Mrs. Rattlecan's House

BUDGET There. I said it. The word everyone hates. Well, not everyone...if you understand how a budget works and how it can save you from making a huge financial mistake...or series of mistakes...it can be a very positive tool to help manage your renovation projects. This is real-world budgeting, not the "funny money" budgets you see on television. When they're gone...they're gone! We're not fans of debt (and why we worked so hard to pay it all off). Our pile of money for the renovations of the house is only so-big. We're pretty sure that all of the projects on our wish list aren't going to be covered by that amount. We have to pick and choose what is really important to us. One of the criteria we use is cost, and you arrive at that cost by estimating. Estimating a project, for some, is a nearly-exact science. With us, not so much. We're DIYers. Learning about the project process, the supplies and materials, tool requirements and rentals, a...

Nothing horribly exciting today except to say the owners were amenable to our requests resulting from the home inspection, they wanted to know if we wanted any of the remaining items ( I'm saving the exact contents as a surprise) and would we like to move the closing from May 28th to the 12th?   WELL HECK YES WE WOULD!   Could this magnificent player piano be in our future? Well, it would make a great bar! This might be a good time to talk about a couple of the factors we think helped get our offer accepted: 1. Cash is King- we've been busy little savers over the years and have amassed a pile of cash solely for purchasing a home. With a cash offer you remove the biggest pain in the home buying process- the BANK. You remove an appraiser that may think you're paying too much for your home (not to protect you but to protect the BANK). You negate the need for super-expensive PMI insurance that protects the BANK.  You forgo all of the fees associated with financing,...

One of the conditions of a home sale is the home inspection. If you are financing a home it is a requirement (along with an appraisal and perhaps some additional hoops to jump through). Even with a cash offer like ours, unless you're VERY comfortable with assuming all the risk on the knowledge of yourself or a buddy, you're wise to have one done. This gives you the opportunity to get a more detailed "snapshot" of the condition of the house in a time frame that allows you to request repairs/a discount or to walk away from the deal based on the findings.  We've been involved with home inspections from both sides: as a buyer and a seller. We take the view that the home inspection is the chance to see if there are any conditions present that would affect our ability to occupy the property: mold, structural, electrical, plumbing, roof, etc. We're looking for items that are safety-related.  Some people look at this as a way to get the small items fixed that norm...

Well here we are, the big moment. We're finally going to get to look at this house. Now I had been through it previously during the estate sale but it was FILLED with people and FILLED with tables and tables of stuff so even though I kind of knew the layout, I wasn't sure what it would look like empty. We had looked at a number of 1950s houses already and they seemed so...cramped. I was hoping this one wouldn't and that it would tick a lot of the boxes we had. Did I mention that the listing had exactly ONE photo? The one you see above, that's all there was. And if I may digress just a bit and address the people who take and/or post home listing photos:       PLEASE understand how much your images (or lack thereof) influence potential home buyers. A listing with one or even no pictures will get passed by many. If you can't be bothered to show me the house I can't be bothered to show interest in the house you didn't let me look at. If you do post image...

OK, we're TRYING to buy a house. This will be attempt number THREE in the past 5-6 weeks. The market is tight here in Dayton. Actually a suburb of Dayton, but the school's are good, we like the vibe of the place, and the houses are older and have that charm that seems so elusive on TV as well as in real life. We move pretty frequently so trust us when we say there are worse places to live in the world than Dayton, Ohio. I guess I should introduce us: I'm James and I build, repair, and restore stringed instruments. My wife is a nurse. We've decided we've had enough of moving every 2-3 years (she's done it for almost 30, I've done it my entire life) so we're putting down roots. We've lived in enough different styles of houses to know what kind of place we want: a ranch with a basement (partial is OK but we prefer full), 3BR+ 2BA+, a fireplace, 2 car garage and "some place" for me to put my workshop that doesn't involve co-habitating wit...