How time flies!

Was my last post really August 14th? Wow, the last nine days just flew by! A lot of stuff going on here, not much of it sewing until yesterday, unfortunately. The cat went through another bout of stomach problems, like she has twice before. A vet visit ($264.00!!!!) and ten days of medication later, she's like new, but mercy, she's well on her way to becoming the six million dollar kitty! We, including the vet, don't know what brings this on, but it's like little kitty gastritis, and if you catch it early enough while she's in the merely thowing up stage (you can imagine what comes after that but you really don't want a description, trust me on that) and dose her with steriods and ten days of Flagyl, she straightens up and doesn't get dehydrated. If it goes too long, there sub-cutaneous rehydration and anti-nausea medication and lots and lots of misery for everyone.

She has had the sub-q hydration twice before, in which they inject saline beneath the skin where it's absorbed into her system, in lieu of putting in an IV. Much easier on the kitty, but she looks like a fur-covered hot water bottle. I'm sure it's not painful or perhaps even uncomfortable, but she acts so put-upon that I can't tell how bad it really is. Luckily we caught her condition before she got to that point.

I saw a couple more houses, and the short answer is - no, nothing will work for us. One broke my heart: it was advertised as 2138 sq. ft., so we drove by to take a look; it had only one short step at the entrance, a beautifully landscaped yard, and it was gorgeous. So far, so good. I called my realtor on the quick and set up a showing. Unfortunately, the listing agent not only fibbed about how big the house was, her listing information gave me the ability to look up the house plan on the Frank Betz design firm website and find out that it's only 1750 sq. ft. Hey, what's almost 400 sq. ft. between friends???!!!!!!! Makes me so mad I could spit.

This was a killer because in all other aspects it was perfect, a beautiful house, and if it were just a little larger, I would have made an offer. The finishes were top drawer, the layout was good, it was just wonderful. Thanks to the Frank Betz website, I copied the floor plan into a drawing program and arranged and rearranged scale models of our furniture, but it wouldn't work. What with his home theater (as my mother once commented, "Why is your living room all about the electronics?") and his computer room and my home office (which I am not willing to part with!), and all the furniture his father built that we don't want to get rid of, there simply wasn't enough house.

We saw another house under construction in a small town about 15 miles away that was still small but closer to the right size; however, we didn't want to move that far out of the city and give up the conveniences to which we have grown accustomed. I may have some problems about where our house is located, but you can't beat it for proximity to everything you need.

And, the builder who wanted so much for his house (the barrier-free design that fit us to a tee....except for outrageous price) keeps calling and calling, even after we told him it was just too expensive and we couldn't go that high. I don't know exactly what's going on with that, but I have an idea.

His houses were fairly unique in the area, on flat lots and without steps, and because barrier-free design is so rare here he was able to charge a premium and get it. Then the housing market slowed down, and his new subdivision isn't taking off the way he expected. He doesn't build on speculation; most of the houses are contracted before they're started. Without a ready market of people lining up to pay oodles and oodles of money, the subdivision is languishing, and that doesn't look good. He may not be hurting for money yet. But he wants the front of that development filled up and successful looking to lure more buyers. He has figured out we are a prime candidate for his houses and keeps pursuing us.

Of course, if he were to lower the price to a reasonable cost per square foot comparable to the rest of the builders, he might well make a sale - and to us, too. As it is, he continues to try to charge the premium amount in a slow market, and it's not working. It seems like he's willing to do anything except bring his price more in line with the local market. Oh, well.

I also saw a terrible townhouse which was in such bad shape it immediately sent a prospective buyer scurrying right back out the door. It had a pot-sized burned spot on the laminate kitchen countertop that the seller hadn't even had bothered to fix. When I say burned spot, I mean a 10 inch circle of laminate melted all the way through to the particle board! Combined with the scratches and dings on the cabinets, the state of the walls, the cheap carpet, the laminate flooring where there should be hardwood at that price, it was a horror.

So.......we have pretty much suspended the house search. It ain't gonna happen. At least not this year. Rats.

One the quilty front, I completed a little more of the dragonfly applique. One body and one wing done and part of the second wing in process. It's slow, but nice to be back on track.

