HGTV channel

When I use to have my house before ...
I use to watch a lot of those shows.
I was a big fan of Trading Spaces.
Getting ready to purchase a home ...
I was thinking I should start watching HGTV again.

I was wondering how to get Randy interested.
Found out the other night he found it on his own.
Then he said to me we should watch more.
We watched Deserving Design,
Divine Design and Design on a Dime.

Check out all their tv shows
and the BEST of HGTV.com.
They also have a message board
and Front Door - real estate site.

Good Realtor Articles

From Philip A Cormier's personal website.
He's a realtor with over 20 years experience.

How to Choose a Home article ended with

"Act Decisively When You Find the Right Home

Before you begin the home buying process, resolve to act promptly when you do find the right house. Every REALTOR® has stories to tell about a couple who looked far and wide for their dream home, finally found it, and then said, "We always promised my Dad we'd sleep on it, so we'll make an offer tomorrow." Many times the story had a sad ending - someone else came in that evening with an offer that was accepted.

Resolve that you will act decisively when you find the house that’s clearly right for you. This is particularly important after a long search or if the house is newly listed and/or underpriced."

Other articles for buyers include ...
Take Charge When Buying a Home
The Basics of Making an Offer

Some articles for the seller ...
Get Your House Ready to Show Buyers
How to Set a List Price for Your Home

Cool links/tools on the site:
Community Info - community reports/stats
Mortgage Info - with mortgage payment calculator

Bangor Area

Beyond the Capital Area and Waterville Area is Bangor.
I've visited one time when visiting brother in college.
Just past Bangor/Brewer is the Orono campus.

Community links:
Bangor - Brewer - Orono
Hampden - Norridgewock

Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce

Waterville Area

Previously I linked communities in the Capital Area.
The next big city up the interstate is Waterville.

Waterville - Oakland - Winslow - Fairfield - Belgrade

First Park - said to be Maine's Premier
Business and Technology Center
It's on the Waterville-Oakland border

We are learning a lot about Maine towns and cities!!!

Foreclosures

Adding some links regarding Foreclosures.
There are many websites out there ...
but they require a credit card to see foreclosures.
For the time being NOT planning on doing that.

The main database seems to be from RealtyTrac.
I was checking out regular resales on that site ...
they actually give listing price and listing date.
Helpful information when placing a bid.

HUD foreclosed.com looks interesting.
It is NOT associated with HUD specifically.
Categories: foreclosures, HUD homes,
auctions, and pre-foreclosures.
They is also their HUD foreclosed.com forum.

Another forum is Foreclosures and Pre-foreclosures.
It is associated with Carleton Sheets' PEI online site.
I do not endorse him or the site ...
but looks like the forum has some good info.
The Foreclosure Listing thread is worth checking out.

Good Go Quick

I'm talking about houses.
We've missed out on three houses that had potential.
We waited too long to request a showing.
By the time we did the properties were already bid on.

Claire Street, Augusta - asking price 124,900
3 bedrooms, 1 bath, .52 acres, built 1972
features: half finished basement, sunroom, deck

North Belfast Ave, Augusta - asking price 129,000
3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 3.9 acres, built 1967
features: mostly hardwood floors, big backyard deck

Northern Ave, Farmingdale - asking price 139,900
3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1 acre, built 1966
features: mostly hardwwod floors, backyard sunroom

In the future we need to immediately see properties.
The ones above had offers within days of being listed.
The area we are looking to buy is at least half hour away.
With gas prices increasing we were trying to group trips.

Maine City-Data

I've used the City-Data site before.
Maine Bigger Cities (population over 6000)
Cities/towns between 1000 and 6000
Towns/villages with fewer than 1000
I just found cool feature for house hunters.

Check out "Recent Home Sales" section.
Once on state/city/town page ...
just put address and then request to
have it selected by sale date or distance.
It is slightly outdated but still interesting.

Capital Area

We are looking to move to the Capital Area of Maine.
There are many smaller communities around Augusta.
Thought I would post city/town links ...
as well as county and state government.

