Buying a house had been a goal and a dream of mine for a very long time. Finally, in May of 2002, I've reached that goal. I wanted to start this journal about finding a house a long time ago. But I never did so first I have some catching up to do. The idea was to write a new entry everyday and maybe it would help some people to see what one person went through to buy a house and what's going on after the buying. At the very least, it will be my little journal that I can look back on and relive the memories of my first house buying experience. So, some backgroud first...then the entries start. I'll try to update this journal every time something is done to the house.

I grew up in New Jersey. South Jersey actually. And anybody from New Jersey will tell you...there's really two New Jerseys..South Jersey and North Jersey. It's like two different states. I think they should just go ahead and split the state into two parts and be done with it. The Garden State...the part where all the great tomatoes and fruits and vegatables come from?? That's the South Jersey part. The toxic dumps, the snarled traffic, the people packed into every square inch of land?? That's the North Jersey part. Anyway, my point is growing up in New Jersey, I could never afford to save enough for a house. The houses are pretty pricy. I moved to Pittsburgh in July of 2000 and the houses are much cheaper. Well, I guess I should say less expensive. Combine that with the fact that I'm making more money now and sharing expenses with my roomie Laurie and I've been able to save what I think is enough for a down payment. I knew I could afford the mortgage payments. My problem was, like so many other people, coming up with the down payment. I'm not going to get into specific dollar amounts. But I did hit a snag. Just when I thought I had enough, I started checking into how much I would need for the closing costs. Now I realize that those costs will be a couple of thousand dollars, which lowers my down payment. What's involved with closing costs?? Well, you sometimes have to pay 'points' for a mortgage. Each point is equal to 1% of the loan. Borrow $100,000 with 2 points and you have to come up with $2,000 right off the bat. Also included is the balance of the propery taxes for the year. Since this was already paid for the year by the owners of the house, you have to reimburse them for the balance of the rest of the year. If the taxes are $200 a month and you buy the house in May, you have to pay $1,600 (8 months times $200). And then there's all the nickle and dime stuff...house inspection, paying for them to get a copy of your credit report, you have to have home insurance paid up in advance for a year, fee for that, fee for this, and so on. You can see that it can add up quickly.

The good news in all this is the house Laurie and I are looking at is pretty inexpensive. So I'll still be able to have a sizable down payment, but not as big as I wanted. If you can come up with 20%, they usually waive mortgage insurance. That's another fee that gets added into your mortgage payment and basically covers the bank in case you default on the loan. It's usually around $30-50 a month, but you can drop it once you get 20% equity in your house. I don't have 20% (probably closer to 10%), but rates are low and my lease is up at the end of June. If I don't do it now, I'll have to sign a new lease and wait another year. So we're going to give it a go.

Oh, I guess I should explain why I talk about Laurie and I, but I only mention me when it comes to finances. Laurie will be following me and moving into the new house. We discuss all aspects of the house as if she was also buying it. But I'll be the only one responsible for it...she'll give me a check for half the 'rent' and utilities, just like she does for our current apartment. Well, she gives me half, but we're both on the lease. I'm just the one that usually writes the checks for the bills. The difference is, because of her job, she might not be in Pittsburgh as long as I plan to be. So we wanted to set it up where I'm the one resposible financially because she might not be here. While it is great sharing expenses, I have to make sure I can afford the house on my own. And the way I think it will turn out, I can. And although I'm the one buying the house, it's just like we both are.

Ok, moving on. Right now, we live in Forest Hills, PA. It's about twenty minutes outside of downtown Pittsburgh. We really like Forest Hills and wanted to stay in town. The only problem is the property taxes are quite high. We looked around (Penn Hills, Monroeville), but they were farthur away from the city and, more importantly, farthur away from the airport where Laurie works. We're already pushing it in Forest Hills considering there are times when work could call for Laurie and she has to be there in 90 minutes. And as anybody who has lived in Pittsburgh will tell you, get on the Parkway at rush hour, and it's gonna take you a while to get anywhere. Plus, from looking in the paper, it seemed the houses in Forest Hills are a little expensive, and they are close together with a lot of the properties having no yard simply because they're built on a hill. A few steps out your back door and you're rolling down a steep hill. The first thing we did was go to some open houses. They're usually on Sundays, so I would get the Sunday paper, jot down some places and we would go off and look at other people's houses. We were using it as a way to determine what we wanted in a house, what we liked, what we hated and so on. We saw some pretty crummy houses and we saw some great ones we could never afford. But this was kinda hit and miss as we weren't really seeing any houses that we had a chance of buying...either because they were too far from the airport or they were too expensive. But then someone suggested REALTOR.COM. This web site is great. Put in some search information and it brings up all the houses for sale in that area. We found a couple in Forest Hills that I thought I had a chance of being able to afford. I went through the list and would show Laurie what I found. Some of them we didn't like just from the photo on the web site. You really shouldn't judge a house this way though. Like Laurie said, you're going to live inside the house. So go and look at it and see what it looks like on the inside. While we were doing our Open House thing, we collected a lot of business cards from realtors. We both kinda like one...Linda. So we decided once we got closer to homes we really wanted to see...homes that I thought we could afford, we would call her and she could be our agent. One day, I went REALTOR.COM crazy and ended up printing out 13 houses in the area to see. They were all close by, so one day Laurie and I checked them all out by driving or walking by them. Unfortunately, we ruled out ten of them right away. Why?? One was right across from a park and we thought the kids would make too much noise. Some didn't have a driveway. I insist on having a driveway. I'm not paying for a house and then have to park on the street. Some were ugly. Some, the neighborhood wasn't too great. But we did find three we wanted to look at closer. So we called Linda and she seemed to remember us. She said it would be no problem to show us all three houses in one afternoon. Wow...this is getting serious. I have three choices and my very own agent. Cool.

We went to the houses on Saturday, March 16th, 2002. The first house we saw is actually two houses away from our apartment. So we just walked and Linda met us there. We liked the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. We liked the one bedroom (bigger than our current one). The other bedroom was so so. We liked the fact that it had a garage. We HATED the basement. We decided that we need two bedrooms (we have family stay over sometimes, so we want a guest bedroom) and either a third bedroom or a basement that was finished or that could be finished one day. Laurie doesn't like the computer in the bedroom so we're gonna turn the third bedroom or the basement into an office like room with the computer and probably my sports stuff. The basement at this house, we couldn't do anything with. And there were only two bedrooms. Plus, the washer hookup is on one side of the basement, and the dryer vent is on the other. We have a stackable washer/dryer, so they have to be on the same side of the basement. I never saw a basement with the hookups on opposite sides. There were other things wrong with it, so we decided we would pass on it. One down, two to go

The next house we weren't too sure about before we even got there. Looking at the picture on the web site, it's kinda barn shaped and there's an ugly tree right in front that blocks out 2/3rds of the front porch. But when we went inside...oh my! The house is old. We found out later that it's about 70 years old. There's wood everywhere, including hardwood floors in the living room and dining room. There's a fireplace in the living room, but it's boarded up. The kitchen was a nice size with lots of cabinets. Ceiling fans in the dining room and kitchen. Upstairs, one bedroom was kinda small with no closet. Hmmm...could be the office. The other bedroom was a nice size with a ceiling fan. But the master bedroom was a good size bigger than our current bedroom and with lots of closet space and three windows that should catch the morning sun. And another fireplace that was boarded up. Gotta find out if these fireplaces can be fixed to work again. Down in the basement, just one big room. Ripe for turning into a finished basement. Now for the bad stuff. A severe lack of electrical outlets upstairs. I figure we'd have to install 6 to 8 more outlets. There's only one in the entire basement...there's another 2 or 3 to be added. The stove isn't part of the sale...we'd have to buy one and have it installed. We were concerned with the basement doors. They're the old kind that you see on farms in the movies...two doors laying on an angle that you pull up on. And they're wooden. When you open the basement door and look up, you can see the cracks and gaps in the wood. Not only will we have to replace them with metal ones to make a good seal, we were concerned about rain seeping into the basement. A lot of good things with the house, a lot of bad things with the house. One of the best things about the house was the price. Well within my range. As a matter of fact, if the closing costs aren't too bad, my mortgage would be about the same as my current rent. And if I went with a 15 year mortgage, it would only be about $115 more than my current rent. Can't beat that. And the house is in trust and has been on the market for a year. Maybe the sellers would be willing to deal to get rid of it. It needs work, but it's livable the way it is.

The third house was a bust. Just ugly, no tub (just a shower stall) and the only bathroom was downstairs. We quickly crossed it off the list. Well, we were down to just one house. But Linda had mentioned a house that just went on the market and another one that was in my price range. We were done for the day, but told her we wanted to see the other two. Linda called me Sunday (3/17/02) to go see one of the houses, but it was raining and she had car trouble the other day and I didn't want her to get stuck in the rain with a broken down car. So I said we could do it during the week.

It rained all day and night Sunday and Laurie and I discussed the house we liked (we'll call it Forest since it's in Forest Hills). Several times we decided no...it needs too much work. But we kept going back to it. We went on an errand and went out of our way to drive by it again. Well, maybe we should buy it. No. Maybe. Let's go for it. No. Yes. Maybe. Argh!!! That night, we make out a list of all the stuff that's wrong. We determined there were two major points that had to be takeng care of right away...possible leaky basement and no stove. Some other things (like the outlets) would have to be fixed soon, but it was livable. We went to sleep still unsure.

Monday, March 18, 2002: Since it rained most of the day Sunday, I thought it would be a chance to see how bad the basement leaked...whether it was from the cellar doors or just through the walls themselves. I had to fax a document over to Linda anyway, so I added a note that I really wanted to see Forest again to check out the basement. When she got in, she called and we met at Forest around 12:30. We went straight for the basement and we were amazed. It was dry!! No puddles, no mini swimming pool. Laurie felt near the door and it was dry. She opened the door and there was a little water outside the door, but nothing major. Hmmmm. This is interesting. Maybe the cellar doors wouldn't be a top priority. Now, really, the only pressing issue is no stove. We walked around the house again, checking it out closer, trying to picture what furniture would go where. Linda filled me in on the steps I would go through...from getting pre-approved for a loan, to making an offer to signing about 12,387 forms. Ok, I make up that number. Linda had to go to another appointment, but she said she would call us that afternoon and we could go look at the house that just went on the market. Laurie and I stayed back and walked around the property again. We talked about what we could do to the outside and inside. I think Laurie was getting into it. It's something we both were interested in doing...buying a house and fixing it up. Nothing major since we both don't know what the heck we're doing. But the possibilities were kinda cool. We went home and Linda called later and we met her at the new listing. Well, isn't this just fine. It's a little more expensive and needs work too, but I liked it. The basement was already pratically finished and had plenty of outlets. Oops!! Major problem...fuses instead of circuit breakers. Laurie said it smelled of cigarettes and old people. The carpets would have to go. The kitchen was old and just about everything would eventually have to be replaced. But it had a garage that was big enough that we might be able to fit both cars in. If not, the driveway could fit two cars and had a little side driveway that could hold another. Like Forest, this house had a lot of things right and a lot of things wrong. But now we don't know what to do. I could see us living in either one. While the new listing was more modern than Forest, Forest has tons of charm and character. We drove home and parked the car and sat in it for like 10 or 15 minutes dicussing the houses. And we still have one more to see.

Tuesday, March 19, 2002: Ok, I understand that Linda needs to make money. Selling houses is how she does it. She ain't making squat showing us houses. But she's getting a little too obnoxious. Friday, I gave her my cell phone number because Laurie and I were going out and we were trying to set up seeing the houses on Saturday. We get home and, later, I got on the internet (I only have one phone line). I didn't think about it and turned off the cell phone. Linda tried to call and got a busy signal. She called the cell phone twice and left messages. I finally thought to turn the cell phone on, got her messages, and called her back around 9pm. Sunday, she called a couple of time...what did we think about Forest? Wanna make an offer? Monday, when I faxed her the document, I left my work number in case she could call me before 11am when I leave work. She called our apartment around 11:30 (I couldn't get to the phone at the time) and left a message. Then she called work, who gave her my beeper number. So I'm listening to her message and my beeper is going off...she paged me!! Today, she called THREE TIMES!!! Wanna make an offer on Forest? How about the new listing?? I let the machine get it. Jeez..this is one of the biggest decisions I'll ever make. I just saw the house for the first time three days ago. I want to see other houses and have time to think. I want to talk to my parents. I want to find out how much it will cost to get a stove and have it delivered and installed. I want to found out how much it will cost to have 10 outlets installed and how much it will cost to hire movers to move our stuff. Laurie's Mom might be coming out this weekend and we would love it if she could see Forest and tell us what she thinks. I need to call Linda and tell her I won't be making a decision until next week at the earliest.

