We went and toured the new house on Saturday so the kids could see it. I didn’t take any pictures because I thought it would be intrusive to take pictures of someone’s house while all their stuff is still in it to post to the Internet, lol.
It’s really nice and I'm totally excited to move now. The Mister and I had been to visit them before but I didn’t remember the layout. The living room opens up into the eat-in kitchen. It has a gas fireplace which they said that they use as a primary source of heat in the winter and it only costs $70 to fill up the tank. Nice! Above the fireplace is a nook that is wired for TV’s. Our new TV will fit into the space but we’re not sure if we’re going to put our TV in there or not. They have vaulted ceilings in the main living area (living room and kitchen) so I am NOT painting. I did that in Vermont and it's such a pain. I like their color scheme anyway. It goes with my furniture.
The kitchen is real nice. The only thing missing is a pantry but I can live without that. It has a side by side refrigerator with water filter and ice maker. The fridge actually works and keeps food fresh. The stove is one of those ceramic cook top deals. I can live with that. AND!!! It has a garbage disposal! I haven't had one of those since 2003 and holy cow! do I miss it.
It has a split floor plan where the master bedroom is on the opposite side of the house from the kids' bedrooms.
The master bedroom has a big walk-in closet and bath with his and her sinks. Lovely!
The kids' bedrooms are nice-sized with generous closets.
Overall, the new house has at least twice the closet and storage space of our current house. And it has a nice sized privacy fenced in backyard. I just hope that we can figure out a way to keep Hannah from digging. Any suggestions?
We also went over the lease while we were there. They were so funny about it. This is the first house that they've rented out so they were nervous that the lease would offend us, lol. There were a couple things that I had never heard of but that I wish I had put in the lease for our house in Vermont so I wasn't offended in the least. I actually told them that they were being too nice about it. It should be a business deal, ya know? They're having the carpets cleaned, touching up the paint on all the walls and leaving us several gallons for our own touch ups, buying us a bottle of cleaner for the stove, and having the house tented for termites before they leave. The termite thing is preventative. See? They're being way nice, not that we don't appreciate it.
They said that they hope we're still friends at the end of this, lol. Us too but I don't see us having any problems. We're good renters. The Mister and I have been renting since 1996 and we've never once been late on our rent. The one time I even requested to pay our rent late was last year when my brother-in-law was killed and we had to go to Ohio unexpectedly. I forgot my checkbook at home. My landlord said it was okay but I went to the post office and paid him with a money order on time anyway. I just can't not pay my rent on time.
Bad news. Apparently the Mister was wrong about the school districts. Neither one of the kids will be in the same school district. The oldest child can be carpooled to her original junior high which will be a pain for me but I don't want her to have to change at this age. We knew that the youngest wasn't going to be in the same school district but we're still not sure what we're going to do about her. Our friends said that the elementary school in their district has been excellent with their son who also has learning disabilities so we're thinking of going ahead and switching schools. I just don't know yet.
More bad news is that they have an HOA. She (the owner) had actually been on the board but got kicked off, lmao. I guess the HOA is filled of retired Marines and their wives who have nothing better to do than to enforce every little regulation. What's more is that they have a website where they bicker and gossip about each other on it. How high school is that?? Are all HOA's like that? They told us a story about a guy who had been in a car accident. He parked his banged up car in his driveway which leaked oil. The HOA told him he had 5 business days to move the car and clean up the mess. When he didn't, they sued him and put a lean on his house!! Holy cow! So, I already hate the HOA. This could prove to be an interesting experience. I told the Mister that this would get us ready to live in base housing again in California, lmao.
Anyway, their movers will have their stuff packed and out of the house on the 20th. Our friends are going to clean the house and then leave themselves on the 25th which is when we can take possession even though they're not making us pay rent until Sept 1. We're paid up in the current house until the 31st so I'm going to take the 25th to the 29th to paint bedrooms and move the small stuff over a little bit every day. The 30th and 31st we'll move the big stuff I couldn't get on my own with a moving truck.
Insomnia and stress headaches are once again my constant companions but I'll be better in October or November when things get back to normal. At least the fall semester doesn't start until Sept 8th. One less thing to worry about.
The house sounds wonderful, Trisha! You've got a nice set of landlords there. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy parents live in an area with a HOA. I remember when my dad decided to paint the house blue--he hadn't tested the paint out before buying it--and it was the brightest blue around! Haha It certainly livened up the rather bland neighborhood. :-) Reps from the HOA came to the house after my dad didn't respond to their threatening letters and he told them that they were welcome to pain his house whatever color they wanted, but they'd have to provide labor and cost (my dad had painted the entire two story house himself). He also suggested that they take a closer look at their own homes and yards and listed violations he had observed that he expected to be corrected if he was forced to change the color of his house. No one bothered him again after that.
The house really was tacky looking back on it, but I was so proud of my dad for standing up to those men and women at the time. I still am.
The house sounds really wonderful! When do you move?
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood is starting to form a HOA out of concern for keeping the street lights on. It's a new neighborhood and the builders just turned over the lighting to the responsibility of the homeowners. Anyway, apparently things are already heating up over the whole thing. Who knows what's going to happen with this whole mess.
My aunt lives in an area with a strict HOA. They are picky about everything. She says some of her neighbors just do things against the grain to piss the whole group off. lol! It's like a big game.
LF~~Thanks. They are pretty nice, lol.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny about your dad and awesome that he stood up for himself.
Pam~~We move on the 31st of this month. I'm an against the grain kinda person myself. I just hate being told what to do, lol. But, this isn't my house so I'll behave. I think it's ridiculous to pay thousands of dollars for a house only to be told what you are and are not allowed to do on your own property.
The house really looks beautiful. I hope you'll post some pictures of the inside once you get settled. My experience with HOA is that as long as you follow the rules you have nothing to worry about. Most of the rules are usually things you usually want to have anyways.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dana. I plan on taking pictures on the 25th before I begin painting and then "after" pictures once I'm done painting.
ReplyDeleteAs for the HOA, you know how I can be about being told what to do, lol.
Yeah I know. We have a HOA here where we are renting but it is mostly stuff like no working on your car in the driveway, not leaving your trash can sitting in the road for days, etc. Stuff like that isn't a big deal to me. Hopefully your HOA won't be so bad :o)
ReplyDeleteI don't think the HOA will really affect us too much since we're renting and wouldn't make improvements to the house or property anyway. I'll still know they're there hovering...
ReplyDelete