Moving Military Style Part 6- Offer in, accepted, and a house inspection

We discuss numbers with our agent and she heads back to her office in Kanata to get the paperwork ready, we will sign and submit the offer later this evening.

Back to Lance's house to pick up the boys. They had fun with my mom and dad. Everyone is tired though. We don't even get to see Lance, his wife or my little nephew as they are all still at work and daycare.

We say goodbye and thank you to my mom and dad before deciding to head back into the city to get dinner. We need to go before the meltdowns begin. Max has not eaten lunch (by choice, my mom offered him food all afternoon) and we know that the combination of tired and probably hungry mean he'll be ready to explode soon. Jacob and William want to go swimming in the hotel pool.

Quick dinner and Max is nearly ready for bed. Boys have gone down to pool and our agent shows up with papers for us to sign. We go over everything and sign. She leaves. It's all very anti-climatic after all the rushing around to first fly here and then look at houses. Nothing to do now but wait. If we offered too low, won't even get a counter-offer, and will have to wait until the deadline of tomrorrow at 3 PM to find out after our agent calls the sellers agent.

Wednesday, 08 June 2016

We pack up all our stuff, as today we move to a different hotel. Corey found one nearly across the road from where we were initially. Still no word from the sellers, so we decide to head out to Hogs Back Park for a bit of a hike. We used to take Jay and Will there a lot when we lived in Orleans, years and years ago. Max loved being about to run free on so many pathways, and William doesn't remember the park at all. Jacob remembers bits of it. It's fun to be back again with them and see what we can remember.

We pick up some groceries for lunch and go to the new hotel to check in. Max has fallen asleep, so I wait out in the van with him while he gets a nap in. This is his first nap since we flew in on Sunday. As a toddler who naps every day, this has been an exhausting week for him, and it's not over yet. As I wait, a text comes in from our agent. We have a counter offer and she's on her way over.

It just happens that Max wakes up right then, just as Corey has come back down to check on us and bring more luggage from the van. We manage to get the rest of our stuff out an into the hotel lobby just as our agent shows up. We quickly go over the paperwork and counter back.

Later that evening, we come to an agreement with the sellers. Sign papers and our agent has set up a house inspection for tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. She actually had done this last week. Yes, we had a house inspection set up for a house we hadn't even chosen or had an offer in on! Totally crazy, but it's hard (impossible!) to book them last minute. She does this a lot working with military clients. She just gives the inspector the address of the house once an offer is accepted, or cancels if need be. Very efficient!

We sleep better this night. Better beds, cleaner air (there was something stuffy and horrible in the last place), and the stress is off a bit. We probably won't be homeless in an month.

Thursday, 09 June 2016

Thursday afternoon we find ourselves at the house once again. Inspector is already on the roof when we get there. He comes down once he's done, introduces himself and he's already found problems. House will need a new roof. The inspection continues all afternoon. We also have a wood stove inspector coming, someone for the well and another for the septic. My parents are also set to arrive at some point. Lots of activity in a house where none of us live. It's a bit funny to think of.

My mom and dad arrive and have a pack n play for Max to nap in, borrowed from Lance and Kristen. I set that up in the master bedroom and we see if the inspector can get in there now, before I settle Max in. He can and does. Mom and dad take Jacob and William out for the afternoon. Max falls asleep and I finally have time to catch up with Corey and the inspectors and hear what is going on.

Well has enough water and pressure, so that's good. Water test won't be back until next week. News isn't so good on the septic front- we need a whole new system installed. It isn't big enough for the amount of bedrooms, which means there were no permits when the basement was done and an extra bedroom added. The septic field is full an no longer draining properly. Tanks are cracked. Ugh.

Wood stove is fine and we get the WETT certification for that. This is great and means we can use it for heat in the winter. It's safe.

Home inspector sits down with us and goes over the major points, and some of the smaller ones. On top of needing a new roof and septic, there is wet drywall in the basement, outside the bathroom. Most likely a leak from the toilet. It's only along one outside wall that he can see, but there is mould. We won't know more until we take down walls and pull apart flooring to see.

Some things aren't to code in the garage, but can be fixed. Drainage isn't correct in the front of the house, but with a large overhang, this is probably not much of a problem. We can most likely fix it as well.

There is a long list of maintenance issues to address. Most minor that will take a bit of time and money to repair. The 3 season porch is tilting away from the house. This was an addition and will need to be jacked back up to level it out and set it on the footings correctly. The windows in this room also don't lock or close properly because the whole frame is twisting. Corey and Lance are able to fix this.

We say goodbye to the inspector just as one of the homeowners shows up. Yikes! Corey gets Max up from his nap and I quickly pack up the playpen and get the heck out of there. I don't want to see the owners now that we know there are so many problems!

Our agent asks us to follow her and we leave quickly. We follow her to a restaurant and sit outside discussing what we should do. Everything in the house can be repaired, but some of those repairs come at a great cost. We like this house and it's the only one we've seen that we both agree on and that the boys all like too. We decide to amend our offer on the house to reflect the state the home is currently in and see if the sellers will go for it. We've asked for another 18K off the price. Agent leaves to get paperwork ready at her office while we stay and have dinner with my mom and dad at the restaurant we happened to be pulled in at.

Sign more papers after dinner and offer is sent in by our agent.

Friends are coming through Ottawa on their way to their new house in NS. We were all just posted together in MB and this is our last chance to see each other in a while. They come to the hotel we are staying at for drinks and to find out what's happening on our trip. They think we're crazy to take on the house and all the repairs it needs, but think we can do a good job with it and make it beautiful and functional once again. Nice to have their vote of confidence!