I Thought The Internet Made Things Easier???

I've been looking online at houses for the last few months. It sounds like a fun and easy thing to do. And it should be, but for some reason the Real Estate companies like to make it challenging. Probably to keep their jobs safe. I put in my criteria and up pops a lovely home for way under the $200,000 that we can afford. And it says New Construction. How can this be possible?

So I click on the house and it pulls up the information. And it says Built in 1900. So I guess that this is a really old posting, hahaha! Get it? It was posted in 1900 on the internet? (sorry, I needed to explain incase you didn't find it funny)

Sign Language

I was watching the Governor speaking about the aftermath of the storm. There was a sign language interpreter on the side. I don't understand why they are wasting money on sign language interpreters when they can use the money for storm recovery. Is it to show they are politically correct? Wouldn't it be better to have close captioning? Not all people that have a hard time hearing or are deaf can understand sign language.

Let me know what your thoughts are about this please!

Flooding Food Tip

I heard on GMA this morning that any food that is in flood water should be thrown away. Even sealed containers and jars. The only safe food would be in cans. Soak the cans in bleach and rinse thoroughly.

Hurricane Sandy

Why do people run to the store and stock their refrigerators? They are waiting to lose power, yet fill something that works best when plugged in. I don't get it!

So we just went to the store and bought fruit, dried fruit and granola bars and protein bars. We also have almond milk unrefrigerated. And of course a bottle of wine.

Get smarter, people!

How To Get America Slimmer

Just thought of this as I was wondering what to eat for lunch...Why don't they make food prices the amount of calories that are in them? That way poor people would get thinner and healthier and rich people would get fatter. Except the cheap ones.

Stupid Dog Owners

Let me preface by saying that I love pit bulls! It's their owners that I dislike!

When I was out on a walk with my two dogs I saw the most beautiful red nosed pit and American Staffordshire Terrier. A man was holding them on strong leashes and walking with his wife/girlfriend and baby in a carriage. I was walking between the water on a small piece of land with not much room for four dogs. Thank goodness I was almost off when they saw me and turned around to sit on a bench and wait. That was the smartest thing they did.

As we walked far enough away from them they commented on how beautiful my dogs were and I said the same of theirs. Then they proceeded to tell me that their dogs do not get along or like other dogs. That scared me. What If I had been in the middle of the land? What if he lost hold of his dogs? Who the hell brings two massive dogs that don't like dogs to a place where everyone, especially woman and the elderly, walk their dogs?

And why on Earth would they walk them down the center strip with only enough room for two people. They are out of their minds.

They probably take them to dog parks to see how many dogs they can catch!!! And to know they have a baby and will teach it to treat pits this way is horrifying. It's why the stereotype of these beautiful dogs is tarnished and will not change.

My dog Dallas is half Am Staff! She is a beautiful and friendly dog. Towards people and animals.

Prices Are Up Or People Are delusional!

So far today I've seen two houses online for $200,000. They both had a quarter acre or less of land and needed lots of work or a septic system. They were 1,000 sf or less! I hope the owners are delusional or we'll never get a house!

Open Houses

So yesterday we ventured out to an open house.  Saturday we also went to one.  They were both too much money.  Saturday's house they were just putting in a new septic system.  The Realtor made sure that she told us it cost $55,000.  What I got from that is they want the asking price so they make some money.  It was going for $220,000.  $20,000 over our budget, yikes!

The one on Saturday was small and had a little less than an acre of land.  It was going for $212,000.  It just came on the market and the women's mother was the realtor.  In my opinion, it will not sell for that.  It bothered me that they painted all the walls a pretty color and left the front door scraped and dirty.  In both bedrooms they had sliding doors for the closets.  In the children's bedroom (little children), the door was not attached on the bottom.  Seemed quite dangerous to me.  The basement didn't smell bad like most of the  others we've been in.

I think since we went alone to these open houses, that we can't bring our Realtor in on it and get him half the commission.  We signed in, which probably wasn't a good idea if we want our realtor to be involved.

This is what you get for $55,000 in septic systems.  

What The Hell????

Are they purposely trying to fatten America? Who is giving their babies any kind of oil??? Am I the only one that finds this insanely dumb? How about fresh fruits and veggies with no oil?!!