Augusta - Hallowell - Farmingdale
Gardiner - West Gardiner - Pittson
Randolph - Chelsea - Vassalboro - Sidney
Manchester - Winthrop - Readfield

Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce
Kennebec Valley Council of Governments
Kennebec County - Sheriff's Office
Maine State Government

Windy Property

This is a three bedroom ranch with one bathroom.
It has a full, partially finished basement for storage.
It was built in 1967 and has a fairly new deck and gazebo.
It's not your average ranch at 1,232 square feet (main level).

The house is on a double lot in a desireable neighborhood.
It's all about Location! - Location! - Location!
The listing price is overpriced but the seller is motivated.
I guess we will find out just how motivated she is.

We are ready to place an offer this coming week.
Although we did ask to see one more house.
Good houses are going quick these days!
Maybe the other one will be better.

Bathroom Changes

With the house we plan to bid on in mind ...
I've been checking out Home Depot and Lowe's.
While the house is very "move-in-able" ...
I would like to make changes in the bathroom.

I have been using a "high rise" addition ...
to get toilet at better height for me to use easier.
In our own home we want to get a higher toilet.
Maybe American Standard's Model 2787016.

The first thing we need to replace is tub/shower.
The current fixture in house is about 32 x 56.
In the rental unit here the one is about a 36 x 47.
Would like to find a one piece walk in shower.

Current resident of house's design style:
There is dark colored walls and dark wood.
The furniture is oversized and ornate.
Definately not my style preference.

This dark wood and oversized/ornate style ...
includes the bathroom (sink) furniture piece.
I want simple but efficient - white is fine.
Maybe this 30 x 21 x 33.5(H) White Vanity.

Bed Dimensions

So many things to think about ...
as we move from an apartment to our own house.
One of those things is about upgrading our bed.

Twin is 39 wide by 75 long
Full is 54 wide by 75 long
Queen is 60 wide by 80 long
King is 76/78 by 80 long

Found the diagram on Dormia website.

Eventful Day

Randy had day surgery today.
Thanks to those that were praying.
He is at home with me and doing okay.
The valium is keeping him a little hazy.

We also saw two houses today.
The contemporary ranch was disappointing.
It had lots of space but was in miserable condition.
Now we know why it is headed towards foreclosure.

The second house looks much more promising.
I will post more about that on Saturday.
We still have a couple more house possibilities.
This is the season for selling! New ones added daily.

Contemporary Ranch

When I first saw the house we will walk thru today ...
I thought it must be a split level ranch because of its height.

That was problematic because we wanted just one floor.
I found Residential Styles explained at Realtor.org.

Below is their description of Contemporary:

"You know them by their odd-sized and often tall windows, their lack of ornamentation, and their unusual mixtures of wall materials--stone, brick, and wood, for instance. Architects designed Contemporary-style homes (in the Modern family) between 1950 and 1970, and created two versions: the flat-roof and gabled types. The latter is often characterized by exposed beams. Both breeds tend to be one-story tall and were designed to incorporate the surrounding landscape into their overall look."

That does indeed describe the place we will be checking out.
It is odd-sized and has tall windows in cathedral ceiling area.
I guess it would be considered gabled because of exposed beams.

For fun I read about some of the other design styles:
I learned that ranch style only originated in the 1930's
and that Saltbox is a New England Colonial design.
In 1893 Frank Lloyd Wright designed first Prairie Style home.

Short Sale

The main property we are looking at tomorrow is a "short sale".
I did not realize it was an official real estate term ...
I just assumed this meant that the bank was looking to sell quickly.
It is actually the step just below foreclosure for the seller.

Just read a few articles to better understand "Short Sales":
Short Sale - Buyer & Broker Beware!
and What the Heck Is a Short Sale?

Other articles on other sites: Before You Buy a Short Sale
Short Sales Are No Bargain for Buyers: 11 Reasons for Not Buying a Short Sale
The new exit strategy: A short sale (Businessweek article)
Sold up short: How to Succeed at Short Sales

My head is swimming now. So much information to digest.
Got a call in to my (mortgage) bank. And a call into our realtor.
Want to understand it better before seeing property.

Alternative Heating

With the price of oil going thru the roof ...
decided to research alternative energy sources.

