Skwerl's new cabin

[skwerl]

Time to step back, calm down and regroup. I learned in AA that all I need to do right now is the next right thing. Just one step at a time. For now my entire life seems to be on hold and my house has turned into a giant storage bin. I have shit piled up everywhere.

Tomorrow I'm renting a storage unit and getting some of this crap into storage until I figure out what I'm doing and where I'm going. Once I get through all the crap I bought for the new house, I can start on all my old crap that has collected for the last 17 years. I might even throw a few items on Craigslist.

This will give me something productive to do while I digest the latest developments and figure out what I'm doing next. My Realtor and mortgage broker are still going forward and trying to salvage the deal because I told them I wasn't quitting yet. I'll pay for the appraisal, survey, etc. as long as there's a chance. But if they can't pull it off then I'm starting over with different people. They have been told this is their last shot with me.

 

[BadPiggy]

AHEM!

Today is Wednesday.
Did we close on the house or tell a bunch of MF's to get fucked???

 

[skwerl]

They just got the appraisal done an hour ago. The appraiser looked at the house IN THE RAIN yesterday and still couldn't figure out if the water stains in the ceiling were from old damage or current damage. Ahem, just reach up and touch it, dipshit. Is it wet?

So anyway, they are sending a roofer out this afternoon to confirm the roof condition.

Still no answer from the selling agent if they will grant us an extension. Appraisal came in above the selling price conditioned upon on the roof being good.

 

[skwerl]

Today's update: Still didn't get a roofer out there. My agent asked me if I knew a certified, licensed roofer. I don't, and told him it was fine for him to send his buddy's roofer out to certify that the roof didn't leak. I still am not willing to shitcan a $150K deal over a couple hundred dollar inspection, regardless of how stupid it is.

Any person with 3 brain cells could look at the stains in the bedroom ceiling, reach up and touch the spots and figure out that they are dry. It's rained 4 times in the last week. But not a single one of them is willing to say that the roof isn't leaking. The stupid, it burns.

The other issue is that the water is not on in the house. The water must be on in the house in order for the house to qualify for financing. No big deal, the water was turned off in the house because the kitchen garbage disposal was rotted out and leaking and the toilet in the master bath was leaking. So how hard is it to shut off the valves to those two places and turn the water back on?

Well, not as simple as one would assume. The listing agent had the well repaired in order to list the house for sale. The well repair guy fixed the well but disconnected all the water softening stuff and just rehooked to the main pressure tank. Well, the inside supply lines are connected to the water softener stuff that he disconnected, so I have a well and water but only to the sprinkler system. It's no longer connected to the house.

If I bring this to the attention of the listing agent, then the deal will disappear and go away. Also, I am legally not allowed to be on the property and certainly not allowed to work on anything on the property because it doesn't belong to me. But the agent isn't going to fix it either. So therefore the only way to get around this roadblock is to just go fix the damn thing and claim ignorance as to how it got fixed. Maybe say "Oh, somebody forgot to turn the valve on" and leave it at that. Tomorrow morning my well guy and I are going to fix the damn thing and get water on in the house. We will also cap off the valves to the (disconnected and missing) dishwasher and refrigerator and fix the leaky toilet so that all the water valves can be turned on without flooding the house.

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy dealing with pencil pushers, box checkers and idiots? I hope I can buy this house before I have a stroke!

 

[joe_momma]

Good luck man. Some people seem to have missed out on the common sense gene.

 

[skwerl]

I got the water turned on in the house. There were 7 identical manual valves on a half dozen different pipes running in all directions, 6 of which were irrigation lines and the 7th was the water supply to the house. Once we got it turned on we went through and checked for leaks at every station in the house. The water is on for everything except the kitchen sink and the master bath toilet.

My agent called me again this morning to ask me for the 4th time for permission to send a roofing contractor to the house to inspect the roof (on my dime). I'm about ready to blow up on his ass.

 

[stkjock]

wow, some headache!

