The Home-ownership Thread

[sabills]

16 minutes ago, N S said:

There is no 'guest room' per se.  It is a two bedroom / two bathroom home, but that works to our advantage, as it seriously limits the people that would be interested in it.

I am sure that something could be arranged if someone cared to honour us with a visit.

Hell with the Arena, Sabrespace Meetup at NS's place this year.

[Samson's Flow]

1 minute ago, sabills said:

Hell with the Arena, Sabrespace Meetup at NS's place this year.

I mean Nova Scotia is the only Canadian Providence I haven't been to. So I basically have to go

 

[shrader]

So apparently my house might get a little weather test this upcoming weekend...

[Sabres Fan in NS]

It's shaping up to be a big day for the NS family.  Wish us luck.

A no membership restricted listing info with photos ...

https://halifax.evcanada.com/en/listing/cms/mls-201821623-229-kelly-point-drive-prospect-nova-scotia-b3t-2k3/

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

So apparently my house might get a little weather test this upcoming weekend...

Best wishes for a complete miss, as the storm turns back out to sea.  Failing that I will give you the advice that we got when faced with Hurricane Juan ... 'duck, duck ... HURRICANE!!'

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, shrader said:

So apparently my house might get a little weather test this upcoming weekend...

My house got tested this past weekend.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Doohickie

[shrader]

2 hours ago, N S said:

Best wishes for a complete miss, as the storm turns back out to sea.  Failing that I will give you the advice that we got when faced with Hurricane Juan ... 'duck, duck ... HURRICANE!!'

The mother-in-law is supposed to fly in friday, but the hurricane is supposed to hit land early friday morning.  So there's proof right there that not everything about hurricanes is bad.

[LTS]

2 hours ago, N S said:

It's shaping up to be a big day for the NS family.  Wish us luck.

A no membership restricted listing info with photos ...

https://halifax.evcanada.com/en/listing/cms/mls-201821623-229-kelly-point-drive-prospect-nova-scotia-b3t-2k3/

Just stop... ?  The only problem with that house is that I would have to wear sunglasses inside!  That's a beautiful place.

[spndnchz]

6 hours ago, N S said:

It's shaping up to be a big day for the NS family.  Wish us luck.

A no membership restricted listing info with photos ...

https://halifax.evcanada.com/en/listing/cms/mls-201821623-229-kelly-point-drive-prospect-nova-scotia-b3t-2k3/

No garage?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

6 hours ago, shrader said:

The mother-in-law is supposed to fly in friday, but the hurricane is supposed to hit land early friday morning.  So there's proof right there that not everything about hurricanes is bad.

Very true ... LOL!!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

6 hours ago, LTS said:

Just stop... ?  The only problem with that house is that I would have to wear sunglasses inside!  That's a beautiful place.

That is a problem for my wife too ... she has vision problems and bright sun is a big problem.  Some of the windows have simple sheers and it makes a big difference.  Awnings ... problem solved.

2 hours ago, spndnchz said:

No garage?

Nope.  Small problem.  We will want to do something for the winter and my wife's 1992 Legendary Acura Legend.

It does have a huge shed for storing all the junk.

The best (well not really there are a lot better parts) ... NO BASEMENT ... it's on a slab.

*****

We went out this afternoon for a brief second showing ... ended up spending an hour and a half.

We then spent about 30 minutes signing an offer sheet.  It's our second best offer and we shall see if they bite.  Depends how motivated the owners are to give up their summer home in NS that they used 3 weeks a year for 15 years.  A big advantage is that the offer is not contingent on us selling our existing home.

We shall find out by 6:00 PM on Wednesday.  We hope to close on October 9th, which does not give us a lot of time for all the inspections.

[spndnchz]

1 hour ago, N S said:

That is a problem for my wife too ... she has vision problems and bright sun is a big problem.  Some of the windows have simple sheers and it makes a big difference.  Awnings ... problem solved.

Nope.  Small problem.  We will want to do something for the winter and my wife's 1992 Legendary Acura Legend.

It does have a huge shed for storing all the junk.

The best (well not really there are a lot better parts) ... NO BASEMENT ... it's on a slab.

*****

We went out this afternoon for a brief second showing ... ended up spending an hour and a half.

We then spent about 30 minutes signing an offer sheet.  It's our second best offer and we shall see if they bite.  Depends how motivated the owners are to give up their summer home in NS that they used 3 weeks a year for 15 years.  A big advantage is that the offer is not contingent on us selling our existing home.

We shall find out by 6:00 PM on Wednesday.  We hope to close on October 9th, which does not give us a lot of time for all the inspections.

Best of luck!

[MattPie]

Best of Luck NS!

I had the full glory of home ownership this weekend. Spent Friday from 11AM until dark digging a drainage ditch my yard as part of my battle to get RosePie's swingset and our deck stairs out of the mud. Then spent a lot of Saturday clean the garage and basement. Finally, spent much on Sunday continuing the garage and grocery shopping. This is the LIFE!

[nfreeman]

Good luck NS.  It looks great.  

