We're here! We made it to the NCR and have set up most of our house.
We arrived in mid-July and have been super busy ever since!
The roof has been replaced, the septic needed replacing and is nearly done. We have just one inspection to go on that. Did anyone else realize that it takes WEEKS to have your septic fields and tanks replaced? It does. If you ever need to know that, just be aware. It also makes a great mess. Piles of sand, clear stone and topsoil all over the yard.
The mouldy basement bathroom has been torn out. We haven't started replacing anything in there yet. It was horrible. Black mould, wood and drywall that were soaked in water. Black 2x4's.
We also tore out all the carpet in the basement family room. It was filthy, and the underlay installed wrong. The rubber bottom layer was touching the carpet instead of being face-down. Which meant that it did nothing to help with the moisture problem down there. There was also no kind of sub floor. Which again, moisture problems.
We have repainted the entire main floor of the house. All 4 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, family room and en suite bathroom. The only room left is the main bathroom. It was many, many weekends of work, trying to fit it around other things going on, but it's done now. The house is much brighter. Who ever thought that a dark, army green colour and a tan/green/grey colour would be a good idea in an already darkish house? We are surrounded by a lot of trees. Light colours are a must!
We're now replacing light switches and outlet covers. Not only are they all an ivory colour, but every single outlet in the house is installed upside down. No idea why. It is so strange. So, Corey has had to shut off power in various rooms- marking the fuse box as he goes- nothing has been labelled! And he's slowly making his way around the house, flipping the wiring over and installing new, white covers.
Next up- sun room needs painting. It's currently dark wood panels and is absorbing most of the natural light. I'm either going to white wash it, or paint it a white colour with a yellow undertone. It will brighten up that room and hopefully inside the house.
After that- the kitchen! The cabinet are all oak, and I'm going to paint them white. We are going to make the island larger and install a flat top cooktop. We have a broken GenAir weird cook top now that I greatly dislike. It only has 2 elements that are cast iron and a grill. Only 1 element actually works and the grill gets warm, but not hot enough to actually cook anything. It's an overall bad set up.
I'd also like to replace the counter tops at some point. They are white, installed poorly and have some burn marks from previous owners. Functional, but ugly.
I'm also back to work with Rodan & Fields! I can't believe I actually got paid this summer and didn't really do any work at all. Hurray for passive income!
I'm currently loving the Unblemish line. It seems to have dried up the exzema I had. Their Soothe line was working ok, but I ran out of wash when I forgot to reorder in all the moving madesss. So, I used the Unblemish wash that Corey uses for shaving. I think it's the sulfur in it that works. So much for thinking it would be too harsh on my skin. It works amazing!
If you are interested in learning more or getting a sample of a few goodies, please send me an email. No one is ever under any pressure to buy anything. Lora (dot) Prentis (at) gmail (dot) com
More posts soon about my new business with Rodan & Fields and our new house. I have got to get some photos on here! The property we bought is very pretty and I want to share before the snow flies!
08 September 2016
24 June 2016
Moving Military Style Part 7- Last Days of HHT; coming home
Friday 10 June 2016
We spend the day waiting to see if our new counter offer is accepted by sellers. They could decide to pull the house off the market altogether and not sell at all. This is stressful.
We've not much to do today. After a hectic start to the week, we aren't sure what to do. Set up rental homes to look at? We don't really want to unless we know for sure what's happening with the other house. Boys can only swim for so long in hotel pool. Shopping? Meh, what would we buy? We don't need anything and whatever we buy either has to come home to MB (which means it will be packed in a few weeks anyway) or stay at someone's house here until we can collect it.
We decide to drive to the East side of Ottawa and show the boys where we used to live, their old school and the playgrounds we spent hours and hours in back in 2005-2009.
Jacob remembers more than we thought he would. William remembers snippets of things. Our old street has changed a lot. All the little trees that were new saplings when we moved in are now quite a bit bigger. The street is looking nice and leafy and starting to fill in. We are disappointed with the state of many of the homes though. They are looking quite run down and shabby. Beyond lawns that needed mowing and flower gardens that needed weeding, doors and trim need painting. A number of homes had stonework in need of repair. Driveways have not been maintained and cracks are filled with weeds. Too bad. These houses are only 11 years old and should look better than they do.
The boys play for a bit at the playground that was just around the corner from our old house. Nothing has changed here, expect for the trees having grown larger. It's quite a cold day, especially for June. We end up freezing cold and decide to leave in search of some lunch. At least we know some of what's around here! There are many new shops, but most of the old ones are still here too.
Driving back over to the West end after lunch, I get a call from our agent. She wants to meet us ASAP. We agree on a time to meet at the hotel in a few hours.
Get to hotel, settle Max in for a nap and send the older boys down to the pool for a swim. Agent arrives and we discuss how to move forward. Time is ticking and we still have not heard back from the sellers agent. Deadline is in 2 hours. Agent's phone rings and it's the seller's agent. Counter offer accepted!!
Happy with that news, we sign more papers and see our agent off. We won't see her again until July, since our flight is tomorrow afternoon. We can now go home and deal with the bank, lawyers and everything else from there.
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Saturday 11 June 2016
We have arranged to visit my brother and his family before we head home. Our flight doesn't leave until 2:30 so we have quite a bit of time. We spend the morning at Lance's letting the boys play and drinking coffee, catching up from the week. This is the least stress we've felt in a few weeks and it's good to unwind a bit. We enjoy is as much as we can before heading to the airport.
Airport and things get crazy. Does anyone else hate the security line up as much as I do? It never fails that I get flagged by the machine for having something on me, or for a "random" check. I do not believe these bag checks and pat-downs are totally random, as I am selected nearly every flight I take. I must appear guilty or something. This time, not only do my boots set off the machine, but on my second pass through after removing them, I am "randomly" selected to have my bags gone through.
