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If ever there was a TV station that makes you want to do something with wood, HGTV is it. Since Carey and I found the home we chose to buy, I've been watching entirely too much HGTV. Design on a Dime, I Want That, Design Remix, Designer Finals, Curb Appeal, Decorating Cents, Designed to Sell, [...]

The home inspector called back with the results of the 48-hour Radon reading. He said the basement had an average of 2.7 pCi/l. We had a low of 0.7 and a high of 5.8. Anything beneath 4.0 the EPA considers "OK."
I don't particularly like the thoughts of even 2.7, though I realize that's pretty low [...]

Carey and I had the home on which we have a contract inspected yesterday by Pillar to Post inspector Dave Sperring. Let me first say that Dave, though a bit nervous at first, did a stellar job. I'd recommend him - as I'm doing right now - to anyone. Dave is new to the area [...]

Today I drove past "my" house and looked again for a "SOLD" or at least a "Sale Pending" sign. No sign to be seen.
I called the listing agent and pretended to be interested in the property. She told me the specs - the price, the # of bedrooms, the square footage, etc. I asked to [...]

Carey and I drove past our house yesterday. As Google Maps reported, it's 1.7 miles to the Millcreek Mall. Whoo!
The experience wasn't quite what we had thought it would be. We talked about it later in the evening. Neither of us felt much excitement - we drove past it, we looked, and we [...]

The folks currently living in the home Carey and I bought asked for "15/DAC" or "15 days after close" before possession is turned over. We asked our realtor if that was unusual, and she said "yeah, you don't see it very much, but people often do that because they're not sure they can find a [...]

Carey and I went to sign the mortgage today after first stopping by to sign the contract. It's now about as official as it can get. Just a few steps remain:

Get a home inspection (home, pest, radon). Scheduled for 3:30 on Thursday.
Get home insurance. Carey and I will call around today.
Get the money ready. That's [...]

So here's where I'll be living come June 12, 2005. Right there on that little bend in the street. The "x" marks the location of a picture (see the extended entry) and the black lines mark the land that's ours. The black rectangle is roughly where the house sits, though it is just a rectangle [...]

Quick update. The couple that owns the house now counter-offered at $192,000 and no washer and dryer (a $3,000 pair or so) and we accepted. Why someone would bother to risk offending someone for a measly thousand bucks is beyond me.

The house Carey and I are interested in came on the market on Monday at $194,900. We saw it on Thursday as part of a five-house tour, though we left off one house that didn't look appealing and cut other visits short after seeing the house we liked.
The house is in a nice little neighborhood [...]

Carey and I put an offer in on the house we're interested in. Not the first one, again, but the second one. I'll draw up a floor plan and some other things later.
We'll know by tomorrow at 5pm what the deal is. Wowee!

A listing came up on Monday, and Carey and I added it to the list of houses we wanted to see today. We looked at one house, then visited the new one.
It may be our future home.
It's nearly 2000 square feet with only six rooms. A front "playroom," a massive family/living room, a kitchen with [...]

The search goes on. Carey and I are very particular, but we've come up with a list of particulars for the house we'd like.

Something in regions 5, 6, or 7 (Millcreek school district)
Close to Walnut Creek Middle School is preferred
One- or Two-Story; No split-levels
An open floor plan
$160k to $200k
No pool and yard size doesn't matter [...]

Here are the numbers, assuming a $180,000 house, 6.875% interest, and a 30-year loan. Property taxes excluded from calculations. BTW, every "mortgage calculator" for Mac OS X absolutely sucks. I did this with some online tools at bankrate.com.
$180,000, 6.875%, 30 years
Monthly [...]

So, someone made an offer on that house we were considering. I really like the house and want to put in an offer as well. Carey's still very much on the fence about it. Thing of it is: we have an hour to decide.
If you look at it one way, we have nothing to lose. [...]