One Sixty: Freak Out Central

Freak Out Central

All praise ELoan! Would you believe they don't even require an appraisal to give us the money we need for this foundation job? They looked up our home's value - can you believe it's already rated up to 280 from 235 just from market fluctuations? Told you my area was very up and coming! Imagine what it would be if we actually had an appraiser come in and look at all the amazing work we've done! (Which I'll have to do to get this darn PMI off my mortgage payment, which I'll have to do soon after the basement is in because that will make paying for my basement super easy!)

So - I have to get a few documents together and send them off to Eloan and within only 12 days, I'll have the dinero! So screw the list I made the other day. Now, all we have to do is get ready for the lifting -

I'm not sure if we have to pull the permit or not. I left a message for Bob Hayden this morning - hope he's not sick of me yet - told him we'd have the money, I just need an amount from him to make sure I'm taking out enough and asked if we needed to be doing anything else. If he pulls the permit, that would be awesome kay possum dudicator, but if not, we'll do it and then get to work on tearing up the concrete...

Did I mention the concrete? Well! Most of our house is just over dirt and rocks, so it can be lifted up easily. The mudroom, however, was once a porch and so sits on a concrete slab. When you lift a house, you can't lift a concrete slab, so what we have to do is go in there with a big 'ol jackhammer and break it up. Sounds messy - I'm not looking forward to cleaning up after it, but it needs to be done.

oooooooooooo! I'm so excited! I can't wait for the process to start!

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Read your loan papers carefully and make sure there are no unfavorable clauses, like early payoff penalties. Some friends used another big company like this and some shady things happened. Just make sure you know what the agreement is.

But it is extremely convenient that they use market models rather than appraisers. A lot of companies are doing this now. Saves time and money for us.

Amanda; 6:25 PM
kitrainia said...: A good point indeed. I'm not a financial person... not a math quiz biz cheez wiz if you know what I mean. I'm an arteest! So, as you can imagine, this loan stuff makes me super nervous.

When Mike and I were in the mist of the mortgage process I called our loan agent with a list of 22 itemized questions. I'm sure I drove him nuts. I need to make sure everything is explained to me because I know I don't understand everything.

So thanks for the comment - it reminded me to do some double checking. So I put a call in to my personal loan advisor and will discuss it with her.; 1:35 PM