One Month Countdown & 2 New TVs?

So I guess today begins the one month countdown. We are scheduled to close at 9am on Wednesday, April 22nd. I'm a little impatient, as is Matt, about getting started on the house so we called Janet to see if we could possibly reschedule for the 20th. It's only two days sooner but I'm on vacation that whole week so it would make a big difference for me. I hope it works out to be the 20th. I'm not as patient as I thought I would be. I just want it to get here already!

As we get closer and closer, we're trying to get everything squared away that we need. This weekend was supposed to be dedicated to finding paint colors. That took all of fifteen minutes in Home Depot. The bedroom colors were easy. The difficulty comes in deciding on colors for the spare bedroom and the office and agreeing. We'll figure that one out as we get closer. The other purchase of the weekend was a new television. Matt's wanted a new television I think since we moved out of the apartment. He's done all sorts of research and watching of sales and prices and he finally found one that was a great deal with great financing so to Sears we went on Saturday. We ended up with a 52inch LCD. I think it's a Samsung. I'm not sure about all the details but I do know that it's a $2,000 television and we got it on sale for 1399 with 24 months interest free financing. Amazingly we got the 52 inch in its box in the back of Matt's Mazda Speed 3. I didn't really think it was going to fit but Matt had faith and, well, as it turns out, Matt was right. Haha.

Of course if we're getting a new television with all this High-Def capability, we need something to play high-def movies on, and so enters the PlayStation 3. At Sears in Peabody, there weren't any in stock so this adorable salesman at Sears sold us our television with the promise that we could pick up a PS3 at another Sears and add it onto our financing. We drove back home, dropped off the television, and headed to the Sears in Saugus at Square One Mall. At this Sears, we were told by the man that in order for him to get the financing to go through on both purchases, he would have to return the television and rebuy it in the computer system. It made sense and sounded easy enough. It was all on paper, no moving of TVs so whatever. Off we went down to merchandise pick-up to get our new PlayStation 3. I scanned our receipt in the kiosk and out came a man with a 52 inch television for Morrissey. Matt and I were both speechless for a minute. Here was a chance to get a second television for no additional money and just walk away with it. It was their mistake and we could have had 2 new TVs! However, after only about 10 seconds of thought, Matt and I did the right thing and told the man that we already had the television and that we only needed the PS3. He actually questioned us (only once) but we left without the television. I figure that has to be good karma for something. One can only hope.

So in the end, we have only one new 52inch television, a new PS3, and hopefully, if all works out, a new closing date!

Bed in a Bag

Since I went to college, I've picked out my own bedding. I'm pretty sure it has consisted of me going to Target or Homegoods, browsing, and leaving with something I absolutely loved. Why it can't be that easy this time around is beyond me! I know what part of the issue is - it can't be too girly because now it's really our bedroom, not just mine. Matt and I have to agree on it. That's where the problems stem from. We've spent a good ten days searching and scouring every website we could find. Every one that I loved, he despised and vice versa. On a few occasions, he agreed that it was okay but I feel that he should love our comforter as much as I do. As it turns out, Matt will never really and truly love a comforter - he just doesn't care that much. He has, however, learned that if he lies to me and tells me he loves it, it can save us both a lot of aggravation. Too bad that took all ten days. Haha.

I started with all the basics. I went through every comforter, bedspread, and duvet cover on every website I could find. We finally settled on this simple, plain green comforter at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. My parents, being as fantastic as they are, offered to buy us our bedding as part of our housewarming. Saturday, we went off to get our new comforter. I wasn't convinced with the comforter so along the way, Matt and I made a few stops. I tried TJ Maxx, Homegoods, JC Penney, Macy's, and Sears before heading to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. There was one comforter at Macy's that we both actually agreed upon and liked but we weren't sure so we kept going. At Bed, Bath, & Beyond, we bought the plain green comforter and I pouted the entire way home. It just wasn't anything fantastic. It was plain and simple... not too bright, not too happy, not too green, not too anything. I went to work, and after discussing it with my good friend Susan, I decided that the one at Macy's was the best comforter we'd seen in a long time and a fantastic deal. With Sue's 20% coupon (thanks Sue!) and the sale price, we got a great set including the comforter, sheets, shams, bedskirt, and curtains! As I look at it, I'm even more stoked about it. It's really pretty perfect! Now if only April 22nd would hurry up and get here!

