House Buying Odyssey Thread #4
 

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

Let's hope the 4th time is the charm. :slap:


Cliff's Notes for newcomers:

• April 2015: House under contract to buy fails inspection miserably.
• June 2015: The day before closing on another house bank says NEVERMIND, no deal without medical license IN HAND (would not be in hand for Mrs. for another 2 months, transitioning from residency in VA to official MD in SC)
• February 2017: House under contract to buy is/is not in FEMA flood zone depending on who you ask/which way the wind blows that day. Doesn't matter anyway when bank appraisal comes in RIDICULOUSLY low killing the deal

ONWARD to House/Purchase attempt #4:

• Good street/neighborhood (Lake neighborhood)
• NO flood zone issues (house is elevated and ACROSS THE STREET from water-front homes)
• Bank Appraisal is now done and actually within reason ($7,000 under sale price)
• Home inspection lined up for next week, home inspector lives 2 doors down from this house, and knows who built it, a builder who does GOOD work (home inspector lives in the White Victorian farmhouse for anyone who remembers it from the first thread at the beginning of the year)
• Good interest rate, will only need $15,000 at closing for closing costs and difference between sale price and bank appraisal, savings account we opened to save up for this is at $23,000 and will be $25,000 by closing day at the end of September
• Master bedroom and dining room furniture included (sans mattress)
• House is already wired for DirecTV in all 3 rooms I want it (living room, bonus room, Master suite)
• House IS served with high speed internet by cable co.
• 3400 sq. ft., 3 bed, 3.5 bath, bonus room, office, oversized 2 car garage

FINGERS CROSSED. Inspection scheduled for Sept. 7th, Closing scheduled for Sept. 29th.


Exterior:

https://s26.postimg.org/8tp5avn6x/19...d_Exterior.png


Kitchen:

https://s26.postimg.org/piql6sjs9/19...od_Kitchen.png


Living Room & Master Suite:

https://s26.postimg.org/6dsdu5bft/19...ster_Suite.png


Bedrooms, Bonus Room, Office:

https://s26.postimg.org/6t3nn5xd5/19...nus_Office.png


Carpeted bedroom and bonus room are upstairs. Will be oldest son's bedroom and my "office" i.e. football and video games room.

Downstairs bedroom will be baby's plus guest room (our current queen bed will go in there along with his crib and he'll sleep in our room when we have company for the next couple of years)

Downstairs office will be an actual office for the Mrs.

Unfinished attic space is accessible via door in upstairs hall, so after a couple years will take some of the space for a new bedroom when the baby is old enough for a bed of his own.

Only drawbacks are the coaxial outlet in the guest bedroom/nursury is the only one for cable modem. DirecTV installer just took over cable co. lines to living room, bonus room, etc. so no modem in the bonus room for a hardwired connection to my desktop PC. Planning on trying one of those expensive wireless routers with satellite routers that allegedly suffer no loss in download speed. Also living room built ins WAY too small for our TV, planning on a matching white low profile stand to sit in front of them. I like my TV at eye level anyway.

Nice yard, but no privacy in back yard from neighbors on next street over. Planning on some tall trees/shrubs eventually for just a bot of privacy.

House location cuts trip to older son's (now in Kindergarten) school in half from 20 to 10 minutes. Wife's commute time remains the same.


Old Threads:

2015:

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...-might-ed.html

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...questions.html

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...hread-3-a.html

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...hread-4-a.html

2017:

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...use-again.html

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...hread-2-a.html

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/...hread-3-a.html

:clap:....looks like all the other crap you went through was worth it to land a beauty like that in the end. Well done, she's gorgeous. :thumbs:

Good luck :cert:

About time!

Me when some bull-**** screws this up:


https://s26.postimg.org/a07dy9wkp/fa...135940ebf8.jpg

Good luck!

Good luck Will! This feels like the winner!

When you make plans, life often looks at you, smiles, and says, "Watch this".