I'm so annoyed. Corey, Max and Jacob sailed through the security line quickly and with no issues. They hit the family line and got to jump ahead. I waited for Will to dump out water from his water bottle and by the time he was done, the rest of the family was long gone. We had to wait in the regular lineup. It was long and I was really annoyed at a few of the other people in line with us.
So, by the time I'm not so randomly selected I've about had it. I'm hungry, tired and just want to get away from there. I get grilled about my bags. You know what I have? My purse. That's it. It's not even very big. They ask me if the larger carry-on in the other container beside mine belong to me. They do not. I just TOLD them that all I had was this one item. They ask if the bag on the other side is mine. Seriously? Then they ask if I packed my bag myself. What. The. Hell. It's my purse for goodness sake. I'm so close to screaming at them and making a scene, but don't feel like getting put in their silly little jail or whatever they do to irate passengers. No wonder people get upset!
Then, my boots don't come back. The one guy took them once I removed them the first time the machine went off and I didn't see where they went. So, I'm standing there, in the way of all the people from other countries who are holding passports, collecting their carry on items without trouble, with no shoes. Why are none of these people being stopped? I'm a Canadian citizen, flying within my own country, and they are giving me grief while all these visitors pass through without incident. It is infuriating.
I ask a security lady where my boots are. Apparently they landed back on the security line of stuff and are coming. They take about 10 minutes to show up. So ridiculous. I vow to not fly anywhere again for a very long time, and next time I'll show up to security nude and with no carry on items. This is too stupid for words.
I then find out that while Corey had pudding cups confiscated from his bag, William makes it through with the same kind, undetected. Security is a joke.
We order lunch and guess what? They forget my order. Did I mention how much I hate airports and flying? It is so miserable. Max throws tantrum after tantrum and I want to join him. He's beyond tired, and now we're about to fly for 3 hours over lunch time, nap time and land by his dinner time.
Things don't really improve much on the plane. Max is angry that he has to sit in his seat and does not want to nap. The final 1/2 hour of decent was the worst. Max and the other children around us take turns screaming and having meltdowns. We are the party section of the plane!
We finally arrive home and it's past dinner time. Order pizza and are thankful we don't have to do that again for a while. If we've ever needed a drink it's now. We have no drinks in the house and the only mix is ginger ale leftover from our friends move and donated to us. Bugger. We all go to bed, to exhausted to bother unpacking or starting on the laundry. Tomorrow is Sunday and we'll have time for it then.
We spend the day waiting to see if our new counter offer is accepted by sellers. They could decide to pull the house off the market altogether and not sell at all. This is stressful.
We've not much to do today. After a hectic start to the week, we aren't sure what to do. Set up rental homes to look at? We don't really want to unless we know for sure what's happening with the other house. Boys can only swim for so long in hotel pool. Shopping? Meh, what would we buy? We don't need anything and whatever we buy either has to come home to MB (which means it will be packed in a few weeks anyway) or stay at someone's house here until we can collect it.
We decide to drive to the East side of Ottawa and show the boys where we used to live, their old school and the playgrounds we spent hours and hours in back in 2005-2009.
Jacob remembers more than we thought he would. William remembers snippets of things. Our old street has changed a lot. All the little trees that were new saplings when we moved in are now quite a bit bigger. The street is looking nice and leafy and starting to fill in. We are disappointed with the state of many of the homes though. They are looking quite run down and shabby. Beyond lawns that needed mowing and flower gardens that needed weeding, doors and trim need painting. A number of homes had stonework in need of repair. Driveways have not been maintained and cracks are filled with weeds. Too bad. These houses are only 11 years old and should look better than they do.
The boys play for a bit at the playground that was just around the corner from our old house. Nothing has changed here, expect for the trees having grown larger. It's quite a cold day, especially for June. We end up freezing cold and decide to leave in search of some lunch. At least we know some of what's around here! There are many new shops, but most of the old ones are still here too.
Driving back over to the West end after lunch, I get a call from our agent. She wants to meet us ASAP. We agree on a time to meet at the hotel in a few hours.
Get to hotel, settle Max in for a nap and send the older boys down to the pool for a swim. Agent arrives and we discuss how to move forward. Time is ticking and we still have not heard back from the sellers agent. Deadline is in 2 hours. Agent's phone rings and it's the seller's agent. Counter offer accepted!!
Happy with that news, we sign more papers and see our agent off. We won't see her again until July, since our flight is tomorrow afternoon. We can now go home and deal with the bank, lawyers and everything else from there.
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Saturday 11 June 2016
We have arranged to visit my brother and his family before we head home. Our flight doesn't leave until 2:30 so we have quite a bit of time. We spend the morning at Lance's letting the boys play and drinking coffee, catching up from the week. This is the least stress we've felt in a few weeks and it's good to unwind a bit. We enjoy is as much as we can before heading to the airport.
Airport and things get crazy. Does anyone else hate the security line up as much as I do? It never fails that I get flagged by the machine for having something on me, or for a "random" check. I do not believe these bag checks and pat-downs are totally random, as I am selected nearly every flight I take. I must appear guilty or something. This time, not only do my boots set off the machine, but on my second pass through after removing them, I am "randomly" selected to have my bags gone through.
I'm so annoyed. Corey, Max and Jacob sailed through the security line quickly and with no issues. They hit the family line and got to jump ahead. I waited for Will to dump out water from his water bottle and by the time he was done, the rest of the family was long gone. We had to wait in the regular lineup. It was long and I was really annoyed at a few of the other people in line with us.
So, by the time I'm not so randomly selected I've about had it. I'm hungry, tired and just want to get away from there. I get grilled about my bags. You know what I have? My purse. That's it. It's not even very big. They ask me if the larger carry-on in the other container beside mine belong to me. They do not. I just TOLD them that all I had was this one item. They ask if the bag on the other side is mine. Seriously? Then they ask if I packed my bag myself. What. The. Hell. It's my purse for goodness sake. I'm so close to screaming at them and making a scene, but don't feel like getting put in their silly little jail or whatever they do to irate passengers. No wonder people get upset!
