The Results Are In

Yesterday we finally got our repairs request for the house in Asheville.

I've been more than a little worried, seeing as the buyer had put in a contingency saying if there were more than 3K in repairs needed she could walk. Well, we did not know of 3K in repairs... but... our house is from the 20s and the reality is that if someone was being really nit picky there is certainly the potential to find repairs.

And she did... but not 3K worth. Thank God. Seriously.

She gave us back a fairly sizable list of weird small repairs that neither Mr F nor I would ever ask for (obviously or we would have had them repaired when we purchased it 2 years ago). But they are all doable, and things that we can fix on our own. So far we're looking at needing to spend less than $100 on them. Awesome. We were able to just agree to all her requests which makes everything easier and smoother, and means we are moving forward with the closing. Huge relief.

We're having our inspection in MI this afternoon. I don't expect anything crazy to come up. We've basically agreed that we aren't going to give them a list of small nit picky repairs. There will have to be something MAJOR for us to request repairs. We aren't the type to expect older homes to be in new condition, and we are also not the types to inconvenience a 90 year old woman. Knowing that, we negotiated our sale price down low enough that we'd be willing to inherit the current house condition (barring any large serious unseen issue... pests, mold, foundation, and the like). So, we're expecting the inspection to be pretty smooth and that we'll be moving forward on this end too.

Which is good. But, honestly, the panic is also starting to set in. Buying a house is crazy. You see it once or twice and then just make the best educated guess you can. Intellectually, I feel good about the pros & cons of this house. But that doesn't mean I'm not having a little freak out in my head these days. You just don't know exactly what you're walking into.

I can remember when we bought our first home and came for our walk through and I was like "Seriously? There was always this huge whole behind this door?! Those stains all over the carpet?" There can be tons of weird cosmetic things (which your inspection does not cover) that you just do not see when you're in your house hunting mode. When you are so much more focused on certain features... and.... when people's furniture is artfully hiding giant carpet stains, etc. And those things can feel like a bit of an overwhelming let down when you move in. Moving into a previously owned house is not like moving into a rental or a new house... things are not (necessarily) clean and freshly painted. You know that you'll have the work of unpacking and the actual move... but you forget that there can be a fair amount of surprise work when you walk through your new door.

This sounds complain-y.

It's not. I'm just feeling overwhelmed with the next 4 weeks ahead.

I'm gearing myself up for the big drive back down to NC with the kids (I do not want to do that... it just sucks the life out of me... especially knowing what I'm driving to). Then two weeks to completely pack up the house, pretty much by myself. Mr F will probably come down on weekends... but weekend #1 he'll spend completing all the repair requests. Weekend #2 will be our close up shop weekend. Movers come that Monday. We might need a dumpster...

Then the settling in. Which, of course, will on many levels be a huge relief. But it's the kind of relief a new mother feels about giving birth. Yay! It's finally out! Oh wait... now I have to take care of it. Moving in is kind of like that. One hard part is over but you're walking right into another. An unknown one.

I'm just hoping everything is back to some kind of normal by Christmas.

Man, I did really like those Asheville winters...