watch out for falling tile!

Just another note about how much needs to be done to the house:

This morning was the first day we used the shower there.  I got the water just the right temperature, and then turned the switch to make it come out of the showerhead--and it was directed right on the back wall of the shower.  I tried to move the nozzle, but it wouldn't budge.  I got David out of bed. He tried to move the nozzle--no luck.  When all else fails-get tools.  So David went and got some tools and eventually was able to point it a bit lower on the back wall.  But still not quite right.  It was late enough that I didn't care and just got in the shower.  Half way through the shower I heard a clatter and felt something at my feet.  LO and behold-a tile had fallen off the wall of the shower and was in the tub.  Since they are aluminum tiles, it didn't break or shatter or anything, but it is usually not a good sign when a tile just falls off the wall.  I'm thinking there is probably some serious water damage issues in that wall.  I think the bathroom re-model is quickly moving up the list of most important things to do!

move-in progress

Well, the move-in on thursday went well.  We had movers come and they moved us, with our help, in a little over 3 hours.  It was worth the money to get it done that quickly.  The movers remarked how our proportions were odd.  Most people have more furniture than boxes.  We had more boxes than furniture.  I attribute that partly to my good packing job. I think the kitchen itself took about 20 or more boxes just to keep all the breakable stuff safe.  But we do have lots of stuff, and not so much furniture.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to fit any of the stuff from our storage unit in that load, so we are planning to make a few trips in the matrix today to hopefully clear out the storage.  I just know that I have at least a few kitchen boxes there, and the kitchen is pretty much already full...so it looks like our basement is going to come in handy!

 

We are not quite finished unpacking yet.  I had to do quite a bit of cleaning, and we aren't even done with that yet.  I really wish I had one more day this weekend to get things straightened. 

 

I had a realization on the days we were painting before move-in.  I had forgotten how ubiquitous spiders are here.  Living on the 4th floor in our condo greatly reduced the number of spiders we saw.  But this house is so close to the earth, that we have alot more spiders to deal with than we did before.  But, I'm getting used to them.  I never thought I would say that!

 

Today's schedule is french toast for breakfast (sunday is usuallly a fun/fancy breakfast day), then multiple trips in the car to unload the storage unit, more unpacking, and hopefully a trip to the dog park for maggie. 

moving day tomorrow

Tomorrow is moving day. We'll hopefully be done with all the actual moving by 2 at the latest, and then the rest of the day will be spent unpacking. We've still got some packing to do tonight, and we have to disassemble some things to make them easier to move.

We had to put a second coat of paint on the ceiling last night. It was still too streaky. Unfortunately, we ran out of paint before we could finish the guest room, hallway and bathroom. So, I guess we are going to try and do that tonight, as well as vacuum and do some cleaning, and install our ceiling fans. I'm going to need to buy a big bottle of pine-sol to do some mopping downstairs in the basement. Heck--this is all really ambitious. We'll be lucky to get the painting finished and one of the ceiling fans installed.

I'm going to need a long nap come the weekend. This is tiring me out!

photos of the house

David took a bunch of photos of the house. Here they are. This posting in no way excuses you from coming to visit and see it yourself! ;-)

The main point/idea of these pictures is that you can see how much work needs to be done-and then when we make all our changes, as we surely will over time, you'll be able to see how much better it is. Please don't take my comments (a bit sarcastic at times) below in the wrong way--I think this is a great house in a great neighborhood, but it does require some updating.


Ah..the bathroom. Has pink and black aluminum tile, as you can see...also really "pretty" vinyl flooring with flowers. Just our style.

Kitchen in the next 2 pics. Notice that there are 3 different colors of green in the kitchen--none of which match or coordinate. Also, the countertop on one side is totally different from the countertop on the other side. But it is so much bigger than the one we have now--we won't bump butts when we are cooking anymore (unless we do it on purpose!)



close up of the "beautiful" chandelier in the dining room. You all know that is going right away.



