My Dreamhouse is back on the market
First of all, if you haven’t read Heidi’s post below, read it first.
Just like the title says, the house of my dreams, which was placed under contract (over a month ago) fell through, and hit the market over the weekend. I almost cried with joy. Ever since the house went off the market (well, technically it never reached the “Pending Noshow” stage…), I’ve been a little down here and there. I had devoted quite a bit of time and energy trying to figure out how on God’s green earth I could generate some green and buy that house.
Well, this time I have a plan, and so far things are looking optimistic. There are a lot of *if*’s in the equation, but I just have to tackle them one-by-one. The first hurdle was financing…aside from whether or not I can afford the house, can I get a loan for the house in that condition. Fortunately, they do offer loans for distressed properties, up to 80% of the total value of the post renovation home (and you get whatever is left from the loan after purchase price is extracted as your renovation amount). So, for a house that will be valued at $100k after repair, if the house costs $50k, then you can borrow up to $30k for renovations (via a construction loan).
The next hurdle is our current house. How do we get rid of it quickly, and still turn a profit? Well, unfortunately we spent a little more than we should, under the assumption that it was ok because we’d be there for a couple years. And now, if we sold we might end up with enough profit to go out to eat (after realtor fees and taxes). So we are considering refinishing the basement, and due to the style & location of our basement (primarily above ground, with high ceilings), we can probably get a higher dollar/sf return on it…if it gets finished. And since it spans the entire footprint of our house, our total sf would be doubled. We can then sell a 2800sf house and more than triple our investment dollars in the basement. Then drop the price by $10-20k for a quick sale.
Then we just hope that the seller takes our offer, and our terms…
I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress.
Rice Cereal
Well, Avery had his 4 month check-up on Monday, and he is doing great! He weighed in at 11 pounds 3 oz-just a little more than twice his birth weight; and he is 23 inches long. His doctor said he is doing wonderful and could start on rice cereal once a day. This is the first venture into solid foods. So, after his appointment we stopped at Babies R Us and picked up his first little bowl and spoon and a box of rice cereal. So we finally got around to trying the rice cereal today, and boy was it an adventure! Let me just say that it is the nastiest thing I’ve seen in a while. It literally looks like the skin you peel off after a bad sunburn. Anyway, you mix it with breastmilk or formula and voila you have a first solids meal! I only did 1tbs and Avery did really well. Although quite a bit of it slipped back out of his mouth, he did manage to swallow a good portion of it! So, as long as he continues to do well, he can start on stage 1 foods within the next month. Boy is he getting big so fast! I’ll attach some pictures of his first solid foods meal very soon…
Free Will & Marketing
I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day, and the post was a riff on responsibility. It was an interesting take on how marketers should approach the products/services in which they are marketing. But there was a few comments littered throughout the post that alluded to the power of marketing. One paragraph in particular really summed it up well:
If marketing works, it means that free choice isn’t quite so free. It means that marketers get to influence and amplify desires. The number of SUVs sold in the United States is a bazillion times bigger than it was in 1962. Is that because people suddenly want them, or is it because car marketers built them and marketed them?
How can one maintain their free will, while living in a world full of marketing? Every purchase we make was either based on marketing from a merchant (the product manufacturer, the retail store, etc), marketing from a friend (when you are influenced by a friends experience), or anti-marketing (holding bias, or refusing to purchase mass-marketed/popular brands, as a statement…which is in itself succumbing to a marketing influence that says marketing is bad).
Where does one’s free will fit in with all of this? How can you exercise free will without withdrawing from the surrounding culture?
You can’t beat free brick
My company bought the property next to their current building, and knocked down an old brick building that was there (Choo Choo Pallet Company). I asked and was granted permission to take as much brick as I wanted for a large renovation project (refinishing the basement, re-bricking a fireplace, patio/walkway). Trevor and I loaded up my trucks (he loaded one with cinderblock for his retaining wall) 4 times, and I walked away with about 400 bricks… I did the math last night, and that will cover roughly half of the basement wall that I wanted to brick over. So apparently I’m going to need to go back several more times to get the amount of bricks I need to complete all of my brick-related projects (probably in the 1000-1400 range). Sure, I’m only saving a few hundred dollars…but a) a few hundred dollars could buy us a new front door, and b) re-using 80yr old brick in an 80yr old house seems fitting…like I’m preserving a piece of history.
If only I could get some free cinder block, and concrete to help reinforce that wall…
To Move or Not To Move
That is the question.
Heidi and I have been dealing with my overwhelming desire to find our next house. And before you start jumping to conclusions, no, I don’t want to continually jump from house to house for the rest of my life. The next house will hopefully be the last house…but you never know what the future holds.
I’m still a bit bummed about the sale of my dream house in St. Elmo. The 6 bed, 2 bath grande victorian in the heart of St. Elmo. 10ft ceilings, 3400sf of space, and a double lot. In my opinion, it had the potential to be the grandest house in St. Elmo. So why didn’t we buy it in the first place? Money. The owner wanted $120k, and we felt it was worth less than $100k (as it needed a studs-out renovation, which would have easily cost another $100k). Emotionally, the house was priceless, as I could see the potential that it had, but it wasn’t the best time for us to go buying overpriced houses on emotion…maybe next year.
So lately I’ve been trying to find another suitable house. The housing market in St. Elmo is a bit dry, and I’m getting anxious…which isn’t a good recipe. So the other day Heidi sat me down and asked what I thought about going ahead with more renovations in our house (not right now, but soon). Her argument is that we have the potential to get almost 3000sf of space in our house if we just refinish the basement. Of course, the renovation doesn’t stop there… In order to do that we’d probably have to raise all the windows in the basement (as we’d have to raise the floors), we’d probably have to redo the siding underneath the vinyl siding, and we desperately want a master suite…on the main level. In order to achieve that, we have to add onto the rear of the house. Fortunately, we have a large back yard, and losing another 10-15ft isn’t a big issue (especially if it puts us over the 3000sf mark). Our concern is overspending. Obviously, with a basement that “can” be finished, we have the opportunity to add a LOT of value to our house, but how much value will it add, will it increase the house’s sellability, and is it worth the time? Maybe it will be more profitable for us to maximize our investment in this house before we move on to the next house (and more fun).