Irish Bars are Always Open

In the process of searching for end tables to match our impossibly difficult to find coffee table, we've been in and out of a lot of stores. Since our coffee table came from Bob's Furniture back when we first moved in together, we figured we'd try there. No such luck. Apparently, that item is now discontinued. The sales lady was nice enough to mention to us that Big Lots often carries discontinued Bob's Furniture items. So on Saturday, off we went to Big Lots. With no luck there, I figured I'd drag Matt into Anne & Hope Curtain & Bath Outlet... Maybe they'd have a comforter? Or an end table? You never know.

As soon as we walked in the door, there was this huge St. Patrick's Day display. With little luck in the rest of the store, Matt and I each immediately agreed that there were two items that we must purchase. These items were two signs to hang by the bar downstairs. In fact, we decided, without any doubt, that these two signs would hang in our basement. It was easier than picking the house or the comforter or which room should be what in the house... it was quick and painless. One sign, the tall sign, Matt thinks should hang on the wall in front of you as you walk down the stairs into the basement. I think it's a fantastic idea. The other sign will hang somewhere behind or beside the bar. There are few things we know about decorating and fewer things we whole-heartedly agree on, but these two signs were an easy yes!

The Next Big Thing

So we signed the Purchase & Sales on Tuesday night. What a relief. As long as all of the financing goes through with the banks and mortgage companies, we're closing on April 22nd, halfway through my school vacation. We're both so excited. It's rather scary thinking that very soon we could be paying a mortgage and being "grown up". I hope we're ready!

One of the first things we've been talking about buying is a new bed. The bed we have is only a full, and Matt's feet hang off the end. Besides that, our bed is old; it was given to me by a friend a few years ago. Friday night we went out looking for a bed, as well as searching for the end tables that match our coffee table. We started at Bob's Discount Furniture, where we bought our coffee table. Apparently, they no longer carry our coffee table so we searched for something else that would match and found nothing else. We found some kitchen sets to keep our eye on for when the time comes but that was about it.

We tried Bernie and Phyl's, too. I hated the store. I lost Matt in there for a good 20 minutes. It reminded me of Ikea. There's probably a method to going through that store but I couldn't figure it out.

Our last stop before dinner was Mattress Giant. I would have given up by then but we were with my parents and they wanted to check out a new mattress so we stopped. We spent, I think, over an hour and a half in Mattress Giant. We were the only people in there, besides the salesman, John, and he knew his stuff. He talked about mattresses as if they were the only thing in the world. He was missing quite a few teeth and had an odor to him, but he was the only salesman and he quite obviously knew what he was talking about. In the end, Matt and I decided to finance a king sized bed. We set it up to be delivered on April 23rd, right after we move in. Now of course, the anxiety comes in trying to find a comforter. I've searched online at Kohl's, Macy's, JC Penney, Sears, Domestications, Bed,Bath, and Beyond, Target, Walmart, and Overstock.com and still, I haven't found anything especially fantastic. Of course, not only does it have to be fantastic but Matt and I have to agree on it as well. Next big thing: kitchen set? end tables? television? paint? hardwood flooring? We'll see.

More Pics of the House

Just wanted to share a few more pictures with you all!:)


The back yard from the side of the three season room.

The backyard.
My gas stove!!
Another view of the basement.
The other side of the basement. Future work out room?
The dining room, looking into the three season room.

Living room.


Bathroom.

