Much of home buying, and I've come to realize home renovation, is spent waiting. In the 4 month long closing process we waited for people to process paperwork and realize what we didn't currently have in our file.
Upon closing we started our renovation process and then came more waiting. First we gutted it and waited for mold remediation. Which happened and we got a clean bill of health for the house. Then we started the slow weekend battle towards getting the kitchen back together. While I played assistant, the man friend fixed the subfloor, rebuilt walls, and laid down hardwood floors.
Then all of a sudden, we had the floors sanded and finished and two days later the cabinets were installed. Given that that was 3 months after we moved in, life became grand! But of course, more waiting was involved. Our countertop came in 2 1/2 weeks later.
We've reached a point now where we are waiting again. Our final paperwork has all come together for our rehab loan, but now we wait for them to release our second and final payments. As first-time home buyers, we will also get a significant tax credit. Waiting on that too.
In the meantime, there's a long list of painting projects, that in our beginning over-eager days of renovation we already bought the paint for. Man-friend will be pulling drywall (also from the over-eager days) out of the garage and patching in the rest of the downstairs hall. Someday we'll have a floor upstairs! And maybe be the sole residents of our little home with Boomer, instead of having squirrel residents. They kind of cramp my relaxation.
February 26, 2010
February 11, 2010
Guess I should update my blog
I blogged for work today... I suppose I should update my own blog!
If you're interested in learning about the 33rd America's Cup, head on over to Chicago Sailing's blog.
When Seth Godin offered advance copies of his new book Linchpin I jumped all over it. Of course, this month has been crazy busy since I received it and I'm taking much longer than I want to to read it... Sigh. But, I can tell you what I have read is awesome.
It's also made me want to pull out another book, which could be difficult as those are still in boxes in the guest bedroom, RenGen by Patricia Martin. Read together, they should make an interesting commentary on societal trends in work and leisure.
Side note to Hilsberg: Seth is awesome and sent me a second book. You get it first, then Dossett.
In the midst of trying to read a book, The Long Room celebrated its 10th Anniversary, Chicago Sailing had a highly successful Strictly Sail and I started advising people on their social marketing campaigns. Yup, I'm an "expert."
The man-friend and I have cooked multiple times in our mostly working kitchen and have only had to call the plumber back once. Adventures in plumbing success! We even agreed on tile, just need to figure out how to pay for it. This Sunday some of my friends are coming over for brunch, V-Day (that dreaded holiday) and to see the house!
It's time for one of these!
If you're interested in learning about the 33rd America's Cup, head on over to Chicago Sailing's blog.
When Seth Godin offered advance copies of his new book Linchpin I jumped all over it. Of course, this month has been crazy busy since I received it and I'm taking much longer than I want to to read it... Sigh. But, I can tell you what I have read is awesome.
It's also made me want to pull out another book, which could be difficult as those are still in boxes in the guest bedroom, RenGen by Patricia Martin. Read together, they should make an interesting commentary on societal trends in work and leisure.
Side note to Hilsberg: Seth is awesome and sent me a second book. You get it first, then Dossett.
In the midst of trying to read a book, The Long Room celebrated its 10th Anniversary, Chicago Sailing had a highly successful Strictly Sail and I started advising people on their social marketing campaigns. Yup, I'm an "expert."
The man-friend and I have cooked multiple times in our mostly working kitchen and have only had to call the plumber back once. Adventures in plumbing success! We even agreed on tile, just need to figure out how to pay for it. This Sunday some of my friends are coming over for brunch, V-Day (that dreaded holiday) and to see the house!
It's time for one of these!
January 19, 2010
2009 in Review
I'm really going to try to keep a blog updated this year. For realz. But first, last year in review.
January, 2009 started with a worsening economy and lots of cold job leads. By the end of the month, things looked grim. I took a chance on a very shady Craigslist post regarding some employment with an athletic facility that involved marketing and customer relations. Which in February lead to Chicago Sailing...
Within two months of starting at Chicago Sailing, I'd traveled from the North Branch of the Chicago River to Belmont Harbor aboard a houseboat. (Remember when Chicago was trying to get the Olympics? So glad that didn't happen!)
I spent a harried 6 months learning a different business (though still a leisure activity), new "life skills", and meeting lots of very interesting people... More about that later! Once October rolled around, I realized how busy I had been and had something even more pressing to work on.
See, one Saturday in late March or early April, the manfriend and I were getting ready to go out. He had worked the night before with one of the Long Room bouncers who has a day job working as a real estate agent. We had been tracking Craigslist and looking at 2 or 3 bedroom apartments to move in to when our leases were up at the end of July (coincidental, no?). Jeremy had been talking about houses you could buy, in Chicago, for under $200,000.
By the end of April, we had a contract on our little piece of property in Chicago.