[Wyldnwoody44]

Soooo I painted my office and I love the color (not one known for interior decorating) and I'm now working on my living room, unfortunatley, the 30 foot ceilings call for a ladder, which I needed to buy...... I don't have a truck, so see below, this is how I got the ladder back home in my subaru ???? don't worry, I put a little plastic flag on back to make it legal 

[Winston]

On 9/7/2018 at 10:35 AM, N S said:

There is no 'guest room' per se.  It is a two bedroom / two bathroom home, but that works to our advantage, as it seriously limits the people that would be interested in it.

I am sure that something could be arranged if someone cared to honour us with a visit.

I already mentioned that I work with accountants in my day job... I’d be quite comfortable sleeping in your home office ?

Are the homeowners back in Germany currently? If all goes well, could that slow down closing? I have no idea if it would add another wrinkle, or just be business as usual. 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, EichSnipe said:

could that slow down closing?

I'm not sure about international, but when we sold our house this spring, the buyer was in Houston.  They did their part of closing from Houston, we did ours in Ft Worth, and it all happened within a day of each other, including the buyer's funding.  More and more, this stuff can be done remotely and virtually.

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

8 hours ago, EichSnipe said:

I already mentioned that I work with accountants in my day job... I’d be quite comfortable sleeping in your home office ?

Are the homeowners back in Germany currently? If all goes well, could that slow down closing? I have no idea if it would add another wrinkle, or just be business as usual. 

The owners are in Germany.  It should not make a differance with technology these days.  One does not even need a fax machine.  There is only one transaction ... we are buying and they are selling, so there is no complication with one deal closing / not closing impacting this transaction.

+++++

Thanks for all the well wishes guys and gals.

Our agent presented the offer the the listing agent this morning.  Not have heard back yet, which I think is not a bad thing.  I have to think that the sellers have received it in Germany by now and did not reject it immediately.

The house is about $100,000 over priced and the sellers must realize that.  We offered $125,000 below asking price ($525,000, which is insane $), which is a good starting point.  We hope to settle there, but would be willing to go to $540,000, or even $550,000, but that is the max.  We will be owning 2 homes worth $500,000+ for however long it takes to sell our existing home, which is kind of a scary situation, but you only live once and we have wanted to live in Prospect ever since we moved to NS 20 years ago.

Edited September 11, 2018 by N S
fat fingers ...

[Winston]

9 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I'm not sure about international, but when we sold our house this spring, the buyer was in Houston.  They did their part of closing from Houston, we did ours in Ft Worth, and it all happened within a day of each other, including the buyer's funding.  More and more, this stuff can be done remotely and virtually.

 

 

3 hours ago, N S said:

The owners are in Germany.  It should not make a differance with technology these days.  One does not even need a fax machine.  There is only one transaction ... we are buying and they are selling, so there is no complication with one deal closing / not closing impacting this transaction.

Very cool! I figured as such, based on my one home buying experience. We purchased from a relative in Rochester without them ever setting foot in Ohio during the process. Just wasn’t sure if anything would increase in complexity given the international scenario. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Banks ... UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!

That's all ...

[Doohicksie]

Yep.  It's always something.  I hate home buying.  It's great when it's done and over with, but the process is painful.

Hang in there.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

Yep.  It's always something.  I hate home buying.  It's great when it's done and over with, but the process is painful.

Hang in there.

Yep.

Went to the bank for a brief meeting and I think everything is straightened out on that end.

When I got back to my office there was a message from our realtor.  He is always very professional and never sounds excited about anything and that was his tone on the message to call him.

Just got off the phone with him and he said that the seller reviewed our offer and basically have rejected it without a counter offer.  So, it seems that they are not desperate for the money and are willing to sit on it for a while.

$600,000+ is way out of our range, so we shall watch it closely and see what happens.

It pays not to get too excited about these things.

 

[Doohicksie]

Aww nutz.

The house we offered first on (my wife loved it, I thought it was okay) failed inspection pretty miserably; advertised as a flip house with extensive renovations, it turned out that yeah, it had a lot of work done, most of it not to code (they never pulled permits).

The house we ended up in is so much better than the first one.  I'm sure you'll eventually find the place you're looking for.  Just gotta have patience and faith.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Financing firmed up and we are watching that house we like closely.

Hoping / planning to take another run at it, depending on what the owners do.  So far, they are sitting tight.  It's been on the market a little over a month now, which for NS is not very long, especially for a house listed at $650,000.

[Doohicksie]

My AC went out Friday.  Hard compressor failure (positive circuit shorted to ground).  My friend who does AC diagnosed it; knowing I have a home warranty he suggested I call them.  Called them on Friday, they sent a tech out on Saturday, I told him the my AC friend said compressor was shorted out.  He went right to that and confirmed it, said someone would be in touch Monday to discuss what would be covered by the home warranty, what our cost would be, and schedule the repair.

Called the warranty folks at lunchtime (Monday) and they still haven't gotten anything from the contractor that came out.

This kind of sucks.  The only saving grace is the weather seems to be relenting a bit; hope we can get enough air in keep the place kind of cool (was 87 inside over the weekend).