Then, my boots don't come back. The one guy took them once I removed them the first time the machine went off and I didn't see where they went. So, I'm standing there, in the way of all the people from other countries who are holding passports, collecting their carry on items without trouble, with no shoes. Why are none of these people being stopped? I'm a Canadian citizen, flying within my own country, and they are giving me grief while all these visitors pass through without incident. It is infuriating.
I ask a security lady where my boots are. Apparently they landed back on the security line of stuff and are coming. They take about 10 minutes to show up. So ridiculous. I vow to not fly anywhere again for a very long time, and next time I'll show up to security nude and with no carry on items. This is too stupid for words.
I then find out that while Corey had pudding cups confiscated from his bag, William makes it through with the same kind, undetected. Security is a joke.
We order lunch and guess what? They forget my order. Did I mention how much I hate airports and flying? It is so miserable. Max throws tantrum after tantrum and I want to join him. He's beyond tired, and now we're about to fly for 3 hours over lunch time, nap time and land by his dinner time.
Things don't really improve much on the plane. Max is angry that he has to sit in his seat and does not want to nap. The final 1/2 hour of decent was the worst. Max and the other children around us take turns screaming and having meltdowns. We are the party section of the plane!
We finally arrive home and it's past dinner time. Order pizza and are thankful we don't have to do that again for a while. If we've ever needed a drink it's now. We have no drinks in the house and the only mix is ginger ale leftover from our friends move and donated to us. Bugger. We all go to bed, to exhausted to bother unpacking or starting on the laundry. Tomorrow is Sunday and we'll have time for it then.
22 June 2016
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!
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!
21 June 2016
Moving Military Style Part 5- House Hunting Day Two and we have a winner!
Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Day two of house hunting begins. I spent a good portion of the evening looking at houses on the MLS and on the local buy and sell pages for houses to rent. I figure our backup plan will be to either purchase a home right in Kanata somewhere, or to rent in July and take the summer to find a house and then move again.
We rented for a few months when we moved to Winnipeg, and it's not a good way to have to do things. Not only is that a lot of moving and a ton of work, it gets expensive! The military only moves us once, so we generally try to make sure it's into a house we actually want to be living in.
Our real estate agent emailed the four houses she found for us last night, so we've had a look at those as well. She had asked if we would consider looking in another direction, so has found homes South-West of Ottawa. We know nothing about the area, but figure it's worth looking. Two of the houses look promising.
We're up early, Max has not slept well, nor have we. The hotel we chose is not comfortable. The beds are rubbish. We may look for another place to stay later today if we have time. The older boys seem ok in their room, but agree the beds aren't comfortable. It's just down the hall from us. They are a bit far away, but they are so used to staying in hotels by now, it's not a big deal to them. I still worry though!
We get a quick breakfast at Tim's and head out to meet our agent at the first address of the day. The drive out of the city is lovely. Lots of trees, hills and it's so green everywhere! Off to a good start!
The first house was ok. A bit too much traffic noise for our liking and inside needed a lot of fixing. We try to figure out a way to move the laundry to the main floor. The stairs to the basement were steep, crooked and not well lit. A recipe for falling with a laundry basket. The older boys do their own laundry now, and I'd like to minimize accidents. There was also a fairly large pond in the back corner of the yard. Not ideal for Max to be out running around. It was beautiful, but a bit too much of a hazard just now. The house also had a road running along side it that lead to some cottages behind it and a small lake. I think an acre of land is what it was on. Not ideal, but again, we could make it work. The family room/kitchen combo was huge. Really good space and the kitchen had been redone recently. Four bedrooms all on the top floor. Good points about it for sure!
House two. Oh, my! Really, really nice home. It's all been redone though, which makes me nervous. This means someone else has done the work, and we don't know how well. Was it done correctly, or just slapped on to make it look good for a quick sale? If it was rushed and this house was a flip for someone who decided to go cheap on materials, it will start to fall apart soon enough. Three boys aren't exactly gentle on a house. The yard is fine. Enough space on just over an acre, think we could do something with it and make it pretty.
House three and I think we have a winner! Location is great, curb appeal excellent. We all liked it when we first walked in. Needs painting for sure, but seems to be in pretty good shape. Rooms are all a good size, and the floors aren't sagging. Slanted floors were the theme of the houses we saw yesterday. I feel dizzy standing on them. It took a nice house off the list for that reason.
Back to today, house number three on day two of house hunting. The gardens are beautiful! Trees everywhere, with some pathways cut through the forest. Two acres that back onto nothing but more land, and eventually, a lake. Quiet street and the house is set back a nice distance from that. There is a small koi pond on the property with a cute wooden bridge over it. Very pretty. This is a concern with Max. There is landscaping around this pond, and the water isn't very deep, but it's still on my mind. It's on the side of the house, so not near where he would always want to play. We'll have to see. Very happy with this find, our agent did well! We take about 45 minutes to look around, which is a really long time for us. Everyone likes it. Feels like it could be home once we fix it up a bit.
House number four is also great! It is a 45 minute drive in good weather and traffic for Corey to get to work though, so it's off the list before we even get there. Corey opts not to go in. I do and like it. The entry is deceiving. I didn't like it much when I first walked in, but quickly changed my mind as I walked around. Good space. Basement smelled moldy though, so that's a concern. I convince Corey to come have a look. He agrees it is a nice house, but just too far to work.
We decide to cancel our second viewing of the house from yesterday and instead go back to the third house we saw today later on this afternoon.
We had arranged to drop the boys off at my brother's house where my parents were meeting us so they could babysit. We pick up a pizza lunch along the way. Corey and I grab a super fast bite to eat and are off again, already late, to meet up with our agent back at the house.