Hopefully this one is the one!

Beautiful home. I hope you get it.
What area are you in?

Barnwell, SC

75 minutes south of Columbia, 45 minutes east of Aiken, in the middle of nowhere.

It's great.

https://www.bestplaces.net/images/city/Barnwell_SC.gif

The red circle to the right of the house would be a perfect spot for an additional detached garage/shop one day. Driveway conveniently already setup perfectly for it.

The empty lot to the left was actually purchased and split down the middle by this homeowner and the homeowner to the left, so no worries about construction there. Extra lawn to maintain though, but my push mower days are over. The yard and landscaping is immaculate, and I have no green thumb, so we're just going to retain the current landscapers the homeowners use:


https://s26.postimg.org/qplqk7bxl/19...ogle_earth.png



Flood map, no issues. Flood zone doesn't extend past the lake across the street at all since there's a steep dropoff down to it from those folks' back yards:


https://s26.postimg.org/p0cnc4w89/19..._Flood_Map.png

Looks good man, how many acres?? what is your best guess of the elevation from your garage slab to the water surface on that lake?? :shots::seasix:

Sounds like those other problems were a blessing.

Good luck.

For a second there I thought this was one of the homes my wife was closing on this month in Lowcountry near Charleston..

Good luck, it's a beautiful looking home :cert::cert:

I think this is actually going to go down???

Realtor talked with closing attorney this AM and scheduled closing for 3pm on Wednesday the 27th. Works better than Friday for me, I can get internet and DirecTV set up BEFORE the weekend (Watching College Football and Web Surfing are basic life necessities).

Home inspection went down yesterday. Nothing major, which is good since these people REFUSE to do any repairs or spend any money. They won't even clean out the junk pile under the crawl space by the crawl space entrance.

I'll have to re-attach the dryer vent hose in the crawl space to the exterior vent, attach a section of AC duct that is sagging/crimping, attach a couple of wires that are sagging, and clean out the crap. Will hire someone to replace sections of insulation that are falling, and an electrician to address a large gauge wire that is unconnected and has wire nuts over the ends. Inspector said should have electrician see if it's connected to the distribution panel, and if so disconnect it.

In the house just need to install new smoker detectors in main rooms, and actually put detectors in the bedrooms which didn't have them.

Only other issues were piddly things. One sink needs a new aerator, front and rear steps BARELY need hand rails according to code (not bothering until we're older and need them, plus we'll typically come in the garage anyway), doorbell chime by garage entry is buzzing/needs to be fixed, one exterior outlet is missing a weather cover, kitchen needs GFCI outlets, hall door to garage isn't fire rated, and P trap for downstairs AC unit needs to be rotated, U-shaped portion isn't pointing down.

I'm hoping at walk-through I don't find they left a bunch of crap in the attic, which seems likely since they're going to leave crap in the crawlspace.

Waited as long as I could before buying a new King sized mattress for us and TV stand that will match the built-ins in the living room, but I took the plunge today. Everything allegedly still on schedule, we're 12 days away from closing.

Trying one of those Leesa mattresses. Compared the major online ones and went with them based on how we both sleep and like a mattress.

No news is good news, right?

Only thing I head last week was from my realtor wanting my landlord's phone number again (to try and sell it for him or find another renter). Told her not to contact him under any circumstances until we sign on the dotted line and the deal is complete.

She said termite letter came in and everything is on track.

Waiting on pins and needles for the bank to contact us with some b.s. because of past experience.

My credit score has shot up to 772 on Experian. Mrs. still just over 800.

Packed up all the children's books and some of my older son's toys today. We could start a library. Emptied and packed up my office "book" shelves too i.e. video game/music/movies/electronics crap.

Wondering if I should call DirecTV early to set up a move even if my boxes plug right in and work at the new place. I'd hate for them not to and then DirecTV tell me it will be 2 weeks or something.