And I bought a quilt kit. Now, that is so NOT ME. But I saw this design in the July Fons and Porter magazine and had to have it.

Another house whine!

We got the analysis of our house value from the realtor yesterday, and it was just what I expected. His estimate of its selling price was about $30K higher than the realtor who works with the expensive builder. However, that increased number is scant comfort compared to how much it would cost to build a new house. We're no closer to a decision (and I've still got a stomach ache - this whole thing is going to give me ulcers).

Still not sewing

Not one stitch. No use posting a photo of the dragonfly project because it hasn't progressed an iota. Someday........

In the meantime, house stuff still occupies my mind. We have been driving some more, evaluating new developments and existing houses on the market - and haven't seen any possibilities. You can modify any house for barrier-free accessibiliy, but that has unwanted side effects, like losing the use of one garage stall for a ramp, or uprooting all the landscaping to add a ramp at the front door. It's better to start with a house that has few barriers, a seemingly impossible proposition here.

We are still toying with the idea of building to suit, and found a second possible location. There's a beautiful new subdivision being put in north of the city, on a side road that's just about two miles from a major intersection, but secluded enough so that you feel like you're in the country. It's in a little valley snuggled up against Walden Ridge and used to be a big pasture, I'm sure. The ground is flat enough to build a slab construction house, and the lots are large enough to use for a one level home. There's barely a dozen houses in various stages of construction, probably less than 10% of the lots, so building will go on for years in there (a minus, in my book). It's a lovely spot, and would be a peaceful place to live without getting too far out of town. But I keep hearing horror stories about working with builders. Everytime I think about contracting to build a house, my stomach hurts.

I got a few estimates on the changes we would have to do to the house we have if we stayed. Just about exactly what I figured they would be. Just once I wish I would get a surprise - "Oh, no, ma'am, it won't cost NEARLY that much for windows" - but no such luck. Too well informed. I know the bad news before they say it!

On Thursday we will have a second meeting with a trusted realtor, who is working up an appraisal of our house. He walked through last Saturday and looked at the property, and is doing the comps now. I trust his opinion, so what he comes up with for a sale price for this place is a number I can use in my decision making. We already got a low-ball number from the realtor who works with the builder we met last week (Mr. "My Houses Cost the Sun and Moon"). I knew when she said it that it was a price at which she could unload the place quickly, but not its true value. Even so, the difference between the two estimates won't be more than $30K or so. That's beans compared to new construction cost.

I know, I'm whining. Dear readers, you may have to put up with it for a little while longer. A blog is a great place to "think out loud".

Stress!

I haven't been sewing, I haven't been quilting, I have barely kept up my housework. What we HAVE been doing is searching the MLS online and driving around looking at houses and talking to a builder who specializes in just the kind of house we need -- we have to decide what to do. Stay here and put more money in this house to make it work better for us, even though we'll never recoup it? Build a new house? Wait a year and see if the new development we're looking at takes off and shapes up like the builder anticipates? Keep looking at existing houses? ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

It's enough to make a person crazy. If we didn't have such specific needs - handicap accessiblity - there would be a blue million houses in this town that would work perfectly well for us. So far, I have only seen two townhouses with completely step-free entrances, and no free-standing houses at all. We're pretty sure the townhouses wouldn't suit us in the long run, and the only way to get a house we need is to build it. We could perhaps find one that could be modified to suit, but so far I haven't seen a good candidate. The house we have could be made to work, but putting that much money into an older house wouldn't be sensible.

And, quite frankly, we would both like a new house, a little fancier and better than we have had. All our married lives we have been frugal about house buying, and now that we are retired, it might be time to step it up a notch. I'm not talking about those monstrosities you see on HGTV, just a little nicer finishes, higher ceilings, a more open floor plan. No bigger than the one we have (how much room do two people need, anyway?), just a little more wow factor.

We found a builder than specializes in barrier-free houses, and a new development is starting in town, in an area we like. Four houses are already under construction, and if everything shapes up like the builder plans, it will be nice. It is a planned community with a HOA which provides all the lawncare, a clubhouse, a pool, streetlights, underground utilities, sidewalks, located away from the traffic and rush, and peaceful and quiet. The all-brick houses aren't enormous but tastefully done. We have walked through a model and we both like the house. The problem? The money. If you're looking for anything out of the ordinary like this barrier-free house, it will cost you.