Home Inspections

Today was the home inspection. Everything went pretty well so we decided it was sort of safe to share. The house is very close to my mother’s house in Peabody. It’s actually I think dead center between my mother’s house and my grandmother’s/aunt’s house. It’s a few houses down from Rachel’s parents and from Stephanie’s parents. It looks really tiny from the outside, but have no fear: looks can be deceiving.

The house has three bedrooms and one and a half baths. The main floor is all hardwood. The bedrooms are pretty good-size, too! The kitchen was all redone about three months ago I think. The cabinets are beautiful and the appliances, which are all staying, are new. dining room and living room are a good size as well.

One of my favorite parts of the house is right off the kitchen; about seven years ago, the sellers built a three-season room. Right now it's carpeted, so that we'd really like to get rid of. Carpet and my allergies are not a good mix. But the room is great. Between the windows and the gas stove, it's beautiful. It looks out on our yard, which is a fantastic yard. The yard is really big and already fenced in. We'll need to redo the decks, but that's not difficult at all.

The basement is mostly finished. The previous owners have the stucco walls painted a bright aqua color which is difficult on the eyes to say the least. The carpets in half the basement also have to go. The flooring in the half-bath -- well, I'm not sure there are words. To give you an idea....

There are three sections to the basement. One section is a small area with a washer, dryer, stand-up freezer, refrigerator, and access to the backyard. Another section is a tiled room with counter tops along one side. Originally I was thinking it would be a great Poker Room but now we're thinking this might make a nice workout room, or something to that effect.

On the other side of the basement is my favorite part of the whole house. Basically one half of the basement is finished nicely with a bar... a beautiful, wood, half-hexagonal bar. It has the racks hanging down from the ceiling for the glasses and it even has a beer tap! I love the basement and can only imagine the fun times we'll be able to have down there. Say some prayers and cross your fingers that everything works out for us!

An Accepted Offer

When an offer is accepted by the sellers, the buyers have ten days to schedule a home inspection. This basically our only loophole out of our agreement with the sellers. If the inspector should find something majorly wrong, we can try to renegotiate or we can back out. Matt’s boss has a guy that he recommends so Matt tries to set something up. Long story short, the seller’s agent is only available on the weekends so we need to schedule the inspection for this weekend or next weekend. The inspector is going away this weekend with leaves us with next weekend.
Keep in mind, if you haven’t bought a house, there’s this long chain of events that goes along with buying a house that no one tells you about. It’s not all fun and games like everyone makes it out to be. I love the comments. “Oh, how you’re looking for a house? How fun!” “Oh I’m jealous!” “Lucky!” No. The houses out there right now SUCK. When you find a house you like in your price range or something that you think is your price range, you make an offer. You hope it gets accepted. It doesn’t. They make a counter-offer. You make a counter-offer. Your realtor and their realtor play phone tag and fax each other constantly until, eventually, someone walks away or someone caves. Then you find a home inspector within ten days. After the home inspection, you can sign the Purchase & Sales. It isn’t until you sign the P&S that you can then lock in an interest rate for your future mortgage. With the way the rates are, it’s important to be able to lock in when the rates land where we need them to, so signing a P&S and is something we’re anxious to do. This is where we want to be at right now. Instead, we’re booking an inspector for a week from now.
At about 8:30 on Friday night, Matt and I are talking about how impatient we are and how we really and truly don’t want to wait until next Saturday to do the inspection because we want to either A) keep looking or B) sign the P&S. After much discussion, we decide to call another inspection company, one recommended by Josh, and ask if they could possibly do an inspection Saturday morning. We figure with less than twelve hours notice, it’s a ridiculous thought but we figure, what have we got to lose. The nice young lady at Tiger Home Inspections gives us the go-ahead to try and set it up between our realtor and the seller’s realtor for Saturday morning. She, in fact, has three possibly appointments for us: 8:30, 12:30, or 3:30. Matt calls Janet, our realtor, and, well, long story short(er), she had gotten the date of the inspection wrong and had everything set up for this very Saturday morning! The sellers planned to be out of the house, the seller’s agent planned to be there, and Janet had planned on coming down.
In the end, I feel awful that we had to cancel with Joel’s guy, but I am glad that we’re getting the inspection done in less than twelve hours. It’s scary and exciting. I don’t want to tell anyone. It’s like when you’re going on job interviews and you’re psyched about a particular one. You want to go tell everyone about how wonderful it’s going to be. Then again, you’re also afraid that you might go and tell everyone and then have to go back and call them and say, “Never mind, I didn’t get it.” I’m hoping the inspection goes well and just so glad that everything, so far, seemed to work out okay.