 

[irishpwr46]

get a sharpie and label all the valves or the pipes themselves

 

[skwerl]

We will be completely reworking the well setup and water filtration/treatment tanks as soon as I close. The manual irrigation system is trash and will be discarded, a concrete pad will be poured, all the pipes redone and a lean to built over the tanks to keep them out of the sun. It's all going to be fresh with all new pipe and it won't look like a 6 year old laid it out.

 

[skwerl]

Holy crap I can't stand it any more. I just chewed out my agent in a text. I asked if we had a roofer yet and he said we are waiting until Monday to see what the underwriter says. I replied

So after two delays and time running out again, your decision is to wait? I am having difficulty believing that you are working in my best interests. We wasted 3 days with you asking me 4 times about a roofer and now we wait? My frustration grows by the day.

 

[BadPiggy]

Holy crap I can't stand it any more. I just chewed out my agent in a text. I asked if we had a roofer yet and he said we are waiting until Monday to see what the underwriter says. I replied

Stroke that stupid fuck a commission check for about $25 bones and call it good.

 

[skwerl]

Roof situation is resolved, car loan situation is resolved, survey was ordered yesterday and I believe we have checked off every item on the list in order to close next Wednesday. I sure hope they don't dump another surprise in my lap in the next week.

Still trying to figure out my layout for the garage/shop. Since the shop portion is air conditioned I will definitely need a dividing wall and I want a double door so I can move bulky items in and out. Been looking for cheap french style double doors and most are in the $300 range or higher. Found some at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore but they are 8' tall instead of 80". I spoke with my carpenter buddy and he said it's no big deal cutting them down a few inches so they will work. So I'm going tomorrow to pick up a brand new prehung double door for $50.
http://orlando.craigslist.org/mat/5012379705.html

Not much else to post about right now but I'll definitely start taking lots of pics right after closing and document the progress. It's close enough now that it's screwing up my sleep cycle, I've been waking up at 4am the last 2-3 days.

 

[tjm73]

For a large door look into barn door style hardware. It's cheap and you Can hang some pretty large doors. Tractor Supply has really cost effective items.

 

[weather man]

Fingers crossed for you Brian.

 

[skwerl]

For a large door look into barn door style hardware. It's cheap and you Can hang some pretty large doors. Tractor Supply has really cost effective items.

The pre hung doors have the frame and hinges and I've already purchased 4 matching entry door handles and deadbolts all keyed alike. So I think $50 for these double doors is about as cost effective as I can get.

Fingers crossed for you Brian.

Thanks Brian, I'm looking forward to this more than anything in recent history. Just got off the phone with my agent and he reminded me that it's been 2.5 months since I put my offer in on this house.

 

[tjm73]

Pretty hard to beat those 6 foot wide x 8 foot tall doors at that price. Shit I'd buy all of them and then resell the others at that price.

 

[AndrewNagle]

Good luck and hope all goes well

 

[skwerl]

The only small surprise in the last 2 days is that we may have an additional $75 escrow withholding to address a cracked window. Of all the issues with this house, some helpful person thought that the cracked window was a big enough issue to tie up the mortgage until it is fixed. Whatever.

Nothing else to do so the last couple of afternoons I've gone over and started raking leaves, pulling vines and excavating around the pool enclosure so the screen guy can get to the frames. The pool deck is about 6"-12" below the back yard grade so everything slopes down to the deck and it's built up about 2" most of the way around. I'm excavating out a 4' bed all the way around about 2" below the pool deck height. I'll line it with railroad ties or something to make a step wall to keep the yard out of the pool deck.

I also picked up a couple packs of Juicy Fruit gum and spent a half hour going around stuffing pieces down into the mole tunnels around the house and driveway. I'll find out if this home remedy works.

Sprayed for mosquitoes again around the perimeter of the house and there were noticeably fewer mosquitoes present than a few weeks ago. I only got bit once the whole time I was working around the pool deck.

 

[AndrewNagle]

It is a shame you had to work with total fucking idiots on this

I have only bought 2 houses and done 2 refi's but all went smooth. IF i had to go through what you have had to i wouldn't have bought the house I would have looked in squatting laws !!!

 

[Premium08]

What product are you using for mosquitoes?