We like it even more the second look around. We take some time to walk around the property and get a feel for what it might be like to live here. This is the one. Needs work, but nothing we haven't done before. We decide to put in an offer.
Day two of house hunting begins. I spent a good portion of the evening looking at houses on the MLS and on the local buy and sell pages for houses to rent. I figure our backup plan will be to either purchase a home right in Kanata somewhere, or to rent in July and take the summer to find a house and then move again.
We rented for a few months when we moved to Winnipeg, and it's not a good way to have to do things. Not only is that a lot of moving and a ton of work, it gets expensive! The military only moves us once, so we generally try to make sure it's into a house we actually want to be living in.
Our real estate agent emailed the four houses she found for us last night, so we've had a look at those as well. She had asked if we would consider looking in another direction, so has found homes South-West of Ottawa. We know nothing about the area, but figure it's worth looking. Two of the houses look promising.
We're up early, Max has not slept well, nor have we. The hotel we chose is not comfortable. The beds are rubbish. We may look for another place to stay later today if we have time. The older boys seem ok in their room, but agree the beds aren't comfortable. It's just down the hall from us. They are a bit far away, but they are so used to staying in hotels by now, it's not a big deal to them. I still worry though!
We get a quick breakfast at Tim's and head out to meet our agent at the first address of the day. The drive out of the city is lovely. Lots of trees, hills and it's so green everywhere! Off to a good start!
The first house was ok. A bit too much traffic noise for our liking and inside needed a lot of fixing. We try to figure out a way to move the laundry to the main floor. The stairs to the basement were steep, crooked and not well lit. A recipe for falling with a laundry basket. The older boys do their own laundry now, and I'd like to minimize accidents. There was also a fairly large pond in the back corner of the yard. Not ideal for Max to be out running around. It was beautiful, but a bit too much of a hazard just now. The house also had a road running along side it that lead to some cottages behind it and a small lake. I think an acre of land is what it was on. Not ideal, but again, we could make it work. The family room/kitchen combo was huge. Really good space and the kitchen had been redone recently. Four bedrooms all on the top floor. Good points about it for sure!
House two. Oh, my! Really, really nice home. It's all been redone though, which makes me nervous. This means someone else has done the work, and we don't know how well. Was it done correctly, or just slapped on to make it look good for a quick sale? If it was rushed and this house was a flip for someone who decided to go cheap on materials, it will start to fall apart soon enough. Three boys aren't exactly gentle on a house. The yard is fine. Enough space on just over an acre, think we could do something with it and make it pretty.
House three and I think we have a winner! Location is great, curb appeal excellent. We all liked it when we first walked in. Needs painting for sure, but seems to be in pretty good shape. Rooms are all a good size, and the floors aren't sagging. Slanted floors were the theme of the houses we saw yesterday. I feel dizzy standing on them. It took a nice house off the list for that reason.
Back to today, house number three on day two of house hunting. The gardens are beautiful! Trees everywhere, with some pathways cut through the forest. Two acres that back onto nothing but more land, and eventually, a lake. Quiet street and the house is set back a nice distance from that. There is a small koi pond on the property with a cute wooden bridge over it. Very pretty. This is a concern with Max. There is landscaping around this pond, and the water isn't very deep, but it's still on my mind. It's on the side of the house, so not near where he would always want to play. We'll have to see. Very happy with this find, our agent did well! We take about 45 minutes to look around, which is a really long time for us. Everyone likes it. Feels like it could be home once we fix it up a bit.
House number four is also great! It is a 45 minute drive in good weather and traffic for Corey to get to work though, so it's off the list before we even get there. Corey opts not to go in. I do and like it. The entry is deceiving. I didn't like it much when I first walked in, but quickly changed my mind as I walked around. Good space. Basement smelled moldy though, so that's a concern. I convince Corey to come have a look. He agrees it is a nice house, but just too far to work.
We decide to cancel our second viewing of the house from yesterday and instead go back to the third house we saw today later on this afternoon.
We had arranged to drop the boys off at my brother's house where my parents were meeting us so they could babysit. We pick up a pizza lunch along the way. Corey and I grab a super fast bite to eat and are off again, already late, to meet up with our agent back at the house.
We like it even more the second look around. We take some time to walk around the property and get a feel for what it might be like to live here. This is the one. Needs work, but nothing we haven't done before. We decide to put in an offer.
The financial conditions and pre-move consultation
We've been home from our house hunting trip for a week and a half now. The final conditions on our house we are buying in Ontario have still not cleared. It's the financial ones. The bank is moving at a snails pace and being unreasonably picky. We've had a mortgage with the same bank for 12 years and do not understand what is going on.
They ordered an appraisal for the house we're trying to buy. We waited all weekend for that to come back. We found out yesterday that it's worth what we paid, so that should satisfy everything. We had to sign more papers yesterday to get an extension on the purchase of the house. It expired yesterday at 5 PM in ON. We now have until this Friday to get it done. Well, our mortgage broker and the bank need to get things sorted. It's out of our hands now.
Yesterday was also our scheduled day for the pre-move consultation. I always forget about this part. A guy shows up with a clipboard and pen and walks around the house moaning about how much stuff we have for them to pack.
He started in the garage this time, because that's where I sent him. He was not pleased. It's messy out there, things keep getting moved around to make room for the kids bikes or cutting wood for projects or whatever. It's disorganized and we use it to store all the bits and bobs that accumulate from living in so many different houses. What doesn't fit in this house might in the next, and often does (sometimes 4 or 5 houses later!)
He picked everything apart. What's in these boxes? Why aren't you unpacked from the last move yet? What's this, what's that? On and on. I'm annoyed and tell him we haven't unpacked because we had no where to unpack our things to. We had to finish the basement first and create rooms. Then we got posted again. This is our 5th move in 3 years and he can just shut his mouth and keep his opinions to himself.
