February 12, 2009
Dear Everyone:
I woke up Tuesday morning with a cold.
Not as ferocious as the one I had last June, but still enough to
be a pain.
For those of you who actually read last week’s
Letter, I found out what ADAIRO stands for:
Actions Decisions Assumptions Issues Risks Opportunities.
I’m assuming it’s some sort of
Project Management tool.
In other news…
I haven’t said much about this because I didn’t
want to “jinx” it. Last
Thanksgiving one of my neighbors put her three-bedroom, single-level end
unit on the market, asking $349,999.
I made a half-hearted bid of $310,000, which was met with a
$340,000 counter-offer which I declined.
At that, I told my real estate agent to table the matter until
after the Holidays. And flew
off to
The day after we returned to
California (New Year’s
Day), I called my
realtor and asked her to look for single-level homes
within a certain price range and size in the general vicinity of where I
work. (As someone pointed
out to me, ease of moving really should not be the top priority when
looking for a new home.)
I told her that I wasn’t up to house-hunting that
weekend, but that we could look at some places the following weekend.
However, she called me the following Monday because she was
seeing a lot of possibilities that had already sold before she could
even preview them.
So we went out that evening and looked at three
places. Kind of tricky in
the dark. On Tuesday, I
called her and asked if we could take another look at the first two, in
the daylight. They looked
both better and worse in the light.
But she knew the listing agent and there was a possibility that
someone else was already bidding on the first one which was offered at
$312,900.
I decided to go ahead and place a bid on the first
one. Then, the following
Sunday, “Jeannie” came out and we looked at both of the places, also in
the daylight. The first
place had better amenities while the second place had a better floor
plan as far as “Jeannie” was concerned.
In the meantime, whoever had made a bid on the
condo was taking their own sweet time getting pre-approved by the seller
(a mortgage company; this was a foreclosure.)
So I called the mortgage company, gave the person all the
information over the phone, then delivered all the copies (by this time,
I already knew exactly what documents were needed and, my! isn’t it nice
having a copier/scanner/printer at home?) after work that day.
The seller chose my bid.
Now I just had to scrape together the 20% down payment and
“additional closing costs”.
Seems the mortgage companies have new rules now about proving that you
can actually afford to buy a place.
Gone are the days of the “NINJA” loans.
(“No Income, No Job or Assets”.)
I had already borrowed the maximum of $50,000 from
my 401(k), had most of my share of Mother’s estate (I had paid off my
auto loan) and “Jeannie”, bless her heart, “gave” me $5000.
Technically, it’s a “gift”.
Also technically, you could say she paid me back the $2300 on her
“tab” and “gave” me the other $2700.
In any case, I’ll pay her back as soon as I sell the
townhouse
I’m currently living in.
Last Friday, the guy at the mortgage company that
I’m borrowing the rest of the money from called to ask if I could come
in on Monday and sign the papers.
Nope. I was locked
into an all-day train-the-trainer workshop.
Tuesday morning?
Possible. But that would
take us dangerously close to the closing date, which is tomorrow.
So the lender arranged for a
Notary Public and me
to meet him at his office last Saturday afternoon.
He also gave me the instructions to wire the $68,000 to the
title
company which is in
With all the training that was going on at work
Monday and Tuesday, it was Wednesday morning before I could get to the
Credit Union. They sent the
transfer off. My realtor
called the title company to tell them that the money was on its way.
They responded that, not only had they received the transfer, but
that they had already funded the loan.
Which meant the deal closed today, instead of “Friday, the
Thirteenth.”
My real estate agent handed me the keys and the
remote control for the security gate this afternoon and reminded me to
contact the power company as the seller would turn off the power as soon
as they could. So as of
right now, I own a condo in “Crestview”, a “luxury” complex complete
with two swimming pools, an “executive clubhouse” and a manned security
gate.
Of course, there’s a ton of work to be done.
Painting the condo (two bedrooms, two full baths, a real dining
room, a huge kitchen and a “sunken” living room with a wood-burning
fireplace) and probably replacing the carpet.
And there a number of minor repairs noted by the building
inspector that the seller would usually be responsible for; but a
foreclosure goes “as is.”
We’ll want to do all that before I move in.
And it’s time to start culling things.
If it’s been sitting in a closet since the day I moved in, 11
years ago, maybe it’s time to donate, or toss it.
Furniture that was originally purchased to fill up the
And then there’s all the joys of moving.
I put it right up there with getting a
root canal.
Once I vacate the townhouse, “Jeannie” will take
over with all her knowledge of how to prep a home to sell, gleaned from
who knows how many hours of watching the House and Garden network.
She can’t wait. And
once the townhouse sells (my neighbor’s place sold in less than three
months) I can pay “Jeannie” back, pay the 401(k) back, and pay my
savings account back. And
have the money to make the new, and much larger, mortgage payments.
Life is good.
Even with a minor cold.
Love, as always,
Pete
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