A classic Chicago bungalow, on 1 1/2 city lots, the picture of the outside is much better than the inside. Over the course of 4 months we discovered mold, evidence of squirrels and many involved projects. We finally closed at the end of August and spent one month trying to get it ready to move in to! THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH TIME.
It looked good on the outside.
On the inside we chilled in our bedroom, luckily it's big and about the size of a studio. Last week we got running water on the first floor. And a working kitchen. The joy I hold for things such as running water cannot be explained to people who have not gone through a rehab!
So, in short, 2009 held a new job, moving in with the manfriend and a homestead of our very own - desperately in need of repair. I'm hoping for a calmer 2010, but in the meantime, lots of posts to process!
January, 2009 started with a worsening economy and lots of cold job leads. By the end of the month, things looked grim. I took a chance on a very shady Craigslist post regarding some employment with an athletic facility that involved marketing and customer relations. Which in February lead to Chicago Sailing...
Within two months of starting at Chicago Sailing, I'd traveled from the North Branch of the Chicago River to Belmont Harbor aboard a houseboat. (Remember when Chicago was trying to get the Olympics? So glad that didn't happen!)
I spent a harried 6 months learning a different business (though still a leisure activity), new "life skills", and meeting lots of very interesting people... More about that later! Once October rolled around, I realized how busy I had been and had something even more pressing to work on.
See, one Saturday in late March or early April, the manfriend and I were getting ready to go out. He had worked the night before with one of the Long Room bouncers who has a day job working as a real estate agent. We had been tracking Craigslist and looking at 2 or 3 bedroom apartments to move in to when our leases were up at the end of July (coincidental, no?). Jeremy had been talking about houses you could buy, in Chicago, for under $200,000.
By the end of April, we had a contract on our little piece of property in Chicago.
A classic Chicago bungalow, on 1 1/2 city lots, the picture of the outside is much better than the inside. Over the course of 4 months we discovered mold, evidence of squirrels and many involved projects. We finally closed at the end of August and spent one month trying to get it ready to move in to! THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH TIME.
It looked good on the outside.
On the inside we chilled in our bedroom, luckily it's big and about the size of a studio. Last week we got running water on the first floor. And a working kitchen. The joy I hold for things such as running water cannot be explained to people who have not gone through a rehab!
So, in short, 2009 held a new job, moving in with the manfriend and a homestead of our very own - desperately in need of repair. I'm hoping for a calmer 2010, but in the meantime, lots of posts to process!
June 4, 2009
May 27, 2009
Exploring Chicago...
This past weekend the man friend and I headed out to the suburbs. We had a few things on our to-do list - looking at appliances and kitchens. We were pretty successful on both items.
For those Chicago people, we went to Abt Electronics in Glenview. WOW. There were a lot of things to look at. Including a fountain. Their appliance selection was pretty amazing. I had no idea how far dishwashers have come.
We also headed to a home store for kitchen cabinets and counter tops in Aurora. Houses are expensive, but it still beats renting in my book!
On our way out to Glenview we took Milwaukee north from Irving Park, which was an interesting drive. There were lots of Polish delis and other neighborhood spots that you could go for years without knowing.
On our way back from Aurora we accidentally ended up on 290. Per usual, the traffic was horrendous on the way into the city. So, we hopped off 290 at 25th and headed north into Maywood.
View Larger Map
Hopping on to Washington, we headed east toward the city. Maywood proved an interesting community to drive through. Brick bungalows lined the street in a community that seemed quiet. We passed through a brief forest/park and crossed over a river and were suddenly in Oak Park. It was interesting to see the difference a river makes.
Oak Park had beautiful homes that were much larger than the homes we had just seen in Maywood. Each house was on a larger lot as well. With CTA buses and trains in Oak Park, this is one of the few suburbs that I have an interest in living in.
Oak Park's eastern border is the city of Chicago's Austin neighborhood. We decided to take Chicago Ave into the city and discovered a part of Chicago that reminded us of third world countries. I would not make the drive alone or at night.
The street was lined with empty store fronts. The stores you did see were liquor, dollar stores, and the occasional cheap cell phone place. On occasion you would see a fast food style restaurant or a beauty salon. The one thing this stretch of the city has is plenty of churches. There was a store front operation on every other block.
We took this all the way to Western, traveling between Humboldt Park and Garfield Park.
Turning up Western we made our way to Bluebird in Bucktown, our default and one of our favorite restaurants in that area.
Ahh Chicago, you gave us an interesting tour.
For those Chicago people, we went to Abt Electronics in Glenview. WOW. There were a lot of things to look at. Including a fountain. Their appliance selection was pretty amazing. I had no idea how far dishwashers have come.
