Plumbing Finished and Strat Planning

So we finished re-plumbing the laundry room and I started picking out paint, countertop, flooring etc.






We are just waiting on the bank to release the house for closing.





Someone must have prayed for patience on our parts because we sure have been given the opportunity to practice some in this case.





keep praying (not for patience though) :)

Plumbing Continued

So the house did not pass inspection and we had to re-plumb the laundry area. The inspector has now approved it and we are waiting to hear from the bank when closing will be.

Keep praying.

Plumbing Repair 6-18-08

Our lending institution has put in writing that after we fix the plumging and have it inspected we will be ready to colse on the house. Therefore, Ben, Mark (Ben's Dad), and Bert (My Dad) spent last night replacing broken valves, repairing pipes, replacing the inards of the full bath toilet and replacing the P trap on the full bath sink. Mark also helped me put the new kitchen faucet on (the other one blew up when we were getting ready for the well inspection).

Fortunatly there were not to many craked pipes and some great news, the hot water heater works and isn't leaking! So far, we are under budget!! (Knock on wood if you are superstitious)




Unfortunatly..........................................







Ben had to pose for a classic plumber pose.


Divert your eyes!








The inspector will be out on Tuesday and hopefully we can close by next Friday.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Keep praying.

Continuing to Jump through hoops!!

Well we still are not able to set a close date on the house. The inspection report was turned into our bank yesterday afternoon and was just as we expected. It made note that the plumbing would need to be replaced due to the home not being winterized and freezing causing leaks.

Now comes the unheard of request by my bank before they will allow us to close. We have to fix the plumbing before the bank will give us the money for the house. I have to invest my time and money in a home that is not leagally mine!!!!

We have talked to the seller and we are having them sign that if for some unforseen reason we still do not close on this house after we pay and make these repairs that they will re-imburse us the money (our time of course will be lost).

So Renovation number 1: Plumbing Repair will be posted very soon so that we can close on this house.

Keep praying, we sure can use it.

Another Inspection Needed

Our closing date has been postponed again. We found out that due to some verbage on the title due to the previous owners type of loan that they defaulted on we are required to have a complete home inspection despite the fact that we are going to re-do just about all mechanicals, electrical and plumbing in the house.

It has been a stressful week but the bank has told us that this is the last step before closing and there will not be any more surprises. I will try not to hold my breath on this one but keep praying.

Inspection result delay causes a delay in closing

We recieved the results from the water test back on Saturday and let the bank know on Monday that we were happy with the results and would be closing on Friday. Well the bank cannot get the house appraised until Thursday so our closing will be pushed back now. Also, I found out that I need to get homeowners insurance prior to close and pay for the first year. This took me by surprise since I am escrowing the insurance and since no one told me I needed to get the insurance I thought the bank had their own carrier or something. Well that will not hold us up as our agents are great and I got them working on that yesterday afternoon and we should have something by the end of the week.

Ben is feeling the stress of this next big step and I think the road block just added to that stress. I am a little disapointed but if this is what is going to go wrong than so be it. A delay in taking possession by a few days is ok. We were not going to be moving in this weekend or working on the house, so in the big scheme of things it is no big deal... and could be a blessing, it is a few days less interest on the loan. Trying to see the brighter side.

My inlaws are helping us with the downpayment and some of the renovation costs and they will be home this weekend so it will be nice for them to see the house again. I may try and take a few more before pics to add to the slideshow.

Pray that everything goes smoothly from here on out.

Step 2: Inspections

After the acceptance of our offer for the home we asked the seller to allow us to get the home inspected prior to close to make sure we wanted the home. The house is a forclosure and the bank that ownes the property would not pay for anything and is selling it as is.

Test 1: Radon: So we purchased a radon testing kit from the health dept and set it up for 3 days and sent it off to be analyzed. It came back at 3.99 and the limit is 4 so it is something we will need to address later on. We are hoping that sealing the basement will bring the level down considerably.
Test 2: Well: Next we de-winterized the home (turned the water back on) and of course encountered leak after leak. We managed to get the water flowing to the kitchen, half bath, and laundry area without leakes so that the health dept can take a sample and look at bacteria and nitrate levels. The inspector came monday to inspect the well and everything looked great and we are now waiting on the water test results.
Test 3: Septic: We spent 2 days total digging 4 huge holes to uncover the drywells and had the septic pumped for inspection. The inspector that came monday gave it a perfect rating and told us that if we change the drywells used each year and pump every 3 years we should never have a problem.

So now we are waiting for the water test results and then closing.

Step 1: Finding a House

Ben and I have been looking off and on for the right house for over a year. The market is perfect for buying our first house but it is a scary prospect. There was always something wrong... manufactured, no garage, small yard, wrong school district, will cost too much... I think you get the picture. Anyway, we finally found one we both loved about a month ago and started making plans for purchase. It is a forclosure and so we used the opportunity to inspect the house thoughrly prior to even making our first offer (My dad is an electrician and owns a building inspection company so he looked it over with us). We even took measurments to get good estimates on the cost of bringing the house to our standards. After calculating what it would cost to rehab the home we decided on an offer. Unfortunatly there were 2 other offers placed on the home and the seller gave us a few days to place our "best" offer. This sucked and we offered more than we had really wanted to pay knowing the house was worth it and that it was the one we wanted. We WON!! whew! Next came requesting radon, well and septic inspections since we couldn't do these prior to offer.