Do we make the leap? Do I have the nerves to build a new house? I don't know yet.

An apology in advance to realtors, if there are any reading this

Not that what I have to say isn't true, but you may not want to hear it.

I went to see a house in a new development next to a golf course yesterday. (No, we don't golf. But we do like nice landscaping, lakes and built-in lawn upkeep.) I had initially pulled the information on this new house for cost per square foot comparison purposes with the builder-who-wants-the-sun-and-moon. It was cheaper by a significant amount and I was wondering what he did that they didn't. When I showed the listing to my husband, he said it looked interesting and why not go take a look?

So I called the listing agent and made arrangements t0 meet her there. Let me say right now that it was one of those new developments with the clubhouse and pool and the office in the model home where you have to go sign in to see the property. I felt like I was trying to get into Fort Knox. So, I got in the realtor's car and we started down the street looking for the address. We circled through and finally decided that the address listed was the open lot three doors down from the clubhouse. I.E., THERE WASN'T A HOUSE THERE YET! I don't know where they got the picture of the house on the MLS listing, but it sure wasn't here. However, it was one of the standard plans they were building, and there was a nearly completed identical one around the corner so we went in that one.

From the front it looked so promising. Only two steps to a nice front porch, which made the elevation not too high to add a ramp. It was attractive inside, too, with three bedrooms downstairs and a guest room with bath and unfinished attic storage upstairs. We weren't really looking for a house with any room upstairs, but putting the guest suite up there was a practical thing. (I was already figuring out how to make the unfinished bonus space a sewing room!)

Then I opened the door to the garage and it all went to crap. This was a plan with the garage in the rear off an alley. The lot was lower in the rear, enough that there were seven steps down to the garage floor. That many steps absolutely won't work, so this unit was off the list.

As if the house wasn't enough of a disappointment, this realtor is running her mouth the whole time we're looking around, interrupting me as I'm trying to explain what kind of house we have to have. And she's pushing some development up the road, talking about how this house is overpriced and not very well done and Mulberry Park is so much better, yadda, yadda, yadda. I had the distinct impression what was happening is her company was hooked up with this new Mulberry Park thing and she would make a lot more money selling one of those houses.

After I while I just wanted to kill her and hide the body in one of that house's many walk-in closets.

So, we leave and I tell her I will drive by Mulberry Park on the way home (mostly to shut her up). Except it's not on the way home, but waaaaay out of town and not in a handy place. I loop through and peruse the place anyway, and yeah, it's all Craftsman style and cute and everything, but it's very crowded together and I really wanted brick no-maintenance exterior. I stop at the office and check out the available floorplans, and none of them are more than 1800 sq. ft. This after I repeatedly said that we have a 2000 sq. ft. house and are not interested in downsizing.

So here is the root of my gripe: is there a realtor out there that will really listen to you and try to find the house you want? Because this isn't the first time this has happened to me. When we were looking for our last house, I gave the lady a detailed explanation of what our needs were before we even looked at a single property. (Let me add that this isn't me being overly picky, but actual handicap accessibility issues.) And after all that, she drives us to a two story house. I looked at her and said, just what part of one level house do you not understand? It was like she was going to trot us around to all the properties she had languishing on the market in the hopes she could fob one of them off on us. She made no real effort to try to locate a house we could use.

We've found the last two houses we bought by ourselves. I've never gotten any help worth mentioning from a realtor. The realtor for our first house was a bored doctor's wife that sold houses for something to do. She surely didn't need the money; in fact, she cut her commission to lower our price. I've only dealt with one realtor that approached the job in a businesslike manner, and it was a man. (OK, even I winced when I said that.) All the female realtors we've seen try to manipulate you emotionally to sell you on a house and push the properties that make the most money for them.

I've been thumbing through the MLS for weeks now, finding a good 90% of the houses have to be removed from consideration immediately due to handicap accessibility issues. The remaining ones are either too small, or too far out of town, or waaaaay too much money.