We also headed to a home store for kitchen cabinets and counter tops in Aurora. Houses are expensive, but it still beats renting in my book!
On our way out to Glenview we took Milwaukee north from Irving Park, which was an interesting drive. There were lots of Polish delis and other neighborhood spots that you could go for years without knowing.
On our way back from Aurora we accidentally ended up on 290. Per usual, the traffic was horrendous on the way into the city. So, we hopped off 290 at 25th and headed north into Maywood.
View Larger Map
Hopping on to Washington, we headed east toward the city. Maywood proved an interesting community to drive through. Brick bungalows lined the street in a community that seemed quiet. We passed through a brief forest/park and crossed over a river and were suddenly in Oak Park. It was interesting to see the difference a river makes.
Oak Park had beautiful homes that were much larger than the homes we had just seen in Maywood. Each house was on a larger lot as well. With CTA buses and trains in Oak Park, this is one of the few suburbs that I have an interest in living in.
Oak Park's eastern border is the city of Chicago's Austin neighborhood. We decided to take Chicago Ave into the city and discovered a part of Chicago that reminded us of third world countries. I would not make the drive alone or at night.
The street was lined with empty store fronts. The stores you did see were liquor, dollar stores, and the occasional cheap cell phone place. On occasion you would see a fast food style restaurant or a beauty salon. The one thing this stretch of the city has is plenty of churches. There was a store front operation on every other block.
We took this all the way to Western, traveling between Humboldt Park and Garfield Park.
Turning up Western we made our way to Bluebird in Bucktown, our default and one of our favorite restaurants in that area.
Ahh Chicago, you gave us an interesting tour.
May 20, 2009
For all those Arts Administrators
Great post from Adam Thurman... His point regarding taking a year is a valid one.
May 5, 2009
The other thing I've been up to...
So about 6 - 7 weeks ago the man-friend and I were cooking dinner and he started talking about these houses in Albany Park that were selling for $150,000. In short, we determined that we should investigate. When again were we going to get the legitimate opportunity to buy a single family home in Chicago at a price we can afford on the brown line?
For the last month and a half we have learned a whole lot about buying a home.
The first weekend we drove around just looking at the outsides of buildings and the areas they were in. Were these places we would be happy with? As it turns out, they were. So then we looked on the insides (luckily we have a friend - Jeremy Segal with @ Properties to show us the ropes). There was one really terrible place and a few others that we could actually see ourselves living in, with enough work.
So then it became about financing, which is when I learned the two biggest take aways I have found thus far.
1. Your credit score is not as bad as you think it is. Ok, that may not be true for some. But for me, I was totally scared that the random times I got caught up with work and forgot to pay my utility bills had ruined my credit score. Not true at all. There are other factors involved, such as assets to debt. I have always maintained low balances on my credit cards and consistently paid them off, this certainly helped. There are things you can do to improve your score, now is the time to do that. Especially with credit cards increasing interest rates and tightening their lending.
2. The myth of "pre-approval." Jeremy hooked us up with a few brokers and we filled out a form. What we then got back from that is a Good Faith Estimate. That means that a broker thinks they can secure you financing at that interest rate. After you decide to make an offer, your broker can provide you with a pre-approval letter.
I guess there could be a third, your offer is just a starting point especially with bank owned properties.
At this point we have made an offer on one property and were asked for our best and final offer due to their being multiple offers. Now we play the waiting game. Either way I'm having a panic attack when we hear.
For the last month and a half we have learned a whole lot about buying a home.
The first weekend we drove around just looking at the outsides of buildings and the areas they were in. Were these places we would be happy with? As it turns out, they were. So then we looked on the insides (luckily we have a friend - Jeremy Segal with @ Properties to show us the ropes). There was one really terrible place and a few others that we could actually see ourselves living in, with enough work.
So then it became about financing, which is when I learned the two biggest take aways I have found thus far.
1. Your credit score is not as bad as you think it is. Ok, that may not be true for some. But for me, I was totally scared that the random times I got caught up with work and forgot to pay my utility bills had ruined my credit score. Not true at all. There are other factors involved, such as assets to debt. I have always maintained low balances on my credit cards and consistently paid them off, this certainly helped. There are things you can do to improve your score, now is the time to do that. Especially with credit cards increasing interest rates and tightening their lending.
2. The myth of "pre-approval." Jeremy hooked us up with a few brokers and we filled out a form. What we then got back from that is a Good Faith Estimate. That means that a broker thinks they can secure you financing at that interest rate. After you decide to make an offer, your broker can provide you with a pre-approval letter.
I guess there could be a third, your offer is just a starting point especially with bank owned properties.
At this point we have made an offer on one property and were asked for our best and final offer due to their being multiple offers. Now we play the waiting game. Either way I'm having a panic attack when we hear.
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