TimesToCome

Below are some better pics of the new house as it is now. We wrapped up the mortgage stuff Friday then went for the inspection. The inspector did find a couple of problems with mechanicals. We sent a list to the owner to fix them. That will be done before we get down there. The inspector didn’t even charge me extra for tripping the burglar alarm. ( I was playing with the buttons trying to get the damn thing to stop beeping ) Now the burglar alarm is disconnected and I’m happy. I always thought those things were useless.

The yard is big enough to garden, it’s about the same size as the yard here in New England. I’ll start a Texas garden blog like the New England one I had once we get settled.

The home is about 2,800 sq ft, slightly larger than the home here. The two plus story room will be our office, and the one near the kitchen a sitting area/den. Behind the fireplace is another bedroom which I will use as a gym.

Upstairs we have a master bedroom, a room with a peaked ceiling and glass doors which we will convert to a library, 2 guest rooms one of which will become a lab for DH.

The master bath and one downstairs both have slate lined showers, the guest room bath is just a typical full bath.

Since the mechanicals are not in the garage, and in this home no mechanical room, the hot water heater and some of the a/c stuff is in the attic. We’ll have to keep a close eye on them as water leaks from the attic can cause amazing damage to a home. The breaker box is outside the house. You’d think the rain would get to it or that they would’ve stuck it in the laundry room on the first floor?

During the inspection I was playing with the house alarm trying to kill that annoying beeping. I set it off instead.

Then just so we could fully impress the neighbors, DH tripped the alarm in the car grabbing the check book to pay the inspector. I’m sure the neighbors are already thinking great things of us. They’ll be even more impressed to see two Lincolns with Mass. plates pull up next month I’m sure. We thought we should get a copy of that old war song ‘Over there, over there, the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming…” to play loudly as we arrive to let them know who was moving in.

We’re going to decorate with a combination of Art-Deco and 1950’s Modern. The house seems perfect for that.

I also learned a lot about selling a home in a buyer’s market. Four of the six homes we looked at had the same floor plan, builder and age as the one we purchased. Ours was on the market 3 days and had 3 offers made on it. One was occupied and on for a month, one unoccupied and on the market 3 and one unoccupied and on for 6 months. So why 3 offers on this while the others sat? The occupied home had a pool which was a plus. We went to see it and though there was a lock box for the broker, there were dead bolts on all the doors that were locked. That freaked me, you had to wonder why they needed them? None of the other homes had them. Also we couldn’t get in and chose not to wait. One of the other homes had stains all over the carpet and the guest bath had seen better days. The broker told me the next one was worse so we didn’t even look.

Of the other two homes, one was fine, but had nothing extra ordinary about it. One was stunning but had a water drain off ( they are all over down there ) running about 100′ behind the back yard. We were concerned about mosquitoes and whether it might smell in the summer. The back yard was quite small because it backed up to the drain off too. That home had some wallpaper too which greatly devalued it to us.

So to sell a home down there you want fresh paint and carpets, no obvious defects, no wallpaper, and no drainage area behind you. It is a big plus to have at least one distinctive feature.