Friday, February 22, 2013

I Have A YouTube Channel!

I have subscribed to a couple YouTube channels over the past 6 months and I really like watching them and I love the idea of sharing with others and the sense of community. 

Here are the links to the channels I subscribe to:

MakeupByTiffanyD
missglamorazzi
MyHousewifeLife
OrganizedLikeJen
TheBusyBeeBuzz

The last 3 on the list are by the same person she just has different channels for the different topics she talks about.

With everything that is happening to our little family this year (new house, new baby) I decided to create my own YouTube channel as an accompaniment to this blog. 

I will try to post videos once a week.  The content will range from redecorating the house to family things and everything in between!  What ever I feel like making a video about I am going to try it!  
I may even venture into vlogging! 

I am a little nervous about putting myself out there on video.  I don't think I'm all that great to look at and I really hate my voice on video.  But, maybe this endeavor will help me get over some of those things. 

Anyway, I'm doing this for me and I don't care if anyone likes or watches what I put out there.  Although I wouldn't mind if they did!

Here is the link to my channel:

TheWineyWife on YouTube

 
 
Love,
WW

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know the day is almost over but...Happy Valentine's Day!  Hearts to everyone!

We are getting closer to closing on our house.  The sellers have agreed to fix a few of the problems for us.  They will install some GFCI outlets throughout the house and GFCI's in the breaker as well.  They are also going to make sure the bathroom fans are properly vented outside the house...so yay for that!

We had our meeting with our mortgage lender on Monday.  We had quite the sticker shock when we found out how much our monthly payment is going to be.  It was about $170 MORE than what we had calculated using the FHA mortgage calculator online.  After going home and going over the numbers for 3 hours....we decided to change our financing to a conventional loan which will reduce our payment by $50.  We are going to have to put more money down (5% instead of 3.5%) but we think it's worth it and of course our loan amount will be smaller.  Beans and Rice anyone?

We are really excited and I can't wait to share our whole journey on this blog.  I'm planning lots of room makeovers which means lots of blog posts and pictures (maybe even some videos!)

I made butterscotch & chocolate chip cookies today!  Or as I like to call them...the "I've Died And Gone To Heaven Cookies".  Maybe one of these days I can blog about them too.

Love,
WW

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Home Inspector: "Don't Buy This House!"

So this past Friday we had our home inspection.  We were planning on leaving Jack with my sister so we wouldn't need to bring him along, but he was not feeling so good once we got to her house so I stayed with him and Mark went to the inspection on his own. 

Boy am I glad I didn't go!  The inspection took about 3 hours and we found out some things that we didn't really want to know.

First off, my dad recommended the home inspector to us who is a very knowledgeable guy and we got a great deal on the "no frills" home inspection.  "No frills" just means that we don't get a written report about the house, which we were ok with.  We probably saved $350 to $400!

When they walked into the kitchen/family room he was like, "You don't want to buy this house."  That particular part of the house, which is the addition, is very open (which is why we like it so much) and it does have a significant slope in the floor.  However, he wasn't concerned about that.  He said "There is nothing supporting this roof."  WHAT!?!  There needs to be a girder truss that supports the roof of the addition.  They looked in the attic and there was a wall blocking the view into the space above the addition.  At that point the inspector didn't really want to continue any further, but Mark asked him to.



Here are some other things we learned:

None of the outlets in the house are grounded
The bathroom fans are not properly vented
The attic needs more insulation
There is a crack in the concrete pad in the garage that's allowing water (ie. snow and salt from the car) to leak into the basement and it's creating salt deposits on the basement wall! 
There are no heating vents in the bathrooms or kitchen
The floor in the addition is sloped because the current owners laid a new bamboo floor ontop of the original hardwood that stops just after the kitchen.  Why!!!!
And the main breaker for the house is located outside where anyone one can walk by and shut our power off!

Needless to say when Mark told me all this I was disappointed.
But then he told me the good news!

They ended up finding the girder truss through an opening in the garage!  Thank goodness!  The addition was put on sometime in the 70's so we just knew it had to be there! The next day it was confirmed by a friend (a former inspector from the 60's/70's) of the home inspector who drove by the house and remembered everything about that house!  He knew who the owners were and the name of the guy who built the addition, which was very important!  We now have the whole history of this house and I think that is so cool.

The house was built in 1963 and it was the first one built in that area, which was the premier neighborhood of that time.  It was the spec house so that explains why the main breaker is outside.  The original owners of that home lived there until 2010 when they sold it to my friend's parents who bought it for their daughter (my friends sister).  She lived there for only a few months before moving in with her boyfriend, who is now her husband.  So basically there has only been 1.5 owners of this house.  Oh and one other tidbit.  The original owner was a blueberry farmer and he had his own gasoline tank buried under the ground for fueling up his truck so he could go out to the fields!  The tank is still there!  Isn't that crazy! 

So to make a long story even longer...we are still going to buy this house.  We just have a few conditions for the sellers that we hope they can address.  We have a meeting tomorrow with our mortgage lender and then we just have to pray that the FHA inspection goes well so we can be approved for our mortgage. 

Talk about stress!  We have not been sleeping well lately, but it will all be worth it in the end.  I do sleep a little better knowing that I have 3 brothers-in-law that are home builders/contractors and they can help us with those other issues.

-WW

Thursday, February 7, 2013

My Brain Feels Like Scrambled Eggs

As I had talked about previously we have been house hunting near the lakeshore.  It's had it's ups and downs for sure.  We would find ourselves getting all excited about a house we saw online, even going as far as picking out paint colors and furniture.  Then we would go to the showing and be all "WHAT?!?"

Bottom line...Online photos are deceiving.  That also goes for online dating profiles, but the world has already learned that lesson.

Two weeks ago we looked at a nice ranch-style house with a big addition on the back.  I didn't want to get too excited but it was 3 bed 2 bath worth of fabulous!  Yes the bathrooms are on the tiny side, but this house has so much space! (Can you say 5 main living area closets!) And a full unfinished basement for all our crap and brewing stuff!  I went back two days later when there was an open house.  I still liked it and secretly cursed the other house hunters there to get out of my house. hee hee.

Mark and I talked about the house for the next few days.  It is at the top of our budget.  But we decided to put an offer on it last Saturday.  We bid 20 grand less than the asking price.  And did I mention the sellers are my best friend's parents? (talk about awkward)  They countered at $132,500.  We came back at $130,000.  They came back with $132,500.  We surrender!  $132,500 and seller pays the closing costs.  We get a great house in a great location.  Only 10 minutes from the beach!

Now we have appointments up the wazoo with home inspection on Friday, mortgage lender on Monday.  And Mark is currently interviewing for a new position within the hospital so we have to work around those appointments.  And we need to get our taxes filed so we can GET THAT MONEY BABY!

Oh speaking of babies.  I'm having one and we found out that it's another boy!  I'm soooo happy, and sooo out numbered now, but hopefully they will treat me like a queen. 

So it's been a busy week, and our brains are scrambled, but WE HAVE A HOUSE!  YES!!!!!!


I'll keep updating as things progress!

Later,
Bri