Joint Checking Accounts & House Hunting

For many months, Matt and I have discussed combining our finances and getting a joint checking account, especially when we get into a house. For practically two years now, we have lived together and paid bills together. We have joint credit cards, and we pay for things interchangeably. We split groceries, bills, and Christmas shopping. What’s mine is his and what’s his is mine. A joint checking account is practically inevitable.

Here’s how it finally happened.

We’ve been living in my tiny old bedroom at my parents’ house for just over six months now. We’ve been looking for houses since around late October. We really dove into house-hunting around the end of January, spending almost every Saturday and Sunday in houses. The closer we get to spring, the more we want to find a house. We found a house... but someone put in an offer the night before we did. We found another house, one that I absolutely loved, and someone put in an offer the day before we did. Then, that offer fell through, We put in an offer. The buyer rejects it. Actually, they counter-offer. They take 3K off the asking price. Seriously? 3K? Yeah, okay. Pfft. The house needs a roof, siding, and some new walls, and they take off 3K! So my heart is broken but I know it isn’t meant to be, even though the house is this old, beautiful colonial with so much charm and character and I’m in love… Even though… I know it isn’t meant to be..

We keep looking. We see an open house in West Peabody that’s a bit out of our price range and we decide to take a look. We even ask our realtor, Matt’s aunt, Janet, to attend with us because we think, based on the pictures and the location, that we might want to make an offer and we know she’ll want to see it before we can make an offer so she comes with us. The house is nice. We go to a few others. We decide the house is really worth a second look. We pick up my parents and we take them to the house and we decide, this is the house. Good area? Check. Big back yard? Check. Privacy? Check. Close to Mom? Check. Fenced in yard? Check. Hardwood floors? Check. 3 bedrooms? Check. Room for a pool (eventually)? Check. Dad likes it. Mom likes it. Janet likes it. We make an offer. It’s rejected. That was Valentines Day weekend. We’re on the lookout again.

Matt and I spend a lot of time talking about the house and how much we’d like it if they’d come back and say they accept the offer. He calls our mortgage broker. There’s some discussion. In the end, we can offer a little more than we thought. We put in an offer on Tuesday. They call us back late Wednesday night and accept. Of course, I'm too petrified to tell anyone for fear that I'll jinx us. Thursday night brings us to the joint checking account.

It’s 6pm and Matt thinks, since we’re now going to be buying a house (if, knock on wood, everything goes right), we should combine our finances finally so that we can pay the down payment and the bills easier and together. We find a Bank of America open in Saugus until 7pm and we rush down the stairs and out the door to the bank. A nice young girl named Alicia gets us started and combines Matt’s and my checking accounts. Easy. We make some small-talk. We make a deposit. We smile. We walk outside. I sit in the car. I hyperventilate. We’ve been paying our bills together for two years and the act of combining our finances into an actual joint checking account sends my anxiety into a tailspin. Poor Matt. He has to deal with me. I can barely breathe, I’m so anxious. Even now, I don’t know why. I’m getting itchy thinking about it. Maybe it's the fact that suddenly, we’re growing up.

Anyways, now we have a joint checking account and I can add Matt to my Tinkerbell checks anytime I please. What's mine is really his and what's his is really mine. Next step: we have to schedule a home inspection for the house with the accepted offer.