View of the dining room from the living room. You can see a bit of the entry closet door on the right.

Here is the living room. Big windows--unfortunately only that one is operable. But you get a good territorial and mountain view from here.

Main Entry door.

our soon to be guest bedroom

The master bedroom.


This is the rec-room area, as David has been calling it. I love the old-school tiles--reminds me of grade school floors (I'm serious!)

The stairs to get to the basement.

This is the illegal 3rd bedroom in the basement--which will become David's shop space.

This little contraption sold me on the place--it is in the garage. The thing with jars on all sides of it spins to allow access to each of the jars and their contents. Some person had a lot of time on their hands and alot of creativity to have created this.

here is the garage with storage area. 1 problem--the garage door is not only manual-but there is no way to get into it from outside. So if you drove up the driveway, you would have to get out of the car, go through the main door, go downstairs, unlock the garage door, then drive in. Kind of beats the point of having a garage like this!


The backyard...definitely needs some tlc and some grass seed. Can't wait to plant some veggies /herbs.

The monstrosity that is our neighbor to the north. As you can see, they pretty much look down on our yard from any window in the house. We are planning on planting some fast growing trees to help shield us from the ever-existent gaze of the house. This house does have a great landscaped yard, and they display their "no iraq war" sign--so they can't be all that bad.

This is the south side of the house. The owners left that great ladder. That little "hut" coming off the side of the house is the home for the old lawnmower the old owners left as well. That corrugated plastic material must have been on sale at some point, because they used it everywhere!

here it is again. This is the north side of the house. There is a door to the kitchen on this side-deck. The green plastic "roof" certainly keeps the rain off, but it isn't exactly aesthetically pleasing.

Ah...the back of the house. The green plastic stuff extends here, and as you can tell, this part is in need of some care.

Here is the front of the house again--now with our car in the driveway. Weeding needs to be done!


this is our street, looking north

Our new view of Mt. Rainier


And the view of our street to the south. We don't like that there are no curbs, but it does make it quiet, because most cars think it is an alley!


And that is all folks!

got the keys!!!

We officially are Seattle landowners! Our own little patch of 5000 square feet in the city of seattle! We got the Key (only one) last night. We went over with a load of stuff in the car, and crossed our fingers that the key worked. It did- and we proceeded to paint the ceiling of the entire main floor. David also took a ton of "Before" pictures-- So we can show you all how crappy it is now, and then show you how great we make it look later. I'll post some of those pictures as soon as he gets them to me.

The reason we painted the ceiling first was because the previous owners had slapped a coat of white paint up on everything, but only did one coat, which made the ceiling and walls look streaky. So, we decided that while we don't have any furniture, it is the perfect time to lay down dropcloths and paint the ceiling. We were there until about 10 last night, and then went home to wash all the paint specks off and I fell into bed and was probably asleep within 5 minutes. Hopefully we won't need to do a second coat since they already did a coat before us. I'm crossing my fingers.

I've also decided what the theme of our housewarming party will be:
"The help Liz and David decide what they need to fix first party"

I'm thinking that we will have a ballot and everything. We'll list the things we think need to be fixed and then have some write-in spots for people to add things to the list. And then everyone helps us decide what is the first thing that needs to be done! Sounds fun to me!

latest news

So, we currently have a "mutually accepted" purchase and sale agreement on our condo.  It is subject to inspection and subject to the financing contingency.  The inspection is supposed to happen tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we'll know in a few days if they will waive the inspection contingency.  I can't imagine what they would find to be wrong.   If all goes well, the condo will close on August 18th. 

 

Also, if all goes well, we'll be moving everything this week!  I'm not sure how that is going to happen but we're going to shoot for it.  We get the keys to the house tomorrow evening, because that is when we will be officially "homeowners"!!!

 

 

unreasonable?

Here are some of the things we thought were just unreasonable. They were trying to take advantage of us as FSBO sellers. I told our buying agent about it today and she said that we did great and everything that we counteroffered on were things that she would have suggested as well.