So I'm irritated and disappointed and depressed with the whole process. It took two years to find the house we're in now, and I was a whole lot younger then. I'm not sure I can do it again.

House shopping.....

......or, rather, subdivision shopping. We have been driving around the city after dinner these past several weeks (with a few ice cream stops for rewards) looking at newer real estate developments. Without looking for actual houses, we are taking the pulse of the subdivisions, seeing how busy the streets are, what the houses look like, how many kids are playing in the middle of the street (you think I joke), are there sidewalks and lights, etc.

The thing is, we want to decide whether to fix up the old rancher and stay here, or buy something with less maintenance and in a quieter area. In the house shopping arena, we have several strikes against us: we have to have a one level house, and not only a one level house, but with a minimum (preferably no) steps to enter the house. We also need to have room for the humongous TV and home theater setup, his computer desk (including surround sound and sub woofer - and here I am satisfied with just a laptop!) and my home office stuff as well as quilting stuff. So we can't easily go smaller than the 1907 square foot ranch we have now.

Actually, if you compare apples to apples with this house and a new 2000 square foot house, you come up short on the new house because of all the walk-in closets, and enormous bathrooms, and sun rooms that seem to sprout in all new construction, all of which eat up room and don't mean a lot to me. Oh, I like a big closet as much as the next girl, but I've seen closets as big as whole rooms. And how big does a bathroom really need to be? Those huge jetted tubs are ho-hum to me. I'm a shower girl. What a waste of space.

I have been combing the MLS and finding new development to tour, and sometimes we just pick a major road and drive, zipping into any interesting side streets. Using that plan, we came upon a townhouse development on the north side of the river that seems to have possibilities.

An aside - where I live, you are either north-of-the-river people or south-of-the-river people. Almost no one I know looks upon them as interchangeable. Darned if I understand why. Where I live, and where this new townhouse development are, seem pretty comparable to me.

Anyway, in this development, there are three three-bedroom townhouses for sale. Two are being sold by the original owners, who only lived there 3 or 4 years (why do people move so much?). The third is the model home and is still owned by the developer. It is technically a townhouse, but it is freestanding, no common walls. A real plus to this former brief apartment-dweller, who was almost driven to distraction by neighbor noise. We're going to look at the model home tomorrow and see if a townhouse is a possible for us. I've peeked in the windows and it's got a killer kitchen, but I'm just not sure if it's big enough.

There is another possibility. This builder is starting a "garden homes" development up the street from the townhouses, which are all basically free-standing town homes. The HOA takes care of the outside maintenance like at the townhouses. This is a little pricey, but looks like it has real possibilities. I spoke with the real estate lady today and she is going to email me the plot map and house plans (which I haven't received yet because I suspect she's waiting to set eyes on us tomorrow to decide if we're good for the money!). I'm looking forward to seeing the house plans, because this may be just what we need.

If we go the route of fixing up our house and staying here, the only danger is increased noise. Our little metropolis has an airport with only two runways - the one that is in service, and the spare. The main runway is parallel to us and we don't get any noise from air traffic. However, and this is major, when the main runway is out of service for repairs or such, they use the alternate which puts the planes' approach path right over our house. It's loud, even though the airport isn't that close. It's just in our end of town. If they ever decide to use the alternate runway daily, we are screwed.

The upgrades our house will need, such as replacement windows, will ameliorate the noise somewhat, but it's not a good thing. As is it, on Reserve weekends, we get a lot of military air traffic noise; the helicopters are the worst. There is talk that the Reserve is going to relocate their airstrip, but that may only allow the airport to expand here since they won't have to share it with military craft, and that's no improvement.

These are tough decisions. We're going to have to drop major money on this house if we stay. Replacement windows, new driveway, new garage doors, interior painting, carpet, new vanities and flooring in all the bathrooms, a screen porch or somewhere to sit outside that you can reach without descending a precipitous set of concrete stairs with no handrail out the sliding door in the den. Also rework the front steps so we can add a ramp later if we have to. The house is structurally sound, it just needs a lot of cosmetic updating. We painted and re-carpeted when we moved here in 1993; we replaced the kitchen about five years ago, re-roofed and repainted the outside about four years ago; replaced the heat pump last year. After living here fifteen years, everything needs a little brush-up. Not to mention my yellow bedroom, which I liked fifteen years ago, but is wearing on me now. And the wallpaper in the guest room which must go.