Wednesday, March 20, 2002: All's quiet...Linda didn't call once. I called her and left a voice mail message that I wouldn't be making a decision until next week at the earliest. And I told her about Laurie's Mom coming this weekend. We were hoping to see both houses with Laurie's Mom so she could give us her opinion. As soon as I know she's coming, I can set up an appointment.

Friday, March 22, 2002: Called Linda and set up and appointment for Saturday to see Forest and the other house we're looking at with Laurie's Mom. Linda told me that someone else is also interested in the second house. That's ok...Laurie and I like Forest better so no biggie if the other one isn't available when we finally make a decision.

Saturday, March 23, 2002: We (Laurie, her Mom, and me) met Linda at Forest and walked through again. I'm liking this house more and more I see it. I'm leaning heavily in making an offer for it, but Laurie still isn't sure. I think it's more the uncertainy of not knowing what will happen that is making Laurie feel this way. Plus, I know she really likes our apartment a lot. Laurie's Mom liked Forest a lot and says it's "us". We also saw the second house and Laurie's Mom didn't like it at all. Yeah, this second house is pretty much out of the running. I think if I make a bid on Forest and it falls through, I'll probably end up just staying in the apartment for another year.

Sunday, March 24, 2002: Linda called and left a message. Same story...wants to know what we're thinking about Forest. Laurie and I talked about it and decided to put in an offer. The house lists for $59,900 and we're gonna offer $53,000. We figure that the house is in trust and it's been on the market for over a year so maybe the sellers will be willing to come down on the price. I call Linda back and we have an appointment for Tuesday to fill out the forms. My plan now is to get pre-approved for a mortgage on Monday. That will help in the bidding process if I'm already approved for a mortgage. I won't be able to get pre-approved in one day, but it will start the process and Linda said it's not that big of a deal to not be pre-approved, as long as we at least start the process. When Laurie and I were going to open houses, all the realtors kept saying I should get pre-approved before doing any real house hunting. Now I see that I should have done the pre-approval right away since I don't know how long it will take. So, there's a tip for you....get pre-approved as soon as you can.

Monday, March 25, 2002: Tried to get an appointment for a pre-approval mortgage. No luck. Called my bank, thinking I would have to go in to my branch and they can start the process there. Doesn't work that way. They have like one person for the area and I have to make an appointment with her. Makes sense since I don't think they have a long line of people coming in for a mortgage, so why have someone at each office. The woman at my bank took down some information and said she would fax it to Heather (the mortgage person) and Heather would call me back to set up an appointment. Heather never called. I'm hoping she calls Tuesday. I also called Marge. She is the one Linda suggested and about two weeks ago, she also gave me a rough estimate on what I can afford. Kinda a pre-approval, but nothing official. I left a voicemail and she never called me back either. I'm hoping she calls back on Tuesday too! Since the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has a mortgage rate table on their web site (updated often), I basically know what the rates are. My bank is pretty competitive. I need to check on Marge's rate. Also, Linda mentioned something about bond and special programs for first time home buyers (hey..that's me!), so I'm trying to see what the rate is for that as well. This is a lot of work, as I'm also trying to find out how much it will cost to hire movers and I keep forgetting to call State Farm to get an estimate on home owners insurance. With the movers, I figure Laurie and I can move everything except the furniture. I'm hoping to close on the house in late May and this will give me a month to move (since our lease on our apartment ends on June 30th).

Tuesday, March 26, 2002: Still no word from any mortgage type people. Laurie and I are due at Linda's office around noon to make an official bid. I received one estimate on moving so far. I went to several moving company web sites and most let you email in your specifications and they would email back an estimate. I did that Friday morning and I got back one so far from Don Farr moving. He said about $432 and I think this is high. He's the "Official Mover Of The Pittsburgh Penguins". The movers that moved me from NJ to Pittsburgh did a great job, but you can't request an estimate over their web site. You have to call and set up an appointment for someone to come and look at all the stuff you have. Really, that's the best way. And Don Farr did say that it was an estimate and to call if I wanted someone to come out to make a more formal estimate. I'll probably call Ryan Moving And Storage (the company that moved me out here) next week.

We spent about 2 hours at the realtors with Linda explaining all the forms I was signing. I pretty much knew what to expect. A while ago, Laurie bought me the book "Home Buying For Dummies". It's a great book, but be warned. Since it's a couple years old, some things are outdated (especially the tax information). As far as I know, they haven't released a newer edition. Still, it's a pretty good book. I filled out about 8 or 9 forms and the bid was official. One thing I wasn't expecting was Linda asking for hand money. What's that? It's a deposit from me to show I'm serious about buying the house. Usually it's around $1,000 and Linda forgot to mention it to me before coming over and I didn't have my checkbook. Linda said since the property wasn't that expensive, $500 should be ok (I was a little nervous about giving $1,000). The amount goes towards the closing costs and if the deal falls through, I get the money back. Since I didn't have my checkbook with me, Linda agreed to stop by the apartment later that afternoon and pick up the check. When she did, she told Laurie that she was meeting the sellers tonight. She moves quick!! One good thing...now that we have a formal offer, the house is, more or less, off the market until either we come to an agreement or we decide not to buy. So no one else can come in and outbid us. That makes me feel a little better.

Linda called around 8:30pm, but I didn't pick up the phone...let the machine get it. She said she talked to the seller. Actually, the house owner's son. The owner has Alzheimer’s and the family is selling his house. I feel bad now for trying to make a lower offer. I don't have the emotional coldness to be a negotiator! She said the family sounds nice, was happy someone likes the house, and that things went well. She told them about me and how I already live in the area and how our apartment is similar to the house (as far as style). She said the son would talk things over with the family and she expects him to call her tomorrow morning. I would suspect he won't be getting much sleep tonight. Linda doesn't know if he'll make a counter offer, but she doesn't think it will be a drastic change if he does. I would think he would. I based my offer ($53,000) figuring he would counter with something between my offer and the asking price (59,900).

And I still can't get a hold of anybody for a mortgage. I called my bank again and Alice (the woman at the bank) said they've had trouble before with people not being called back. I don't know if that means Heather (the mortgage lady) has a habit of not returning calls or whether she didn't always get the message or what. So Alice said she will call Heather and have her call me ASAP. Well, she never called me. I guess I'll wait until around noon tomorrow and try again. Linda told me that Marge is away on a mortgage workshop kinda thing and won't be back until Thursday so that's why she hasn't called me back. Oh, and Linda also said that someone bid on the other house we were looking at. So that one is off the market. Just as well, I really wasn't considering it anymore.

Wednesday, March 27, 2002: WEEEEEEEE HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Linda called at 12:40pm and said the sellers countered my offer, but only went to $55,000. Laurie and I talked about it for about 20 minutes and I accepted the counter offer!!! I'm that much closer to being a home owner. I had to go to Linda's office and sign off on the changes to the agreement. On the way over to her office, it started to sink in. I'm really buying a house!! And on the way home from her office, I was kinda in shock. I just agreed to spend $55,000!! Well, more than that with the interest and all. But over all, I'm happy. Nervous and excited too. I still have two major hurdles. I have to qualify for a mortgage...that shouldn't be too hard as I have no debt, a down payment of more than 5% (probably closer to 10% by the time we're done), and a good credit history. The other hurdle is the home inspection. I would hate to get this far and then there be something wrong with the house. I have to call Linda tomorrow and she's gonna recommend some home inspectors. And I have to call Heather at my bank and set up an appointment. I decided to go with her for my mortgage.

Thursday, March 28th, 2002: Got a hold of Heather for my mortgage. We're meeting Monday at 1pm. I need to have the last three months bank statements. Well, I don't keep my statements. I keep the latest one and then when the new one comes, I throw out the old one. Heather said it shouldn't be a problem...we might have to contact the bank to see if they have a copy. This is actually the credit union...Heather said it shouldn't be a problem getting back statements from my bank, since I'm dealing with them for the mortgage. So, another tip. If you think you're getting ready to look for a house, start saving your bank statements. I also need the last two years W2 forms, some recent paychecks and a copy of the sales agreement. I talked to Linda and she's still waiting to receive a copy of the sales agreement. Hopefully, she'll get it tomorrow so I can run up there and get a copy for Monday. Linda gave me some names of home inspectors. I don't have to go with any of them, but it's people she's dealt with in the past, so we'll see. Since she hasn't gotten a copy of the agreement yet, I don't have to call someone yet. According to the agreement, once she receives the agreement that was signed by the seller, I have a certain number of days (I forget how many!) to get the house inspected. I also called State Farm and asked how much home owners insurance would be. Not bad...she said probably $20-25 a month.

Friday, March 29, 2002: I feel like I have homework. Linda keeps calling me and telling me these things I have to do. I'm working on getting a home inspector now. I called the people on the list Linda gave me. Two answered and I got their prices. The other two, I got their machine and left a message. I think the problem is that I was calling after 4pm on a Friday...and it's Easter weekend. Linda said I would get a vibe when I called one of the inspectors and that's the one I should go with...someone I feel comfortable with. So far, I like the second one I called. It's a little cheaper and they mentioned that the radon testing takes 2 days since they leave a monitor in the basement. This is important since the inspection has to take place within 15 days of Linda getting the agreement back. So you have to factor in those two days and not wait until the last minute. Oh, and Linda still hasn't gotten the agreement back

Monday, April 1, 2002: Happy April Fool's Day!! I don't know if going for my mortgage on April Fool's Day is a good thing or not. Will the bank tell me I'm qualified at this great rate only to laugh and say April Fool's?? Probably not. I got home from work around 6:30am and took a nap since I wasn't meeting Heather until 1pm. I got up around 11:45 and there were 5 messages on my machine!! Before I went to sleep, I turned off the ringer and turned down the volume since I was sooooo tired. Two were from Linda...the other realtor said he did fax a copy over to her but Linda says she never got it. He'll try again. Meanwhile, the original is in the mail heading back to her. She also wanted to know about the home inspector...more homework!! Heather called and pushed back our meeting until 2pm. That's good...it'll give me more of a chance to wake up. One of the inspectors that I left a message with on Friday called back and told me their fees. I wasn't impressed. I realize I'm just one person, but leaving your fees on an answering machine instead of talking to a potential client...I don't know. I was turned off by that and don't think I'll go with them. The other inspector called and left a message. He sounds ok...at least he said he would get back in touch with me or I can call him. I tried calling him back, but got his machine. In case you're wondering, it'll cost around $350-400 for the inspection. That includes home, pest, and radon. The radon testing is $100 right there.

The meeting with Heather went well. She seems nice. We're about the same age and she made it very easy. Again, the book Laurie got me (which I finally finished) came in handy as I kinda knew what to expect. Also, I think it helps to read about the process on the Internet. Heather took down all my information and printed up a lot of forms for me to sign. She said everything looks good and she should have word on whether I'll be approved by the end of the week. I'm paying 3/4 of a point. I wasn't happy paying any points, but the interest rate was lower. Sure, I could have paid more points and got it even lower, but I want to make sure I have a sizable downpayment. We're going under the assumption of 10% down ($5,500). My interest rate is 6.625 for a 15 year mortgage and it's locked in for 60 days. This is good since when I talked to Heather last week, the interest rates were higher (they change everyday). It would have cost me 1 1/2 points to get that rate last week. Anyway, she estimates my mortgage will be a little under $650 a month. That includes property taxes, mortgage insurance, and home owners insurance. I was shooting for around that price, so I'm happy. I have to figure out how much extra I have to send in every month in order to pay it off in ten years. That's my goal. The figures right now show me paying about $10,200 when I close...$5,500 as a downpayment and the rest are closing costs. We're shooting to close at the end of May...probably around the 24th. I only received one estimate on moving, so I guess I have to call them up. Emailing them through their web site apparently didn't work.

