The LDS went well. Andrew is a great speaker/leader. I sat in the back and worked on our counter offer. Our seller countered, and last night when we got home, we decided to just go for it. We will be a little house poor, as is the norm when you first buy a house. However, we will still be paying off bad debt and putting money in savings. Excellent!
Our counter offer is this:
- Buyer pays full price. (Which isn't much...let's just say...it's a great house for...1/5 of what we would pay for it downstate. We would have tried to drive this down more, but with the following work being performed, we're getting a deal.)
- Taxes paid equal. (This is fair.)
- Seller removes entire current heating systen
- Electric heating is professionally installed prior to closing
- Basement window is replaced.
- Main level and stairwell carpet is replaced to buyer's specifications.
- House passes structural, pest and asbestos inspection prior to closing
- Closing date April 30th
Yes, you read that right. Our current closing date is our due date for Lucy. But why make things simple? We're hanging on to the whole "If God is sending us this house, He'll give us a chance to sign on it."
There are a lot of small improvements we would need to make, but upfront, we will
- Replace stove and fridge
- Buy washer and dryer
- Repaint entire house
- Replace locks
- Powerwash entire exterior of house
- Start on landscaping in front of house
Slowly, there are a lot of other things. We want to make this house our home, and we talked last night about how important it is to us to learn to do the work ourselves and to work really hard to make this our home. Our children are going to have their first memories in this house. We want it to be a special place where they like to be. In time, we'd like to
- Renovate the bathroom, make it smaller, and turn half of it into a laundry room
- Reface kitchen cabinets
- Replace kitchen backsplash with tile
- Replace countertops with stone
- Add butcherblock countertop between fridge and stove
- Combine den and living room
- Buy a mountable TV for the living room
- Finish basement
- Change lighting fixtures in most rooms
- Renovate downstairs bedroom/add closets/remove paneling.
It seems like a lot of work, but I think it will be more time than money that we need to spend. And we have a long summer ahead of us, with lots of time to work on the place.
I can't wait to get the final word from Jim today. I am very nervous.
Otherwise, baby is doing well. We just can't wait to meet her. Andrew said this morning, "I can't wait to smell her baby smell." He's such a devoted papa. Baby smell is very important to us.
She should be almost 6 pounds this week, and is getting the hiccups about 4 times a day. It's cute, and while I'm sure it's annoying for her, It's nice for me because I know her little lungs are working nicely. She still hasn't dropped, but she'll do it in her own time. We have an appointment on Friday, and I'm hoping he'll do an exam and let us know what's going on.
Well, I need to eat something and get going on my day. I can't even organize myself right now. I need to make a list. I feel like my list could top 7 or 8 pages today...sigh.
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