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,...