Jan
4
Hacking Up a Lung (or Two) and Shivering
January 4, 2008 |
Not much progress on the REI front in the fledgling new year so far. I’ve actually been pretty sick since around the 1st, which is a rarity for me, as I tend to only get a cold/flu every 5 years or so. I drug myself over to House #2 on the 31st/1st and got some work done, but mostly light stuff like painting trim, removing the old wall oven and rangetop, etc. The fact that we’ve been experiencing sub-Arctic temperatures here in central Texas (or, you know, lows in the mid 20s) hasn’t made it easier to get over there and get to work. Feeling better now, though, and the waether should be nice this weekend, so the plan is to crank away and get much work done over there in coming days.
I did manage to sort out most of the existing electrical as far as what circuits feed what, and should be set for running new circuits for the laundry room addition and the 4th bedroom, as well as getting everything wired in the bathroom/closet addition in the new master bedroom. I’d planned on hiring this out but it’s reasonably simple and the budget is getting ever-tighter, so I’m going to devote most of this weekend to electrical fun. I tend to shy away from such stuff but this job is pretty straightforward, as it’s largely just relocating existing circuits (that were either unused or made unnecessary due to changes I made), which I can hopefully handle. HVAC guy needs to come back for a few finishing touches for the new furnace anyway and he’s a master electrician and said he’d check up on all the rough electrical work and make sure nothing is screwed up.
Still haven’t closed on House #1, which is obviously frustrating. Apparently the buyer owns her hair salon, so the lender is taking forever to approve her loan as she’s self-employed, yada yada yada. She also went with a smaller local lender (she does the hair of one of their mortage bankers) and they originally pitched her loan to an investor who got cold feet about the general market as a whole, decided to pass on it, so another investor is looking at it now, etc. She apparently wants the house pretty badly (and has even packed up all her stuff and is ready to move) so we’re going to wait until the lender decides something shortly, then pursue a lease/purchase option or something similar if they turn her down. I’d like to get my money out of the house and move on but I’m also fine with some variety of lease/purchase or owner financing, so I wouldn’t be too crushed if their lender backs out.
The couple that had previously been interested in House #2 touched base again last Friday with our realtor, letting him know that they were still interested, what my timeline was for finishing the house up, which is pretty good news. I’m trying not to count on them, as stuff can always happen, but it’s not a bad card to have up the sleeve, as they didn’t bat an eye when I said before that I was looking to list it in the 145K-150K range, and they actually requested that I not spend a lot on landscaping and similar stuff, as they wanted to do all that themselves. I want to get the house put back together more before talking more seriously with them,as it’s still currently a scary shambles now, but it could definitely make my life much easier if they turn out to be serious buyers.
Comments
1 Comment so far
Glad you feeling better.
I understand your goals or lack of.. we are doing the same.. waiting to see what happens with what we already have going on.
Happy New Year!