Ok, I didn't say that last bit, but I really wanted to. I don't need his opinion. He doesn't know. He's probably been living in the same house for the past 30 years and has no clue. He tells me that he's they type of person that if he doesn't use something he gets rid of it. Good for him. I used to do that but now I don't have the time, energy, or really care at this point, to be honest. Leave me alone and do your job.
So, he continues through the house. Are you taking this? Are you taking that? I have to repeat everything that we aren't taking twice, it's annoying. He smells like cigarettes and I want him out of my house.
"This is a lot of wood. Are you taking it all? What's it for?" Yes- I'm taking it all. Some of it is hobby wood and some is from our swing set we've dismantled. We get to take 500lbs. Leave me alone.
"You can't take liquids you know, they won't pack them"
For the love of Pete, I KNOW!! This is not my first move. This isn't even my 10th move. I've got it. Up until move day, I'm probably going to have liquids in my house. You know, weird things like olive oil, salad dressing and laundry detergent. Even then, if I pack it and bring it myself in my car, it can come with us. Not a big deal. Leave me alone!
I sign the forms to say he gave me the pre-move information booklet. We're supposed to read this before each move. On the form I notice he didn't circle the section for us to have a pre-pack day. I tell him I want one. We've never had one before, but it would make the actual pack day a lot easier.
Pre pack is when they come up to 10 days before your pack day and pack up all non-essential items. You can get them to pack up the garage, basement and any other areas, as long as it doesn't interfere with day to day living. So, they can't pack the kitchen, but can pack all the small appliances you rarely use and can get by without.
He tells me that with the amount of items we have, we really should have had pre-pack days on previous moves.
"Yes, I know, that's why I'm asking now. Pack day is way too busy and confusing otherwise."
I'm left wondering why is it not circled on the form then? He circles it and says we need a pre-pack. Ummm, yes, I know, I just told you that! Just. Leave.
Most annoying consultation ever.
Now I'm waiting for the report to come back and to say we are over weight. We are allowed 20,000 lbs. It's been a problem this year in Winnipeg. A number of people have been told they are over and it turns out they are under. Sometimes by quite a bit. How they screw up a 5000lb difference I will never know.
We can't be over. The military moved us just 19 months ago and haven't purchased anything large that would add weight since. We've barely purchased anything at all, aside from groceries and a few hobby supplies. I did get rid of quite a bit in the spring, so if anything, we should weigh less this time than last.
I've not received an email today, so it should be coming by tomorrow. They have to get it to us within 2 business days and I'm anxious to schedule the pre-pack days on one of Corey's days off. The guy was meant to do it yesterday, but of course, he didn't, and instead told me someone from his office would be phoning to do it. No call from them yet either.
More waiting.
Update: We received an email this evening. We're at just over 17,000 lbs. Looking over the list, it seems they have over-estimated by quite a bit. I would be interested to see what our actual weight is after we are loaded up.
They ordered an appraisal for the house we're trying to buy. We waited all weekend for that to come back. We found out yesterday that it's worth what we paid, so that should satisfy everything. We had to sign more papers yesterday to get an extension on the purchase of the house. It expired yesterday at 5 PM in ON. We now have until this Friday to get it done. Well, our mortgage broker and the bank need to get things sorted. It's out of our hands now.
Yesterday was also our scheduled day for the pre-move consultation. I always forget about this part. A guy shows up with a clipboard and pen and walks around the house moaning about how much stuff we have for them to pack.
He started in the garage this time, because that's where I sent him. He was not pleased. It's messy out there, things keep getting moved around to make room for the kids bikes or cutting wood for projects or whatever. It's disorganized and we use it to store all the bits and bobs that accumulate from living in so many different houses. What doesn't fit in this house might in the next, and often does (sometimes 4 or 5 houses later!)
He picked everything apart. What's in these boxes? Why aren't you unpacked from the last move yet? What's this, what's that? On and on. I'm annoyed and tell him we haven't unpacked because we had no where to unpack our things to. We had to finish the basement first and create rooms. Then we got posted again. This is our 5th move in 3 years and he can just shut his mouth and keep his opinions to himself.
Ok, I didn't say that last bit, but I really wanted to. I don't need his opinion. He doesn't know. He's probably been living in the same house for the past 30 years and has no clue. He tells me that he's they type of person that if he doesn't use something he gets rid of it. Good for him. I used to do that but now I don't have the time, energy, or really care at this point, to be honest. Leave me alone and do your job.
So, he continues through the house. Are you taking this? Are you taking that? I have to repeat everything that we aren't taking twice, it's annoying. He smells like cigarettes and I want him out of my house.
"This is a lot of wood. Are you taking it all? What's it for?" Yes- I'm taking it all. Some of it is hobby wood and some is from our swing set we've dismantled. We get to take 500lbs. Leave me alone.
"You can't take liquids you know, they won't pack them"
For the love of Pete, I KNOW!! This is not my first move. This isn't even my 10th move. I've got it. Up until move day, I'm probably going to have liquids in my house. You know, weird things like olive oil, salad dressing and laundry detergent. Even then, if I pack it and bring it myself in my car, it can come with us. Not a big deal. Leave me alone!
I sign the forms to say he gave me the pre-move information booklet. We're supposed to read this before each move. On the form I notice he didn't circle the section for us to have a pre-pack day. I tell him I want one. We've never had one before, but it would make the actual pack day a lot easier.
Pre pack is when they come up to 10 days before your pack day and pack up all non-essential items. You can get them to pack up the garage, basement and any other areas, as long as it doesn't interfere with day to day living. So, they can't pack the kitchen, but can pack all the small appliances you rarely use and can get by without.
He tells me that with the amount of items we have, we really should have had pre-pack days on previous moves.