Another Chance? I Don't Think So!

We found out today that the house that we liked the most fell through with the other buyers. Problem was, in the first place, that our bid should have been in first, but the sellers realtor said she never saw it.

The buyers had an inspection done and the inspector saw termite damage and an old pipe draining from the two year old septic system. They offered $200,000 we offered $190,000. I guess they walked away. The termite damage was from 1992 and is checked yearly with a warranty from the company. As I said before, we really liked this house and now our realtor is saying we can have it if we give them $195,000. But we were being bullied. At least that's how I felt. The other realtor called our bank and found out how much we could afford and said that $195,000 should not be a problem for us. (We offered $195,000 when it had no problems) I thought she had a lot of nerve to assume that. They should have lowered the price to $190,000.

Our realtor was talking fast and telling us what a great deal it was. We were saying, "why won't they spend a couple of hundred dollars to change the pipe if that's the only problem?" He said because the other people were stressing them out by asking for lots of things. I heard they were getting the buyers to pay $5,000 of the closing costs so it was more or less the same bid. I was going to ask them to clean up the appliances and antique cars from the yard and get rid of all the wet wood. And put doorknobs on all the doors, since they took all the nice glass ones off and left them empty. These people sounded very greedy. The house was paid off and their father had passed away two years ago. They were getting all the money from the house and the antique cars (one of which I checked online was $35,000)! If they really wanted to just get rid of it and not worry about it anymore, why didn't they take $190,000?

I've decided to stop looking for awhile. Unless of course our realtor decides to look for houses for us. I've been looking for a house as a full-time job.

A Beautiful Antique Home?

Come on people in the real estate world, give me a break. We went to see a house Saturday. It was built in 1760. The pictures were beautiful of this home and the yard was awesome.

I drove by the outside of it and the area a few days before, as I usually do and I loved it. Well, when we got inside there were water stains on the ceiling and everything was really old. There was a beautiful staircase in the front of the house, but when you looked at it closer, it was dangerous on one side.

There was dryrot outside that went all the way through to the partial basement.

And the roof was wavy and needed to be replaced and so did all the windows. The window openings were small and some extremely small that to replace them you would have had to enlarge the openings.

Agents should start taking pictures of the "real" house. Why are they wasting my time and the time of every broker out there. Sure it gets us to go see the house, but it's not going to change our mind on buying it. Most people qualify for FHA loans and they need to be in practically pristine condition. Would I have liked to buy this house if I qualified for a 203K or any other kind of loan? Probably yes! It had a lot of beautiful features.

And once the rug was pulled up in this room, the smell of cat urine would have gone away. This house was actually $15,000 above our range, but I figured it was on the market for at least 7 months so they would probably go down. Well the day we saw it, it had already gone down $5,000.

They were having an open house the next day. I'm sure if someone put a bid on it, it was for a lot less than they were asking. And to them I say Good Luck! But next time don't waste my time seeing a home that needs so much work. So far I only saw two that were truthful with their pictures. Sure they probably didn't get as many people to see it. But they got the right people to see it. And lots of homes we are seeing will say Title V: Not Done. Which means that they are waiting on a bid to spend the $300-$500 to check if it passes. A house we put a bid on was like this. Then we find out it didn't pass Title V. How does that even make sense? Get your ducks lined up and make sure the house is sellable. AND AGAIN, STOP WASTING OUR TIME!!!!!

Children's Style

I was at our local pizza place picking up dinner and I saw a little girl. She was 4-5 years old. She was wearing Ugg boots and a dungaree mini skirt and her hair was all done up with glittery things. Now some of you may call this a fashion forward child, but isn't this kind of fashion designed for teenagers? Also, her Dad was inside the restaurant waiting for his food and she was playing around on the stairs outside and near the parking lot. It was dark out and it was busy. Have I just become too old to understand how little girls should dress? In my opinion, anyone under the age of 15 should not be wearing teenage styles. What ever happened to Garanimals? I think they should come out with cuter more stylish Garanimals to help parents learn how to dress their CHILDREN! And while they're at it, maybe they can put parenting tips on the labels.