Tuesday, April 2, 2002: I transfered $1,000 from my savings into my checking yesterday. The money for the house is in my savings account at the US Airways Credit Union. I paid $500 in hand money to Linda from my regular checking account (not my credit union account which I don't use much) and also paid $300 in hand money to Heather. This was also from my regular account. So I needed to transfer money from the house fund into my checking so I can acually start using it! I'll use this money for things like paying the home inspector and things like that. Once we get closer to the closing date, I'll have to transfer the rest of the house fund into the checking account. I might also have to take some money out of my regular checking account and deposit it into the Credit Union savings account before closing. I used an ATM to transfer the money so I need to call the bank to see if it went through. Don't need to be writing bad checks right now!! I also have to call Linda and also pick a home inspector. I have to check with Linda to see what day is good for her. I'm hoping this Friday.

Called the bank and the money transfer went through. Not that I didn't think it would, but it was the first time I used an ATM to transfer money with this bank. And I made an appointment with a home inspector. It's set for this Friday at 3:30. They said they would call Linda, but I think I better call her too...just to make sure she knows about it. I went through all my house papers and got rid of a lot of junk. Basically, just notes from open houses Laurie and I went to before finding the house I'm trying to buy. I now have all my house notes in one location. Good idea to keep these things together! And I added Linda's and Heather's phone numbers to my cell phone phone book so if I need to call them, I don't have to look for their number.

Friday, April 3, 2002: Well, today was the big day. The house inspection. Since I never went through one of these, I didn't know what to expect. I met Linda and Chris (the home inspector) at the house. Linda said it's her company's policy that she not stay during the inspection. We made plans to talk later and she left. Chris had me sign a paper saying he gave me a pamphlet on radon gas (which he did) and I signed an agreement as well. He seemed like a nice guy. He started upstairs and first checked the attic. Boom...first problem. The roof is obviously damaged as there was sunlight coming through. Of course, if there's sunlight, then there's rain water coming through too. He had me climb up the ladder so I could see. Since neither of us actually went into the attic, we couldn't tell if there was damage to the roof or the floor (or walls). I was hoping the home inspection would go super smooth so I wouldn't have to make any decisions or repairs. 5 minutes into it and already there's a problem. A roofer will have to come out and look at it. A good thing though...the attic had lots of insulation. He checked the three bedrooms, found an outlet in the small bedroom that I didn't even see (that's a good thing!), and told me the boarded up fireplace in the master bedroom probably wasn't a wood burning fireplace because it was too close to the wall. A wood burning fireplace would be farther out from the wall. He said it probably was a gas heater of some type, but couldn't tell me if it was possible to get it functioning again without much trouble. He did say that it could probably be turned into a gas fireplace with little trouble. The bathroom was next. He flushed the toilet and checked the sink. He looked at the window in the bathtub and turned on the water in the shower. This was our next problem. It's kinda hard to explain, but the water came out in surges. Not bad enough so you couldn't take a shower, but something that should be looked at. He said perhaps a water regulator would fix this. Ok, so now I'm up to a plumber and a roofer and we're still upstairs. And he suggested changing the outlets to that type with the circuit breaker in them. He said that's now required on all new buildings. I can do that so that won't require an electrician.

The main floor was next. He checked the outlets and said one of them in the living room had reverse polarity. Easy to fix...just have to pull the outlet out and reverse the black and white wires. Heck, I could do that. He confirmed that the fireplace in the dining room was indeed just for decoration. We figured that. The kitchen was next. He turned on the water and the same thing happened with the surging...only it was worse. It didn't happen when just the hot water was on, but it did happen when you added cold water, or just had the cold water running. Again, he said a water regulator could fix this and it is something that needs to be addressed as the pressure from the constant surging could affect the water pipes over time. Oh, and water leaked from the kitchen sink nozzle. Again, that's easy to fix as I could either find out if the connection needed a new washer or I could just replace the whole faucet. And he again recommended replacing the outlets in the kitchen with the circuit breaker type. That's it for the downstairs...not too bad (except the water pressure thing).

Now the area I was most afraid of...the basement. Not only because the whole entire house sits on the basement, but that's where the wiring, the furnace, the hot water heater and a host of other things are. He was concerned about some staining in one of the corners and made a mental note to check around outside near that corner. Looks like some water got in there at some point. He said the furnace was about 20 years old and seemed like it was cleaned recently. It did have one gas leak near a connector. He didn't seem too alarmed and I asked him about it. I'm thinking like, you know, gas leak...everybody out of the building!!!!!! But he said it was a small leak and about 75% of the houses he does has some sort of leak. A plumber could easily fix it when he comes out to add the water regulator (if I have one installed). The hot water heater is 19 years old. He said they usually last 8-12 years, so it's something to watch. It's working fine now, but watch it. I was thinking that maybe we should just replace it because the thing will start leaking water either when we're not home or at 3am and we'll wake up with no hot water. Plus, today's hot water heaters are so much more efficient. So maybe we'll just replace it now. Oh, and it doesn't have a drip leak. I had no idea what that was until he explained it to me. It's a little pipe that allows moisture and other junk to drip out of the pipe so it doesn't affect the heater. The furnace had one and he showed me. Again, he said it was an easy thing for a plumber to fix. He did notice some old knob and tube electrical wiring. Again, never heard of this until he showed it to me. He said it's not odd to find something like that in a house as old as this one (it's 70 years old) and it probably runs up to the bedrooms where we found 2 very old outlets. All the other wiring was updated to a circuit breaker in 1979. It should be replaced with modern wiring. There are so few outlets in the bedrooms and basement that I already decided that I want a bunch more added (maybe an extra 10!). So if I do that, I can have the electrician get rid of the knob and tube wiring then. Over all, it wasn't too bad in the basement. He said the house seems structurally sound and in good shape.

Next we went outside. The downspout on the front of the house was rusted through and needs to be replaced (I could probably do that). He did check the outside where he thought water might be getting in (the stains on the wall in the basement). Seems that the sidewalk along the house slopes towards the house. There's some cement patching (for lack of a better term) along the wall, but it's starting to chip and break up. He suggested either do the expensive thing and replace the sidewalk or break up the old concrete patching along the wall and reseal it. The chimney needs to be repaired. The first few layers of bricks seem loose (no mortar). He didn't go up on the roof...just used binoculars. The back roof had one shingle missing (something for the roofer to do!) and he could see the tar paper blowing in the wind in the spot that we saw from the attic. So that was basically it. I learned a lot.

That night, I called Laurie (who is in Boston for the month) and we talked about it. The two major things are the roof (which is sooooo the number one problem now) and the water pressure. Everything else, we could live with for now, although I would hurry to fix them soon. We're torn about what to do. Everything I talked about here is just what the home inspector told me. I won't get his official report until tomorrow. What we will likely do is ask the seller for some help. Linda told me that they already figure they'll have to paint the outside and do some repairs. Laurie and I don't care about the painting since it's something we can do ourselves (it's a brick house with aluminum siding...the only thing that needs painting is basically the trim around the windows). So Linda said we might be able to use that as a bargaining thing....we'll pass on having you guys paint the house if you help us with the roof and water pressure. Just based on what I learned today, I want to ask the sellers for help with the roof, the water pressure, the chimney, and the old wiring. I could drop the old wiring, but you always ask for more than you want so you can give up something. But the roof is important. Laurie told me that she still isn't sure about the house. She likes it, but she has a strange feeling about it. She's not sure if it's because of the house (something is trying to tell her something) or if it's because she likes the apartment so much and doesn't want to move. She found it interesting that once I told her about the problems, she was disappointed. So maybe that shows that her fears are stemming from moving and not from the house itself. She said she felt better that she was disappointed!! I'm disappointed too. I was hoping for a nice clean home inspection so i didn't have to sit here and worry about what the seller will offer and how much it will cost to repair the major things. Either a nice clean report or something so big that there was no way we would take the house. Kinda wanted my mind to be made up for me.

I did talked briefly to Linda at night and she seemed hopeful since the seller knew there would be some work involved. She said she will call me Saturday when she gets a copy of the report. Chris asked me if I wanted my copy mailed to me. I said just give it to Linda as I'm sure we'll get together to discuss it anyway. Oh, and I almost forgot two things. There's no sign of pests anywhere (that's a good thing!) and the radon testing is gong on until Sunday. He will go over Sunday and hook a printer up to the monitoring device and call me with the results. Anything under a 4.0 is good. So what did we learn today?? Getting a home inspection is VERY important. Although I realize there's probably some people who don't get one to save money (it cost me around $365), you learn so much from having it done. Who knows when we would have noticed a hole in the roof?? We're not planning on using the attic for storage so I don't know when we would have noticed it. But now we know about it before we bought it. Oh, and have one scheduled as soon as you can so you have more time to negotiate any repairs if necessary.

Saturday, April 6, 2002: Linda called me today. She has the copies of the house inspection and we're meeting Sunday at 11:30 to look it over and decide what to do next. One thing that didn't happen this week was that I didn't hear from Heather, my mortgage agent. I'll have to call her Monday and see what's going on. I thought she said she might know how things are going by the end of the week and she would call me, but I could be mistaken.

Sunday, April 7, 2002: Well, I got the chance to think about the home inspection and the more I think about it, the less disappointed I am. I mean, it would be great if there was nothing wrong. But I guess it isn't too bad. The house is 70 years old. I met with Linda in the morning and we went over the inspection report. She didn't think it was too bad either. Sure, there's work that has to be done. But she repeated that the seller kinda was expecting something to be wrong. Linda wants me to write a letter to the seller outlining what I want done. She said it would sound better coming from me in my own words. We submit the letter to them and then they respond. We're at the point right now where I can walk away from the deal if I'm not happy with how the sellers are going to handle the repairs. It's a clause in the agreement about not liking the home inspection. I more or less left the major things to them (roof, chimney, water pressure, old wiring) and left the minor stuff for me. I worked on the letter that evening. My plan is to print it out and fax it at work to Linda on Monday afternoon. Oh, and my Dad called and he said the same thing everybody is saying...there's something wrong with every house and this report doesn't seem too bad.

Monday, April 8, 2002: Forgot to call Heather to see where the mortgage is at. Linda did give me 2 copies of the sales agreement and Heather is supposed to have one. I thought Linda faxed over one to her, but I don't know. I'll have to call Heather tomorrow.

I did change one thing in the letter about the repairs. I got the results of the radon testing yesterday and it came in at 7.1. Anything under 4.0 is good. So we're slightly above. According to the EPA guide, a reading of 8.0 means that 3 people out of 1,000 will develope lung cancer if exposed to this level for a lifetime (that's for nonsmokers). Another way they put it is you have an equal chance of getting cancer as ten times the risk of dying in a plane crash. Now, that doesn't seem like it's too bad. So I wasn't originally going to ask for help in fixing the problem. Then I thought about it and even though the chance is low, there's still a chance. So I took out the part about the seller fixing the old wiring (I moved it to the things I would take care of) and added in a part about fixing the radon problem. Linda tells me it's about $800 to $1,000 to fix. Looking at the pamphlet from the EPA, it looks like they drill a hole through the basement into the ground and have a pipe that goes all the way up through the roof. There's a fan on top of the pipe and this draws out the gas from under the house. I'd rather take care of it now and know it's done. I faxed the letter to Linda. She called me and had me make one change, which I did and I re-faxed it to her. She left a message on my home phone that everything looked good and she would fax it to the seller's realtor. I think I'm asking for a lot and I hope the sellers don't just turn me down right away. The repairs have to be made anyway, so way not do them now while they have a buyer (me!) who is willing to do some of the minor things and who is trying to be understanding. I hope I hear back from them soon.

In the morning, I looked through the Home Depot and Lowes ads to get an idea on some projects and how much they would cost. They have the kitchen faucet I like...the one where the stem comes out and acts as a nozzle. I don't know why but I just think that's the coolest thing!! Laurie house-sat at a home that had one and I was like amazed by it. It's $89 and shouldn't be too hard to install. Someone also had a downspout that I would think would fit what I need (for the rusted through downspout in the front). It's about $8. The toughest part (after figuring out how to get it home) will be to put it in as I don't have a tall ladder. I guess I need to get one...and figure out how to get that home too.

Tuesday, April 9, 2002: I called Heather and left a message about having a copy of the agreement for her and asking her for an update. She hasn't called back yet.