So...how gullible did they think we are?
1. They provided no pre-approval letter!!!!!!
2. They did not provide a copy of the earnest money check.
3. They wanted their financing contingency to go up until the day of closing!!!
4. They wanted 10 days for the inspection contingency.
5. We asked for a 3 week close- they gave us a 5 week close.
6. They gave us a paltry sum for the earnest money.

I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting.

We asked them to change all those things above. The realtor just called and said they agreed to our requested changes, and then emailed me a scanned copy with the buyer's initials on the changes. There were 3 changes we requested that weren't initialled on the copy we saw. It wasn't the original, so maybe it just didn't come through, but we are having them make it totally clear that they agree with those changes by initialling them so that we can SEE them. I'm not taking any chance with this!

counteroffer

So....we made a counteroffer.  They offered listing price, but many of the other things made us feel like they were trying to take advantage of us.  So, we made some changes and sent it back with the agent to show her client.  We'll know by tomorrow night (hopefully sooner), if the buyer is willing to accept our changes.  We had our neighbor who is an attorney look it over with us, and she was super helpful.  We watch her cats all the time, so she was more than happy to help out.  We'll miss her.

going nuts

I'm going nuts here.  We are supposed to view an offer tonight at 6pm, and today there have been 3 people who seemed quite interested in making an offer as well.  I don't think they all will, but even if one of them does that would be great!  Two of the 3 today have been people without real estate agents, and one has an agent.  This is exciting.  But stressful too.  I'm afraid of making a mistake.   arghh!

the infamous letter

For your viewing pleasure.  I've been asked many times what we said in our letter to make them pick us.  THE letter is below--you'll see that there is really nothing that special--but it was obviously special to the owners.  You'll see that I've changed some of the identifying information.

Dear Homeowner,

I'd like to introduce myself and my husband.  My name is Elizabeth and I am a research scientist at the University of Whatever, and David is a residential architect at "x" Architects on Jane Doe Ave.   We have been looking for a house to fit our needs for quite some time. 

We want to let you know that we'll take very good care of the home in which you've been living.  David is knowledgeable of home construction and maintenance, as well as handy with tools.  We take pride in our property and we are dedicated to maintaining / improving it.  These are values that your neighbors will appreciate and benefit from.

The yard offers great opportunities for gardening and landscaping.  I really enjoy these activities and will take pleasure in adding my own personal touches to the yard.  Furthermore, the large backyard is excellent for our 8 year-old golden retriever, Maggie, to run, play and relax in. 

Your house is very well located for our commuting needs.  We appreciate its proximity to the Jobby-job for my work commute, which is conveniently along the same route that David would take to his office.  In this way, we can travel together by car, or I can take a bus to and from the University...or even bike in!  So many other homes we've viewed would have David backtracking across town or require a second vehicle.

We want this to be our "30-year home" where we can stay and raise a family.  We would be proud to be the next owners and are sincere in our offer to take care of the home that you have cared for over the years.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth and David Litzler

the flyer

I'm not sure how well this will come out.... I think if you click on the picture it will make it bigger? But anyway, this is the flyer David made to advertise our condo. Pretty cool, huh!?

feeling better and photos

Everyone...please stop worrying! I am fine. In fact, that feeling went away the very next day, so there is no need to be concerned. I do appreciate that you all care about me, though.

We had a busy weekend finishing up work on the condo. New carpet gets installed today and it goes on the market tomorrow.

Below are the ten photos that David used on the flyer he created for the condo. Look at the new kitchen improvements!

heart palpitations

This morning I woke up and had this funny feeling in my chest.  Sort of like my heart was racing (but my pulse was normal), or like my heart was in my throat, or maybe one of my lungs had deflated over night.  The feeling really wasn't that bad, but was definitely a different feeling than normal.  It seemed to go away an hour or so after I got to work, but just about an hour ago here (around 2pm), I started to have that same feeling again.  I don't think it is anything serious, but is just a physical manifestation of stress.  I had no idea I was THIS stressed.  I didn't know until my body told me. Usually, I just get headaches or my dry skin acts up or something.  This is in a whole other category.