"Yes, I know, that's why I'm asking now. Pack day is way too busy and confusing otherwise."
I'm left wondering why is it not circled on the form then? He circles it and says we need a pre-pack. Ummm, yes, I know, I just told you that! Just. Leave.
Most annoying consultation ever.
Now I'm waiting for the report to come back and to say we are over weight. We are allowed 20,000 lbs. It's been a problem this year in Winnipeg. A number of people have been told they are over and it turns out they are under. Sometimes by quite a bit. How they screw up a 5000lb difference I will never know.
We can't be over. The military moved us just 19 months ago and haven't purchased anything large that would add weight since. We've barely purchased anything at all, aside from groceries and a few hobby supplies. I did get rid of quite a bit in the spring, so if anything, we should weigh less this time than last.
I've not received an email today, so it should be coming by tomorrow. They have to get it to us within 2 business days and I'm anxious to schedule the pre-pack days on one of Corey's days off. The guy was meant to do it yesterday, but of course, he didn't, and instead told me someone from his office would be phoning to do it. No call from them yet either.
More waiting.
Update: We received an email this evening. We're at just over 17,000 lbs. Looking over the list, it seems they have over-estimated by quite a bit. I would be interested to see what our actual weight is after we are loaded up.
Moving Military Style- Part 4- House inspeciton & House Hunting begins!
Parts One, Two and Three
The home inspection went well. We would have been surprised it if didn't. We had permits and inspections done along the way when we finished the basement, so everything was in order and legal.
The only issue was a few shingles missing from the roof. Given the tornado warnings, extreme thunderstorms, and high winds we get here, that's not a surprise. Our neighbours had their entire roof replaced last year. On a new house! They are only about 5 years old in our section. So the few we have missing is fine, we can (and will!) fix that before we move.
Financing is the only other condition remaining for the buyers. They have until next Tuesday. In the meantime, we need to book our HHT, let our real estate agent in Ottawa know we are going to be house shopping soon, and get pre-approval for our mortgage!
-----------
It's now Sunday, 05 of June. We flew to Ontario this morning for our house hunting trip. Three hour flight was fine. iPads are probably one of the best inventions when it comes to flying. All 3 kids were occupied for the majority of the trip. We normally don't allow a lot of TV, but when we fly, anything (child/age appropriate) goes for screen time. You have to sit in your seat anyway, why not watch garbage television?
We rented a van for the week, and pick it up after we collect our luggage. We always rent a van for house hunting. The extra space and ease of getting in and out quickly for viewing houses makes sense for us. We did this even when we only had 2 kids. We would fold down the center row of seats (right behind the driver/passenger seats) and use that as a play room for Lego or whatever. They sat in the third row.
This was perfect when they were about 5 and over. They didn't have to come into any of the houses if they didn't want to, and could just sit and play in the van. We would roll all the windows down and tell them they could come into the house at any point. HHT's usually take place in the Spring, so leaving them in a hot vehicle has never been an issue. Just an FYI for anyone thinking we are in the habit of leaving children in hot cars.
We view houses quickly. Five minutes is pretty normal for us. This system worked well for many, many HHT's.
This time was a bit different, as we weren't keen to leave our 2 1/2 year old in the van, even with his brothers watching. We did it for the last house of the day, when he had had enough and didn't want to be buckled in and out of his car seat anymore. We were way out in the country, down a pretty long lane way, so we weren't too worried about leaving the boys in the van. That house was not a favourite, I didn't even really want to view it, so it took me under 5 minutes to be in and out. Corey and our agent took a bit longer, and had a bit of a poke around the house and property. We needed to do too much to it to make it work for us, so it was struck off the list.
So, Day 1 of house hunting ended up being a bust. We viewed 10 houses altogether. Five in the morning, all out in the country just North West of Ottawa. Then, an additional 5 in the afternoon in and around the town of Almonte. We both only really liked one and have a second viewing set up for tomorrow. We can make it work, but there is something about it that I'm not completely sold on.
We are all exhausted. Knowing we HAVE to find a house to buy and move into within a month is unbelievably stressful. So far, least fun house hunting trip ever.
Read Part 5 here
The home inspection went well. We would have been surprised it if didn't. We had permits and inspections done along the way when we finished the basement, so everything was in order and legal.
The only issue was a few shingles missing from the roof. Given the tornado warnings, extreme thunderstorms, and high winds we get here, that's not a surprise. Our neighbours had their entire roof replaced last year. On a new house! They are only about 5 years old in our section. So the few we have missing is fine, we can (and will!) fix that before we move.
Financing is the only other condition remaining for the buyers. They have until next Tuesday. In the meantime, we need to book our HHT, let our real estate agent in Ottawa know we are going to be house shopping soon, and get pre-approval for our mortgage!
-----------
It's now Sunday, 05 of June. We flew to Ontario this morning for our house hunting trip. Three hour flight was fine. iPads are probably one of the best inventions when it comes to flying. All 3 kids were occupied for the majority of the trip. We normally don't allow a lot of TV, but when we fly, anything (child/age appropriate) goes for screen time. You have to sit in your seat anyway, why not watch garbage television?
We rented a van for the week, and pick it up after we collect our luggage. We always rent a van for house hunting. The extra space and ease of getting in and out quickly for viewing houses makes sense for us. We did this even when we only had 2 kids. We would fold down the center row of seats (right behind the driver/passenger seats) and use that as a play room for Lego or whatever. They sat in the third row.
This was perfect when they were about 5 and over. They didn't have to come into any of the houses if they didn't want to, and could just sit and play in the van. We would roll all the windows down and tell them they could come into the house at any point. HHT's usually take place in the Spring, so leaving them in a hot vehicle has never been an issue. Just an FYI for anyone thinking we are in the habit of leaving children in hot cars.
We view houses quickly. Five minutes is pretty normal for us. This system worked well for many, many HHT's.