Wednesday, April 10, 2002: I got home from work and just missed Heather calling. Laurie talked to her...I'm approved for the mortgage!! They just have to come out and do an appraisal on the house. What does that mean? I don't know. Also, she did request a copy of the agreement and I have to fax it to her tomorrow. Linda also called while Laurie and I were taking a walk. She said she would call back and we assumed it was about the sellers getting back in touch with her about the repairs. She didn't call back until around 9:30pm. I was asleep and Laurie had left for Boston already. So I have to touch base with Linda tomorrow. It's making me nervous...I wonder what the sellers are thinking. Did I ask for too much?? Too little?? Do they think I'm being a jerk?? I don't know.

Thursday, April 11, 2002: I faxed Heather the agreement. Hope she gets it since the fax number on her card is crossed out and another one is written in. And the fax number she gave Laurie is a totally different third number! I guess if she doesn't get it, she'll call.

I also talked to Linda. I feel bad. I mentioned before that the actual owner of the house, the father, has Alzheimer’s. Apparently, he's not doing well at all. His son is handling the house. I mean, buying the house is the biggest thing in my life right now. It ranks up there with my relationship with Laurie (who is being relocated to Philly), but on a different level. She's very important to me, but so is the house in a different way. Well, nothing compares to your family and the son has to go through selling his parent's house while his Dad is doing so poorly. I'm sure he couldn't care less about the house, but in my life, it's my top priority. It stinks and I feel bad. Like he wants to deal with me and my petty (to him) problems about the house. And I don't want to be a jerk, but there is a time issue. There's so much going on with the house with Linda, the lender, surveys, banks, etc. My rate is locked in for 60 days, so this thing has to be done by June 1st. Seems like a lot of time, but it's already been around 14 days.

Anyway, the son is not in the area, so he has no way of getting a roofer (or any other professional) to come out and tell him about the problems. So he is offering a credit and I would worry about fixing everything. I don't want to get into how much he offered, but I have to gather up all those professionals and see if it will cover everything. I think it will. So that's my homework for the night. List all the things I think needs to be done, in order of importance (and price) and see if I can get people out to the house to get me estimates. The one good thing is that I believe most professionals have free estimates. So it shouldn't cost me anything to get a general idea to see how much everything will cost. Linda said she would call someone who just did a radon system in another one of her client's house to see how much he would charge. Not that I would have to go with him, but Linda said there aren't too many people who do this kind of thing. The son did mention that he has a water regulator (to even out the water pressure) on his house and it only cost like $50. But he doesn't think it needs it. He could be right...it could just be the fact that the pipes probably haven't been used in like a year. I don't know when the owner moved out...only that it's been on the market for a little over a year. So maybe I can delay that repair and see if it straightens itself out. And if it's only $50 (plus the cost of having someone come out and install it), I can handle that on my own. Maybe I'll make a trip to Home Depot tomorrow after work and see if I can get any information. Another thing I have to keep in mind is to keep all receipts for a couple of reasons. I'm trying to get to that 20% equity mark so I can drop the mortgage insurance payments (and doing fix up jobs helps) and I want to know everything I spend on the house and when I did something in case I need to look back on something. Hmmm...a thought. Maybe if there's enough money in the credit the sellers offered, I can get the water heater replaced. That'd be cool.

Friday, April 12, 2002: I tried calling some roofing places today. And I was a little disappointed. Turns out most do charge a fee if the roof they are looking at isn't for a home you own. Since this is a house I'm trying to buy, they charge a fee. The one company takes the fee off your bill at the end if you go with them. Other companies knew there was a fee, but didn't know what it was...someone is supposed to call me back. I finally found one that wouldn't charge a fee. I set up an appointment with them for Tuesday at noon. I talked to Linda and she agreed that I don't want to spend any of my money on the roof. We just need someone to come out to see if the roof is repairable or if it needs to be replaced. If it can be repaired, then the credit the sellers are giving me should be plenty to cover the cost.

Linda also talked to the person who does the radon fixing. She got him down to $750. Cool. I think that's a great price since most of the data I've found is it costs between $800 and $1,000. This leaves plenty for the roof and other things I want to do, like add outlets and get a new water heater. Linda said not to worry about time limits as she'll explain to the seller's realtor that we need time to research the costs involved in repairing things. I'm not worried about the time limits in that reguard. I'm more worried about going over the 60 day locked in rate from my bank. I did get the official notice in the mail yesterday that I was approved for the mortgage, pending the appraisal. Things are going forward....slowly, but they are going forward.

Tuesday, April 16, 2002: Well, we've slowed down again. I met Linda at the house at Noon, waiting for the roofer to show up. Linda showed me how to work the lockbox so I could lock up the key when I was done and she left. And I waited for the roofer. And waited. And waited. They never showed up. I waited until about 1:10 and left. Got home and called them. He seemed surprised that he was supposed to be somewhere else other than up on someone else's roof. He apologized and asked if he could call me back later in the day and we could reschedule. I had to work in the afternoon, so I wanted to give him my work number but he didn't have a pen with him since he was up on a roof. I assume he was on a cell phone. I think it's a small company and when his wife (who I made the appointment with last week) isn't available to answer the phone at the office, it gets forwarded to his cell phone. So he asked if I could call him back after 5pm. I did. Got voice mail. I didn't leave a message, but I did call back later like around 7pm. Again, voice mail. I left a message for someone to please call me back either at work or at home but nobody did. I also talked to Linda and she said she will try to find a roofer. I was willing to give this guy another chance after not showing up, but now I can't even get a hold of him. Not that I would have him do the work now anyway, but right now it's more important to get someone to the house to see how much it would cost to fix the roof and if there was any damage done to the walls. So we'll see what happens tomorrow.

While I was at the house, I tried the water again. I thought maybe if it ran for a little bit, it would stop that annoying surging stuff and I wouldn't need to get a plumber to install a water regulator. Well, it did the surging thing and the more I turned the water on, the worse it got. It was like pounding the water out. I'll have to stop at Home Depot to see if anybody there has any ideas...or call a plumber and get some advice.

Wednesday, April 17, 2002: What a freakin' mess. Is it so hard to get a roofer in Pittsburgh?? Looks that way. The guy who said he would come out and look at the roof still hasn't called back. Is this good business?? Don't think so. Scratch him off the list. Linda got me another name to call. She called them and they said they would come out and do a free estimate. She gave me their number and told me to call them to set up an appointment. I called. Got voice mail. ARGH!!!! Left a message. They didn't call back. And this was someone who was expecting my call!! I waited and waited. Linda called me back and I told her I got voice mail. She called several times and left messages too. I didn't hear back from them so I called one last time at 7pm and left another message. I said that I get up early for work, but if someone could call me, I'd probably be up for about another 90 minutes. If not, please call me tomorrow at work anytime from 7am to 11, or home after 11am. I went to bed with no reply. I don't get why this is so hard.

One guy did call me back. It was someone I called Friday. I must of misunderstood as he went to the house and gave me an estimate on the chimney ($350)!! I don't remember making any such arrangement. I explained there was also roofing work to be done, but I want someone to check the inside of the house for damage. He asked me how was he supposed to check the inside. Uhhhh, I'd be there with the Realtor?? Ohhh, ok. Well, then. If you want to make an actual appointment, that will be $50. It seems if he goes over to the house when he can and does a quick estimate, that's free. If you want to meet him there at a certain time, well, then, that will cost you. Double ARGH!!! I thanked him for his time and told him I would call him back...WHICH I'M NOT GOING TO DO!!! HA HA!! SEE HOW THE ROOFERS LIKE THAT!!!!

Thursday, April 18, 2002: Cross your fingers and hold your breath. We might actually have someone coming out to see the roof and chimney!!!! The people I tried calling yesterday called me at 7:30am at work. It was the roofer's wife and she apologized for not getting back to me yesterday. She seems sincere and she kept calling me Mr. I hate that. I finally ask her to call me Mike. She talked to her husband and how about Friday morning at 11:30?? Oh, um, I'm supposed to fly to Boston tomorrow (to see Laurie) for the weekend and my flight is at 2:30. Can it be earlier?? How about 11? YES!! Terrific!! Fine. Put me down and I hope to God you actually show up. If I don't hear back from them, then we are on for tomorrow at 11. I called Linda and left her the message to meet me at 11. Strange, but Linda hasn't called me once all day. I thought for sure she would call me and let me know she got the message. I hope she shows up!! Hey, don't even joke about that.

Friday, April 19, 2002: He showed!! The roofer actually showed up!! What a relief. He said he didn't see any damage to the inside walls from the roof. But he couldn't go up on the roof because the ladder he had with him wasn't the right kind. But he said he would be back later that afternoon. While talking to his wife yesterday, I got the feeling that he wasn't just a roofer. So I asked him and he said he was a contractor. GREAT!! Follow me!!! We went into the kitchen and I asked him about the water problem...the surging of the water every few seconds. He said it wasn't a problem. He unscrewed the little filter thingly on the end of the faucet and there was a good amount of gunk in there. He turned the water on without the filter on it and it didn't do the surging thing! He said there's probably a lot of gunk and to go around to each faucet and clean it out. Anyway, he said it's not a major problem and now I don't think I'll have to get a water regulator. Cool. I also asked him to check out the sloping sidewalk and the fact that I'm afraid of water seeping into the basement because of it. He looked and agreed that it could be a problem and it should be redone so it slopes away from the house. He said he would measure it when he came back in the afternoon and include it in the estimate. He made sure he had both my number and Linda's. He said he would call me back that afternoon and he left.

Also scheduled for today at 11 was the appraiser. He works for the bank and makes sure the property is worth what they're paying for it...since really, they're buying it and I'm slowly paying them for it. Linda commented that they hate to talk to realtors. I can see that since the realtor has some money motivation to get the appraise approved. Sure enough, when he showed up, he barely said 2 words to Linda. He went inside the house and I got ready to leave. I assume if something goes wrong, the bank will call me. I don't think anything will go wrong with that part of the process.

One thing I did do before I left was pick some flowers. The yard had a bunch of tulips and they were beautiful. Nobody's gonna notice if I pick a few for Laurie, right? I mean, nobody is living in the house and the grass needs to be cut anyway. So I picked 4 of them and I'm going to put them in water for Laurie when she comes home on Sunday.

Saturday, April 20, 2002: Oh great. Here we go again. The roofer is MIA. He never called yesterday and he hasn't called yet today. I called Linda and left a message, thinking maybe he called her and not me since I was planning on going away for the weekend. She called back and said no, he didn't call her. She said she would call him. Later she called back and said she left a message for him. She said she told the seller's realtor that we would have an answer for them about the credit for the house on Monday. Well, I can't make a decision until I know about the roof. I hope he calls Sunday or early Monday.

Monday, April 22, 2002: The roofer called me at work. Bad news. The roof is in pretty bad shape and should be replaced. He can do that, and fix the chimney, for $3,500. Ouch. Add in the radon repairs and I'm well over the amount of credit that the seller is giving me. The roofer said he could patch the roof, but there's no guarentee on how long it would last. A year, maybe two. It would cost about $400 to patch it. Now I got some more thinking to do. Linda called and we talked about it. I really think the roof should be replaced. Replace it now and I don't have to worry about it for 15-20 years. Patch it, and I'll always be worrying about it. And who knows if I'll have the money to fix it when it does need to be replaced. The sellers are offering enough to get it replaced now, so it should be done now. As far as the radon repairs (which is about $750), Linda suggested signing up for a year long testing program. That would give a better read out of the radon levels rather than just one test done over one weekend. She suggested this since the test level wasn't that much over the acceptable level. Maybe it would end up that I don't have to have the equipment to rid the house of radon. But I'm thinking along the same lines of the roof. Why not get it done now and then I don't have to worry about it. Linda got a great price to get it done now. I don't know if that price will still be good in a year from now. And if I have it done now, then it's done and I don't have to worry about it. We decided to ask the sellers for another $500. That will still mean I have to come up with some extra money, but I'll have a new roof and not have to worry about the radon.

I had suggested to Linda that we just ask them to pay for the roof and the radon. Like have the bill sent right to them. That way, they would know the money they're putting up is for what we say it is. Plus, I want to get at least one more estimate from a roofer. I don't want to go with only one estimate. Linda called the roofer to see if he would come down any on the price and he said no. If I get another estimate and it's close to what he gave me, I'll probably go with him because he came out and gave a free estimate when nobody else would. And he seems like a nice guy...always calling me sir and Linda ma'am!! It's those little things, you know?? Anyway, Linda wanted to get another estimate before going to the seller and asking for more money, but I think we wasted enough time on this issue. Let's ask for another $500 and see what they say....we need to get this moving forward again. If they seller says ok, Linda thinks the roof should be done before closing. I agree. Fix it while I'm not living there so I don't have to deal with the noise!! I don't know how long it takes to put up a roof. But I think the radon should be done before we move in too.

Tuesday, April 23, 2002: Linda called and said it would probably be a good idea to get a hold of the appraiser to see if there was any more work that had to be done before asking the sellers for more money. She was supposed to call Heather and ask her. She said she would call back, but didn't. I'm thinking she's waiting for Heather to call her back. Sometimes it takes her a day to call you back. I'm sure Linda will call sometime tomorrow.

I don't know what to do if the sellers won't pitch in another $500. I want the house, but do I have an extra $750 to spend to get the radon problem fixed? Being that the house is so old, you have to figure there would be things that needed fixing and the price is pretty cheap to begin with. Laurie doesn't think I should spend any of my own money...that the seller should pay for everything. But they did come down on the price and they are paying for a new roof. They will only go so far. I'm hoping they pitch in the extra $500...then I'll buy the house. If they don't, I'm not sure what I'll do. I guess I'll have to figure out if I have enough extra to pay for the radon fixing.

Friday, April 26, 2002: It's been quiet on the home buying front. Finally, Linda called today. Well, actually, she called yesterday to tell me she was still waiting to hear back from the seller. She heard back from the seller's realtor today who left a message saying that the sellers would add in an extra $500. She has to call him to verify person to person, but it looks like they will pay the extra money. That means I can get both the roof done and the radon fixed and I only have to pay $250. Laurie thinks the sellers should pay everything, but I'm happy with this result. Of course, I would have liked for them to pay it all, but I figure for $250 I get a brand new roof and don't have to worry about radon. I think that's a good deal.

I asked Linda if we should go ahead and get another estimate from another roofer. She didn't seem too keen on the idea. I just feel a little stupid if we went with the very first estimate we get. If I got one more, I would feel better. I would think any estimate might be about the same price, but you never know. But I don't know if I want to go through the hassle of calling different people, meeting them at the house, waiting for them to call me back, and so on. Like I mentioned before, I want to get the work started so it's done by the time I close. I might just forget it and go with the one estimate I got.

I feel we're finally moving forward again. I'm not sure what is left to do before closing. I think they still have to do the title search, but I'm not sure. I also think that I have to pay with a cashier's check or certified check at closing. I guess they don't want to take the chance on a personal check for thousands of dollars! I have to find out how I get a certified check. And now that it's getting closer, I should sit down and double check where my finances are. I have to make sure I have enough money for things like getting the phone, electric, water, and cable switched over and things like that. Since we're moving within the same town, I would think we would keep the same phone number.

Monday, April 29, 2002: A quiet weekend on the house buying front gave way to a semi-busy Monday. I talked to Laurie over the weekend and she convinced me to try and get another estimate on the roof. I grabbed my old list of roofers from the first time I tried to get one and picked three. I called them at work this morning. One still charges a fee even though we know it needs a new roof and I have one estimate. Scratch them off the list. I don't understand that. The roofer just lost a $3-4,000 job because he wouldn't wave the fee. Anyway, I called another roofer. This was the one who earlier gave me an estimate on the chimney, but didn't know I needed roof work...the one that has free estimates unless you want to meet him at the house at a specific time (then he charges $50). I asked if he could swing by whenever and look at the roof, telling him that we know it needs a new roof. I assume he'll call around mid-week with an estimate. The third roofer I called, the woman who answered the phone didn't know if there was a fee or not. She would have the roofer call me back. I'm not holding my breath as that's the same story I got earlier in the month and he never called me back. I doubt he will this time...then again, if he knows it needs a new roof, maybe he will.

Linda called later in the afternoon. We talked about the roof and she said she was thinking that maybe it was a good idea to get another estimate. Already on it!!! She also thinks that we should wait until like a week before closing to have the roof work started. She's afraid of the legality of the whole thing if I order the work done, but then the deal for the house falls through. Even though the sellers are paying for it. I understand where she's coming from. It should only take a couple of days to put a new roof on, so we made loose plans to close on Friday, May 24th, and have the work on the roof started earlier that week. Same with the radon system, which Linda thinks only takes a day to install. I asked her if, other than me or the sellers backing out, is there any other major hurdles before closing. Nope!! As a matter of fact, she said I could close right now if I wanted to. There's nothing left to do!! Of course, I can't close now because I'm locked into my lease for the apartment until the end of June.

I wished I would have had the house yesterday. I was cleaning the basement out a little and I actually felt like loading up the car and moving stuff!! I wonder if that's gonna ever happen once I do own the house and have to start to move. I still have to arrange for movers so they can take all the heavy stuff. I guess I should call a couple and get estimates. It's gonna be a little hard as I know July is their busiest time. Although I'm moving in June, I guess June is busy too. I think the trick would be to get them to move the stuff before school lets out. Someone during my last move told me that's why July is busy...the kids are out of school so it's easier to change school and stuff. I have to sit with Laurie and decide what day would be good to move. Although I know she's not going to know since she won't get her schedule for June until late in May.

Wednesday, May 1, 2002: Linda called today. She finally realized that May 25th, the date she picked for closing way back in the beginning, is a Saturday. I knew this and told her a couple times, but I guess it didn't sink in. So, closing is now scheduled for Friday, the 24th. She wanted me to go to her office and sign a paper stating that the sellers are giving me a credit to fix the roof and the radon. She offered to mail it, but I thought that would be a pain. So I offered to swing by and sign it tomorrow. No word from the other roofer yet. I was hoping he would call today with an estimate. Maybe tomorrow. I told Linda that if he doesn't call by tomorrow, I would call the other roofer (Jerry) and find out some information...like is he replacing the roof or just covering the old one (Linda thinks he's replacing it), and what type of shingles is he using (15 year, 30 year or what). And then I have to make sure he can do the job when I want, which is the week of the closing. Not that it's a big deal if he can't do it until the next week or something. Oh, and Linda told me the radon guy is scheduled to put in the system on the 9th. He advised not to wait since he has to check the system and make sure it works right.

Thursday, May 2, 2002: Well, I guess I can scratch the other roofer off my list. Someone did call this morning while I was at work and left a message basically saying he had my name and number, but doesn't know why. ::sigh:: I didn't think it would be this hard to get a feeakin' roofer. I was dead tired when I got home, so I didn't call him back (I took a nap). I guess I'll call him back tomorrow, but I really don't want to wait for them to go and see the house since I want to make sure I can schedule Jerry for the week of my closing.

I also stopped by Linda's office and signed the paper about the credit. I asked her how it will work...whether the seller will write me a check, does the roofer bill them, is it tied in with the closing? She wasn't sure yet, but thinks it would probably be best if they just wrote me a check outside of any of the official house dealings. This way, it won't look like they are helping me with the down payment (which, apparently, is a big thing). That sounds good to me and I think it's the best way. That way, there's less people involved (like the bank, etc). She said she would talk to the seller's Realtor and let me know. Damn. I forgot to ask her about the hand money I paid so far. It wasn't on the estimated closing costs that Heather prepared for me and I don't know if the $800 I paid so far ($500 to Linda, $300 to Heather) is over and above the estimated closing costs. It's important so I know how much to have in my checking account!!

I feel like I'm running out of money. I'm cutting it closer than I would like, considering I still have to pay for movers to move the big stuff, I have to buy some of those Rubbermaid containers (Laurie and I think we should stock up on them so they can stay in the basement storing stuff and we don't have to worry if they get wet...like you would with cardboard boxes), I still have to pay for everything to be switched over, I have to buy a lawn mower pretty quickly, and I have to shell out $250 to cover the rest of the radon treatment. I know I'm still going to be getting paychecks over the next month (and hopefully longer than that!), but I worry about money.

Friday, May 3, 2002: I woke up from my usual after work nap (I'm at work at around 4am) and there were three messages from Linda on my answering machine. That's not good. She needed to talk to me asap. ::sigh:: I hope nothing is wrong. I call her and it turned out not to be too bad. She said the sellers don't want anything done to the house until after closing. We were going to have the roof and the radon done before the closing. No big deal. Well, it might be a big deal for the radon guy as he was already scheduled for May 9th. I didn't schedule the roofer yet, so that was no problem. Now, instead of doing all the work the week of the closing, we're doing it the week after. Like I said, no biggie to me. The reason the sellers don't want anything done is in case the deal falls through for whatever reason.

I decided not to call back that one roofer who had my number, but didn't know why. I'm going with the only roofer who was nice enough to come out for a free estimate when nobody else would. I had a couple questions for him, so I called but got the answering machine. I left a message and he called me back later. Cool. A roofer who returns calls!! My questions were: Is it a new roof or is it going over the old roof (new roof); what kind of shingles...15 yr, or what (25 year); how long does it take (just a couple of days); are you available the week of the 28th (yes). Cool. You're my roofer now.

Saturday, May 4, 2002: I was talking to my Dad today and I am now realizing that time is running out!! This time next month (hopefully), I will be a homeowner!! Yikes!!! I still have to call about movers. Laurie and I are moving all the little stuff, but I'm hiring movers to move the big stuff (couch, bed, washer/dryer, etc.). I don't think it's worth the trouble and aggravation to do it myself. Trying to get the couch (it's pretty long) down the steps (I'm on the second floor), trying to get the washer/dryer combo UP the steps (it's in the basement). Naaa...I'll hire somebody for that. So that's my homework for tomorrow. Grab the yellow pages and look for some movers. I want to talk to the company that moved me from New Jersey to Pittsburgh. I thought they did a great job and were very nice. So they are first on my list.

Friday, May 10, 2002: Been almost a week since I added anything to my house journal. Nothing major going on, so I can catch up with this one entry. I did find out that I need a certified check when I go to closing. So I have to call the credit union and see if they do that. If they don't, I'll have to take the money out of the credit union and put it back into my regular bank and have them do it for me. I called some movers. The company that moved me to Pittsburgh, they're the ones I called first. The person who answered the phone transfered me to someone and I left a voice message. She never called me back. What is it with people not returning calls??? Are they doing so well that they don't need my business?? I called two others and one is coming Monday to do an in-home (er, in-apartment?) inspection and estimate and the other company is coming Tuesday. I have another estimate from another company, but that was done through their web site and email. They said they would come out for an in-home estimate too. I'll have to see what the other two charge to see if it is worth it. I might call one more place. Laurie's Dad is trying to come out in June with his pickup truck, so hopefully we'll be able to fit a lot of the smaller furniture (TV/VCR cart, microwave cart, the beds, etc) in his truck. And my Dad offered to come out in June with my Uncle's truck and help too. I'll probably take him up on that offer. I have to call him and see when he can come out.

I still have to call Heather at the bank. I gave what they call hand money (kinda like a deposit) to Linda and to Heather. I don't see either on the closing estimate. I think I wrote about this before. I have to see if the closing estimate is above the hand money I already paid or if it doesn't include it. I'm hoping it doesn't include it and it will be taken off the estimate on closing. Did I mention the closing date is May 24th? Well, it is. The only other 'problem' right now is the grass at the house REALLY needs to be cut. It's way out of control. Linda called the seller's Realtor and told him about it a few weeks ago. Laurie and I rode past it the other day and it still wasn't cut. No lie, the grass has to be like a foot high.

Tuesday, May 14, 2002: Dang, it's getting close to closing!! A week and a half!! I'm hoping this is normal, but I have this overwhelming desire to call everybody and tell them to forget everything and I'll continue to live in my nice apartment!! I hope it's just a case of me feeling the pressure. Linda called today to confirm the closing on the 24th at 10am. I called my insurance company today to get home owners insurance since you need that to get the mortgage. I also saw the second moving guy...yesterday was the first guy. They actually come out to your house to form an estimate so they can see what has to be moved. I think I'm going to go against my better thoughts and not hire a mover. It's just too expensive. The lowest bid is around $450. Keep in mind this is just for the furniture...a couple of beds, a sectional sofa, a washer/dryer combo, and some other pieces of furniture. I can think of a lot better things to do house-wise with $450 right now instead of hiring movers. I didn't think it would be that much. I think I'm going the route of getting a U-Haul ($29.95 + milage) and bribing people from work with beer and food to help me. I have to call my Dad and set a date that he can come with my uncle's truck in June. Hopefully, it will be a weekend that Laurie's Dad can come out with his truck. If that happens, I might even be able to skip renting a truck.

Linda did say that she got a hold of someone to cut the grass...finally. The only problem is that it's been raining almost everyday for like 2 weeks. So the guy is having problems getting over there when it isn't raining. Plus, with all this rain, as soon as he cuts it, it's gonna grow back fast. That might end up being my problem. A guy at work runs a lawn cutting business on the side. Maybe I can get him to give me a good rate to cut it one more time before I get my own lawnmower.

Tuesday, May 21, 2002: Again, haven't written anything in a while. I'll try to catch up with this entry. Just four more days until the closing! Nervous and excited. They finally cut the grass and trimmed the hedges. It looks great. The only thing is I don't have a lawn mower. My Dad is buying me one as a house warming present, but he won't be out to the Pittsburgh area until the end of June. It's gonna need to be cut before that. Maybe two times. I might have to get a lawn mower and have him buy something else...Lord knows there's plenty of stuff I need!!

I called State Farm about the home owners insurance. They are scheduled to meet Linda at the house today and write up the policy. Then I have to call the guy at the closing place (or Linda does) with the policy premium so he can figure out the final closing cost for Friday. Wednesday, I have to go to the Credit Union and transfer funds from savings to checking and get a certified check. What else is there....oh, I tried calling the roofer yesterday about scheduling a time to pick out the color of the shingles for the new roof. I got his voice mail and left a message. He called back around 7pm, but I already was in bed. I'll try again today. I wanted Laurie there to help, but she's pretty sick. Hope she is better tomorrow since I don't want the pressure of picking out the wrong color!!

Oh, I bought a new power screwdriver at Wal Mart yesterday. I almost bought a drill, but didn't. I need one, but want to shop around. Sears has one on sale, so I want to stop by there and see it. But I'll probably end up getting the one at Wal Mart. I've decided to change the locks on the house too. So we need to go to Home Depot and pick some out. The only problem is the keys. I know they can fix it so the same key works both the front and back door, but we have a locking door on the porch. So, really, we have two front doors. Do I want one key to work all three locks?? Same key for both front doors and different key for back? And so on. So we have to think about that. And I almost forgot that I wanted to change the faucet in the kitchen. It leaks underneath from the spray nozzle and it's a little old looking. And hopefully, since it seems to be gunked up (and that is what's causing the surging water pressure according to the contractor), replacing it will solve the surging problem. I hope so. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a new hot water heater soon. The one there now is like 15 years old, which is WAY old for a hot water heater. Rather get a new one now than wake up with no hot water and the basement flooded.

Other things we need to do is go through every room and measure it. This will come in handy when we get ready to paint or get carpet or anything like that. I need to go through the entire house and write down ALL the projects I want/need to do. And then divide the list into what needs to be done ASAP, what can wait, what we would like to be done, etc. And I have to make up a list of what breaker works what outlets in the house since the service panel isn't labeled.

One last thing...I decided NOT to use a mover. It's a lot more expensive than I thought. The cheapest was over $450. Not worth it considering it was only about 10-15 pieces of furniture. So I might rent a U-Haul and beg people from work to come to a moving party on June 15th. Even with renting a truck, buying beer, soda, pizza, food, etc, I'll still come out ahead.

Friday, May 24, 2002: Well, a lot has happened in the past couple of days. But the big thing is....I CLOSED ON THE HOUSE TODAY!!!! It's all mine now. Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. ::smile:: I've been so busy over the past 3 days that I haven't had time to update this journal. And won't have time until at least Monday.

Sunday, May 26, 2002: Ok, I have some time today, so I'll start recapping the last week leading up to the closing on Friday. It was a VERY busy week and with my schedule of getting up so early (3:45am) for work, it really took a lot out of me! Anyway, here's the week:

Wednesday: I needed to get Home Owners insurance for the house. And for the closing, I needed to have the first year paid up front. I called the State Farm office last week, but it took them a while to get out to the house to inspect it and to write up the policy since my agent was out of town for three days. Finally, he called Tuesday and we set up the appointment for Wednesday. I went in, and the process was pretty painless. Well, except for writing the check!! It was more than I was hoping...comes out to about $33 a month. I was hoping for somewhere around $25 a month. Shoot. That reminds me. I just redid my monthly budget, but didn't include the insurance. I'll have to fix that. Anyway, the process was pretty much the same as when we got Renter's insurance. I was asked questions like what's the value of all the tools in the house...any collectibles...any expensive jewelery, and so forth. It took about an hour, but part of the time Debbie (the office manager) was on the phone because it kept ringing. This was the last piece of the puzzle and when Debbie faxed over confirmation to the closing company that I had paid up front for the year, they would be able to give me the final total that I would need for closing. I called Jeff (the closing agent) and left a voice mail message that he should have the fax that I'm paid up.

Thursday: Thursday was a busy day. Linda called Wednesday and said to make sure I had the utilities transferred to my name by Friday. I made my phone calls from work this morning!! I called the gas and electric companies and there were no problems. Then I called the water company and there was a problem. I couldn't do it over the phone!! I was shocked!! I had to drive all the way to the Authority building. It's maybe 20-30 minutes away and it's not exactly in the best of neighborhoods. So I went after work and it took like 2 minutes. What a pain. But everything was done. Everything is still turned on at the apartment since my lease doesn't end until the end of June and we don't know when we'll be officially all moved out. I went back home and waited for Jeff to call. He called me in the morning and said he should have the figure by lunchtime. I then had to go to my bank and get a certified check. Laurie was going to go with me and we waited until about 1pm. The bank that had the money in it was actually about 40 minutes away, so I decided to leave and we would call Jeff from the bank parking lot. Linda once said to use the estimated closing cost as the total for the check and any difference would be made up by either me writing a check or me getting a check. So Laurie and I left and I started to get a headache. I think it was from lack of sleep. We got to the bank and I checked the answering machine. Sure enough, Jeff had called (twice!). I called him back and got the figure. Went into the bank, transferred money from savings to checking and got a certified check. Linda told me to have the check made out to myself and I would sign it over at closing. Kinda weird having that much money on me. A lot of hard work went into making that money. Hope I'm doing the right thing! On the way home, we stopped at a Hallmark store. Laurie wanted to get those moving announcement cards to send to everybody. She couldn't decide which ones to get and I came up with a cool idea. I'm just going to send Pittsburgh post cards and put my new address on the back. Now Laurie couldn't decide whether she wanted to do that or get cards. And if she got cards, which ones. My headache was soooo bad at this point. I needed sleep and/or food. We did stop at a store and I got a snack and something to drink before going to the card store, and I did feel better then. But I started feeling bad again. Laurie made her choice and we were on our way back home. I took a nap and that night we went to see Harry Conick Jr in concert in downtown Pittsburgh. Oh how I wished the concert was any other week but this one!! But I sucked it up and we had a great time.

That's all I have time for now. More later about Friday, Closing Day!!

Monday, May 27, 2002: Onward as I catch up on the home journal. We pick it up on Friday, May 24th.

Friday: Friday was a busy day. Laurie and I decided to go out to breakfast in the morning. Getting up was a struggle as I didn't go to bed until after 1am since I had to work (after we went to the Harry Conick Jr concert the night before). I don't think I've gotten more than 5 hours of sleep at one time all this week. We got up and went to Eat N Park. We had to meet Linda at the house for our final walk through to make sure everything was still in the house. You hear of horror stories of people closing on a house and when they go inside the house, it's stripped of everything inside because it was never mentioned in the papers that it was included. I didn't think for a moment that would happen here, but I did want to check on the stove. We were pretty sure it wasn't included in the sale since it had a sold sign on it, but nobody ever mentioned it. So I was hoping it was forgotten and would still be there. When we got to the house, Linda was there already, but we couldn't get in!! The other Realtor had already came and taken the lockbox off the door. We couldn't get in. I walked around to the back and looked in the kitchen window. Damn...they took the stove. Oh well. The night before, Laurie and I went to Wal Mart and got Linda a Thank You card. She was super throughout the process and we wanted to show our thanks. You should have been there when we gave it to her. We all started to cry and hug!!! How embarrassing!! Needless to say, she enjoyed the card very much. Laurie wrote on the inside how much we appreciated her efforts. Another round of hugs and we were off to her office for the signing of the papers.

Somehow, even though Linda left before us, we beat her to the office. Already waiting for us was the other Realtor (Jim), the seller's son Mark, and Jeff (the closing agent). We shook hands and went into an office. Mark seemed like a great guy. I feel bad for his father, who he mentioned wasn't doing very well. Linda joined us in a few minutes and we were off. Jeff explained how he arrived at the closing cost figure, which matched what he told me the day before. So that was good...the check I had was right on. And then the paperwork started. Lots of papers to sign. Title agreement, an agreement that any minerals found under my house weren't mine (you own the land, just not what's in it!), bank papers, and on and on. Initial this, sign that and so on. Wasn't too bad and Jeff did a good job of explaining everything. The only problem I had was my name included my middle intitial, so that's the way I had to sign them. I'm not used to signing with my middle initial!! Finally, it was done. Everybody got their checks and Mark, who grew up in the house, shared some stories about the house. Including the time his Dad decided to tear down and burn the garage...which quickly spread to a multi-alarm fire!! The keys were passed to me, everybody exchanged handshakes, and we snapped some pictures. Laurie and I take pictures of everything we can. When it was just Laurie, Linda, and me, we again got a little emotional and hugged again. She gave us a "Sold" sign that we could hang on the sign at the house so we could get a picture of it. She also told us she already went around the office and showed everybody her Thank You card. I get the impression Realtors don't get many of them. Seemed natural for us to give her one.

Laurie and I left and we decided to stop at Sears since we needed a stove. I had a credit on my Discover card because I paid for Penguins playoff tickets but they didn't make the playoffs. So the good news was that it was large enough to cover buying a stove. We walked around looking at different ones. They had some that were a couple thousand dollars!! We finally picked one. I have a picture of it from a circular...I have to scan it and post it here. Delivery is set for Wednesday. The salesman asked where to delivery it to and I almost gave him the apartment's address!! Oops!! Have to get used to saying my new address!! Delivery was free (they had a sale) and it includes hooking it up. Cool. Home Depot charges extra. With that done, we were off to look at the house for the first time as being my house. Strange feeling. We pulled into the driveway and there was a car under the carport. When we had stopped there earlier in the morning, we met our neighbor. We asked her who's car it was since we've seen it there a lot. She said it was the guy who lives down the street and doesn't have a driveway. So he parked the car there since he knew nobody was living there. Also, Mark had mentioned him...his name is George. Mark said he would call George and tell him he couldn't park there anymore. (Well, it's Monday and he's still there...I have to leave him a note.) We went inside and looked around..again seeing all the projects we wanted to do. We left and went back to the apartment.

For dinner, I wanted to do something special. Laurie has been wanting to go to this restaurant called Bravo. The one time we tried to go, the wait was like 2 hours. It's kinda like a more upscale Olive Garden. Laurie had the good idea of us leaving early for the restaurant so we might not have to wait long. So we left around 4:45...and hit rush hour traffic!! Argh. We finally got to the restaurant and didn't have to wait at all. Mark was our waiter and the food was great!! I got a Long Island Ice Tea(!!) to celebrate the house. And we capped off the night with dessert...Creme Brulee, which is Laurie's favorite. It was just ok. The topping was a little too thick and a little burnt. That's the hardest part of making Creme Brulee. When we got it in Niagara Falls, it was much better. But dinner was still great and Laurie paid.

So that was my closing day. Is this the end of the house journal?? Nope. I'll be adding to it as Laurie and I move in and start our projects. Kinda like an open diary. I went to Wal Mart Sunday and accidentally spent $150 already!! I got a drill, a couple smoke detectors, some GFI outlets and a few other things. I was shocked when the total came up and I thought there was a mistake!! And I already started moving boxes to the house. Made three trips today alone. I still don't know which project is first. Laurie and I have to go through the house and write down all the projects. Then decide which HAVE to be done and which can wait. Should be an adventure!!

Wednesday, May 29, 2002: Basically, I could just write a bunch of these entries in advance and just say one thing: moved more stuff to the house. I made three trips Monday and another one yesterday (in addition to a couple of trips over the weekend). I would have made more yesterday, but just as I got back to the apartment, it started to lightly rain. Within 5 minutes, it was lightning and thundering and REALLY raining. I took that opportunity to lay on the couch and eat about 2 pounds of M&M's. I also left a note on George's car about parking in my driveway. Of course, that was right before it rained so the note probably got soaked. Although when I was today, his car wasn't there.

