The Contract

“No man but feels more of a man in the world if he have but a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep; and that is a very handsome property.” - Charles Dudley Warner

Tuesday, I signed a contract on a new house in Austin. I am very happy and excited. I'll probably close around Memorial Day and then I'll get to go through another important milestone in my life. This doesn't ensure that the house will for sure be mine if conditions are not met, but it is a great step forward in making that happen. This home buying process has been an ordeal, but a positive and challenging one.

Making my decision was difficult. I was down to three choices, 1) a smaller home with the perfect location, small yard and every amenity I would want, 2) a larger home in a less convenient location with no amenities or 3) the exact same larger home in a very far location, with everything I could possible want for much less, but in a brand new neighborhood.

I really wanted to go with the (3) home in the new neighborhood because it cost so much less, but other than being far out of town, there was the resell value issue which ended up playing a big role. Also, it wouldn't be ready until September. So I ended up picking (2) the exact same home in the somewhat inconvenient location, lacking amenities, because I liked it more than (1) the smaller place in the perfect location. The perfect location home cost just as much, but didn't allow off street parking, which I seem to use a lot of if experience is a guide. There were so many other factors I won't go into here but trust me I weighed them. You would not believe the spreadsheets I created, the research I did and the copious questions I asked.

My agent negotiated hard for me and I'm happy with the deal we got worked out. I thought I would be easy to work with and though I did what I could to make her job as easy as possible, I was very hands on and probably demanded a lot of effort. I can send a lot of emails and ask a lot of questions. It is nice having someone who knows what they are doing on your side.

The home is currently being built and will be ready in late May. I'm very excited and can't wait to be living in a house that I own. (Well the bank owns with me, but you get it.) I have always wanted to look at door knobs and be like, "yo, I own that." I mean, if I want, I can knock down walls or do whatever, though I probably won't.

I had planned in this entry to reminisce about Cherry Blossom Festival time in DC and share some thoughts about some of the people that played through in my life, but whose time made an impact. But life got busy, so I figured I'd just do a quick home update. Speaking of, here is a picture of my house in progress.

perfect timing

Hunting

"Problem solving is hunting. It is savage pleasure and we are born to it." -Thomas Harris

My mind has been consumed with thinking about houses, locations and how much my mortgage payment is potentially going to be. As soon as I got my pre-approval letter, I was able to hit the ground running because I had been doing research on houses in south Austin for over a month. I was able to get my 46 house options down to 26 in short order and then pick my favorite 10-15 from those. I had about 3 favorites. I had a dorky spreadsheet I created that had them all listed and compared on price, size, age, location, granite, and other random items all identified with color. It helped me compare, but I understood it would be a matter of just feeling it when I visited. I wanted my feelings to at least have the added support of some objective background information before I got irrational.

This house shopping process has been more stressful than I expected, but in a good way. I met with my Realtor for coffee last week and we talked for over an hour about what I was looking for, my wants and needs and what the process was like. I know about a lot of things, and educated myself on this, but there was a lot more than I didn't know, and probably lots still have have no clue about. She impressed me with her patience, how hard she works and how clearly she explains things.

We scheduled our first visit out to see homes on Thursday, and I got to finally walk a few homes that I only knew from pictures. I found a front runner, which I used for comparison for my future homes. It was a cozy home that included appliances and maybe even some furniture. It's best attribute was the location which was exactly what I wanted.

Saturday, I went to visit a neighborhood builder on my own because I had a feeling I might find something there that might be in my price range. I spent a few hours there discussing their floorplans and looking at examples of houses. The big day was Sunday. I had a marathon session with Abram and my Realtor to hit the rest of my favorite homes. I was out from 2-6pm and was very thankful to have Abram there in my corner giving me his insight. I know this is going to be my personal decision, but you need a second set of eyes and advice when making such a big purchase. My friends and family's comments, which were on my spreadsheet, were also very helpful. Every place I saw I felt like I liked, and I was concerned that it would be difficult to pick the right place. After we were done for the day, I had a lot to think about, but by bed time I made my decision. It is a trade off for a location that isn't as good though.

I have told my Realtor which house I want to make an offer on and what I wanted to spend, and am now letting her take care of of the negotiations from here on out. Have you ever seen the business sign:? "Work performed $20," "Let you watch $25," "Let you help, $40." I hope I'm not that kind of client.