This time was a bit different, as we weren't keen to leave our 2 1/2 year old in the van, even with his brothers watching. We did it for the last house of the day, when he had had enough and didn't want to be buckled in and out of his car seat anymore. We were way out in the country, down a pretty long lane way, so we weren't too worried about leaving the boys in the van. That house was not a favourite, I didn't even really want to view it, so it took me under 5 minutes to be in and out. Corey and our agent took a bit longer, and had a bit of a poke around the house and property. We needed to do too much to it to make it work for us, so it was struck off the list.
So, Day 1 of house hunting ended up being a bust. We viewed 10 houses altogether. Five in the morning, all out in the country just North West of Ottawa. Then, an additional 5 in the afternoon in and around the town of Almonte. We both only really liked one and have a second viewing set up for tomorrow. We can make it work, but there is something about it that I'm not completely sold on.
We are all exhausted. Knowing we HAVE to find a house to buy and move into within a month is unbelievably stressful. So far, least fun house hunting trip ever.
Read Part 5 here
16 June 2016
Moving Military Style- Part 3 Offer, Counter offers & home inspection
Read Parts One and Two
Once the agent and buyer leave, I frantically text our agent telling him all that just happened. He is furious. It's so unprofessional for an agent to just show up and ring doorbells like that.
He asks if I knew her name. I didn't. I also didn't think to ask for a business card until the car they were in was pulling away. I call Corey at work to tell him what happened. We both search for agents in an area of Winnipeg I knew she had an office in (that much I did know) come up empty handed and shrug it off. Can't do much about it now.
Meanwhile, our agent is phoning around town to see who had viewings booked. No one that he asked had, which were all the bigger players with multiple listings. Very strange. We wonder if they had booked any viewings here at all?
Later that same evening, I get a text from our agent. It's 9PM and I'm in pj's, reading in bed. The boys are all in bed.
Text reads: "Can I come over in about 15 min? We have an offer"
I reply: "Sure, I'm in pajamas and in bed, but this is worth getting dressed for!"
Our agent comes over with the strangest offer we had ever seen. They offered us a fairly low price, and they wanted a lot of things. Fridge and stove (very common, so we weren't surprised on those) Washer, dryer (less common, but ok, fair enough for asking) our stand up freezer, bar stools, (sometimes people as for furnishings, so not too out of the ordinary, but I found it bold, given the price)
Then...... it got interesting. They asked for the deck, gas fireplace and garden shed to be included. Well, we aren't about to rip out the fireplace that's built into the wall of the living room before we go. The deck is built off the back door and attached to the house, so, those are staying. As for the garden shed? We don't even own one! Neither do any of the neighbours.
We set about amending the documents, deciding on what we are willing to part with and what will become a part of the deal. Then came setting the price for the counter offer. This is always stressful. We didn't want to go back with our asking price, since we were willing to negotiate a bit. Not dropping the price even a little bit can signal the buyers that we didn't really need to sell and are probably going to be difficult to negotiate with. This is a good way to lose a potential buyer. We drop the price about 4K. Enough to tell them we'll play, but not so much we lose the money we sunk into renovating.
They gave us a deadline of midnight to get back to them. By this time it's 10:30 PM and Corey realizes that he better call his boss. To add to the drama selling a house brings, something had come up at work and we weren't actually sure anymore if this posting was going to happen. It involved a lot of the higher-ups and was a bit intense for about 5 days. Of course, this is when we get an offer on the house, so instead of waiting for things to blow over, we have to force a decision.
What we had been told a few days previously (the Friday) was that we should keep the house on the market and IF we got an offer, call work ASAP so they could figure it out. More stress. It wasn't a fun weekend.
So, back to Monday, we're sitting with an offer and realize that if they accept our counter-offer, we just effectively sold the house and now we didn't even know if we were for sure posted. With a deadline looming in 1.5 hrs, we didn't have a lot of time. Our agent calls the buyers agent and asks for an extension of 10 AM for the deadline. She is suspicious and thinks we have another offer. I get worried that they are worried and think the whole thing is going to fall apart by morning.
Morning comes and we hear something at 10 to 10 (nothing like leaving it to the last minute!) We had a counter offer. It's not what we want, so we counter back. At this point the tennis match really begins. Counters go back and forth via text for a while.
I think about how it used to be, about 10 years ago. Counter offers came printed on official documents, presented by your agent. They did a lot of driving around between your house, work, hotel or wherever while the negotiating was taking place. Now a lot gets done via text and email. It's pretty great. A lot faster. Once it becomes more of a solid deal, the agents do bring official printed papers to sign, but in the meantime a lot of it is texted.
Now it's Tuesday evening and our agent has requested to come over, as he heard back from the buyers agent again and he needs to go over things with us.
We ended up being about 4k apart in the end. We wanted 2K more, they wanted to spend 2K less. They wanted our appliances, we didn't want to give them up. So, our agent proposes that we go up the 2K and give them the appliances. We agree reluctantly. He then leaves to talk to the buyers agent so she can talk them into the same deal. He's getting us to play nice. Neither side is getting what we want, but the deal could be done. We wait. Deadline is 10AM Wed.
Wednesday, 10 AM. Nothing. No text, no email. I check to make sure my phone isn't on silent or something. Bake to pass the time. Feels like time is going backwards. Remember the last day of school when the bell seems like it will never ring signalling the end of the year? It feels like that.
10:40 I get a phone call. Offer accepted! I'm in disbelief. I thought because we hadn't heard anything, we had lost them. The buyers agent is just lousy at communicating.
Major hurdle over with. House inspection is scheduled for Thursday afternoon and of course, their financing has to come though. Both standard conditions.
Thursday I need to be out of the house from at least 2-5PM, possibly as late as six. Over nap time and the older kids come home from during those hours. Not ideal, but this has to get done.