Low Fat Vs. Regular

One of these is reduced fat, but it has more carbohydrates! And it is not called peanut butter! It's called peanut butter spread! The one on the left is peanut butter!

People read your labels! Reduced fat is not always, and usually less healthy than the regular! The peanut butter spread also had more ingredients! Yuck! I will take the real stuff for 10 more calories!

New Direction

I've now focused on homes listed a little over $200,000 that have been on the market for awhile! I think my price range is the same as a lot of people so they haven't seen the homes priced higher! If they've been on the market for awhile, maybe they are willing to go down $15,000!

Fingers crossed on my awesome idea! Hoping no one else thinks of this until I find our house!

Today Is 10-11-12

Hope it brings me some kind of luck!

Domino's Twin

I was freaked out today looking at Petfinder.com! I saw a dog that is the spitting image of my dog. Both are mixed breeds so it's kinda weird. I want to adopt him, but can't have three dogs in my apartment!!

Waiting For An Answer

We put a bid in for a house we saw on Monday! Today at 5:00 was the deadline for them to accept! No answer yet and it's 8:00! We're preapproved and put $1000 good faith money down! It was a bid only $5,000 less than what they asked. Plus, it's not even their house. It belonged to their Dad who passed away. It was payed off so all the money is gravy to them. Either our Realtor is screwing up or their's is! Hard to tell since it seems like Realtors are mostly crazy in my opinion!

Well, I started looking again for another house! I will not sit around and have other people run my life!

Gas Fireplace

Aren't gas fireplaces used to heat rooms? Why wouldn't they be hot? Keep your kids away from all fireplaces and stoves! Toddlers could play with ashes of regular fireplaces when fire is out! Come on parents wake up and watch your kids! Some common sense please!

Wish I could teach common sense!

Pit Bulls

I am so pissed off about laws against pit bulls! They should start charging the pit bull owners! And where does it end? Do all laws only pertain to 100% pit bulls? There are a few breeds that are considered pit bull! One of my dogs is 1/2 American staffordshire terrier (pitbull) and she is a sweetheart!
When we adopted her from the shelter we had to take her to puppy classes for six weeks! Maybe we should have laws that force people to go to dog training classes and while we're at it parents going to parenting classes would also be awesome!

Crack House

So we were driving around towns out west looking at houses we saw online that seemed nice. One of them was nice up on a hill, but three houses away there was a broken down building with broken windows and smoke coming out of it! All kinds of weird broken trucks outside! Two houses next to it were trashed and had trashed yards. Creepy town is what I'm calling it! My DH says that the only reason someone would be inside that building would be to cook crack!

Another Day In The Life Of A Basement Dweller

So our realtor has now told us that the house we wanted in Middleboro has changed.  In a way.  He said that the selling realtor left him a message that someone's mother would pay to have the septic system tested.  Remember that this is the one they wanted us to check and see if it was working.  Thus wasting our money for no reason.  Of course my realtor calls me up telling me the last name of the woman willing to do the testing.  And this is because he did not understand who it was and thought (in his wild dreams), that it was someone we knew.  So I told him I did not know who this woman was and said that maybe it was the mother of the people who are selling the home so it will have a better chance of being sold.  My realtor says, "Oh yeah, that would make sense"! Duuuuuuuh!  Of course it would.  It's called common sense.  Which I have ranted about before being not so common!

So in the end, if it does pass Title V, we just might get the house with the gorgeous yard and peaceful neighborhood.  The one that needs a floor in the master bedroom and a much needed wall in the one bathroom.  That is, if FHA allows it.  I feel like I am in a circus because of all the hoops they are making us jump through.  Maybe after this I can get a real job in one.

Hope everyone is having a fabulously awesome autumn day!  Thanks for reading.

S.W.A.T.

Just heard about a new thing that kids are doing. It's called swatting. They call and say there is a break-in or kidnapping and the police send a swat team. That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. All that wasted money and time. Then if they need the cops elsewhere they will not be available.

I think parents should spend more time with their children and start punishing them and teaching them right from wrong. If they don't, the world will be in even more disarray in 10 years than it is now. Come on people. Have free parenting classes. Have separate classes and make them for baby, toddler, grade school, teenage and early twenties. Towns and states waste so much money on other things that this would be a better preventative way to spend it.

