From MARC, here is a text dealing w/ how to do green remodeling (though unfortunately it focuses on Post-WWII homes). Since our first project for this house is going to be adding a few small exterior walls and a roof for a back mudroom (not to mention we hope a laundry 'room' w/in that mudroom), this may help...
So the medium version of the last few days is this. The 2nd offer was verbally accepted at 4pm Sunday and we were to drive over to the house and sign papers. Between the time we made the offer late Saturday afternoon and Sunday at 4pm, we had ups/downs about the house which resulted in us, at about 330pm, to go back to the street where we made our first offer and were turned down. After we saw that house our first day in KC, we stopped to ask a woman about the neighborhood and she said "I'm selling my house in a few weeks" as a kind of joke.
Well, 330ish on Sunday we went by her house to put a note in her door that if she was still planning on selling, we were interested. She came home just as we finished the note and she showed us all through the house. Actually we loved it and realized it is the same layout as the first house we made an offer on. We saw that this house could be remodeled to be much like that one, but this way it would be more suited to our needs since we could do the updates that the previous one had already done. So, after seeing the house that Sunday, we drove down the street and parked a block away. We were flipping out, realizing we didn't want the other one, we wanted this one....then the realtor called saying our second offer was accepted.
The short of it (b/c there were many back/forth calls and frayed nerves) is we got out of that deal. We went back to the now 3rd house and said to the woman we met, we love your house and want to buy it. She was thrilled b/c this meant - in a buyer's market - she may not have to list her house and may sell it w/o having to do all the things she was anticipating she'd have to do to sell it. So, we got the realtors involved and Tuesday wrote, signed, and faxed the offer. Wednesday at 230pm we got a call she accepted our offer!!!
Needless to say we are elated and feel deeply fortunate to be able to live in this house (a perfect house to suit both our aesthetic tastes), on this street (lots of families w/ kids), in this part of the neighborhood (close to parks, schools, work, grocery, etc), in KC (which we really couldn't believe has all it does and were excited to see).
Hopefully all the bureaucracy now will go smooth and we'll be able to close and move-in on May 31st. Starting April 25th, we'll temporarily relocate to Upland for a time. K is going to Budapest in early May but other than that we'll be around IN and then off to KC for settling in.
So we made a second offer on another house. It is in a great location and we are quite happy with all it has to offer (a nice sized yard, great bdrms, etc). Now we are waiting to hear back about whether they are going to accept it or not. This will be our last chance for this visit, which will be ok if we leave w/o a house, but it would be nice to have this resolved (and to get this house)....
Signing papers
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Yesterday around noon we made an offer on a house that we are now waiting to hear back on. Turns out we aren't the only ones - another buyer found this house too and made an offer. It went on the market this Thursday morning. We did have a nice time last night at the home of friends from East Lansing that I went to grad school with. Now as we wait we are considering our second best option
Now that we've seen KC, we are narrowing down our choices quite a bit. At least 10 of the houses on our list we've opted not to see or only drove by, mostly because of either undesirable location, layout, limited square footage, too much renovation is needed, or some renovation is needed and the price is too high. Given the nature of the market right now (and this part of the city), there is an incredible number to see so we are fortunate enough to be in a position where we can be a bit choosier than we were able to be in Rochester.
This morning we are going to look at about 5 more houses, revisit one we saw yesterday, visit Border Star Montessori school to see if it would work out for the kids (a public school so it wouldn't be cost-prohibitive), swing by Avila University (to see my office and talk with the Dean about a few things), then have dinner with some friends we knew while we lived in East Lansing. There could also be - possibly in a particular space/time continuum - an offer made.....tbc
After finishing teaching at 8pm and driving to Upland, I just couldn't sleep for very long. We are looking forward to our time away and checking out houses (sans kids too!). Not to mention, our 10th anniversary is next month so this will be a great celebration time.
Here is a map of the houses we are going to see:
