Hello again

Hello my small hand full of readers. I know it has been awhile...I have reasons.

1. Moved into my new house. YAY! I'll post pictures one of these days. :)
2. New job. I'm now the lead tech (supervisor) of radiology at an outpatient imaging clinic & stand alone ER. I've never been in this type of position, so to say I'm scared to death & feeling like a fish out of water, would be an understatement. I am not comfortable in this role but I know it will be good for me. Most importantly, I argued with God several times when considering this position & told Him many times I wasn't right for this job & then He told me Moses wasn't either. Now I'm not comparing myself to Moses or my little role to leading the Jewish nation through the wilderness for several decades but, that vision of Moses reminding God of his shortcomings & God choosing him anyway, comforted me & stopped me from arguing with Him anymore.
3. My computer just got back last Friday from being in the shop for about a month. That is a long frustrating story & basically, my computer is still acting up but I'm not in the mood to annoy you all with that. Essentially, I think I have decided to learn to build my own computer. I have an old computer that the hard drive is fried on (I assume) & a laptop that is beyond recovery. I thought about throwing them out but I think that I have pretty much decided to use what is still good on them to rebuild them. The best way to learn about computers is to build your own, so I think I'm going to set up one of my extra bedrooms as an office & IT workshop. :)

So, needless to say my life has been a little nutty lately. I can't wait to get back to blogging but this coming week is ridiculously crazy & the next isn't much better but once life settles a bit or at least I get use to it, I may not be blogging quite as much. So, until next time...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!

Adventures in Homebuying: The Inspection

Friday morning my Realtor & I met my home inspector at the house for the inspection. The inspector was very nice & open about what he was doing, his findings, his opinions, & patient & thorough in answering my questions.

He was very impressed with the condition of the house especially considering the age of the house (23 yrs). There were only a few minor issues that could be resolved with a trip to Lowes & 20 mins. There was only one issue that would require a quick stop of an electrician & a couple that would require a handyman or daddy.

I've asked the homeowners to fix a couple of the problems that need fixing sooner rather than later & the rest of them I'll fix along the way. Nothing I asked them to fix will cost much money or time & they seem to be pretty miticulous about how well they've kept their home & I doubt they will mind fixing them. We had a storm the night before & a couple of shingles were blown off & there are two cap things that go around the vents in the roof that need replacing. The only other things were some insulation on the refrigerant coolant tubes that are connected to the AC & the shower diverter is stuck in the master bath which means you can only run the shower & not the tube faucet. Two other things I've asked them about are if their sprinkler system has a backflow preventer/shut off & if so, where it is, and there was a light switch in the living room that we couldn't figure out what it went to.

I emailed my broker & told him I definitely want this house so he said he would order the appraisal & now, I've just got to find some property insurance.

Adventures in Homebuying: An offer they can't refuse...I hope

Well, I made an offer on a house. It is a bit smaller than what I wanted, particularly the kitchen, but there is so many benefits to this house that everything balanced out.

My sister & I met with my realtor Thursday morning. We toured 4 houses & this particular one happened to be the first & the cheapest we looked at, however it was the one that would need the least amount of work. After touring all 4 houses, I called my dad & asked if he could come out & look at the house on Saturday. He & mom walked though the house with me on Saturday morning. They were both very impressed & I decided to make an offer. So now it is just a waiting game. I hope I know in the next couple of days because I have to give 60 days notice to my apartment.

So, here are the some of the pluses of this house:

• big, beautiful back yard...I'm not kidding this yard is to die for
• raised planters perfect for the garden I have been wanting for 5 years
• huge tool shed in the back
• absolutely nothing needs to be done in order to move in
• garage with tons of built in storage
  
• the price was perfect

The kitchen is a bit smaller than what I would love but it is still nice & all the large appliances are pretty new & clean as opposed to the ones I have in my apartment which are older than me & were filthy when I moved in & still are quite terrible no matter how much time I have spent scrubbing them. The closets aren't huge but there are three bedroom closets & it is just me so I think I'll manage. :) The only other thing that my dad noticed was the AC unit is getting a bit old but even if I have to spend $5000 in the next few years it still wouldn't be the cost of the other houses I looked at that needed several thousands of dollars of work just to bring the house up to being able to move in.

This house is a bit small but is just fine for me, even if I get married & have a baby. Now if I do have a kid one of these days I'll want to look for a bigger house but for now, I don't need any more space to clean. :)

I'll have plenty of room for Rock Band parties & Bible studys. I've wanted to have a Halloween party for years but never felt comfortable having one in my apartment. Now, I'll have a place of my own for one. :) Unfortunately, I won't have the house for this year's Halloween but maybe next year. :D

Adventures in Homebuying: The Decision

Well, I decided the other night that I am going to take the plunge. I'm going to buy a house.

My dad has been bugging me to buy a house for years telling me that renting is just "throwing your money away." And he is right...as usual. I kept putting it off because I really don't care much for the city & didn't really like living here & wanted to move back to Arkansas but I really think I was just running from myself & God. I don't think I would have been happy no matter where I was. Now my relationship with the Lord is back on the right track & I am genuinely happy. I have things I want to change in my life & longings but you always do. The joy that comes from Christ is different than from having all your wants & desires...but I digress. So, after living here for 5 yrs I have decided to take that enormously frightening step into home-ownership & hope I don't crash & burn.

So how did I just decide all of a sudden? I'm glad you asked...Ms/Mr. Nosy...

Well, every year about this time (& usually just after the New Year) I get the itch to start looking. I usually get scared & blow it off but this year I decided it was time to quite playing & do this thing. Actually, I really hadn't thought much about it lately. I knew that my lease was coming up for renewal pretty soon but I really hadn't thought of what I was going to do. I knew that I really didn't want to stay here in this apartment another year but I have very little money saved up (at least not as much as I have always planed on) due to me not living as frugally as I should (I'm working on that & actually I have done a lot better...with a few exceptions).

Anyway, lately the weather has been quite nice so I have been skipping the gym & taking advantage of the nice weather & walking the neighborhood across the street from my apartment. (I've also had a cough for the last month & didn't want to do anything too vigorous to get me into a coughing fit...I do plan on starting back to running sometime soon.) One day a couple of weeks ago I walked by one house & noticed a "For Sale By Owner" sign & decided to take one of their flyers out of the old Pringles/Stacked Lays canister. They were asking a reasonable price for my neighborhood & that is what sparked the idea.

Now, don't get excited, I probably won't purchase this particular house. The asking price is still a bit out of my max price zone & they have a pool. While I would absolutely love a pool & probably use it quite a bit, pools always raise your electricity, water, & insurance rates, not to mention the price of upkeep (chemicals, cleaning, replacing pumps, etc). I still want a pool but I'm really going to have to watch what I spend for the next few years. Now if I could attract me some rich young man, things might change but until then, it's Ramen Noodles & Velveeta. Well, maybe not that extreme but still...can't be careless.

The final push that made me decide was that I finally got my new lease agreement & noticed they had gone up on my rent again & while I expected it, seeing the actual number they were going to be charging me, ticked me off for some reason & I said that was it, I am buying. :)

Really, there is no reason for me not to buy right now & with that $8000 tax credit that they are offering right now, it would kind of be stupid not to...at least for me. So, this morning I met with a realtor & a mortgage broker to see what I can afford & get things moving. The tax credit thing ends at the end of November along with my lease so we have to get the ball rolling. The broker told me I was in good shape & can afford what I was thinking I could afford & maybe slightly more (but not too much). Now I've just got to get my paperwork together for him & sign the other paperwork for the realtor & get this show on the road.

Now I'm freaking out a bit. What am I getting myself into? Am I making a terrible mistake? What if I get careless with my money & mess up big time? What if this is my will & not the Lords?

People who make less than me, have much worse credit, tons of debt &/or loans buy houses everyday, why am I freaking out so much? If they can do this, then surly I can too.

I think the a one of the big stressors for me is in order to be in a safe neighborhood, I am going to have to be willing to spend a little bit more &/or maybe live a little further out. The living a little further out actually would be nice...at least in the areas that I would consider. I grew up in the country & for 4 years drove 45 min one way twice a day so adding 5 mins onto already 5-10 min commute would be nothing. Plus, moving a little further out gets me away from so much city like life & two of my closest friends live in or at least closer to the area I am referring to, so that would be nice too.

Another stressor is being I'm a single income really restricts you on how much you can spend & if something happens, I'm it. Eek!

Another is that I really want my parents to like the place I pick out but being limited with budget & time means that (1) I may not get as big of a house my dad would like to see me in & (2) it may not have some of the features that would really be nice such as a back or side facing garage. My did really does not like the garage facing the street & with good reason & I also agree but it is actually pretty rare to find houses like that. Also, I do not care for a fire place. They take up wall space & I doubt I would use it enough to get any worth out of it but for some really strange reason, almost every house in this area have a fireplace. We're in Texas people! Of course I may change my mind when the electricity goes out during an ice storm . LOL

Ok well, I would talk more but this is already long enough & I've been up over 24 hrs now & I've got to clean house tomorrow so I am heading to bed. Pray for me, guys. I really need guidance, wisdom, peace, & self-discipline/restraint.