I recall one of my sisters was having some heart issues one time and saw a doctor.  They turned out to be a result of stress, and they went away when the stress went away.  I'm going to assume that is what is going on here.  David worries about these things more than I do, and I think he is wondering whether I should see a doctor, but I think it will go away on its own when all this excitement settles down.  Of course, if it doesn't, I'll make an appointment.  But, I'm sure it will go away.

David took a FAB picture of the remodeled kitchen that I will post when he has a few of the other pictures done.  He is almost done with our flyer, just needs to do a few "re-shoots".  I'm so tempted to post it now, but I think it will be better to put them all together. 

THE list

You know me, I make lists. Especially when I start to get stressed. Well, as soon as I found out we had gotten the house, I immediately had a desire for a big piece of paper and a pen. I needed to make a list. We are closing so quickly and have to sell our condo at the same time. Sometimes I think that it won't happen. Then I look at THE list and see what David and I have already crossed off, and I feel a little bit better.

There is alot to do, and very little time. I've been getting less and less sleep this week. And I could tell that it was affecting me because by 9:30 last night I was starting to get cranky and just wanted to go to bed.

I'm really happy that we got this house, and I think David is happy too. He keeps mentioning different things that are positives about the house. Like the fact that it has a really good place for a Christmas tree. That one really made me smile. Maybe he'll actually let me get a tree this year! YEA!

We bought a house!

Here are some pictures of the house. They are the only pictures we have right now!

we're buying a house!

The hunt is over...we had an offer accepted on a house last night.  Instead of explaining it all myself, I'm going to plagiarize an email David sent to some people (it is almost like David posting!):

 

 So, Liz and I made an offer on a house yesterday and it was accepted by
the owners.  There were 6 other offers, and two were actually $7,500
higher than ours!  The owners chose us for a couple of reasons:  1) we
were the only buyers whose agent presented their offer to the owners in
person (which Beth said the owners' appreciated), and 2) we wrote a
letter that really appealed to the owners (the wife actually cried...
she is very emotionally attached to the house - it's been in her family
for a long time).  So, that means we are closing on the house in two
weeks and we're scrambling to get our condo ready to go on the market
next Tuesday.

Anyway, the house is in a good neighborhood with close proximity to the
UW.  It's close to the #71 bus line, which Liz can take to and from the
university and also goes downtown.  The UW is also conveniently located
between the house and my office, so I can drop Liz off at the
university as I commute to work without straying from my route (in
other words, the house is ideally located for our commuting needs).

Because at least two other people were willing to pay more than us for
the home, that means we bought it for less than market value... that
means instant equity!  The bathroom and kitchen need to be updated,
which will also add significant value for resale.  Then, of course, the
good location means it will appreciate more than a home further away
from downtown... currently the appreciation rate is about 12% per year.
 So, this should prove to be a good investment for us.

The house is fairly spacious.  There are two bedrooms (one will be a
dedicated guest bedroom... no more rearranging the living room for
guests!) and a bath on the main floor, along with a good sized kitchen,
dining and living room.  There is also a basement with an attached
garage.  The basement includes a rec. room where we will eventually put
some exercise equipment, the computer, our sleeper sofa, and a TV (will
probably be our movie watching room).  There is also a utility room
down there and a third room that will probably become my shop.

The lot is fairly large for Seattle (5,080 SF... most are roughly 3,500
SF - 4,000 SF), and it has alley access in the back.  That means we
could eventually add a second garage or outbuilding (accessory dwelling
unit, aka mother-in-law) at the back end of the lot.  The backyard is
also large enough for Maggie to run and play, plus we are much closer
now to Maggie's favorite dog park, which means we can go more often!