TreeHugger Picks: Pellet Stoves
Pellet Stoves (wikipedia)

Wikipedia's Energy Portal
Renewable Heat (wikipedia)

Solar Heating (wikipedia)
Maine Solar House

Monitor Products
Nelson and Small, Inc (Monitor dealer)

Alternative Fuels ... Data Center
Maine Clean Communities

Newer Homes

This week we checked out some NEW homes. These homes were constructed with radiant heat. The houses have a nice open concept but they were poorly located - there was a heavily traveled road yards from the houses. Now we can exclude these from our search.

The four above we have yet to see in person.
They are all three bedroom ranches.
Upper left: 1967, 1 bath, 1,288 sq feet, 3.5 acres
Pro: hardwood in most rooms - Con: garage under
Upper right: 2007, 2 baths, 1,344 sq ft, 2.7 acres
Pro: Deck/Water frontage - Con: not level ground
Lower left: 2005, 2 bath, 1,536 sq feet, 1.0 acres
Pro: open concept, low taxes (nearby town) Con: ?
Lower right: 1975, 1 bath, 1,142 sq ft (above), 1.1 acres
Pro: two tiered deck - Con: full finished basement

Interesting: the older homes only have 1 bath
while newer homes are built with 2 baths
oftentimes one bath is part of master suite.

Lower right is pretty much excluded when comparing
high price tag with limited positives and major negative.
I have difficulty using stairs so basement would be off limits.
Lower left is sounding more interesting ...
as I could not come up with a negative to include.
It is in nearby town which adds a little extra to commute.
Upper right may be excluded too. Price tag includes
water frontage which we do not really care about.
Also having no level ground for me to walk is not desired.
Upper left just on the market 2 days now.
Also has a deck. And familiar heating/water setup.
While moderate sq footage (in comparison) - price reflects that!!!

Not expecting to see these this week.
We need a little break from all the trips.
Trusting God to guide us to the right house ...
Everything in His timing (like our marriage)!!!

Home Hunt continues

Our house hunt continues.
But really we are looking for a "home".
A place we can both feel comfortable for some time.
I'd like a comfortable kitchen to do all my cooking.

Our newest possibility has a visual tour available.
More info in our entry Three Walk thrus.
We were pre-approved for a home mortgage
and somewhat understand Credit Report Info.

Credit Report Info

380 is the worse and 850 is flawless
680 is average and 750+ is a+ in their book.
My current rating is 783 slightly down from 800 range
due to required inquiries when we got new credit card.
Chris discussed ways of even bettering our scores.
He had only pulled the Experian credit report to review.

He pointed us to the official Annual Credit Report site.
Everyone is allowed FREE credit reports ANNUALLY.
There are three different credit reporting companies:
Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax
It's good to review them comparing results.
Not all companies report to all three of them.

We found another site which charges for reports but has
helpful Credit Report Information and Explanations:
Tutorial on Equifax Credit Reports
Tutorial on Experian Credit Reports
Tutorial on Trans Union Credit Reports
Posting these here not to lose valuable links!!!

We were pre-approved

We headed to our bank aka credit union this morning.
We sat down with loan officer to get pre-approved.
Chris, the guy we spoke with, was great.
He pulled up our credit reports and explained them.
Being newly married I still have old credit cards.
I was going to get rid of them but he said keep them!
As long as they are kept paid up they are helping.
Especially the one I've had forever with a huge limit.

Closing costs range from 1,500 to 2,000
with 375 upfront to get the ball rolling.
An appraisal will be requested and title search.
A down payment of 5% is required.
The bank will finance 80% of wood frames
and 65 - 75% for double wide mobile homes.
It usually takes from 30-45 days to closing.
FYI: Current interest rate is 6 1/4

Three Walk thrus

We went back up to Augusta to look at houses.
They were all in the Mayfair neighborhood.
That is where I use to have my previous house.
There were three to walk thru to check out.
I have difficulty doing stairs which meant ...
hubby had to do the initial walk thru.

At the first place Randy came out and got me.
It looked very promising - large master bedroom.
We have been spoiled with a large bedroom in rental.

At the second place there had been a tenant living there.
It was obvious it had not been well maintained as of late.
The third place was listed as needing TLC and it did.
It also had a spider infestation., I believe, is what Randy said.
I believe it was the second place that he said smelled badly.
From the outside I could tell they both needed exterior work.

We are scheduled for a second look at the first place.
Will take my parents to consider personal modifications.
Definately need a ramp built and some bathroom changes.