So, we looked, and our house is listed as PENDING on all the MLS websites! Yep, that's right, it's no longer up for sale. The contract has been signed by both sides, and the inspection(s) have begun. Today, we had two of those inspections. The actual physical inspection took place, followed by the pest control inspection. Let me just say that when you decide to buy a house, you really should consider all the little expenses that can certainly add up rather quickly.
My real estate agent is the best, but I don't remember her telling me that we'd need a pest control inspection. I think she mentioned it, but it was more of a thing we needed but wasn't required. Then, after the regular inspection guy was scheduled, I was told that the pest control person had been out at the same time—two invoices! Oh, OK! The home inspection was $620, and the pest inspection was another $129; doable! Nothing was out of line or too expensive, but when you aren't expecting it, it can be rather surprising.
One of the best things about looking for houses is seeing what's out there. When you're actually hoping to buy, if you're like me, you'll want to exclude anything listed as "Pending" because it's under contract anyway, and you can't see it. You can't even hope to peek into the windows without someone notifying someone -- at least, I think so! Our house is now in "Pending" status!! It won't show up when others look for their new home. I wasn't too worried about it, but then, I sort of was.
When I was first looking, I didn't exclude the pending listings. I wanted to see anything and everything that was out there—to get an idea of what I hoped to end up with. I remember the first time I saw the house I just went under contract on; it was for sale, and they had a rather steep price attached to it. I saw the photos, we set up a time to go see it, and when I opened the door, I knew it was overpriced and no one was going to make any offers. I was even more sure no one would buy my house out from under me when I saw the outdated kitchen, wallpaper, bathroom vanities, windows, and light fixtures. It was, for lack of a better term, a time warp machine right back to the yesteryears.
Though the sellers had replaced the flooring in the bedrooms, they hadn't finished the cabinets, countertops, tile in the kitchen and baths, and they hadn't even attempted to replace a single old, old, old window. This house was going to be mine - no doubt about it. As for the price, that's always negotiable. In the end, we ended up spending even more than the posted price, which sounds crazy, but it's true. In the end, we wound up buying twice as much land as we thought we were buying, and only paid $12,000 more for those seven acres—that's a steal, anyway you look at it.
The inspection told us two things we had no idea were happening at the place, and about 35 things we knew would need attention. The sellers will have to pay for some of these fixes, but even if they balk and refuse, we'll end up buying the house and going down on the price to compensate for our own investments. I can see that happening if you want the truth. There's nothing about that that would be too much for us to handle—we won't cancel the contract. We're moving into that house! It is mine! (She says, smiling, and inhaling a long, deep, and very satisfying breath.)
The kitchen cabinets, the gun cabinet in the hall, and the bathroom vanities in that house were made around 1980, a few years after the house was built. A man in his late 40s built them, and they are rock-solid, gorgeously fitted, and feature some of the best craftsmanship I have ever seen. Having been raised in a home where the garage was made into a make-shift carpenter's haven, I grew up discerning the smells of wood, their grain, and the way each tree species sounded when being sawed in two by a table-top spinning saw blade. The shrill of it lingers in my brain.
Now, you're probably asking yourself how in the hell I would know who built those cabinets, when they were built, and how old the trim carpenter was at the time -- because the man who built the cabinets, and topped them off the way he did, and put in the countertops of the house I'm going to buy was my daddy! MY DADDY built those cabinets - I knew it the second I walked into the house. I knew it the second I saw them - I was going to buy that house come hell or high water, and I did! Nothing will stop me from getting it —at least, I hope not.
Some things are worth investing in—and this is one of them. If we have to pay for all that the inspector found, we will. I'll replace the Formica countertops, but the rest will stay just the way it is now -- perfect. The seller didn't know what I knew, and he was going on about the cabinets' ageless design— how they were just as beautiful today as when the builder put them in. I smiled, and then I corrected him. "These weren't built in 1970, sir. They were built sometime between 1976 and 1990, but not before." He shook his head, saying he didn't think so—and then I told him who the trim carpenter was.
Some things are just worth investing in—and I am doing that right now.
Photo Credit: Me
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