Now what?

I'm starting to get restless already. Our timeline will be tight once we take possession, but there's so little I can do at this point to make the transition easier...

We've purged craft stuff, clothes, miscellaneous knick knacks from upstairs - and taken them all to be donated. We don't want to buy a bunch of boxes just to recycle/trash them, so we purchased two rubbermaid containers that we'll take over each day full, and bring back empty - but not starting until March 12. It's just so far away.

I read about how to refinish a hardwood floor. We picked up all of the free paint books at Lowes. I'm trying to figure out if we can redye our freebie leather recliner dark dark brown - the slate blue just doesn't fit with the colors we like. I've flipped through 5 magazines tagging photos I like so that I can scan them into the computer.

I've arranged and rearranged furniture-shaped boxes in the online program I'm using to figure out room layout.

I'm about to pull my hair out.

the doorknob didn't work.

Really.

We had the house inspected yesterday. Our preliminary concerns:

• Heaved sidewalk when entering the yard to the side door - trip hazard
• Garage door only opened 1.5 feet - problem (especially since they need to move their old car out of it)
• Age of furnace: 27
• Age of air conditioner: 21
• Age of hot water heater: 12
• Rotten floorboard (but completely dry now), about 1ft x .5ft under the bathroom - needs to be repaired
• Microwave above oven wasn't plugged in
• Vent for hot water heater was misaligned from asbestos vent - needs to be realigned and sealed
• Trim around roof, windows, doors needs to be repainted - severely flaking off
• Couldn't open the upstairs bedroom door.

The inspector has to go back Saturday morning to pick up the radon tester. At that time he'll check the upstairs bedroom and attic. No termites, no mouse droppings. He was impressed overall with the structure. He suggested renewing the home warranty each year until the hot water heater, a/c, and furnace all need to be replaced - in the next 5 years max, his prediction. That seems logical to us. At that point, when those are all new, it will be like a completely new house (just with an ugly outdated kitchen and bathroom...).

Woo Hoo!

We also talked to the banker today about our mortgage options. We went with our original choice, 80/15 with 5 down. The monthly payment is going to be about $100 less than we were counting on - a plus, for sure!

More

Counter offer 2 made by us.

Keep Up

Counter offer from sellers sent, bam.

Same day, still big!

We put our offer in. Hopefully we'll hear back sometime tomorrow with their counter offer. Will post then.