Its Happening!

Things are moving right along with the house. The inspection identified a few minor things that we have asked the seller to repair, but nothing major. I got our loan approved today and we will hopefully lock in a rate this afternoon - 3.75% on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Wow! We anticipate closing on Nov 29 - TD and I will both come back from Mexico for the closing - TD will just stay for a few days, and I will stay til mid-December to work on getting the floors replaced and a new HVAC unit put in.

We are hoping to do stained and polished concrete floors in the kitchen, hall, hall bath, master bedroom and guest bedroom. Right now they are a combination of sheet vinyl and carpet.

Also, the HVAC unit is as old as the house (29 years), so we will be looking to replace it before the end of the year to take advantage of local and federal tax credits. Although the current system works fine, we hope that replacing it with a more efficient unit will lower our monthly bills, and will be a good investment for resale.

SOLD!

I heard from our real estate agent yesterday that the buyer got her mortgage commitment for the asking price, so the house is SOLD! Eek--that means we have to move soon! Right now closing is set for June 1st!

House selling update

Our final hurdle for selling the condo was for the buyer to secure her mortgage (she is financing 80%). Unfortunately, the appraisal from the mortgage company came in low--$12K too low. According to my real estate agent, the appraiser was not familiar with the area and used some properties as comparables which were in a not as desirable neighborhood, and ignored some recent sales in our neighborhood.

We granted the buyer a 1 week extension (to April 8), and a new appraiser came out today. Hopefully the house will appraise for the listing price, and we will move forward with the sale. We are looking to close on June 1, which is a bit of a pain as its the Tuesday after labor day. I am not sure how feasible it will be to move this date, but it would be really nice not to have to move during a holiday weekend!

Home sweet home

As I mentioned previously, we are selling the condo that I have lived in for 2 years (with TD for 1). Its been a short period of time to own, but as we know that we will be leaving the Boston area with no plans to return, now seemed like the time to sell. We initially thought of renting the house out for a few years, but decided we wanted to avoid being absentee landlords if we could help it.

I called the realtor who had helped me buy the house, and within a week she was showing it to other agents, and 5 days later we had a full price offer. So, we probably could have asked for a little more (you were right Dad!), but TD and I are happy that we won't have to keep our house in showing condition for much longer. We are naturally very neat and decluttered, but the thought of having strangers walking through your house kicks it up another notch. Plus it will be nice to pull my vacuum back out and put the heater back in the bathroom.

Everything is falling into place, including the home inspection; the last hurdle is for the buyer to secure her mortgage funding. This should happen April 1 and we will close on June 1. So, pretty soon I will have to start calling moving companies...ugh. It feels like we just finished unpacking Tom's stuff. Moving a few more times is probably in the cards for us for the next couple of years, so I just have to suck it up. Ah, the glamorous life of two baby academics! I absolutely LOVE this place, though I admit it is a little small for 2 people, it is working really well for us right now.

Plus, the kitchen is pretty much my dream kitchen, since we installed a dishwasher in November. Well I would add an induction or gas range and heavy duty exhaust hood, but that's it. I love having drawers rather than cabinets and the open shelving has really grown on me. I really love how we have the house decorated, it really feels like us. So I'm going to be sad to leave, but excited to set up our new home in __TBD__. In the meantime, here are a few more pics of our current place.