan -- I can't believe how fast that was. Everything is moving extremely fast, frankly.

Wild Turkey. No, not the booze

I took Lola for a walk on the trail behind my apartment building this evening and, upon rounding a turn, we can across a whole gaggle of wild turkeys hanging out in the middle in of the path. It was so freaking bizarre. They were a bit ahead of us and high-tailed it into the tall grass pretty quickly once they saw us, so Lola (being the clueless non-bird dog that she is) didn't even notice them, she was too intent on what was immediately under her nose. Wild turkeys. In my backyard! You sure never encounter anything like that in Queens!

Stars

I just love how I can walk outside here at night and look up and see a sky full of stars. When I take Lola out for the last time each night, I always spend the entire time I'm out there with my head craned back staring at the sky. It reminds me of the sky at my childhood Summer home. It's the little things in life, it truly is.

A Whirlwind

Things sure do move fast when you're not buying a co-op. I already have a signed contract! When I bought my co-op (and, again, when I sold it) I didn't have the signed contract for months. Now I am desperately looking for all the necessary paperwork for the mortgage. I think I have everything except my 2004 W-2, that is packed away and buried in some box somewhere, I'm sure. Not quite sure what I'm going to do about that. Ironically, I actually did find a W-2 from 2001 ... SHEESH!

... And It's GOOD News!

I had a call from my realtor at around 6 PM and the house is mine! (or will be after contracts and mortgages and closings and moving, etc.) I. Am. So. Excited! And freaking terrified. ACK!

Morning Fog

Waiting on a House

An update on my house search: I was very disappointed on Thursday night to find that the house I wanted seems to already be gone. My realtor contacted the realtor for the property to find out the story. Turns out the sellers have a signed offer with another party, but it is a contingent offer, the buyer has to have a signed agreement on their own house, or somehow have the means to buy this house regardless, in order to hold the sellers to the agreement. The sellers on the other hand have found a house that they want, but can not move forward until they have a firm contract on their house. Got that?

So, because I'm very interested in the house and because I haven't seen anything that suits me quite as perfectly in my price range, I decided on Friday to go ahead and submit my offer, along with $2,500 "earnest money".

Now, the way it's been explained to me, if the sellers are interested in my offer (and why wouldn't they be? It's for full-price, I'm pre-approved and I don't have to make my offer contingent on selling property), that they have to give the original people 72 hours to get a signed agreement on their house (or otherwise prove they can buy this one, regardless of whether they sell their current one). If this doesn't happen, first buyers have to release the agreement and allow the sellers to pursue the more viable offer.

So, I'm currently in the waiting stage. I don't really know what's going to happen, I don't even know when the seller's agent submitted the bid to these people and if they had any response to that. My realtor doesn't seem to think I can expect to hear anything much before Monday night at the earliest. It's extremely nerve-racking. If this falls through, then I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

Is it bad ...

... that I don't know my own father's phone number? I have to look it up. Every. Single. Time.

Sheesh.

A Picture I Took From My Deck This Morning

Looks like Fall is almost here. Yay!

Disappointed

Tonight I finally saw a house that I can picture myself living in. I came home and looked it up again on the real estate site to just crunch some numbers and review the pictures, with plans to make an offer tomorrow. Well, somehow in the time between my seeing it around 5 PM and my arriving home at around 6:45, there is a sale pending. WTF???!!!

This is So. Freaking. Frustrating.

I (literally) Have No Words

Today in the mail I received the long-awaited invitation to my Father's 75th Birthday Bash. I had wondered if I would be invited at all (especially after talking to my father last week where there was no mention of any party) and I also commented at one point to my sister or a friend, I can't remember which, that I didn't even know when the party was happening. Since his birthday is on a Wednesday, it could easily be the weekend before or the weekend after. I then joked that for all I know she was having it on the Wednesday. The response from sister or friend was, "oh, I'm sure she wouldn't do that!" The subtext, of course, is that no one would be that stupid or clueless.

Well, guess what? The party is scheduled on the Wednesday! Along with the invitation, which (by the way) is the kind of invitation you would send out for your kid's 7 year old birthday party or something (I mean, complete with a cartoon elephant and monkey in primary colors declaring, "It's a Party!"), there is a note from Lori (wifey) gushing about how she hopes I'll come. Well, how in the Hell does she expect me to be able to come on a FREAKING Wednesday???!!! Is she crazy? I mean, she does realize that I live, at minimum, a five-hours drive away?!

It's also not as if someone is offering to buy me a first class plane ticket to fly in for the party either. That honor is reserved for her own daughters. I'm sure they are all already scheduled to be staying in the spare bedrooms at my father's house too. So even if I somehow was able to come, I most likely wouldn't have a place to stay anyway (unless I didn't mind the couch or something).

If I didn't know better, I would think this was some mad scheme to alienate my father from his own family. But she just seems too ditzy to be that machiavellian. Or perhaps I'm being naive. But anyway, SHEESH!

Open Houses

I went to a couple of open houses in North Manchester today.

I saw this house:



and this one:



I particularly liked the little yellow ranch house. The pictures don't do it justice, but it showed very nicely. Very open, reasonable space, decent closet space, little yard, but perfectly landscaped (the yard also borders the grounds of a VA hospital, so it is very private). And that "3-season room" is a really nice bonus. Anyway, I don't know if I really want to be in Manchester, particularly that far North (although, I'm told that this is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in that town). I really like the area where I am and this would be a farther commute and it's more suburban than I ideally want, but it is a nice and very quiet neighborhood. Anyway, so I don't know. I'm sure neither of these will stay on the market long, but geez, I wish I had looked at more places recently, so I would have something to compare it to.

ARGH!!!!!

My realtor is completely booked for the entire weekend. Well, in the meantime I'm going to put together a list for her of places I want to see (from my online searching). And I'll maybe try and do some drive bys, maybe I can rule out, or rule in, a few places. Maybe I'll even get lucky and come across an open house or two while I'm at it.

On an unrelated note, is it bad that I just did 20 minutes on the treadmill in my bare feet after drinking a pint of beer? I didn't think so ...

and the good news is ...

I am pre-approved for a mortgage!!!!!

Wow. Now I guess I really had better get busy looking for a place.

For the Record

People I have not heard from:

1) My father or his wifey re: The Big Birthday Bash.
2) The Mortgage Broker.

GAH!!!!!!!!

I'm so good at this investing stuff! ... Well, maybe not so much

I've made it a habit, here at New Company, to regularly log into the Benefits Page on the company intranet to see how my investment accounts are doing, since they make it so easy here to do so. My rollover IRA from Old Company is with a free advisory service here at New Company and it's interesting to watch how they invest this money. With my regular New Company 401K account however, I've chosen the funds for my investment myself (basically through the "throw a dart" method). Since I am generally an idiot about such things, I like to keep an eye on it -- not that I would really know what to do if I saw something alarming, but still. Anyway, this morning I logged in and got really excited to see that this account has grown by about $2,000 over night! WOW! I thought, 'I must be doing something right here!' It took me a few minutes to remember that payday is tomorrow and this increase just represents the contribution from this next paycheck. Duh, maybe I'm just an idiot.

The Nail Biting Mortgage Game

I bit the bullet and spoke to a mortgage broker this weekend. After going over my records and financials, etc. he doesn't think I'll have trouble qualifying for a decent mortgage. I won't know the particulars though until probably Wednesday, so I'll be biting my nails a bit until then. Fingers crossed, if all goes okay, I may be able to start a serious home search by late next week! I am terrified and excited, so expect me to be freaking out for awhile. Just giving some advance warning here.