It's not a very pretty house in my opinion, but it has excellent
interior space compared to all the others we viewed.  Besides, at least
6 other people were willing to buy it as is.  We'll fix it up and make
it much more appealing... in time and as we get money.  It's style
lends itself well to a very modern remodel in the distant future.  I
see going up a level over the north half of the house (a master suite
addition), and making a roof view deck over the south part of the
house.  Supposedly there is a good view of Mt. Rainier from the living
room (the SE corner of the house), but it was overcast both times we
viewed the home and we didn't see it.  For some reason Seattleites go
nuts for views, so that will be good for resale too.  Personally, I
don't spend that much time staring out the window at a view, so I don't
care that much about views.  But hey, it's a bonus that I'll take!
 

island dreaming and living

We went to David's boss' island cabin over the weekend.  It was wonderful as usual.  And it doesn't cost us much other than gas to drive to the marina and boarding for Maggie.  The weather was great, and we spent some time on the beach, did some walks/hikes in the woods, and were just plain lazy.  People were reading books, magazines, playing sudoku etc.  and everyone was responsible for a different meal.  We prepared Saturday night dinner for 10 people, with much help from others.  I get stressed when I have to cook on the spot for that many people, especially because it isn't my kitchen so it is hard to feel comfortable with things.  We had jamaican jerk seasoned shrimp, scallop and chicken Kabobs, a pineapple relish, pasta with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives, and for dessert we had fresh raspberries and blueberries topped with freshly whipped lemon curd cream.  Very yummy.  All the other meals were wonderful as well--I definitely think I ate more than my share this weekend!

 

Today back to the land of the working.  arghh.

please please please go see it!

On monday David and I went to go see "An Inconvenient Truth". It was a fabulous documentary. If you've wondered whether a generation or two down the line will be able to see the same things you've seen, you'll get your answer. In short, we are killing the planet with our carbon emissions. And that means, that we will end up killing many species, including thousands (tens of thousands!) of our own.

I can't tell you how excited, moved, overwhelmed and ready to take action I was after the movie. It provides great evidence for the demise of our planet--you know that feeling of ' it will never happen to me/us' ? Well, this made me think that without a doubt it will and is happening to us, and it may happen in my lifetime. It is very scary to think about.

But the part of this that is exciting is that if we act now, as a country and a world, we can stop this demise from happening. Please see the movie, and then please take action. I know the movie isn't in every city, but most of you all are in bigger cities where it is more likely to be.

If you can't see the movie, or just want more information before you go see the movie, go to
www.climatecrisis.net

Seriously, this is a gigantic/ginormous/enormous crisis--let's keep our planet and climate liveable for many many generations after us.

fireworks and fire

Most of you know that we have a pretty good view of the fireworks on Lake Union. We enjoy our Fourth of July's --don't have to go anywhere, don't have to fight traffic and drunk people, and we can just get blankets out of the closet if it gets too cold. The fireworks this year were good, and we saw some new types that we had never seen before. It seems like every year they have something new. Here are a few pictures of the fireworks that David took.

Below is what it looked like outside before the fireworks started. Isn't it pretty?

Maggie knew something was up around 7pm last night. She started pacing around the condo, and didn't really want to come out on the deck with us where we were playing Scrabble. Around 8:30 I got really worried because I couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in any of her usual places. She wasn't under the table, or on the side of the bed. And, it didn't look like she had broken down our cardboard dog-gate that was blocking our open front door. She wasn't in her usual spot on the cool bathroom tile, either. But since I couldn't find her, I went all the way into the bathroom, and lo and behold...she was in the bathtub. You could tell she wanted to find someplace safe. We typically have to coax her and give her treats just to get her into the bathtub when we give her a bath, so it was disconcerting to see her willingly laying in the tub. I put a towel down in the tub for her to lay on, and that was where she stayed until the fireworks were over. I alternated between watching the fireworks, and going in to say hello and comfort Maggie. I think she did better this year than she did last year. She definitely chose the place that was quietest in the house.