I decide to nap Max early and then pick the older boys up from school by 2:20. Head into Winnipeg and meet up with Corey. We take the boys out for haircuts and dinner.
We let everyone know ahead of time that we had to come home by five at the latest. It's the final night of cadets and the boys have Annual Inspection. This involves uniforms that must be ironed, boots polished to gleaming. They got it all ready the night before, but it had to stay hung up to avoid wrinkles; so we weren't able to bring them along and have the boys change before their night started.
It's a long, busy day and evening, but everyone ends up picked up, dropped off, and where they need to be on time.
Part Four
Once the agent and buyer leave, I frantically text our agent telling him all that just happened. He is furious. It's so unprofessional for an agent to just show up and ring doorbells like that.
He asks if I knew her name. I didn't. I also didn't think to ask for a business card until the car they were in was pulling away. I call Corey at work to tell him what happened. We both search for agents in an area of Winnipeg I knew she had an office in (that much I did know) come up empty handed and shrug it off. Can't do much about it now.
Meanwhile, our agent is phoning around town to see who had viewings booked. No one that he asked had, which were all the bigger players with multiple listings. Very strange. We wonder if they had booked any viewings here at all?
Later that same evening, I get a text from our agent. It's 9PM and I'm in pj's, reading in bed. The boys are all in bed.
Text reads: "Can I come over in about 15 min? We have an offer"
I reply: "Sure, I'm in pajamas and in bed, but this is worth getting dressed for!"
Our agent comes over with the strangest offer we had ever seen. They offered us a fairly low price, and they wanted a lot of things. Fridge and stove (very common, so we weren't surprised on those) Washer, dryer (less common, but ok, fair enough for asking) our stand up freezer, bar stools, (sometimes people as for furnishings, so not too out of the ordinary, but I found it bold, given the price)
Then...... it got interesting. They asked for the deck, gas fireplace and garden shed to be included. Well, we aren't about to rip out the fireplace that's built into the wall of the living room before we go. The deck is built off the back door and attached to the house, so, those are staying. As for the garden shed? We don't even own one! Neither do any of the neighbours.
We set about amending the documents, deciding on what we are willing to part with and what will become a part of the deal. Then came setting the price for the counter offer. This is always stressful. We didn't want to go back with our asking price, since we were willing to negotiate a bit. Not dropping the price even a little bit can signal the buyers that we didn't really need to sell and are probably going to be difficult to negotiate with. This is a good way to lose a potential buyer. We drop the price about 4K. Enough to tell them we'll play, but not so much we lose the money we sunk into renovating.
They gave us a deadline of midnight to get back to them. By this time it's 10:30 PM and Corey realizes that he better call his boss. To add to the drama selling a house brings, something had come up at work and we weren't actually sure anymore if this posting was going to happen. It involved a lot of the higher-ups and was a bit intense for about 5 days. Of course, this is when we get an offer on the house, so instead of waiting for things to blow over, we have to force a decision.
What we had been told a few days previously (the Friday) was that we should keep the house on the market and IF we got an offer, call work ASAP so they could figure it out. More stress. It wasn't a fun weekend.
So, back to Monday, we're sitting with an offer and realize that if they accept our counter-offer, we just effectively sold the house and now we didn't even know if we were for sure posted. With a deadline looming in 1.5 hrs, we didn't have a lot of time. Our agent calls the buyers agent and asks for an extension of 10 AM for the deadline. She is suspicious and thinks we have another offer. I get worried that they are worried and think the whole thing is going to fall apart by morning.
Morning comes and we hear something at 10 to 10 (nothing like leaving it to the last minute!) We had a counter offer. It's not what we want, so we counter back. At this point the tennis match really begins. Counters go back and forth via text for a while.
I think about how it used to be, about 10 years ago. Counter offers came printed on official documents, presented by your agent. They did a lot of driving around between your house, work, hotel or wherever while the negotiating was taking place. Now a lot gets done via text and email. It's pretty great. A lot faster. Once it becomes more of a solid deal, the agents do bring official printed papers to sign, but in the meantime a lot of it is texted.
Now it's Tuesday evening and our agent has requested to come over, as he heard back from the buyers agent again and he needs to go over things with us.
We ended up being about 4k apart in the end. We wanted 2K more, they wanted to spend 2K less. They wanted our appliances, we didn't want to give them up. So, our agent proposes that we go up the 2K and give them the appliances. We agree reluctantly. He then leaves to talk to the buyers agent so she can talk them into the same deal. He's getting us to play nice. Neither side is getting what we want, but the deal could be done. We wait. Deadline is 10AM Wed.
Wednesday, 10 AM. Nothing. No text, no email. I check to make sure my phone isn't on silent or something. Bake to pass the time. Feels like time is going backwards. Remember the last day of school when the bell seems like it will never ring signalling the end of the year? It feels like that.
10:40 I get a phone call. Offer accepted! I'm in disbelief. I thought because we hadn't heard anything, we had lost them. The buyers agent is just lousy at communicating.
Major hurdle over with. House inspection is scheduled for Thursday afternoon and of course, their financing has to come though. Both standard conditions.
Thursday I need to be out of the house from at least 2-5PM, possibly as late as six. Over nap time and the older kids come home from during those hours. Not ideal, but this has to get done.
I decide to nap Max early and then pick the older boys up from school by 2:20. Head into Winnipeg and meet up with Corey. We take the boys out for haircuts and dinner.
We let everyone know ahead of time that we had to come home by five at the latest. It's the final night of cadets and the boys have Annual Inspection. This involves uniforms that must be ironed, boots polished to gleaming. They got it all ready the night before, but it had to stay hung up to avoid wrinkles; so we weren't able to bring them along and have the boys change before their night started.
It's a long, busy day and evening, but everyone ends up picked up, dropped off, and where they need to be on time.
Part Four
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