Funny Commercials

When I see the new Trojan Twister commercial, I keep thinking its a cool game : )

Plans Always Change

Tonight we were suppose to see three houses. One realtor got sick, don't know why that even matters they just give my realtor a code on the phone usually. And another they couldn't show us tonight. So we will see those others on Saturday. We drove by one of them and it doesn't have a For Sale sign in front. So I'm leery about that one.

The one we saw tonight was just down the street from where we live now. It was a contemporary design. The whole upstairs had skylights and funky triangle windows and a beautiful bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and separate shower. Then I stood near the tub and looked out one of the funky windows and noticed that you can see inside the neighbors kitchen. Which means they can probably see inside our bathroom. Which means I would have to start working out because the windows are too odd to get shades to fit.

The yard, I thought, would be nice. It was a third of an acre. But the neighbors very large garage with lots of windows and two stories high was right on the border of our land. And their back door was 6' facing into our yard. The house we saw also had a garage, but it was attached and behind the house. So again we have a house with no real comfortable access to the yard. What is wrong with people nowadays? Doesn't anyone use their yards. I did get to meet our realtors wife. She is very nice and grew up in Hyde Park. It's funny because she is one of 5 and he is one of 11. Sound familiar?

I did forget to take a picture of this place. Sorry.Now I'm reading up on one of the houses for Saturday. First listed in January at $249,900. Then reduced to $159,900. Six months later Under Agreement. Two weeks later Back on Market. Two weeks later Under Agreement again. Two weeks after that price change to $172,400. One month later BOM with a new price of $185,900 that now says Sellers Bank wants no lower offers than this.

Why is buying a house so complicated?

Dumb, But Funny

Here is a funny stupid thing I saw on a real estate listing: Please make sure the door is shut and don't let the catS out. Home is vacant. WTF??? I thought it was bad that we saw a vacant house yesterday with a fishtank still turned on. The water was so dirty I still don't know if there were fish in there, but it smelled like they died. Why waste the electricity???

Finally His Idea

So yesterday we went to see a house our Realtor actually found for us and thought we

would like. It was in Middleborough. We got there at 5 and due at 5:30. We saw a man and a woman standing outside the home so we drove by. When we did get there our agent was a few minutes late. But he didn't have the golden key this time. I guess the agent was suppose to meet us there at 5:30 and didn't. He called her cell and her office and we waited for 45 minutes until she called back and gave him the lock box code. My husband said she probably wants to sell the house herself and get full commission. When we got inside it needed work. Why don't they post that on the sites? I get the sites the realtors see so it makes absolutely no sense to me.

There was one bathroom and one of the walls was a bookcase and was not attached to the rest of the wall so you could see straight through the bathroom. One of the floors was plywood. There were only two bedrooms even though I believe it said three. You needed to walk through one bedroom to get to another and in that bedroom there was another weird bookcase covering a large closet. I was told by the neighbor "Ruth" that there were 5 children living there. I wonder if one of them slept in the closet. That would have been a fire hazard. Plus the fact that the smoke detector kept beeping that it needed a battery.

Of course the yard was almost an acre and flat and beautiful. There was also a barn on the property and a shed. But the shed was attached to the house and actually looked like a room from outside. Which is dumb because it means you have to pay taxes on it and it is counted as living space I guess. The driveway was short and came right up to the house. So you could look out your bedroom window and it would seem like the car was in the house.I gave our realtor a check so we could put a bid on it. Lots of people were looking at it and it was only on the market for 1 day. Then on our way home our realtor calls and says the house realtor called the owners and they won't pay to have the septic checked so she wanted to know if we were willing to do it. So we would be paying $500 for something we might not even get because my husband does not want to buy a house that we have to fix or replace the septic. On the internet it just said "not done" and they do it when the get an offer. Today when I checked it said "septic is buyer's responsibility"! Why can't they find that out in the first place????  So I guess we don't get that house either. And it was a short sale, which is fine, but only on its first day. They can take up to a year to finalize and by that time we could have found the perfect house and lived there for months.

Now my husband wants to check out the Sutton area. But as I was looking online this morning, I found a house in Stoughton and Avon that I want to check out. Fingers grossed we find something within the month.