I am happy with my decision. If I end up getting my first option, it is currently being built and will not be ready until late May. Talk about delayed satisfaction, but that isn't too far away. I won't feel like it is mine and can't be taken away/have the loan fall through, until I sign at closing. Until then, I'll see myself as a renter. But this is all cart-before-the-horse stuff, considering that no offer has been made yet. Exciting times I will say.

type A

Pre-Changes

"Home is where one starts from." - T. S. Eliot

The good news I got today was that I got a pre-approval letter on a loan to purchase a house here in Austin. Now I can start shopping for a home. This is exciting and stressful at the same time because your commitment issues really come to the surface as you try to fight against your impulsive shopping decision tenancies. It is great news and follows a slew of changes that have characterized this new year.

I'm going to try my best to be responsible and make the best decision I can. I have a list of needs and wants and I hope I can get a lot of my wants at a good price. First need is a nice backyard for my dog and then the rest is mostly for me.


There is one thing that I must say that I am looking forward to. When I graduated from law school I received an expensive bottle of Whiskey as a gift from a family friend. I thought that I would drink it when I had something important to celebrate. The thing was that years passed and nothing ever seemed to merit opening the bottle. It isn't even that expensive where it had to be a huge event, but I wanted it to be meaningful and well life has been more of a slow and steady wins the race these past few years. So I decided, I am opening the bottle on the evening that I get to close on a new home. This is a huge goal for me that I have had for quite some time and I'm still working towards it, but it will be a moment that will be fit for that drink.


Thursday, I went to my cousin Rino's place to have dinner. His fiancée, Jessica, cooked for us. It had been a while since we caught up. I had a very good time. There are so many people in Austin that are so close, yet that I don't see enough, if at all. Rino and Jess are doing a lot of stuff in preparation for their wedding this coming November. I feel like I have no clue what goes into all that. I hope that when I get to the point of my life that I'm going through that, I'll get to be the stereotypical guy whose only responsiblity is to show up on the big day. That, I'm pretty sure, I can do. We also chatting about eating changes and they had some pretty good advice.

well handled

Day of Celebration

"Celebrate what you want to see more of." -Tom Peters

Last Friday was a good news day, well not like super huge, but just a general happy day. I got together with friends and family to celebrate a few positive developments in everyones' lives.

First, my friend Christina got a raise and a bonus at work, which she undoubted earned and raises are always awesome. Then my brother Abram just got hired for a new job, one I think he will do great at. My friend Oscar also recently got a raise at work, a place that he has been wise to invest the last 9 years of his life. Lots of nice positive steps forward in life that make me happy.

I wish I had exciting news on that level, but I will say a small positive development for me was that I finally got my car refinanced Friday. It was a year later than I had wanted, but was still very important for me to do since I was paying too much in interest. That took a huge burden off and reminded me that I need to pay more attention to interest rates. Friday also happened to be the day that I filed a brief for work that I was working hard on and that always feels good.

So Friday night we headed for dinner at Trudys. There were 8 of use total. Dinner was nice, but I always feel like with any more than 4 people at a table you can't really have a good conversation and have to break up into smaller conversations. Throw in cross talk and I always feel like some people are being left out. Now in a bar situation, any number of friends is a good number because you can easily move around.

But the food was great and the company was fun. That was the same place I had my first greyhound. After dinner, we headed to a bar, had a few drinks and called it a night early. A lot of the night was about catching up with friends we hadn't seen in a while.

My random thought of the day is FB related. "National Unfriend Day" was on November 17, 2010, but then there was another one called "Unfriend Day" on this Friday, March 4, 2011. All this unfriending, people should just agree on one day already. For some reason, probably boredom, I actually took the time to go through my FB friends and remove those I really don't know well enough, don't chat with and for the most part have hidden. I will say that I was surprised with some of the people that made the cut. I like having people I know real well and those I don't know that well because you added them originally for a reason. Some people are only somewhat acquaintances, those you met once and never ran into again. But over the years I feel like I have gotten to know some of them via their FB feed updates and consider them genuine FB friends. Unfriending them at this point just wouldn't make sense because even though I feel like I know more "about them" than "actually them," you get somewhat invested in their story and like to see what happens next. People go through relationships, have children, share really interesting links.

still waiting