HOUSE HUNTING

The same model house as ours being built.

Okay we're back from our trip. We left Valentine's Day (some V-day huh?) early in the morning, drove all day with two kids, and arrived in Wyoming about 7 pm. By that time, we were all pooped, cranky and hungry. We stayed in the base hotel, which ended up being not so nice. The hotel here at Malmstrom is really nice, so we were expecting the same deal. Not so. First we couldn't find our room because the check in area is 2-3 blocks away from the actual rooms. Then, as we were standing out in the cold and snow in front of a U-shaped building, there were no signs to point to where to go, so we went in every single door, only to find that our room was hidden behind a white unmarked door in the building that led to two rooms, one of which was ours. The buildings are really old and must have been converted from something else. The kitchen was lame, the high-speed wi-fi internet was non-existant, and the shower was dysfunctional so I never showered while we were there. We checked out after two days, so don't worry, I did get a shower. When we move down there, I really want to avoid staying in that place again.

So, back on track, we started house hunting early Monday morning. We looked at a lot of great homes, but there was always something that was holding us back, i.e., small back yard, carpeted dining, too small of a living room, weird floor plan, location etc. Well, we finally found a house we liked Tuesday and we put out an offer. The house had been on the market since last June, but the owner's would not budge on their price. So, we turned down their counter-offer and we began exploring other options. That led us to a new development being built that included large lots, a greenbelt, park, and elementary school all within walking distance from our new house. Floor plans started cheap, so we figured it would be cheaper to build than to buy an existing home. So, we picked a floor plan and lot, met with the builder and his agent, signed a contract and our home should be completed by the first week of June. We are very excited about building a home and hopefully it will be finished on time so that we can move and settle in before the baby is born.

Now the bad news, we had an inspection on our house Friday while we were out of town. The buyer and the home inspector were the only ones present, so apparently, the inspector scared our buyer into almost backing out of the contract. There were a couple of buckets in the attic to hold tools and other stuff so that they wouldn't get lost in the insulation. The inspector speculated that we had a leaky roof and we were trying to hide it with the buckets. Then he said our roof was shot and we had probable water damage, based upon his assumption with the buckets. So, we came home early to settle everything. George spent his last day of leave having three licensed roofers, an insurance inspector and our realtor come over so that we could get this all taken care and close on our house in about 17 days. The good news is the buyer is willing to negotiate, but we were freaking out for a few days since our home being built is contingent on this one selling. Hopefully, our insurance will cover our roof being replaced since the home inspector, insurance inspector, and all three roofers claimed our roof has hail damage from a storm in 2007. We filed a claim in 2007 for our roof at the time, but no hail damage was found. Somebody wasn't doing their job right and has caused this big headache for us. So, if insurance will indeed cover it this time, we can hopefully keep our buyer from bailing out on us.

Oh, I can't wait for all this to be over.