I’m back and here to stay!
Needless to say, it has been quite a while. The first couple of months of home ownership were a whirlwind. As I quickly learned,
when you are knee deep in projects and not only the brains and creative
inspiration behind the work, but also the ones rolling up your sleeves making
it happen there is little time to document.
Luckily, the copious mental notes and the various colors of paint stuck
in my hair for the past couple of months helped to jog my memory for the most
epic of catch-ups…. (Disclaimer: If you
get past this entry, the subsequent ones are way shorter. ;-))
I wish I could say
that once we found the Yellow House all of the pieces of the puzzle fell right
into place, but that would be too easy right?
Despite how miserable the process
was, I do believe that “everything happens for a reason” and that the wrenches
we were thrown actually ended up benefiting us. As mentioned in my inaugural post, my friend
Stef found The Yellow House online towards the end of October. We jumped on the opportunity to view the
house and scheduled a midday appointment during the work week. I remember being hopeful upon flipping through
the listing, but once I pulled up to the property that was all she wrote. Tim had arrived before me and as soon as I
saw his face it confirmed what I was already thinking. His eyes were lit up and I could tell he was
trying to contain his excitement. To
better put it in context, if it were me, I would have been stifling a full-on
Brandy Happy Dance. (I feel like I need
an animated gif of myself to insert throughout the blog so readers can gauge my
level of excitement.) This house had
EVERYTHING we wanted. If we reference
that handy dandy, epic WISH LIST from the previous post, every box was
checked. Land/Privacy. Check.
Powder Room. Check. Formal eating
and living spaces. Double check. The bonus rooms, including finished basement
complete with heaps of storage, were beyond attractive. When you have tons of interests and hobbies
the amount of stuff you accumulate just becomes astronomical; we’ve got inner
tubes for the gunpowder, tennis rackets, golf clubs, skateboards, an easel,
camping and hunting gear, harnesses and climbing shoes, every kitchen appliance
known to man as well as dishes and serving platters galore. And so as not to think we are hoarders, we
actually use ALL of this sh... er stuff. Hell, I even use my rollerblades from the
90s! I love to cook and entertain and those
items I received from my wedding registry which may seem excessive to some are in
regular rotation and need a home. All
that to say, storage, bless you.
Getting back on track, just as quickly as we saw the house,
we met with our realtor to prep and submit our offer. We “waited and waited” for a response and
the “standard” 72 hour window came and went.
We didn’t want to look too eager, but at the same time patience has
never been one of my strong suits (save constructing a point in tennis to set
up an easy winner.) Additionally,
“unreturned phone calls” are one of my biggest pet-peeves. Oh yeah, I was handling this situation
well. Our realtor contacted the listing
agent to get a pulse on things and he basically didn’t engage; no acceptance,
no refusal, no counter. Um, WTF? I’ve never been one to play games; always a
straight shooter, the “aggressive-aggressive” type, I was not looking forward
to this dance it looked like we were about to perform. Cut from the same cloth, our realtor pressed
them to give us something, dialogue, a number we could chew on, something. After much pressing, they finally came back
with an offer 4k under list. Literally
weeks of evasiveness and BS and that is what you have up your sleeve? Frustrated, irritated, angry, disappointed,
dejected, we walked.
In a matter of weeks we would discover, our Yellow House would go under contract with a close date of
December 31st. I was in a
depressed funk for the greater part of 2 months. I went to work, came home and got in
bed. Tim’s blood orange Manhattan, which
he perfected over that stint, got us through the fall and early winter
months. It wasn’t the weight of how long
it took us to find the Yellow House that was soul crushing, but rather how
perfect this house was for us. It
literally screamed Brandy and Tim throughout every hallway, cabinet and nook and
cranny. I could see the rest of our
lives unfolding there. My mom albeit as
bummed as I was, has at her core this uncanny optimism, and never gave up hope. She checked the listing every morning to see
if the status had changed. She knew it
was our house.
December 30, 2014. I
swear I should get that date embroidered on a pillow alongside our wedding
date. My cell rings, our realtor on the
other end, closing fell through, the Yellow House was going back on the
market. Fate. January 1, 2015 offer submitted. We weren’t letting the Yellow House slip
through our hands this go around. A few days of back and forth and on January 8th
we had a signed contract. Given our
previous interactions with the seller/listing agent, I was still wary however
and didn’t speak a word. As far as I was
concerned, until we had the keys in hand it wasn’t a done deal.
Our veteran realtor hooked us up with the best inspector in
town. (Pretty sure the listing agent was
annoyed by how thorough he was.) We
uncovered some deferred maintenance, which worked in our favor to keep the
price down as is as well as to get some concessions (state of the art radon
system, restructured deck, repaired mortar and sealed cracks in the flu/chimney,
warranties on all appliances, systems and work), but we also heard one of the
most dreaded words to any potential or existing homeowner, termites. Of course, I went into a tailspin and got
super emotional. Tim, ever the practical
one, was a lot more reasonable- either the situation is fixed to our
satisfaction or it’s not and we walk.
The termites stemmed from a leak in the roof that went unaddressed and
luckily the little buggers, and their damage, were contained to a small portion
of the garage so we felt comfortable with the outcome produced by proper pest
removal, damage repair, roof replacement, and of course a re-inspection. We also got all sorts of signatures and
certifications to stand behind the work so that we were covered moving fwd. if
we ran into any problems. As a result of the second time around, mortgage rates were
way better and we didn’t have to deal with all the inconveniences of winter
(higher BGE, snow removal, etc.) so while I wouldn’t want to relive the roller
coaster that was Fall 2014, we did come out ahead.
Without further ado, the Yellow House, as we first saw it on
Realtor.com.
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| Welcome Home! |
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| Family Room |
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| ...with a "Great Room" vibe |
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| Formal Living Room |
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| Bonus Room - Yahtzee! (The first of the wallpaper. Dun, dun dun...) |
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| Formal Dining Room... not to be confused the the Breakfast Room for everyday dining. Makes me giddy! (Growing up my parents had a kitchen that was sizable enough to seat 8, mind you, I was an only child so it was just the three of us but ever the traditionalist I liked having a formal space designated for special occasions. You'd be surprised at how many homes we saw only had a formal space or just had a little nook in the kitchen for weeknight meals and no grand dining room. Cocoa Martha did not approve. |
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| Master Bedroom. Pink is my favorite color, but yikes. |
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| Master Bathroom. (The wallpaper saga continues...) |
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| Guest Room. (...and continues.) |
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| Guest Room. |
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| Full Bathroom. |
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| Full Bathroom. |
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| Guest Room aka Metty's Suite. (Complete with private steps for her to "escape to her chambers undetected after one too many vodkas." Yes I quoted her.) |
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| Tiered Deck with Built In Flower Boxes. (I don't have a green thumb, but Metty does. Quick, what do Elton John, Brandy and Tim have in common? Stumped? Answer to come in future posts. It's a doozy, I'd keep reading if I were you.) |
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| Backyard aka Tim and Brooksy's playground! |