Decisions, decisions. This house has been a good one, and I don't want to jump into a situation where I'm seduced by a pretty new facade. Not to worry about my husband in that regard; he absolutely does not allow emotion to influence major purchases. I've seen him drive a car dealer nuts because he refuses to get pulled in by a shiny new vehicle's charms. He's the same with houses, so he is the official voice of sanity!

The perils of real estate shopping

I've been reading a lot of blogs recently about people shopping for a new home. Having spent two years finding our current home, I think I have a little experience in this area. You want to hear my real estate pet peeve? Six little words. "Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed."

If I went shopping for a sweater and found one that was labeled "100% wool - information deemed reliable but not guaranteed", do you think I would even look at it? How can you begin to evaluate the merits of a house if you can't be assured of the basic information? The whole process is based on the seller hiding as much as possible and the buyer trying to find out what the seller isn't saying. One poor blogger had to find out from the house inspection that the whole place had to be rewired! Not "new wiring would be nice" - "had to be rewired". You think maybe that little tidbit should have been in the seller's disclosure statement?

My husband and I have been contemplating whether we should move now that we are retired. This house is older and needs updating, and is noisier here than when we bought it (we're on the corner of a street that's gotten busier and busier). I had thrown out the idea of townhouses or condos for consideration since we hire the yard work done now, and neither of us is Mr. or Mrs. Green Thumb. After dinner we have been driving around our area of town looking at the newer developments.

Most of them make my husband gag, and I'm not much more tolerant. Pretentious, over-ornamented little crackerboxes, covered with vinyl siding and faux stone, gables sticking out everywhere, on a lot the size of my driveway. And, by the way, priced twice what I could get for my all-brick single level 2000 sq. ft. house. For all of this you get to drive twice as far as I am now to the grocery, doctor's office, stores. Using $4.00 a gallon gas. I don't think so.

We did find a new development of townhomes that was all brick, located in a handy area and didn't immediately make us avert our eyes. Several were for sale, so when we returned home I looked them up online. The price made me wince, but if they were really new, 2000 sq. ft., all brick units, maybe I should take a closer look.

The on-site sales office in the model unit was supposed to be open every day, so I visited yesterday. When I arrived, there was a sign on the door saying the agent was out showing a house, and listing a number to call for assistance. I called, got her voicemail, and left a message that I was at the office and would hang around a while - please call back and let me know if and when she will be returning. After getting rather warm waiting in the car, I got out and walked around the development, and then returned to the office. I tried the door, and to my surprise it was unlocked.

Fine, I said to myself, I'll get to take a look at the model without the agent breathing down my neck. Not to mention waiting in the air conditioning. I had my camera in my purse, so I made photos while I poked around. There was a stack of xeroxed floor plans on the credenza, so I took one of those, too.

It seemed rather small. I know what 2000 sq. ft. looks like, and it wasn't this. Oh, the finishes were nice, the high ceilings were attractive, the layout was pretty good, but where was the rest of the house? After mentally rearranging the furniture multiple times, I realized that we just couldn't make it work for us.

This morning, I looked at the MLS listings again for two of these three bedroom units - same footprint. One says 2000 sq. ft., one says 2100 sq. ft. Remember, information deemed reliable but not guaranteed? Where did the other 100 sq. ft. come from on the second one? I pulled out my copy of the floor plan. No dimensions, but I had paced off several of the rooms, and could calculate the size. I couldn't even get 2000 sq. ft. if I counted the garage and the screened porch (which you aren't supposed to, btw - only heated areas). This crap is what makes me hate real estate agents. Just tell me what size the darned thing is. If you had said "About 1750 sq. ft.", I would't have bothered looking, I would have known it was too small. Drat!

If they can't even be honest about the size, what else aren't they saying? Don't they feel at all guilty for doing this kind of nonsense?