Yesterday, the roofer (Jerry) called and we set up an appointment for today at 3 to go over everything. We actually pulled up to the house at the same time and got down to business. He had his color chart of shingles. The shingles on the house now are kinda gray with green specks. I know...a green roof?? But you don't notice it unless you look really close and it looks good. So I was ready to go with the same color. Jerry suggested a dark color (like brown) to match the tannish brick we have. Everybody keeps telling me to stay away from dark colors as they hold in heat (ok in the winter, deadly in the summer!), and, because of this, they tend to dry out faster than a lighter color. So I almost went with the white shingle and Jerry even brought up the heat/dark shingle thing. According to him, the way they make the shingles now, they don't hold as much heat as people think. Plus, he's installing ridge vents, which help ventilate the roof. But I still wanted to stay away from the dark colors since from my high school science days, I know dark colors absorb heat. So I stayed with the gray/green shingles. Jerry said he will also fix the gosh awful job someone did on the gutter. The sellers had to do a dye test as part of the selling process to make sure the rain runoff doesn't enter the township's sewer system (or something like that...not really sure what it's about!). So, it turns out that it does do whatever it's not supposed to do. So they had to fix one of the downspouts so the rain empties onto the property. And whoever did the job did it really poorly. The top of the downspout is already loose and they just did the job maybe a week ago. Jerry said he would take care of it. I gave him the downpayment and he said they would start tomorrow and should be done by the weekend (weather permitting). I was lazy and decided not to move any stuff today. Actually, I think I've taken just about all the boxes that were already packed. Now it's a matter of starting to pack the stuff before moving. I guess I could have done some of that yesterday instead of laying on the couch with 2 pounds of M&M's.

I might have my first BIG project for the future. There is an allyway past our backyard, but you really can't get to it from our yard. The yard slopes off and there's a fence and a lot of weeds and wild flowers. While I was back there, I saw what a couple other people did. They removed all the dirt in the second half of their yard, kinda making a split level yard. They have a driveway of sorts next to the ally (leading up to a retaining wall) and steps leading up to the backyard and the back of their house. It looks nice. Maybe I can do something like that, get rid of the car port, and have more of a front/side yard. Oh!! And Linda (the Realtor) noticed we have roses in our yard!! Pretty!! Laurie has to get her butt back to Pittsburgh so she can tend to the flowers!! That's her job. She also says she wouldn't mind trimming the headges with hedge trimmers...the manual kind. I will take her up on that offer!! Although I fear we will share the job after she does it once. Luckily, all the hedges are small...not the big ones that go halfway up the house and you need a ladder to trim.

Saturday, June 1, 2002: Well, I am really suffering through buyers remorse. I think I made the biggest mistake of my life by buying this house. I hear it's normal to think that, but I don't know. We had a very violent storm roll through last night...possible tornado just 10 minutes away from me. About an inch of rain in 30 minutes and a lot of wind. A great time for them to start the roof!! Yeah, it had a cover on it, but with that much rain and that much wind, I was worried. So I went over to the house after the storm and sure enough, there was a leak in the bedroom ceiling. Not only that, but water had seeped into the basement...right where I was stacking the few boxes that I moved from the apartment. Luckily, nothing was ruined. But now I don't know if the basement is a good place to store anything. Not only that, but the roof is worse than Jerry (the contractor) thought. I need to replace most of the lumber, so that will cost me more. I've already spent all the money the sellers gave me on the roof (and maybe some more), which means the radon treatment will have to totally come out of my pocket. There was a damp and musty feel to the basement because of the water coming in...even the cardboard boxes felt damp. There's too many projects costing too much money. The car port is getting ready to fall down. There's a drop ceiling in the bedroom (the one that leaked) and Laurie and I had said we would eventually get rid of it and put in a ceiling fan. Well, I popped up one of the tiles and they hammered boards right into the ceiling and the ceiling looks bowed. So maybe that's why they installed the drop ceiling. But now I don't know if we can get rid of the drop ceiling and add a ceiling fan in the basement. There's no 220 line in the basement for my washer/dryer combo. There is a washer and dryer there, but they are old and I don't know how long they will last. The plan was to use them and use the stackable washer/dryer if needed in an emergency. And I sit in my beautiful apartment and now I don't want to leave.

I guess that's all the bad stuff. But to counter that, once the roof is done, it's done for many, many years. The seeping in the basement was due to the inch of rain in 30 minutes and the awful gutter job the person did before I bought the house...since the gutter wasn't even attached and it twisted over in the storm, meaning the water had nowhere to go but up against the house. How often is that going to happen? I left the basement door and a window open and the basement dried pretty well (I also brought a fan over later to circulate some air). The car port, I think, won't fall down. But it might be a project I can do to fix it since it's just a bunch of 2X4's framed together with plastic sheets nailed on top. It has metal posts into the ground and they seem fine. I just don't know how to get the frame together and then get it on top of the posts to bolt it down since it doesn't actually rest ON the posts. Do I build it and then try to lift it on top? Do I do it in sections and nail each section together once it's up on the posts?? I'll have to ask around. My boss Steve said he can install a 220 line in my basement if I buy him some beer. And, at the end of the day, I own a home. So, I don't know. Only time will tell if I made a good choice.

The roof should be done tomorrow. The stove arrived Friday, but the guy wouldn't hook it up because he smelled gas coming from the valve in the kitchen. So Jerry said he would fix it and connect the stove. And I just realized that the dryer downstairs is a gas dryer, not electric. I don't know if that's good or bad. Oh, and I've been lazy (and/or suffering from buyers remorse) and I haven't packed or moved anything to the house in like 4 days. I'm telling myself tomorrow is a big packing day. We'll see.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002: Well, like usual, I haven't updated the journal in a while. So let's do it now. The roof is done and it looks pretty good. It was $600 more than the estimate, because of the wood underneath that needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, that total is more than the sellers gave me for both the roof and the radon treatment. So, instead of $250 coming out of my pocket for both, it'll be more like $900. Running out of money fast. Had another bad bout of buyers remorse when Laurie and I went to the house after it had rained a lot. The basement once again had a lot of water in it. But this time it was coming from under the basement door. The next day, it rained all day. We got like between 2 and 3 inches of rain. The radon guys were coming over to install the system, so I went over to the house early to try and dry out the basement. It occured to me that maybe the water in the basement was due to the doors not being shut the right way. The radon guys used the basement doors and sure enough, when they left and shut the doors, I could see a huge crack between the house and where the doors come down (they're the old basement type doors..kinda like you see in every farm house/tornado movie scene). I adjusted them and they sealed pretty tight. So that's something to keep an eye on. I had the doors open most of the day Saturday to try and dry out the basement. It'll be something to fix one day by getting new doors..the current ones are wooden. But, if it was a case of the doors not being shut right, at least it won't be money out of my pocket right away. Oh, I also bought a new kitchen faucet which I will try to install one of these days.

The radon guys didn't take too long. They drilled a hole in the basement floor, attached a PVC pipe, drilled a hole in the basement wall and had the pipe go out this hole. On the outside, there's a fan attached to the pipe that sucks air (and the radon gases) from under the house, thru the pipe, and outside. It then goes up a downspout to the top of the house. Pretty interesting..and basic when you think about it. The only thing I didn't think about is this fan will be going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hope it doesn't take too much power!!

I rented a truck for this Saturday..the big moving day. I tried to move some stuff myself, but have been lazy. But I have moved quite a bit. The basement is basically done, as is the kitchen...as far as stuff I know we won't need between now and then. Laurie, when she was here, did a lot of cleaning. Her Dad is supposed to come out with her Wednesday with his pickup truck and spend a couple days with us. I'm thinking between the three of us, we should be able to move a lot of the little stuff, saving the big stuff for the truck on Saturday. The truck is costing about $60-$70 for the day. Much better than the $450 to hire a moving company. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but that was a lot of money (to me) for moving around 10-15 pieces of furniture. What about those U-Hauls you see with the big "RENT ME FOR 19.95" signs on them??? Well, I did stop at a U-Haul place and, yeah, it's 19.95...for six hours. And the hours would be 8am to 2pm. First, that's early!! Second, I didn't know if we could get it done in 6 hours. Going with Budget and getting the truck all day (I return it Sunday), we can take a break, have lunch, go slow...and not have to worry about watching the clock all day.

I'm sure there was more I was going to say, but I forget. Well, we did fill out our change of address cards...they go into effect Saturday. I'm thinking our first night in the house will be Saturday night. Crap. Just remembered...the screens aren't in any of the windows. Should probably do that sometime this week so we can open the windows and air the place out.

Wednesday, June 26, 2002: It's been a while since I wrote. Just too busy with everything. I'll try to catch up as best I can. Moving Day went ok. We moved all the heavy stuff on the 15th. Nobody at work could show up, so Laurie's Dad and I ended up moving everything. Laurie was there too...she helped move all the little things and cleaned stuff as we took it out. We had to make two trips and it took like 10 hours. Looking back, I wish we would have sucked it up and made one more trip for a lot of the little things. But we were sooo tired, we just went to dinner and went to sleep. We didn't even set up the beds...just laid the mattress on the floor. So we've spent the last 2 weeks or so going back to the apartment to get all the stuff out. What a pain!! Carrying everything to the car, packing the car, unloading the car at the house. I mean, the car can only hold so much. That's why I wish we would have gone back for one more last load when we had the truck. But finally, just yesterday, everything is out of the apartment. Laurie cleaned everything and the last thing to do is to sweep the kitchen floor. The apartment looks weird with nothing in it. I might take some pictures.

As far as the house goes, it seems everytime I start feeling better about things, something else goes wrong. Such is life, I suppose. My major project right now is the basin that the washer empties into. The drain is clogged. I mean, standing water clogged. I tried Drano...didn't work. I bought a snake, but the trap is too curved for it to get through. I tried a plunger, but the drain is almost into a corner of the basin and it's hard to get the plunger to fit over it. But that did kinda work as the drain SLOWLY emptied. Not fast enough to do a full load, but probably could get away with doing a small load. My plan was then to remove the trap and clean it out. And if it isn't the trap that's clogged, I could then use the snake to find the clog in the pipe (since there won't be any sharp curves!!). I didn't have a big enough wrench, so I had to go to Sears and buy a pipe wrench. I'm slowly adding to my tool collection. Steve, my boss, recommended NOT hiring anybody to do work for me. Do it myself and I'll learn and save money. Sure, I'll screw up, but that's how you learn. Makes sense, so I'm trying to do this myself. Anyway, the problem I'm having now is that the clog is back to being a standing water clog. Damn. I did a load of laundry and now it won't drain again. I tried using the plunger again, but it didn't work. And I'm afraid to start taking off the trap during the day...afraid I won't be able to finish it before having to go to bed. So I'm waiting until the weekend to start. I did briefly try to take off the trap, but it isn't going to be easy. The previous owners painted the pipe (it's metal) and between the paint and years of rust/corrosion, I'm thinking it's not going to be pretty. And I should probably go ahead and get a new trap to install. We'll see.

We did meet some of our neighbors. Steve, from down the street, was walking by as we were unloading one of the cars. Seems like a nice guy. He's a contractor and noticed a few shingles are missing from the house. What!?!?! The roof is less than a month old!!! He showed me, but I have to get a better look. I'll have to call Jerry to come and fix it. One major problem is the water pressure..or lack there of. Steve said there might be several reasons. He said if I need a contractor or want some advice, he's available. Cool. Jerry (the other contractor who put the roof on) was nice enough, but I felt better talking to Steve. Plus, he's a couple houses down from me, so if I need help, I know where to find him. Laurie and I still didn't make our list of projects to do. One thing I have to do is get a lawn mower. The grass is out of control. This is where our other meeting of a neighbor comes in. While Steve, Laurie, and I were talking, George came over. He's the guy who was parking in the driveway while the house was on the market. He's been in the nieghborhood for 58 years!! Anyway, Steve left to start his jogging and the three of us started talking about the house across the street. Along the way, George mentioned that the owner's son-in-law (the house is empty) comes over and cuts the grass. And then he said that Forest Hills has an ordinance that the grass can't be over 6 inches long. Hmmmm. I think that was a dig at me because my lawn is a bit wild looking. I quickly commented (laughingly) that I know my lawn is a mess and that I didn't have a lawn mower since my Dad is buying me one but hasn't had a chance to come out to see me yet. We eventually said our good byes and when Laurie and I got back in the house, I asked her if she thought the 6 inch grass comment was a dig on us. She thinks it was. Jeez. I guess I'll have to buy a lawn mower soon.