Around 1/ 1:30 am, a fire broke out across the lake from us on a dock that one of the huge NOAA research boats was moored to. David woke me up to see it. The fire grew to encompass the whole dock, then we saw fire on the boat, and a few hours later (they were still fighting it), the wind shifted and the fire lept onto land and burned down a NOAA building. They evacuated all the houseboats at that point. Luckily no homes were damaged, and no people were injured from the fire.

The thing that makes me mad about the fire, is that it was almost certainly the result of illegal fireworks. They are illegal in the city limits, but some people seem to think they are above the law. The news article on the fire that I read today said that the fire started on the west end of the dock. The is the side closest to us and to the lake. Likely someone on a boat was lighting firecrackers etc, and it landed on the dock and ignited it. It makes me so mad that people have so little care for others property. I mean, for goodness sakes, people are lighting firecrackers in high density housing areas with lots of trees! Are they just assuming that they won't be the one that causes the fire? Someone always does. Here are some pictures of the fire while it was going and the aftermath of the fire that we saw this morning. David did some great camera work for these pictures. They might even get published in the Seattle Times tomorrow!

I believe this picture is of the fire after it moved to the land.
Look at the blaze on the dock!
It is such a frightening, and sad sight.
You can see the fireboat pouring water on the blaze in the pic. below. The NOAA boat is easily visible in front of the fire. There were a few fireboats working, and they called in every firetruck from Seattle and asked for help from all the surrounding communities. It still took them hours to finally put it out.


Morning Pictures:
Look at all the smoke still coming off in the morning

Below is the NOAA boat. The boat is typically a light grey color--the side you see is black b/c it has been charred by the fire.

This whole story just re-iterates how stupid non-professional fireworks can be in most city areas. I'll bet it was from fireworks--how else would a spark get to the end of the dock? Why do people risk their lives and others' lives, just for a cheap thrill?

musing about "what if"

I've been thinking lately about some "what ifs".  It seems like everyone around me is having babies right now, and I so I'm hearing all about who is going to take care of the baby once the mother goes back to work, and that sort of stuff.  Then I wonder about who would take care of my baby if/when I have one.

 

Talking about that sort of stuff reminds me that my family is spread out all over the country.  Literally from coast to coast.  We're so far away we can't even drive to see each other.  (there might be one exception to that...Denver-KC).  I know other families that have a member or two far away from them, but most families have a central place to go to see each other, where many of them live.  Many families only have to drive across town.  My family doesn't have that--which makes holidays and other gatherings difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. 

 

So the " what if " I've been thinking about is related to this geographic dispersion issue.  I wonder why my family is so spread out.  Not one of us live in the same city, let alone the same state.  What caused us to all feel little attachment to one place?  Why aren't any of us considering moving to a place where someone else lives? 

 

For me at least, I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with moving to another state when we were younger.  When I was in high school and Emily was in grade school we moved to Minnesota for one year, and then we returned to Cincy.  I can remember trying to make the best of it (as I always did---better to make others happy than for me to happy---but then again, half the time I didn't even know what I was feeling), and I also recall telling my cousins that moving was an experience that made me stronger and that I would feel comfortable moving somewhere else new if needed (I wanted to be / seem to be, a wise, self-sufficient 17yr old). In order for me to make that first move, I think I had to emotionally detach myself from any one place, knowing that I could move again any time.  

 

I certainly could have gone back to a city where I knew people after I graduated from college, but instead I moved to a city where I really only knew one person.  And then I moved to a city where I knew no one.  I know I can't put all the blame on that one move.  Certainly, if all my family had still been in one place after I graduated from college, I might have been more likely to move there.  Or, maybe subconsciously I wanted to get away from my family ;-).    But we all spread out fairly quickly once Emily went to college and my parents divorced.  Before that we were living in different cities, but all within driving distance of one another. 

 

I have a hard time even imagining what it would be like to live in the same city as a family member.  I think it would be good, most of the time.  It makes me sad to think that I may never live near any of my family again.