One last thing, and I'll wrap it up for now. I mailed my first mortgage payment today!! Just 179 more and the house is all mine!!! Actually, I'm trying to pay extra every month ($100 this month!) and hope to have the house paid off in 10 years instead of 15. If I can pay $75 extra a month, I can do it. OK, gonna wrap it up for now. I'm busy trying to unpack everything and put everything where it's supposed to be, so I don't know when I'll write again.

Saturday, June 29, 2002: Well, some homeowner type things have been happening over the past couple of days. One, I finally got a lawn mower. Bought it at Sears. Seems like a good one...6 1/2 HP, rear bagger, and so on. And I cut the grass Friday. What a pain!! The lawn is not level at all and more than a few times, I drove the blades into the ground. But I got it done. Oh, and I don't have anywhere to put the grass. I filled up one trash can and two garbage bags, and still have a big pile of grass in the back yard. My plan was to get two Rubbermaid trash cans and use the two metal ones that came with the house for grass and stuff. Well, Wal Mart didn't have any Rubbermaid trash cans and I haven't had a chance to go somewhere else yet. I'll probably have to go somewhere tomorrow since Monday is trash day and I don't want a pile of grass sitting in my back yard. And we need to get a trimmer since the lawn mower couldn't reach everywhere. But at least the bulk of it is done and it looks much better. I guess George won't be coming over with a ruler to make sure the grass is under 6 inches!

Bad news...the basement flooded again. It rained Thursday night...two storms went through. After the first, I went downstairs and the water was worse than ever. So I grabbed the mop and pushed the water to the drain in the basement floor. It wouldn't be so bad if the water just ran straight to the drain...but it doesn't. The floor is too uneven. Something that I'll have to look into fixing. The water was once again coming from the basement door. I opened the door and it was actually coming from under the last basement step!! You could see it streaming out. I did the best I could with the mop. When the second storm came along, I grabbed the umbrella and went outside to see where the water was coming from. I couldn't believe it. The water was barely trickling out the end of the back gutter. Meanwhile, it was all surging out of the last joint before curving to the end. And at one point, it was surging out of the joint near the top of the roof. The gutter was clogged, causing the water to surge out where it could (the joints) which made it run down the side of the house and to the basement step. Out from under the step, under the basement door and into the basement. So that was today's project. The joints were riveted together, so I had to get my drill and drill them out. The first time I used my new drill!! Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything. The gutter comes down from the roof, through one of the steps off the kitchen door, and then curves under the steps and out the other end into the yard. I didn't want to do it, but I had to go under the steps. What a mess under there. Pipes, cinder blocks, stones and a bunch of junk under there. I cleared some of the stuff out and got under there. Drilled out two more rivets and pulled the joint apart. I stuck my finger in the drain and OH MY GOD!!! The thing was solidly blocked with what felt like dirt. I tried to clean it out while under the steps, but there was too much. I grabbed the drain and got out from under the steps. Out in the daylight, I could see that it was a combination of nails and roofing stuff. OK, from my new roof. Guess those guys didn't clean up very well. There were even some large rocks in there!! Argh. Cleaned it all out, put it back together, and I think it's ok now. This was my first home repair!!

But there's more bad news. I tried to fix the drain in the basement where the washer empties into. I can't get it. I give up. I can't get the trap off. I know Laurie isn't happy with the basin the way it is, but I can't fix it. I might ask Steve (my boss) to come over and try. I did find out that you can do one small load and not have the basin overflow. But it's been 3 1/2 hours and the basin still isn't drained...it drains VERY slowly. So it looks like you can do one small load a day, or do a large load and stand there with a bucket. Once the washer empties the first time, fill the bucket and pour it down the drain in the basement floor. Do this until the basin is pretty empty and the next time the washer empties, it won't overflow. A pain, but it works. My next step is to get a length of hose and let the washer empty straight to the drain in the basement floor. But I don't want to do that since I don't know where the drain goes to!!

The rest of the day was spent putting stuff away and, sometimes, moving boxes from one room to another. ::sigh:: It's getting better, but there's still too many boxes around. Oh, and I did start a journal of all the work done on the house. It'll come in handy when I sell it. Now, I'm going to play on the computer, take a shower, and wait for Laurie to come home so we can go out to eat.

Friday, July 26, 2002: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I never update this page anymore. Who has time?? Anyway, I haven't done much with the house. Good new...cleaning out the clogged downspout seems to have cured the leaking basement. It rained a couple of times since I cleaned it out and it hasn't leaked. Bad news...the basin is still clogged. I was all ready to buy the tubing at Home Depot, but I didn't know the inside diameter of the tube that's there now. Since I can't return the tube if it's wrong (since they cut it to length), I want to make sure I get it right. Especially since it'll cost me between $30-40!! While at Lowes and Home Depot, Laurie and I checked out a few things. We need a doorbell. Strange that in 70 years, nobody bothered to put one in. I don't feel like running wires, so we're going to get a wireless doorbell. It won't light up at night, but I don't have to worry about drilling holes and running wire. We picked one out that we both liked. We also looked at new lights for the front of the house. The ones there now are supposed to be motion detector type lights, but they don't seem to work right. They don't come on when you're standing there waving your hand in front of them, then 15 minutes later, they come on for no reason. The one Laurie wants is $45...and I need 2 of them. They're pretty nice looking. I'm hoping it'll just be a matter of popping the old ones off and rewiring the new ones. Speaking of motion detectors, I want to get one, maybe 2, for the back yard. There's no light back there at all. But I wanted to get ones that are solar powered so I don't (anyone...anyone?) don't have to worry about drilling holes and running wires. Can you tell I don't want to do any wiring?? Unfortunately, neither Home Depot or Lowes sells solar powered ones. So I have to look around for someone who does. Both Lowes and Home Depot sent me coupons, but they expired at the end of July. So I'm going to buy the stuff now (doorbell, new front lights, etc) and one of these days I'll hook them up. And Laurie promises me we'll go through the house and list ALL the improvements we want to do...both big and small. Then we have to break up the list into stuff that needs to be done soon and those that can wait.

Oh, I already have 2 projects I want to try. One is to put an exhaust fan in the bathroom. The other is to put in an attic fan. Both have easy steps to do (that I think I can handle), and both have hard steps (which will be a challenge). The fan in the bathroom should be easy to install...cut a hole in the ceiling and run the wires to the bathroom switch. There's already a light in the bathroom ceiling so hopefully I can just follow those wires to the switch. The hard part will be running the vent duct in the attic and cutting into my new roof for the air to escape. With the attic fan, the easy step will be mounting the fan. I have a set of louvers on both sides of the attic, so mounting the fan in front of one will force the hot air out while pulling in cooler air from the other side. The hard part will be working in the hot attic and I need to get some flat boards to walk on. Plus, running wires from the attic to the basement and adding the wires to the electric box. I don't have one of those fishing wire thingys and I'm afraid of the electric box. Steve, my boss at work, offered to come over and hook up the wires (once I get the wires down there). He said it's easy...he could probably do it during his lunch. Of course, who knows when I'll get around to actually doing these things!!

Monday, August 5, 2002: Well, Laurie and I did a little shopping at Home Depot. Nothing major. They sent me a coupon for 10% my entire order, so we picked up a few things. We did get a doorbell...wireless. I got the programmable thermostat too. We bought a gutter extension to hopefully help the water flow away from the house. I put it in Saturday and it rained today. It seemed to have worked. The basement is dry. Although while it was raining, I went down there and opened the basement door. Rain is leaking through the outside basement doors...the wooden ones. I think that's going to be a major project that I would like to do soon...totally rip out the old doors and redo the whole thing. But that's not something I can do. What I might end up doing eventually (like maybe next year) is getting a home improvement loan and getting some of the bigger things done all in one shot.

I mowed the grass Saturday, although it was nothing but mostly dead grass and weeds. Somehow, the weeds managed to grow even though it's been deadly hot and we've had very little rain. But it does look better. Still need to get a weed wacker. Lowes also sent me one of those 10% off coupons and I think we'll go over one day this week and pick up the new outside lights and look at the weed wackers. And I have to do something about the heat. The heatwave finally broke today. Last week, Laurie and I went to at least 6 different stores looking for a window air conditioner for the bedroom. Nobody had any and they weren't expecting to get anymore in since it's the end of the summer season for them. Looks like I'll have to wait until next year. Maybe pick one up in the Spring before it gets hot. The downstairs isn't too bad, but the bedroom gets really hot. Hard to sleep.

Oh, I almost forgot!! The washer basin is fixed!!! And I did a lot to make it so. Yes, I'm the one that wrote the check out to the plumber. I finally gave up...there was no way I could fix it and the hose running from the washer to the drain in the basement would have just been a temporary fix and not look very good. I called Roto Rooter Thursday and they came out Friday. They even said there was no way they were even going to try to take the trap off...it was corroded on. That made me feel better...that even a plumber couldn't get it off, so how could I?? They cut out a section of the pipe after the trap and snaked out the pipes. The guys said it was soooooooo gunked up...really bad. But it works now!! It was $135. Obviously, more than I wanted to pay. But the hose I would have had to buy would have cost around $35, so really, this only costs $100 more. And I'm happy it's done.

Tuesday, August 20, 2002: Hold on a minute while I re-read the last message from me so I know what to write about this time! Ok, I'm ready. Laurie and I did go to Lowes and get new outside lights. They aren't up yet, but I think they look nice just sitting in the box. Ok, ok...I'll put them up. Probably in September when the weather is a little cooler. I also bought a weed wacker at Lowes, but returned it. I couldn't decide between an electric or gas model when Laurie and I saw a rechargable one. That would be cool!! No extension cord to worry about, no gas problems either. So we bought it. But the more I thought about it, the more I wasn't sure. So I took it back and bought a gas one at Sears. I put it together over the past weekend, got a gas can and gas (and mixed the oil into the gas) yesterday. I think I'm going to cut the grass today, so maybe I'll give the weed wacker a go. It's pretty cool today and Laurie and I are going away for the weekend, so today would be a good day to do the grass. Oh, and also over the weekend, I went out to the yard and pulled out a lot of vines. We have vines growing all over the place and they're choking things out. Remember, this house sat empty for a year, so the vines had pretty much the run of the yard. I cut vines out of a couple trees and tried to cut them down to the root. Still have more to do.

Still no air conditioner, although I don't think we'll need it for the rest of the year. When we're out doing errends, I look to see if anybody has any, and they don't. I'll have to remember to look in the spring. I did do some minor repairs. I did put up the doorbell we bought. Laurie decided it should play "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" for the rest of the summer, then she'll change it for the fall. Also, the moulding around the front door was coming off. There's a little gap between the door knob latch and the moulding. I think what happened was that someone opened the door and the latch went into this gap and when the door was pushed open, it ripped the moulding off. This happened before we bought the house. So I finally got some finishing nails and hammered it down.

I'm feeling better about the house. Still don't know if it's really 'me' though. I think I'm feeling better about it because I've done a few little projects and they've all worked out. So I'm feeling better about doing bigger projects and getting things the way I want them. I want to work on the bathroom and do something about the window in there. I miss not being able to open a window and since this window is in the shower, we have to cover it up with a shower courtain to protect the wood. I have two ideas. One is to cut an old shower courtain to fit the window and use like velcro or something to keep it in place. Then, when your shower is done, you can take down the curtain and open the window. My other idea is to sand the paint off the window and waterseal it, like you would with an outside deck. What's the difference?? If it's good enough to protect wood outside in the weather, it should work inside with a shower. I'll have to ask the guys at Home Depot if this is a good idea. I might be missing something.

Friday, August 30, 2002: Well, I got a shed. It's one of those Rubbermaid ones. It's good enough for now, but I think I want a 'real' shed eventually so we can put more stuff outside rather than finding places inside. Kinda a long story on how we ended up with it and how we got it home. Laurie is going to buy me a grill for our third anniversary, so on one of the trips we're making aro